Chapter One
“Carrigan Elizabeth Smith, you have to do something before all these critters come to life and eat us alive,” her older-by-ten-minutes sister, Charlotte “Lottie” Smith said as she looked around Carri’s suite. “There is no way even a fraction of these beasts will fit into our new apartment. You have to get rid of most of them.”
Carri huffed a breath. “They’re stuffed, Lottie. They can’t eat us alive. They can only sit and look cute or scary or friendly as they wait to be snuggled and loved and told secrets that they’ll never share with anyone.”
Lottie huffed and waved her arm around the room. “Between your always- growing collection of yarn and all these critters you’ve made you are one funky smell away from an episode on thatHoardersshow. You’ll have to donate them to the hospital or somewhere else because there’s no way all of this will fit in your bedroom at the new apartment.”
They were scheduled to move in six weeks to a three-bedroom apartment in town with their other sister, Tilly. The state was evicting them so a highway extension could be built through their living room. They’d grown up on this smallfarm, which their great-grandparents had started and they had inherited from their parents three years before.
The sisters did not have the money, time or energy to fight the state, and after a long family meeting, they each admitted that the house and twenty-acre farm were more than they could handle. After several more hours of debate, they agreed to take the money the state offered and move into town. They’d found an apartment a quarter of the size of their home, which meant they had to downsize everything.
Carri frowned at her sister before looking around the room again. Her friendly creations covered every flat surface. Even the wall of cubbyhole-style bookcases she’d put together over the past couple of years was full. Yarn in every color her favorite yarn company offered filled half the shelves while the rest were full of the whimsical little animals she created. Some were her own designs while others were made from patterns she found on the internet.
Every critter had been created with love. Other than her sisters, Carri had no one else in her life. The last man she’d been involved with two years before had left her with a shattered heart and a broken spirit. The blow to her self-confidence from his verbal abuse proved more devastating than if he had struck her.
Instead, he lied to her, over and over again, until the night she caught him in bed with another woman. That was when she found out the woman who he claimed to be “only a roommate” was actually his fiancée. Carri had unknowingly been the sidepiece, even though he’d assured her time and again that he was not involved with anyone else.
Since that day, Carri had poured her love into making her crocheted critter friends. Only her sisters truly understood her love of creating the soft squishy animals since they each had a crafting addiction of their own. Tilly made clothes for Littles,while Lottie made candy. Unlike Carri, they both sold their creations instead of just letting them collect around the house.
“They can’t go to just anyone. They deserve homes with good people who are going to love and treat them properly.”
“Can you at least admit you have too many critters? You can’t even use your desk.” Tilly gently pointed to the small antique secretary desk in the corner. It was covered with more skeins of yarn as well as piles of patterns.
Carri sighed and her entire body deflated. “All right, I might have a bit of a problem. What can I do about it?”
“We’ll start by sorting them and doing an inventory. Then we’ll pack them up. That way we’ll know just how many stuffies you have. Okay?”
Tilly made sense.
“Okay,” Carri agreed with a sigh.
“You might want to think about turning this hobby into a business. You could probably make some serious money, especially if you would write up and sell the patterns for your original designs.”
Carri shook her head. “I’m not sure how to do any of that. I’m a crittermaker, not a businesswoman.”
“Why can’t you be both? These animals are so cute that you could sell them and maybe make enough money for that trip to Scotland you’ve been dreaming about,” Lottie suggested. “You’ve got do to something, Carri. We cannot take them all with us to the new apartment.”
Lottie walked out and Carri turned to Tilly, who had remained silent through Lottie’s tirade. “What do you think, Tilly? Do you think I could sell them?”
Lottie was the level-headed business-minded sister who kept them on budget and on time paying their bills each month. Carri was the creative, anti-business sister who worked so she could pay her portion of the household bills before the rest went intobuying yarn, patterns, and books. She read romance novels on her tablet when her hands grew tired from crafting. Tilly was the one with common sense and the ability to maintain the peace between Carri and Lottie.
Tilly picked up a deep-red dragon with orange wings and studied it. Setting it down again, she looked thoughtful for a moment. “I agree that you need to downsize. And I know where you can sell them to people who will love your babies and give them the kind of homes you want them to have. And yes, I think you could sell them for whatever price you want to ask.”
“Really? Where?” Carri asked, intrigued by the possibility, though her stomach rolled with nerves at the thought of getting rid of her friends.
“Lil’palooza next weekend. Lottie and I have already rented two booths. I’ll call tomorrow and see if they can squeeze you in. You can sell your critters to the Littles attending the convention. And who knows, you might also meet the Daddy of your dreams. A mature, businessman-type Daddy who will love you, guide you, and help you turn this hobby into a nice side business.”
Carri looked around the room sighed. “The critters are getting a out of control. If I could find them new homes with good people, that would be okay. I guess.”
“Then it’s settled. Carri’s Critters will join Tilly’s Tutus and Lottie’s Lollies at Lil’palooza next weekend.”
“Carri’s Critters? I like it,” Carri said with a smile to cover up the nervousness that was already growing.
Would people really buy her creations? Or would she end up donating them to the hospital like Lottie wanted? And how would she keep this population explosion from happening again in the future?
Chapter Two
Thursday morning, Carri stepped back and studied the display she had put together. She’d brought about half of the more than two hundred critters she’d made, but only a couple dozen fit on the provided eight-foot table supplied. As she sold them, she would grab replacements from the boxes tucked under the table.
