Phantom Limb

DUCF Sneak Peek and Specials

Since DUCF is my big show this season, Phantom Limb is going all out. Loads of new items for this show and lots of specials, too! Hope to see you!

• New items at this show include a bunch of new journals: Library card and card catalog journals, Large Michigan journals and Flash card journals -- just to name a few. They will be offered in both reclaimed mixed paper and -- a totally new thing for Phantom Limb -- blank paper. You'll also have a change to shop items that I do not list on Etsy, like a bunch of one-of-a-kind framed Michigan-Michigans (Michigan silouttes made from Michigan maps). See more of my fall/winter line in this Flickr set.
• Good deals, too! Buy any journal and get a second matching journal for a discount. For example, the popular Michigan journals will be priced at a DUCF-only $6 each, or 2 for $10. Large Michigan journals will be $16 each, or 2 for $30. This is the best price these items have ever been offered at -- and this is the only place I plan to offer this deal.
• If you make a purchase, you'll receive a coupon code for free shipping fo the Phantom Limb Etsy shop, good until Jan. 30 (or whenever the little one decides to arrive and I'm on a short maternity leave).

Here's the details for the 2011 DUCF:

Detroit Urban Craft Fair 

Masonic Temple, Detroit, 500 Temple Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3

11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4

Holiday Show Prep and Stockpiling

One of the things about being super preggo during the holidays is that it can really cut into a small craft biz gal's plan for doing shows. At the beginning of this year, shortly after I quit my day job, and shortly before finding out a little one was on the way, my goal was to do a show every weekend for the six weeks prior to Christmas. Of course, after I found out about the little one, that number quickly was cut down to just one in-person holiday show: the Detroit Urban Craft Fair. (My work is also available at the Starkweather Art Center Holiday Shop this year.)

Prepping for DUCF has overtaken my life recently and until this past weekend, I wasn't sure my table would be very full. Funny how assembly line making seems to work though -- the small steps sometimes feel like they will never be done and then one day you look up and BAM, you've got 200 notebooks made. 

This is especially sweet to see since my efforts to "stockpile" goods in the hope of taking a little maternity leave at the beginning of 2012 have been -- very happily -- hampered by filling shops and new orders. There are still some long days of work ahead of me this week, but knowing that the craft biz stuff will be replaced by baby prep next weekend has me chirping along.

Since DUCF is my only show for a bit, I'm going all out for it -- enjoying the process of making and planning some super deals and fun for shoppers. Check back a little later this week for info on some of these "DUCF-only" deals I'll be offering. 

Baby Knits

Despite all the stock building that has been happening around these parts, I've found a few odd moments to work in some knitting for Baby D. Since the munchkin is arriving in the middle of winter, warm, wooly stuff is in order, don't you think? I modified the popular Umbilcal Cord Hat (Ravelry page) -- cutting the cord, so to speak. It fit Mr. Roy's head perfectly -- not to mention the special bear we bought for munchkin -- so I'm hoping for the best size-wise. One can never tell with these things. The yarn is Arucania Multy Ranco in a colorway that I didn't write down. 

After the sizing success of this, I moved on to try to my first cables -- in the form of the Owlie Sleep Sack (Ravelry page). In the process, I discovered something new knitters should definitely know: They may look all fancypants, but cables are super simple. Seriously, try them. It will make you feel like a semi-decent knitter.

I'm still a bit slow with this whole knitting thing (seriously, how are you gals pumping out sweaters in a week??!), so this guy is still on my needles, but I'm crossing my fingers to complete it in time for munchkin's arrival. Otherwise, I'll have a very soft produce bag on my hands. Yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Sunshine.

And just cause I'm super proud of these twisted stiches, here's a close up of the owlies in progress.

I'd really like to try some soakers or longies next, but am not sure if they all contain Kitchner stitch? I pretty much fear those two words. Anyone have a great baby and simple baby patten they would recommend?

Weeks 14-17: Growing Bump, Movement and Crazy Dreams

Being pregnant is so crazy. Weeks just seem to swoosh by, and these huge milestones and decisions are happening so fast. Here's what's been happening in the past month:

Week 14

I started to feel oh so much better! Although sleep is still an issue (even as I write this in week 18) I was finally not so sick. In a few weeks, I was suddenly hungry all. the. time. With sudden, desperate hunger ready to strike at any time of the day, I bring snacks with me everywhere now -- even if I'm just running to the post office.

Week 15

I felt like you could finally kinda see a bump in week 15. It's slight, to be sure, but it's there and growing. This week, my nesting instinct also started to kick in, and with it, the beginning of many knitting projects for the babe. 

Week 16

At the end of week 16, I felt the baby move for the first time. It was crazy and not at all what I had expected it to feel like. My books all say it will be a "fluttering" or "bubbly" sensation -- feelings that are pleasant and light. Here's what it felt like for me: On the way home from the recycling center one evening, I felt some pressure on my lower left side. It was sort of uncomfortable and I wondered aloud "is that the baby??" Scott pushed gently on my stomach and I felt a little apple-sized head slam against my tummy. Then I screamed. Yep, that was the baby.

Since then, I've gotten more use to the feeling -- it feels a little different every time, but it never feels "fluttery" or "light." It feels more "pokey" and "strange" -- and it's always on the left side. Don't get me wrong, it's reassuring, I just feel the books had led me on here and wonder what else is not going to apply to us.

Week 17

Week 17 saw us at the last of my craft shows for the summer, DIYpsi. My dreams also have been extra insane. Previously, my nightmares were always of the realistic variety (forget to pay all bills, get evicted, that sort of thing) -- I've never dreamed of fantasy creatures or monsters. Now that I'm pregnant these realistic dreams have really stepped it up a notch. I have dreamed all of the following:

• Members of my family and close friends are all killing cops. They ask me to kill cops but I'm so mad that they are doing it that I wake up.
• Scott and I are on the run from the law. My identity has been stolen and my phone now sends us updates from the lead chaser guy detailing how they are tracking us. I throw the phone out the window.
• One of the girl's on the short-lived TV show Popular teaches me about breastfeeding. 
• An entire new episode of Gilmore Girls, in which Lorelei (the mom) does laundry the entire time. 
• The baby is a boy.
• The baby is a girl.
• The baby is a bunch of deer in our backyard which we have to avoid eye contact with.

Week 18 is already shaping up to be exciting. We find out the baby's gender this Friday but won't be revealing it until our showers. That is, if we can not slip!

Fabric for the Munchkin

One of my biggest worries about having a kid is that when we find out what gender it is (in late August), that will automatically lead to a boatload of girlie pink or boyish blue. (I know, huge worry, right?) Back when Beth was pregnant, she came up with this brilliant idea. She selected a fabric to base Roy's nursery on and then showed that fabric to everyone. Aha, I thought! That's the way to do it. So I hit up Joanns, coupons in hand, last week, to select a gender-neutral fabric for us. Here's what I picked as the theme fabric:

Honestly, I don't even know what I will make with the fabric yet (it would make great curtains, but that wouldn't happen until we are in a house we own), I just know I really, really love it and the colors: orange, teal, yellow, lime and brown.

Of course, I ended up with a few on-sale extras of the fleece variety. This will be a winter baby, afterall, so I figure these will make some easy extra blankets. Plus, who can really resist alligators that skateboard? I'm powerless, for sure.