I am not the woman you think I am.
You see the witty, urbane, sophisticated Peg, quick with a sarcastic take on the foibles of life. But that’s not me. Well, that IS me. Quite a lot of me, actually, accent on the “witty, urbane, sophisticated” part. That’s a really BIG part of me. And that’s not just my opinion – ask anybody. I didn’t just make that part up.
But that’s not all there is to me.
It is time to reveal to you, my nearest and dearest (as well as random strangers who have wandered into my blog searching for hard-hitting information about “Twinkie The Kid dead” and “magazine cover goat”)
I have a secret life.
No doubt you think my life is a series of high-powered, lucrative business meetings, interspersed with jaunts to exotic locations. You probably heard I went up to Saratoga and my horse naturally won, then I flew my Lear Jet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun. That I’m where I should be all the time and when I’m not, gentlemen are sipping champagne out of my shoes.
Would it surprise you to learn there’s not so much of that sort of thing going on?
When my busy workday is over, when I have pumped my iron and treaded my treadmill at the YMCA, I go home and enter…a secret lair. The Bat Cave, if you will, except in this case it would be the Peg Cave. And instead of donning a cape and cowl, my costume is my comfiest old sweats, the ones with the tear in the crotch and bleach splatters on the cuff. And I become, in real life….
A crafter.
There – I said it. I am a crafter.
I am one of the ranks of those who spend their lunch hours at Jo-Ann Fabric, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby searching for JUST the perfect length of rickrack trim. Who spend hours hunched over their hot glue guns turning pine cones into whimsical creatures with the judicious placement of googly eyes. Who count their cross-stitches until plastic mesh becomes a tissue box cover worthy of the Louvre!
I spend hours (many, many hours) craftily crafting handcrafted items of a crafty nature in the sanctum sanctorum of my Craft Room/Bat/Writing/Peg Cave and I am not ashamed.
All crafters have their specialties. Some work in paper, some in plastic, some in wood, iron or glass. My chosen medium is old sweaters.
I get wool and cashmere sweaters from the thrift shop, felt them, take them apart and put them back together. I take other people’s castoffs, repurpose them and give them new life as purses, pins, hats, pillows, etc. I’m the Dr. Frankenstein of fuzzy!
My brand name is “peep”. (get it? Wool and cashmere? Little Bo Peep?)
Why am I revealing all this? Why here – why now?
This crafter is going to the fair.
My sister Lib (friend, confidant and tough business manager,) has been telling me for 2 years that I have to DO something with my stockpile of recycled goodness. I’ve sold a few pieces at a local gift shop, but it’s time to branch out.
I’ve got all the trappings of a real crafty business type – tables, bags, a receipt book and an apron – and I’m going to (try to) sell my wares at a craft fair this weekend. Check out the Christmas On The Fox, Art and Craft Show at the fairgrounds in St. Charles, Illinois. Although I’ve never been to this one, it looks like a great show with some truly artisinal offerings.
Stop by and say hi if you live in the Chicago area. You can get a coupon for $1 off the admission price at the promoters website.
Where will all this end? Who knows. I’m working on an Etsy shop. All I have to do is figure out how to upload a banner, and take pictures of everything I have and calculate 
shipping…
On second thought, let’s just hope all my stuff is cleaned out at the show this weekend, hmmm?
*****************
Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to all!
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
That hat(?) on the bottom looks like the plate of grubs, etc. that Pumba & Timon (Lion King) said that SImba had to eat to be part of their gang.
Will miss you on Thanksgiving! Have a great day and love to the Shultes!
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Do you mind if I quote you in my promotional materials? “Looks like a plate of Pumba’s grubs” is just the sort of catchy phrase that is sure to attract fashion-conscious buyers.
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The best sweats are the ones with the hole in the crotch and bleach stains. I have a pair exactly like that. Come to think of it…I haven’t seen them in a while. You might need to make me a pair of sweats from a sweater. They’ll need lots of bling. And googly eyes. I trust you are capable of making this a reality.
