Charlie

The last FanExpo convention I attended was in June of 2019. I cosplayed, wandered the vendors, caught a few panels, and helped out a few of the exhibitors that I became friends with over the last few years of attending. Then the Covid-19 Pandemic arrived and I didn’t attend anything for long while. I was asked in 2022 if I would start attending conventions again. I declined as I wasn’t comfortable with the thought of so many people in a single space, something that had not bothered me before the pandemic in the slightest.

Early this year plans to visit Disney World were made with friends. I’ve been to Disney World once. It was a lot of walking, waiting in lines, food, and a lot of people. (I really did enjoy my first trip there) And this time I have the entire Star Wars section to look forward to. (It had just started being built during my first visit.)

Then a friend asked if I planned on attending the FanExpo this year. I thought about it and initially decided that if I went by myself I would likely attend for a single day. But I also offered to help my friend out if she managed to get a booth. (She offered to let me sell Fandom Llama Pins at her booth if I wanted.)

Well, I found out the Sunday before the convention that my friend did in fact get a booth. Which left me four-ish days to get my inventory, displays, and a new method of taking card payments because PayPal Here no longer worked with my phone and it is being phased out in September anyway.

I managed to fit everything I thought I might need into one large tub.

There was a flurry of activity with tagging pins, ordering the new POS system and display rack. I created back up plans just in case the POS system didn’t arrive on time (it didn’t) with QR codes to scan, created pricing sheets to primarily help me remember how much things would cost including taxes. And then I waited. Ellen, my friend that had the booth, picked me up at an awful time in the morning (because I couldn’t actually sleep Thursday night) and we were off to the convention center to set up her booth before the event opened in the afternoon for VIP ticket holders.

I can’t say that it was easy peasy once we arrived at the convention center. I felt like we had to go through a maze that was not altogether well marked to get to the loading dock where we could unload everything. But arrive we did and set up may have taken a lot less time than anticipated.

The set up we settled on before the convention opened.

We had enough time to grab some food and I tried really hard to settle my growing anxiety and doubts.

A short while after the convention opened for the VIP early preview a coordinator told our entire row that if we had the ability to spread to the remaining booths on the row that were empty (there were three – 2 of which were confirmed not coming and 1 that hadn’t heard anything back yet) that we should. After waiting for about twenty minutes (it seemed longer) to hear about the third booth Ellen and I decided to move my pins and setup on the empty table. Dina from Fandom Threads Studio loaned me a basket for the few knitted items I had on hand and Ellen let me use some of her shelving. And just like that I ended up vending on my own at FanExpo Dallas with ten enamel pins, a few knitted samples and one and half boxes of business cards.

This was what we cobbled together shortly after taking over the table.

I managed to put together a closet cosplay of Harley Quinn for Friday because I didn’t have the brain space for much else. I almost opted not to but in the end with Ellen helping to lace me into the corset I felt somewhat more comfortable sitting at a booth on my own. Even if I did manage to leave a few key pieces (hat, hair-ties) at home.

Our booths were directly across from a slew of comic book artists that were there primarily for signing purposes. Lines for these artists were long and crowded the majority of the lane that attendees walked making it a bit difficult for anyone to do anything other than scoot past the lines let alone to stop and actually look at the booth they passed by. If the outside lanes were a little wider I don’t think it would have been an issue. By the time we left to go home I felt like I was catching something as my throat was starting to feel scratchy and irritated.

Saturday I had my POS system finally so I didn’t have to use my phone to take payments and I had the ability to swipe cards if needed. (Surprisingly most purchases were tap to pay which hadn’t really existed the last time I attended the convention as an attendee – not complaining and quite glad to see it finally taking hold in the US.)

The primary issue on Saturday was the the section of convention we were in didn’t have air-conditioning. It had apparently stopped working overnight and now on the day that the convention expected its highest capacity of attendees we had no a/c.

I was glad I wore light layers the second day.

It wasn’t necessarily unbearable but it was definitely uncomfortable. I had decided that morning to wear light layers and had attempted something Star Wars – esq ala Leia and was super glad to be able to take at least one layer off.

We were told by someone in charge of some aspect of the convention or facility that they were working on getting it fixed as quickly a possible, I almost suggested they could provide exhibitors with water for the duration – because really that’s what we needed to cope with the rising temperatures. But I had a feeling that it would have fallen on deaf ears at that moment.

Inspired by my booth neighbor to the left of me I grabbed a notebook and laid it out on the table for folks to leave notes or doodles as a way to commemorate my first time vending at a convention. I used it as a conversation starter throughout the day as attendees wandered by. Even though I only had ten pins, they did receive a lot of double takes. There were more than a few surprised looks when realizing that the pins were llamas in costumes. The smiles that flashed across attendees faces boosted my self-esteem and told me that my initial idea for the fandom llama pins was in fact a good one. I was absolutely tickled when members of the 501st stopped by and then purchased a few of the pins (R2, Luke, and Harley Quinn)

One of my favorites that I managed to take a picture of – Our Flag Means Death.

