I also want to show off a couple of stuffies. These cuties are both for sale at Fuzzy Paws Knits for $5 each. First, Arturo. He likes reading, chocolate chip cookies, and rainy days. Dislikes clowns, brussels sprouts, and math. Then we have Miss Mimi. Mimi likes flowers, cheesecke, and shopping. She dislikes bees, spinach, and homework. There are more pics of both of them in the shop.

Next up is the Azteca shawlette. I have made several of these, and I kept one for myself that is purple and pink. They are so easy to wear – very versatile and fun. I love the way the colors worked out in this one, I’m really happy with it. These are perfect for spring! I might have to keep another one for myself. I’ve had my eye on Cake & Ice Cream….

First, I have been taking my vitamins and doing my workouts and I am actually getting to bed at a reasonable time at night – which is awesome news. My workouts are getting steadily better and longer which is also amazing news. So things are progressing and I am starting to get more sleep! Which is even more amazing considering that work has been extremely stressful lately.

Mike & I took the cats to the vet last Friday because they needed their Distemper vaccine boosters. Nemo hates it when he is in the carrier, and he always rubs his nose on the metal bars until his nose is all puffy and sometimes even bleeding. He also got weighed, and he is a whopping 15 pounds. What a hefer! The vet gave us a few suggestions to get his weight down. Otherwise, both Nemo & Buffy are healthy and fine, and there is no danger of Distemper in their future either. I noticed 2 days ago that Nemo was sneezing. A lot. He sneezed all afternoon and evening and would have these fits of like 20 sneezes right in a row. The poor kid! I was really worried. He continued the next morning so I did some research online and found that excessive cat sneezing can mean there is a respiratory infection. So I called the vet and they asked me to bring him back in this morning. I was right, he has an upper respiratory infection and we have to give him antibiotics twice a day for 14 days. Yipee. But hopefully this will help and he will be feeling better soon.

My mom got me a pressure cooker for Christmas, and I tried it out a couple of times this week. I was nervous at first because I have heard horror stories about them, but it is actually awesome. On Sunday I made a delicious pot roast and it only took about an hour! It’s crazy how fast that thing cooks food. I also put frozen chicken breasts in it along with some sauce and chopped onion and mushrooms, and that took 30 minutes to be completely done, and was also delish. My mom also got me a couple of really cool cookbooks that I have been making good use of as well.

From Mike I got Star Trek The Original Series Season 1 on special edition Blu-Ray. HOLY COW. It looks AMAZING. They have redone all of the effects and cleaned up all of the film, and it is crazy how awesome it is. There is a little documentary where they explain how they did it, and they show side by side comparisons of the original footage and the redone footage. Just the clarity of the picture alone is great, but on top of that, the redone effects are incredible. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

As some of you may know, Mike’s birthday is next week. We decided to make a weekend trip to Traverse City, so we are leaving on Thursday next week after I get out of work. I am super excited to get away for a couple of days, and also to celebrate Mike’s birthday. It should be really fun, plus we got an amazing deal on the hotel room!

When my stepmom was here, she told me that I remind her of Punky Brewster. I think she was referring to my pajamas. I usually just look in the closet and grab the first PJ things I find that are clean and put them on. When she said that I was wearing my crazy knee high socks that I made, grey cotton capris, a baby blue care bear t-shirt, and a bright blue & hot pink plaid long sleeve flannel shirt. A few nights later, after my family left, Mike, George & I had plans to watch a movie. I put on my jammies, and then came downstairs. They both looked shocked because I was wearing hot pink legwarmers, a purple and black striped skirt, and a fleece top with a crazy print in insanely bright colors. They laughed and made jokes about how much my clothes clashed. Anyway, it really got me thinking. I think I am like Punky Brewster. My favorite knitting projects are always the ones I make with scrap yarn in a crazy assortment of colors. I searched my Flickr photos for “scraps” as a tag and I got this. Hmmm, kind of a lot. Plus, that’s just the items that are complete – I also have 2 scrap afghans, a pair of scrap socks and 2 scrap scarves on the needles right now, and I recently made a draft dodger for the Man Cave from scraps that I don’t have photos of yet. I think maybe Punky should be my new street name? The thing is I do love color, and one of the reasons I love to knit so much is because I love to put colors and textures together in interesting and unexpected ways. So yeah, I guess my stepmom was right – I am sort of like Punky Brewster. You have to admit – the kid had style. I love her whole outfit, right down to her pigtails and jaunty thumbs up.

