Nerdy Marie 23 offers modern take on crochet
Aug. 22, 2019
Mattie Rabon is a new vendor at Saturday’s 605 Made Night Market, but she’s not a first-timer at the makers’ festival.
Rabon said she has always loved celebrating local makers at the yearly market, and now she’s setting up a booth of her own.
Her business, Nerdy Marie 23, sells crochet work that ranges from washrags to dolls.
When Rabon found herself with plenty of free time in her freshman year of college, she taught herself how to crochet, and now simple hats and scarves have evolved into replica dolls that Rabon said people usually get “nerdy” over.
She’s currently finishing a Moana doll, which she said has been one of her favorite crochet projects so far.
“The amount of detail in her and how the character looks makes it my favorite to make,” she said.
Big dolls, like the Moana one, will sell for $25 or $28 depending on whether they have hair. Smaller dolls are priced at $15, and washcloths are $10.
Rabon is finishing up an elementary education degree at the University of Sioux Falls, and the 605 Made Night Market will test whether making Nerdy Marie 23 a part-time business would be sustainable. Rabon hopes to sell at least half of her inventory at the festival.
The 605 Made Night Market will take place from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of Cherapa Place in downtown Sioux Falls.
