Today’s Fortune: Avoid scattering your energies.

That is some really good advice. I think I should pass it along to Mom. She’s busy working on swappy packages for our Ravelry friends, Christmas presents for friends and family and making a ton of stuff to put in her etsy shop. She is not making very good progress on any of it. I think that is because she is trying to do to many things all at one time. She needs to focus.

I am very focused. Mostly on sock monkey stuff. Our Halloween efforts were kind of disappointing. We only had six trick-or-treaters. But now we have tons of candy, so I guess it wasn’t all bad. And I have figured out that a vampire cape is an excellent thing to have. When you are done with Halloween, you can take off your sticky teeth, put on your top hat, and you are instantly transformed into a ninja magician! Puglet took off his candy corn suit as soon as he could. He said he would way rather be a farm dog.

Magical things definitely happened on the sock monkey front last week. Aunt Tracy came down from Tulsa last Friday so she and Mom could dye yarn. She brought me a really cool pin from the U2 concert, and a wonderful knitting book full of sock monkeys! We were really excited to get this book, because we didn’t even know it was out there! Now, Mom can knit and crochet sock monkeys all she wants!

Mom and Aunt Tracy dyed a lot of sock yarn. Mom would not let me and Puglet help. She says dye is permanent, and she has enough trouble washing coffee off my nose. Here is how Mom’s yarn turned out.

And here is Aunt Tracy’s. We took two pictures, but she had her eyes closed in both of them. I think that is because she was blinded by the colors.

We went to Buchanan’s flea market on Saturday, and Dad rescued a sock monkey with funny green hair! And a whole bunch of vintage sock monkey socks, too! Now we can make some traditional red-heel monkeys instead of the colorful ones like ValenTina.

After we finished up at Buchanan’s, we went to a place called Cracker Barrel. We ordered breakfast for lunch, and they had a really cool game with golf tees that we got to play while we waited. People kept coming up to Mom and telling her how cute I was. I did not want to be cute. I wanted to be scary.

Cracker Barrel has a whole store full of fun stuff that you can buy while you are waiting to get a table. It can take a while to get a table, because the food is really tasty, so lots of people go there. We found some great stuff to add to our collection. Mom got a sock monkey tray and some salt and pepper shakers. They also had a candy jar, but we did not get one of those. We might get it next time. Everything else they had, we already have at least one of, but these were ones we didn’t have, so we needed them.

Mom also found some really good colorful sock monkey Christmas ornaments at Kohl’s. We got one of every color. We are not using them to decorate the tree, though. We are going to keep them out all the time, because they go with everything else in our collection.

And we found some awesome sock monkey bookmarks at Barnes and Noble! There are two of each of these bookmarks in the package. I think I can do some good card tricks with these.

We also got some fun stuff in the mail last week! There was a great Halloween card from my Uncle Phil and Aunt Karon, and a silly sock monkey nightlight from our Ravelry friend Maevie! We had never seen this night light, and we love it a lot!

We also got our latest pincushion swap package from our friend Bibliosophy! It was full of the best stuff! She made dollies for both of our grandbabies (we have a brand new one that was born on October 22), and she sent yarn for Mom to make soft hats for the baby girls, too. She also sent a handmade felted pouch in turquoise and hot pink stripes, and inside the pouch was a beautiful handmade journal. There was a nice melamine tray that mom can keep on her desk, and the handmade pincushion and bookmark were crochet motifs in shades of dusty pink, burgundy, blue, green and ivory. We love this package so much!!

It has been a sock monkey bonanza here lately! It seems like the sock monkey treasures happen in clusters. I think that’s because they have figured out how to avoid scattering their energies. Mom should take notes.

9 Comments

Big Monkey

November 4, 2009 at 5:35 am

Noah,

Sock monkey bonanza indeed! You have hit the jackpot, my friend. Personally, I believe that people like our humans are increasing the demand for sock monkeys and related products…LOL! I will have to check out Kohl’s for those ornaments. I bought the candy car and dishes from Cracker Barrel too. We are saving the salt and pepper shakers for a gift…sigh. Did they still have the miniature John Deere ball caps at Cracker Barrel? If they did not, and you want one I have extras! Just send me a note with your mailing address, and I will send it to you.

What is your mom’s seller name on etsy? I need to check out her products. Any chance that she’s making human sized sock monkey sweaters for sale?

Your Pal,
Big Monkey

P.S. I know that you and Puglet don’t want people to call you cute, but it truly is a compliment. 🙂

puggerhugger

November 4, 2009 at 8:05 pm

Wow I am so impressed with the sock monkey bonanza and also the pretty pretty colors that your mom and Aunt Tracy made. If you and puglet get sick of candy to can throw it in a box addressed to Sister Mary Monkeypants. Yep. Thats me, and I am having a grand time terrorizing the customers in pugger’s yarn store. Love, SMMP

2muchfun

November 6, 2009 at 7:23 am

Hi Noah!
Those are such cute dolls! I bet Lily and Lexi will treasure them. And so much other fun sock monkey stuff.
Next time you see Aunt Tracy, make sure you give her a super, duper, huge hug from me, okay? But I want pictures!
Love,
Auntie Pam

Noah

November 9, 2009 at 9:58 am

Hi, Sister Mary Monkeypants!!

It is so good to hear from you! This reminds me…. I still need to tell everybody about when we found Jesus in the corner at Tulsa.

Love, Noah

Noah

November 9, 2009 at 10:01 am

Hi, Big Monkey!

We did not see the dishes. I think we will have to go back to the Cracker Barrel. They were all out of monkey sized John Deere hats, too. I will send you a message when I read your blog later today.

Mom’s etsy name is ILoveSockMonkeys. But she still doesn’t have anything in her shop yet. Hopefully by the end of next week she will have some good stuff in there. She is not making sweaters because they take too much time, but she is making some sock monkey felted handbags that will be really good, I think.

Love, Noah