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I’ve got about 5 pairs with the holes and stains. Sounds like what you need is the Bedazzler for your lounging apparel – that’s a bit above my abilities.
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Oh, Peg, a crafter? I had no idea you were living with this terrible affliction. Surely there’s a support group for that??
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There is a group. We meet every Tues and Thursday…at Hobby Lobby.
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Say yes to the Etsy store! ANd I don’t know what that is on the bottom — I’m guessing they are felted pins, but…um…yes, please, to the bright blue one at the bottom right. So THIS is what you were alluding to! I’m thrilled for you. I’m a closet scrapbooker. I’m just really behind right now. 😉
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I’ve always admired scrapbookers – I don’t have the patience. And yes, it’s a felted pin. Let’s hope I sell all them this weekend (to cover the truly outrageous booth fees for the show!)
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Very cool! Good luck on your first (of many to come, no doubt) craft fairs. Pretty talented to make these….(and we thought you had elves in that room).
Enjoy and have a good time!
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Thanks! I actually did my first show 2 weeks ago. It was the worst craft show I have ever, ever been to- about 30 people showed up. But, you’ve got to get right back on the horse when you get thrown off, right?
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It’s easy to get discouraged (have shared the same pain in the past) but this is a good time of year for craft shows with Christmas coming up. Timing and location is important
You’ve made some beautiful creations
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I’m glad that was a true confession and I’m also glad that you’re a crafty person in more than just witty writing! While writers can be, well, you know, moody and temperamental, crafters are so good-natured and handy in a pinch. Since I’m both, too, I can say these totally stereotypical and off-the-wall generalizations.
Love your stuff, Darlin’!
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Thanks Lorna, from a fellow light-hearted/moody/friendly b*tch!
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I want that bag! I wonder how much flights are from the UK to Illinois at the moment…whatever it is, it’ll be worth it to get my hands on that baby!
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I like the way you think, Vanessa! Let ‘s hope there are a boatload of “money is no object” types at the craft show.
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Please tell me you’ve knit yourself a cape. In awe of your crafting powers, lady.
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I don’t actually know how to knit, but I’ll try to make one out of old milk jugs. Thanks!
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Good luck at the craft fair this weekend. I hope you have some elves to assist you.
Readers – I saw a lot of Peg’s crafted pieces a few weeks ago. The pictures above are just a few samples of some pretty cool stuff. all kinds of purses, pins, pillows, pumpkins, Christmas trees, and more.
Amazing how talented you are, Pegomysista!
Love ya!
T-Berry
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Thank you, Miss Tar! Liz is going to assist me on Saturday, and Sunday I’m on my own. Let’s hope for a deluge of buyers! happy Thanksgiving to you and Pat, sweetie.
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Oh, what great stuff! I’ve always admired those who can make something out of something else. I don’t have that kind of imagination. Fantastic!!
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THanks so much! It gives me something to putter around with, but I’ve got too much stuff stacked up – time to get rid of it!
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A gun of glue, a glass of wine and thou
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Watch who you say that mushy stuff to – women will be putty in your hands!
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Hello. My name is Peg. I am an craft-o-holic.
Great creative outlet. Probably the only addiction that is NOT bad for you.
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I don’t know, Robin. I get hooked on crafting, blogging, and neglect my real life. Sigh.
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Good luck at the fair and with Etsy! It would be so wonderful to be able to make money doing what one does for fun and relaxation – not to mention how much room it would open up in the house… (dare I mention how much space forty-some years of crocheted items take up?)
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It was fun at the fair. I didn’t make enough to quit my day job, but I got my feet wet. On to the next one!
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Being all thumbs when thumbs are necessary, you have my deepest admiration. I have trouble sewing on buttons. Your products are lovely and I can’t imagine the work that went into all that creativity. Good luck at your first craft fair!
