The Sweatshop of Love Blog

I had a ton of knitting planned for my Thanksgiving week in Michigan, most of which was derailed by sickness. I did get a chance to work on yet another piece of the amigurumi family I’ve been putting together. Naturally my next amigurumi-zation had to be my brother Adamgurumi‘s wife, Emily.

Emilygurumi on the Amtrak

I finished her on the Amtrak back to Chicago, and she enjoyed the view.

Emilygurumi Just Chillin'

And I thought she developed a liking for window gazing, since I found her sitting happily on the windowsill this morning.

But then I looked closer.

Impatiantly Waiting!

She is just super irritated with me for not having amigurumi-ed her baby Nolan yet.

I’m working on it! Promise. There just aren’t any babygurumi patterns out there so I’m going to have to wing it, ok? Chill out before I put you back in front of the window!

Emily has super long hair, so I feel like I spent the majority of the time working on her hair! I made her a little tunic-like shirt by picking up stitches at her waistline, and gave her some leggings. She looks like a really pretty ballerina, which I don’t think Emily will complain about.

Pattern: Basic Humanoid Amigurumi Pattern

Yarn: Various worsted weight yarns I had leftover

Hook: Size G

Ravelry Project Page

I would love to fill this post with happy, smiling pictures of my family eating and carrying on at Thanksgiving, followed by more pictures of us acting crazy at 3am on BLACK FRIDAY, but I spent most of Thanksgiving with my head in a toilet.

That is right. On the one day a year you get to pig out like no other, I woke up with a raging stomach flu. I ate maybe 10 saltines, most of which my stomach promptly rejected, and a popsicle.

I couldn’t even knit. It. Sucked. And I’m still not better! I’m barely eating and have no energy.

Sick-Face and Package!

I did manage to leave the house on Friday to mail an important package. Where is it going?!

Interweave Summer 2011, Baby!

I’m going to have a sweater pattern in the Summer 2011 issue of Interweave Knits! That is why things have been a little slow around here. I had to knit an entire secret sweater in 3 weeks! During holiday knitting season!

But I did it, and it’s mailed off, and I’m putting the finishing touches on my pattern and will send that off to them tomorrow, too. To Interweave! No big deal.

I’ve been in Michigan with the family since Sunday and it’s been chill-central!

Baby Nolan as Dinosaur

Chilling with my nephew, Baby Nolan, mostly. He was styling his DinoSweater when we went to Robinette’s Apple Haus in Grand Rapids on Monday.

Me and Nolan at Robinettes

Robinette’s is everything I love about the Midwest rolled into one. Homemade donuts and treats…

Michigan Apples at Robinette's

… produce and treats from local farms …

Wine Tasting with a Baby!

… and $5 couples wine tastings! Nolan and I really loved the Robinette’s Riesling, so we bought a bottle.

Nolan and Dad Watching Madden

We’ve also been playing a lot of Madden. Or, my brothers and PT have been playing a lot of Madden while I play with Nolan, knit, and watch. Nolan, as you can see, is just SHOCKED that we can waste so much time playing video games. Or maybe he is just shocked that his dad made him wear a Lions tshirt.

I hope you are having an equally chill Thanksgiving week!

Maybe I shouldn’t have had Renegade as my first crafty show experience, because it set my expectations for the DIY Trunk Show pretty high. And I’ve been to the DIY Trunk Show before! It’s always packed!

Always, except Saturday.

DIY Trunk Show Booth Set Up

It was pretty empty the entire day, and the people that were there weren’t buying much. We hardly saw anyone carrying purchases around with them, and all the vendors we talked to were doing poorly as well.

My Mommy!

My mom, who made the trip down from Michigan to hang out with me for the show, had fun, though! We chilled all day, made friends with our booth neighbors, and laughed to keep from crying.

My goal for the show was to make $500. I thought that was pretty reasonable considering I made about $1200 over the 2 days of Renegade.

The DIY Trunk Show grand total? $188. Yowzers.

The plus side of all this was that it was an excuse for my mom to come and meet all my friends that I’ve been talking about for years and years. We had a great meal at 90 Miles Saturday night, a great time at my very last Sunday morning Holiday Present Prep class yesterday, and now we are back in Michigan for the Thanksgiving week.

So, was the DIY Trunk Show a big fat fail? Yes. But I’m very glad I did it.

More than anything I came away so grateful to my friends and students that came to see the booth, meet my mom, and say hi. Like 80% of my sales were to people I knew and friends of friends, and they could have easily just had me bring them kits and knits to class for them.

I’ve been tweeting and facebooking this like mad, but once more, a huge HUGE huge huge thank you to my students and friends for coming on Saturday. Without you it would have been unbearable.

Sure, I’ve been getting ready for the DIY Trunk Show this Saturday for a couple months, but NOTHING like what I had to do for Renegade. Between the button making, the bag sewing, and stuffing over 60 kits this summer, Renegade was a huge undertaking.

Kit Stuffin'

This time it’s been so much easier! I’ve only had to put together 24 kits, mostly Hello Sailor Knot Necklaces, and a couple Twin Cities Headbands. So those, along with the kits I still have and all the knitting I did last month, I think I’m all set to rock it out!

I hope you are planning on visiting us on Saturday! We’ll be in the East Gym at Booth #3.

Who is we? Me and my mom! She is so excited it’s adorable. She has made some Christmas cards and will be selling her beautiful baskets. She hasn’t been to Chicago to hang out in like 6 years so I’m really excited to have her meet people.

Then on Sunday we are off to Michigan for a week for Thanksgiving for tons of eating, and baby snuggling.

And a quick, awesome aside, I got mentioned in an article on the Chicago MSN crafty page! Check it out here.

Holla! See you Saturday!