Sunday the a/c worked again and all the attendees that waited to purchase things made the rounds. I wandered with Ellen through part of the convention on Saturday. It felt like maybe 15 minutes but was actually an hour and we barely saw a fourth of the vendors outside of Artist Alley in my opinion. I took a quick break on Sunday to pick up a few mystery boxes that weren’t technically mysteries to me thanks to some folks that stopped by the booth and talked about some of the things they were carrying and the rest of my purchases were made from my booth neighbors – Ben Byrd (IG @benbyrdart) and Jessie Olney (IG @artsyrobotz) The only other time I actually left the booth for something convention related was to catch the Star Wars march down the center isle. I saw some amazing cosplays and even managed to take a few pictures from my chair at the booth. By the time FanExpo Dallas closed every single one of us were ready to go home. Packing up took even less time than setting up did and I was home and cuddling with my cats by late evening.

Recovery from this three day event took me three days. It turned out that I was not getting sick but that I had talked so much more than I normally do that I came close to loosing my voice. I did suffer from dehydration – no one to blame but myself on that count really. After copious sleeping, rewatering and reflection I think that this FanExpo Dallas will be one I will remember for quite a long time.

I wouldn’t have had this opportunity if it weren’t for Ellen. I started the convention telling myself that I if I just sold one enamel pin then I would call it the adventure a success. We were extremely lucky to be able to use the second booth, that is not something that I see happening a second time. Our booth neighbors were amazingly kind and encouraging. Even when they didn’t buy anything from me, I was gifted a smile from every person that stopped at my booth. And I have some really cool doodles and messages to remind me of this adventure.

I’ve already discussed the possibility of vending again with Ellen and we are in the process of working the logistics out while I dream up new pin designs. (You may see a Kickstarter for handful soon)

And that’s about it for my thoughts on FanExpo Dallas 2023.

Much love,

Charlie

A look at the back of the wrap. The striping alternates between being subtle and not so subtle.

This project came about because I subscribed to Toni’s YouTube channel TL Yarn Crafts a few months ago. She’s a crochet designer that focuses primarily on the Tunisian crochet method. Toni shares tutorials, updates, and reviews of yarn and tools on her channel. You can find many of Toni’s patterns on Ravelry and her blog.

I learned Tunisian crochet ages ago. A single “row” of Tunisian crochet usually consists of a forward pass (in which you keep all the loops you create on the hook) and a backwards pass (you work all the loops off the hook). Depending on the size of the project you will likely have an extremely long hook or a hook with a cable attached to one end with a stopper to keep things from sliding off.

When originally learned this technique I learned the simple stitch and then promptly moved back to “regular” crochet. After finishing my last project I decided to brush up on my Tunisian crochet after catching up on some of Toni’s videos. She described the Lamia Shawl as a friendly beginners pattern that could be finished over a weekend. A combination of a honeycomb pattern and simple stitch pattern the Lamia wrap seemed to offer me just the right amount of challenge to renew my skillset. So I dug through my yarn stash for yarn that I could use.

Harley was not always thrilled with me covering her with the wrap to check my progress. At some point I started rolling the worked portion up.

At first I pulled some Noro Secret Garden out. I worked the first seven rows over and over again. At least six times. By this point I understood what I was supposed to see when translating from page to hook. I also realized that I didn’t want to use Noro Secret Garden due to it’s striping properties (long color runs). So back to the yarn stash I went and the only yarn I had that I had in the needed quantity was Noro Retro in Magenta.

I was at least ten rows into the pattern with the yarn when I realized that it was a semi solid color which was hard to tell simply looking at the ball of yarn. So I still ended up with a striped fabric in the end. Just more on the subtle end.

I started this project on April 12th, 2023 and it came off the hook on May 24th, 2023. I worked on the wrap for a few hours every morning for most of that time. I took a break for a few days towards the end. Naturally Harley spent a lot of that time on my lap supervising.

Sometimes I take a good close up. The border is worked at the same time as the main part.

In the end I used 6 skeins of Noro Retro which ends up being 606.0 meters (662.7 yards), 300 grams. I should also mention that Noro Retro has a thick yarn/thin yarn situation going on so the texture of the fabric is varied. I have not blocked it yet to it’s final form. Primarily because it’s not going to get worn unless it goes to someone else. (Little known fact about me – I don’t actually wear shawls/wraps even though I love making them.)

For those that might be interested in the information – when I acquired the yarn it was selling for $10 a ball so in material cost alone this wrap is $60.

I enjoyed making the Lamia Wrap and found it to be a great refresher for relearning/remembering how to Tunisian crochet. Toni has a really nice video tutorial that you can follow for this pattern – which I did watch to understand the purl stitch. (Why yes, it is another thing that it has in common with knitting!) I would recommend Toni’s patterns to anyone that is interested in learning Tunisian crochet.

Much love,

Charlie

Author: Charlie

FanExpo Dallas 2023

Crochet (Tunisian) – Lamia Wrap