Yarn Geeks Before Sunrise

I had a very interesting morning yesterday. My alarm went off at 6:00 am (I wasn't even aware there was a 6:00 am!) and I dragged tail out of bed so that I could get myself and my yarn bag to Evil Squirrel Comics for the WGN News Around Town feature. Shawn King is trying everything in his power to raise awareness and funds to keep his shop open. He's a real commodity in the neighborhood, with his free movie afternoons and free game nights and the like, but in this economy, people aren't able to spend as much on things like comic books. So when he asked me if I'd crochet on TV for him, how could I say no? Plus, he was providing "coffee and treats"! Being a big fan of Shawn, being on TV, coffee and treats, I intrepidly agreed to get up before the sun.

I was delighted to see that the WGN cast and crew was there by the time I got to the shop at 6:30. They started doing live feed of short segments around 7:00. Shawn informed us that we crafters in the back would be featured at 8:30. Coffee, treats, stitch; coffee, treats, stitch; Johnny Barr and Rico make racy jokes; coffee, treats, stitch. And then it was our turn. Ana Belaval was intrigued with Rico and his tattoos that read "Knit" and "Crochet", so that was the high point of the interview. It was a fun experience, and the phone at the shop rang quite a bit after each segment, so hopefully we did some good.

FYI, I was back in bed by 9:30 AM!! Happy New Year, everyone! First post of 2012 goes up on Thursday! Peace, love and yarn!!

WGN News Around Town -- Evil Squirrel Comics

The Prodigal Returns!

Oh my goodness, December has been a crazy month! I've had nine- and ten-hour crocheting days! I've made Eeyore















and Ernie















and Party Pat















and a Pink and Green Car Seat Set
















seven pairs of fingerless gloves, six cowls, five scarves, four potholders, three skullcaps, two scarves, a pair of mittens, and a partridge in a pear tree!! (truth be told, I made two potholders, but they each consist of two squares, and it fit the song better if I said I made four) I also made two scarves for the Great Craft War of 2011. My team lost the Great Craft War of 2011 -- we only had three people on our team. Evil Squirrel had ten or so. But we ended up donating sixteen scarves to Emmaus Ministries that night, so that was awesome!

I also opened up an Etsy shop. My dear, dear friend and fellow crafter Mary Wells has been trying to convince me to open a shop for at least two years and I FINALLY got the confidence to sit down and do it. With Mary's awesome photographs of my garments and her Etsy savvy and moral support, we set up my shop in a mere three hours. And six days later, I made two sales! Isn't life grand? For those of you who don't know, Etsy is like Amazon for crafters. It's a really fun site to poke around. It's like having a giant craft market in your living room! My shop can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/dawnmariehamilton and Mary's shop is at www.etsy.com/shop/marywells.

I also joined a band, which has precious little to do with crocheting, except I crochet before and after rehearsal and I wore a scarf I made to our first gig. Sorry, Mom, I promise I'll wear something a little less revealing to the next gig.

I also learned that, with the exception of two games (most recently last night), when I crochet during a Blackhawks game, they win!

I have now added a movie theatre and an ice arena to my list of places where I have crocheted. I also crocheted at my mom's church, before and after (but not during) the Christmas Day service.

So that was December. And now that I've filled all of my Christmas orders, I've got more time and energy for the blogging. I'm going to start updating twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. As always, my friends, peace, love and yarn!

Craft War

With the holidays upon us, the first thing a lot of crafters think about is... WAR!!

It all started a couple of months ago, when I started the Glenwood Stitch 'n' Bitch about the same time that intrepid comic book store owner Sparky Bobby King started the Evil Squirrel Comics Knit Night. Both on Thursday, both at 7:00 pm. Well, being the friendliest of Thursday night adversaries, Mr. King suggested that we have a Holiday Craft War. Neither of us knew at that point what that might entail, but it sounded awesome! We decided to ruminate on what a Craft War could possibly consist of. I turned to my very brilliant and creative friend, Wally Andersen. "Wally," I said, "Evil Squirrel wants to have a Craft War with us, but neither they nor we know exactly what a Craft War is. Do you know?"

Wally, thinking for all of ten seconds (I told you he's a genius!) said that we should have each team knit or crochet as many scarves as possible in a three-hour period, and the winning faction buys the losing faction a round of shots, and the scarves could be donated to charity. How brilliant is Wally??

So I took this idea to Team Evil Squirrel. They loved it as much as I did! And we agreed on
Emmaus Ministries as our charity. Emmaus reaches out to male prostitutes, predominantly in the Lakeview and Uptown neighborhoods. The offer of a scarf is a nice introduction for the outreach team members in talking to these fellows. Please click on the link above and learn about their wonderful ministry.



The Glenwood vs. Evil Squirrel Craft War is happening on Thursday, December 15, 6:00-9:00 pm, at the Glenwood Bar, 6962 N. Glenwood Avenue. Limit 20 crafters per team, so get in touch with the Team Captain of your choice ASAP!!

And, as always, Peace, Love and Yarn, my friends!

These are a couple of my most recent scarves, in the crochet pattern I'm going to recommend for the Craft War!