I started crocheting in 2012. I bought a crochet craft kit from Big Lots that contained a plastic crochet hook, a small amount of yarn, and a little booklet with beginner instructions and patterns for cute little critters.

I enjoyed it, and it came natural to me. I continued my new hobby. I made beanies, scarves, and coasters for my friends and family. I noticed that no one ever wore what I made, so I wanted to see what else I can make. That's when I discovered amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting stuffed yarn creations. I bought an Amigurumi craft kit from Barnes and Noble called Yummy Crochet. My very first amigurumi was this little cupcake in 2013.


I fell in love with this form of art! Over the years, I sporadically did commissions and set up my Etsy shop. My original art username was Sami's Ami. Most of my customers were friends of my sisters. I think I made one or two Etsy sales during this time. I saw crochet/amigurumi booths as an attendee for my first Anime Expo (AX) in 2016. I aspired to one day be at these types of events.
Life got busy, and I found myself crocheting less and less. My plans of making crochet a side hustle became more of a pipe dream. And then...covid happened. With the stay-at-home orders and all the restaurants/arcades/music venues closed, I suddenly had a lot more free time. I picked up crocheting more and made an Instagram account for my work. I reopened by Etsy account too. I had a LOT of requests and was making a good amount of money on the side. By 2021, I had reached my goal of having a near perfect rated Etsy shop and having 1,000 followers on Instagram.
I wanted to achieve a new goal. With the covid restrictions lifted, events started happening again. I had my very first craft show at my local mall with Socal Etsy Guild. The entire experience was one of the highlights of my life. I was actually holding back tears of joy throughout the event. I preferred this over doing commissions and weekly trips to the post office for Etsy.

I did more single day events like Sugoi and Anime Cult Expo. I eventually signed up for Anime Los Angeles (ALA) 2023. This was my first time having an artist alley table at an actual convention. I had a blast and did really well. I genuinely believed that ALA would be the biggest event I will ever do in my life. And I was okay with that. I signed up for AX for fun, knowing that I probably wouldn't get chosen. After all, AX Chibi turned me down. I originally got an email saying that I was wait-listed. A few weeks later, I got another email saying that I was off the wait-list. I was ecstatic.
ALA was always my dream con and end goal for my crochet work, simply because I thought AX was impossible. I achieved a dream I didn't even know I had! AX 2023 here we go! Getting into AX has inspired me to be more established as a business.
So here it is: my website. Many more posts to come.
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