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Thanks – I had a good time, but BOY is it a lot of work. Got home at 7 last night and collapsed.
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Good luck at the craft fair and Etsy! I’m sure your products will be a hit.
But Peg, I’m worried about you. That first picture at the top of this post just seems off, somehow. Un-Peg-like. A cry for help. Or did you just run out of your signature Peg-O-Leg yellow?
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Laura, you’re so right! That just goes to show what a funk I’ve been in. I’ve got to start prioritizing when I forget my blond hair.
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I also have comfy pants with wholey crotches. What is it about that area of our bodies that is so corrosive? Um, wait, nevermind.
Good luck selling your crafty wares. May you sell out and never have to know the joys of calculating shipping!
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“Comfy pants with wholey (holey? Holy? Holie?) crotches” sounds like a blog post idea, Misty. Or a rock band.
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I’m glad you including photos. I knew a woman who hand felted and churned out idiosyncratic scarves, all hand dyed and quirkily shaped…i know, it’s a scarf, how quirky can it be shaped? But they were not your regular rectangular jobs. Anyway, they looked like road kill. Your wares, look wearable and are aesthetic pleasing. I will hitherto refrain from maligning felting. 🙂
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If I can get just ONE person to stop maligning felting, my work will not have been in vain.
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I am so impressed, Peg. Best of luck at the fair, I’m sure you’ll do very well. I am the opposite of ‘crafty’. I did get sucked into the scrapbooking craze for a short time. I went a bit nuts, bought out JoAnn Fabrics. Started several albums for my kids when they were babies. Still haven’t finished a single one. sigh. Maybe someday.
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Oh Darltha Stewart, I know what you mean. I started the baby books and got up to maybe 6 months with the first one. With the second, I don’t even know if I wrote down her height and weight, and I never can remember that. Buying all the stuff and having good intentions has to count for something, right?
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Ah Ha! I KNEW it! Another member of the Justice League of Artsy, dedicated to truth, Mod Podge and the American Way! Now I understand all your subtle questions about Etsy (be undaunted, my heroic friend).
But, seriously, I want that bag. Really. My book bag is about worn out and I need something to tote my journals and writing junk to and from my coffee shop haunts. I’m emailing you now. Seriously. Don’t sell that bag. For the love of all that is good and holy!
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Justice League of Artsy? Do I have to make my own cape and cowl out of aluminum can pop tops?
I’m definitely going to email you for help on the Etsy thing. I put my shop address on all my tags at the show, but I don’t have it open. It just seems like so much more work.
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We’ll figure it out. Really.
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I think this is quite cool! Who knew. Talent is a wonderful thing to have, me? No, now and then I can write something but it is with effort. I love the pins and the sweater, to cute. Good luck and may you sell everything and take orders for more!
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I did have somebody ask if I took commissions, and could I make a matching smaller coat to the blue one I show above? I had to turn her down. The design is dictated by the particular sweater I happen upon, which is why it’s so time consuming. Nothing can be assembly line stamped out.
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Please let us know when you get your Etsy shop up! I love felted stuff and I recently started working with it, too. But I’m a fledgling and can only offer my creations as gifts for now.
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I wish I had 1/2 your artistic talent. It was kind of weird when I was setting up and thinking “do you expect people to PAY you for this junk?” I didn’t set the world on fire this weekend, but it was good experience.
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AWESOME! I love getting to see this other side of you! Incidentally, a friend taught me how to do the knitting basics (such that I could either knit or purl what Li’l D calls “a scarf,” of an appearance such that only he would dare wear it) some months back. I tried to pick it up last week and appear to be trying to knit and purl at the same time. As soon as my friend returns from her Thanksgiving trip, I will be getting some troubleshooting tips. I’ll doubtfully ever make anything more grandiose than a scarf (hopefully wearable by an adult human), but I sure would love to be able to make even that. 🙂
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I love the idea of knitting, but I lack the patience to learn new skills. I crafted pathetic potholders as a young girl scout and that was the best I could manage. But they say it’s very therapeutic, so keep it up, Deb!