So here is the result – Mikey with his Sackboy:

I am pretty pleased with how the Sackboy turned out. He is actually really cute, and I am quite impressed with myself. Mikey likes him too. Since Sackboy loves to wear different costumes, I also gave Mikey a few changes of clothes for him. I got him a police officer’s outfit, a ninja set, and BEHOLD – Sackboy Pirate:

Anyway, I just wanted to share the photos of Sackboy – I was dying to blog about him while he was in progress but I had to keep him a secret!!

My mom came over last night and we did some super stealthy Christmas shopping. I got a little something for Mikey that I think he might actually use and like. Which will be a first. He is really hard to shop for because he only likes video games, and I don’t ever know what games are cool. He will tell me, but I hate having him give me a list of video games and then just buying those because there is no surprise. But I think I did ok this year, so I’m happy. My mom also brought me a bunch of amazing food she got at an Amish bulk foods store over the weekend. She got Mike some wasabi peanuts, and she also got us some green bean chips and some dried salted peas, both of which are so good. She also got us a block of real fresh churned butter and this cheddar cheese that has salami bits in it. YUM! Oh, and gummies! She knows me well, what can I say?

Have a happy Thanksgiving! I am so excited to get the tree up! We are putting a 12 foot Christmas tree in our living room on Saturday. Can’t wait!!

So the show was….well, it was pretty much the same as every year. People don’t always get my stuff, and I’m honestly OK with that. I don’t need every person that looks at my things to fawn over them. I am not a knitter because I want to make tons of money. I knit because I really enjoy it and I love to make interesting & unusual things. If you don’t like my stuff, that’s ok, I understand that everyone has different tastes and different styles. But sometimes people are just rude, and it floors me. My last post was about the Estonia Cowl. I just finished it before leaving for the show & I was really happy with it. The colors are really rich, and I thought the asymmetrical shape was interesting and unique. So at the show, this lady tries it on. She looks in the mirror and she seems to really like it. I went over to see if she had questions and such, and she took it off and looked at it. She said “This is kind of a weird shape.” I said “Yes, it’s asymmetrical. It gives it a little more unique look than just a rectangle and adds a bit of interest.” She looked at me and said “So, did you mess it up or is it supposed to be like that?” Ummm, listen skank, you aren’t allowed to buy it anyway, so step. That’s what I wanted to say, but I didn’t. Instead, after her rude comment, she actually had the nerve to buy it anyway, and then ask for my card in case she wanted me to make her another one. Which I think actually pissed me off even more. I had another incident with my Frenzy Scarf, where a lady didn’t understand why it was made with different yarns and not consistently the same all the way through. She assumed I ran out of yarn and just decided to finish it with something else. Nope, I meant to do that. She didn’t buy it but she chose another one that WAS consistently the same yarns. Anyway, people are rude. I suppose it’s hard for anyone that makes things, and is passionate about them, to sit there and listen while others pick them apart and complain that the price is too high, or the color is ugly, or that they don’t get it so I must have made a mistake. But for all the rude people, there were also plenty of people who did like my work and understand it and even love it. I sold a scarf to a lady who loved it so much that she insisted on wearing it out even though it was way too warm outside for a scarf. Another lady was so in love with a felted tote bag, but decided not to get it because she had just bought a nice purse recently and couldn’t justify it. She ended up coming back to get it because she liked it so much and just couldn’t pass it up. So I guess you have to take the good with the bad. And the good makes me feel like a rockstar, so those rude people can suck it.

I also made those four beautiful alpace lace shawls, and I never sold even one of them! I was asking $38 for them, which I know is a more than fair price. I probably should have been asking more. But on Friday, nobody even seemed interested in them. So on Saturday, I bit the bullet and marked them down to $28, and added a big sign that said “SALE! Alpaca Lace Shawls only $28, Reg. $38″ but I still never got any interest in them and never sold any. It’s such a drag because I think they turned out so beautiful! I think I’ll give them as holiday gifts, and maybe even keep one for myself. Although I always say I will keep something and I never do. In the winter, I can barely scrounge up a handknit scarf to wear! But you know, Michael Kors has been making amazing menswear for years, and everytime I see him, he is always wearing the same black suit and black shirt. So I guess it’s not just me.

Anyway, I am so glad to be home and so glad that the long show is over again for another year. Now I have a short work week and a turkey feast to look forward to.