Craftstravaganza!!

Ah, the rogue artsy-craftsy glory that was Craftstravaganza! I tell you now, if you live anywhere within reasonable driving distance of Saint Paul, next year you need to come. Really. Go look. Dare you to get past the vendors page with out getting lost in links for a good hour at least. Do yourself a favor though and stash your cc with some unfeeling, trustworthy soul first. It should truly not be in any possible way accessible before you click that link.

My hands down fave vendor was "I Like You", a local consignment for local artists with attitude. This sock monkeys with arm hair, swilling a beer. Or another with a pink tutu and matching mohawk. Lots of fabulousness along the lines of "reduce reuse, recycle". They even shared the secret of turning your old LPs into kitschy bowls. Love it. I exhibited marked restraint and came away with this "rescued sweater" bag:


and some "reclaimed" modern bibs for #3...love the vintage fabric patches:

And from Sassy Art Goddess, truly the goddess of felted sweater bags...I could have bought them all, but would have felt very badly about the bounced check that would result...this one begged to come home though:

It's now a sweet repository for my latest sock projects. (check out her homepage for the Mamarox animation...l.o.v.e. it.)

And then we come to Aisha. Oh my. Yes, there was yarn. A whole table full of handspun and hand dyed yarn. Spinning batts too...which I could blissfully try to ignore as I don't yet spin...but she teaches classes damn it! At Crafty Planet. In June. AGH!

This is her handspun. Actually quite atypical based on what else was there, but it screamed "make me into mittens" when I touched it. Loverly and soft.


And this. Hand dyed, locally grown wool. She has a local farm she's fallen in love with. They have fancy shamancy French sheep that start with an R...Ramboulitte or some such. Too lazy to go unearth the skein. I'm thinking fingerless mits and a hat. Perhaps a bag though...we'll see. Fabulous and soft and I love the double local as much as I love my CSA. Aisha Celia Designs. Check her out.

That was the extent of my haul, mainly because I made myself turn around and walk straight out the door after buying the second bag. It's a good think I went alone. If I had to stay any longer, I seriously would have bought something from every vendor there, and that's saying somethin'. I'm usually very discerning at most crafty events. Not much usually calls to me. These apparently are my peeps.