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Recycling and repurposing old sweaters? You’re a woman after my own heart, Peg! I hope that the craft fair goes well this weekend. We have set up at really great shows and really not-so-great shows with Marty’s artwork before, so I hope you get swept into the first option and sell all of your wares. Who needs Etsy?
(Speaking of Etsy: calculating shipping costs is a real pain. Guess who got saddled up with that particular job when we had to set up our online store? Not the artist, obviously. It was his minion. Bah.)
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That’s right – you do this for a living, I forgot. How long does your season last? Do you only do the fixed location or do you travel around?
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We used to do different booths, but now we have our fixed outdoor booth from about late March/early April until Canadian Thanksgiving (mid-October). How did the event go?
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OK, you’ve got me interested, but a thousand miles seems like a long way to go for a craft fair. Please tell me that Peg-O Industries is going to pick up the online options for these items so we far flung cyber junkies can peruse them without getting out of our own tattered sweats.
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Peg-O Industries is all talk and no action when it comes to setting up the online options. I need more time in the day!
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Ah, yes…
I… sensed… a ‘craftiness’ in the atmosphere!
That’s awesome, Peg! I love your crafty creations! Best of luck at the fair this weekend (not that you’ll need it… something tells me you’re going to be a hit)!
🙂
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SIG, do you sell your stuff at a gallery?
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I’ve only sold a few things (when my wife and I had a brick and mortar store)…
but I’m hoping with about 30 years more practice I can possibly con my way into one… somewhere… maybe… if somebody ‘knows a guy’…
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Well I’ll be darned, Peg. Get it? Darned? Oh, you did.
Does this mean I can send to you all the knitting projects I did back in the day that looked wonderful until I tried to put them together? Now only aliens can wear them ….
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That’s some quality punning there, Elyse, and I’m not just needling you. Get it? get it?
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Puns are so underrated. Hope you did well at your show.
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Very cool, Peg-Bo-Peep!!! Here’s hoping you make some dough this weekend! Love Lib (aka, “the Manager”)
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Dough? Hmmmm, maybe I can start crafting playdough ornaments. Line up another show, oh manager!
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I hope you make tons of money, wish I could be there. Confessions are good for the soul and it’s another fun side of you. I was looking for the ruby slippers.
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Yeah, I forgot the blond hair, too. No tons of money were had, but I made more than the entry fee and gas. Fun and tiring.
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I love it! Good luck to you! I bet you sold out…For a couple of Christmases I made and sold decorative wreaths and flower arrangements. Now you can buy them at Hobby Lobby!
I am an artist and crafter turned writer. I still have the bolt of fabric ready to cut and sew into new curtains for a bathroom upstairs. I guess the stripes will have to do until I stop my new obsession! I do illustrate our family Christmas card every year…
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Isn’t that the truth – you have to choose which creative outlet to concentrate on since there are only so many hours in the day. I’m envious of your ability to illustrate; that sounds lovely!
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Whaaaaat? Crafty creator AND a witty wizard? This can’t be right. You must be cheating at one of them. No fair!
(I sewed on a button once. Shhhhhh.)
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I AM cheating on them. By trying to do both I end up doing neither very well.
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Holy crap, Peggles! Look at you, hiding this up your handmade sleeve! I am so impressed!
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Ha ha! Yup, I’m a woman of mystery. Except instead of having a past as an international spy or high-wire artist, I’m a crafter. Which is just about as good…
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Oh, who are you trying to kid? We’ve all heard the stories about you gavotting in your scarf that was apricot. I must admit, though, this cover identity is ingenious, not to mention colorful, and I hope, profitable. I hope the show went well and your Etsy shop will be a great success. Happy belated Thanksgiving.
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And I thought you were just another pretty face! I hope your experience at the craft fair was a good one.
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