Mmm... Oakland

I went to the Knitting & Crochet Expo at the Oakland convention center, with my parents. We didn't get to stay for very long, as we got there maybe 12:30, and the market closed at 3. As we all know, 2 1/2 hours to see a couple dozen booths (some- like Carolina Homespun- very large) is not enough. Plus, all the cash I had was $11, because I forgot to go to the bank, and I don't have an ATM or credit card. (I did get 4 oz. of hand-dyed superwash and a mini baggie of silk noil from Royale Hare, who I first bought from at the Gravenstein Apple Festival in Sebastopol.) It was sort of depressing that I had no money, and my mom kept rubbing it in my face (she's really into reminding me that I need to remind myself of things), but I did see some things I liked, and made note.

Next year, I think I'll organize to take a class or two at the Expo, so I can spend more time getting to know people.

In the last half hour or so of the market, my parents and I chatted with the ladies of Royale Hare (not the owner, but the two women who helped her). They both go to Renaissance Faires (RF), and are RF guild people; one of them is the head of a guild that does women-stuff: spinning, knitting, singing (her words). So, of course now I'm excited to go back to the RF, and maybe I'll find motivation to join a guild.

Thinking of RF, I have a friend (Cynthia) who- last Christmas- started a little company that goes to the Dickens Fair in San Francisco, and she thinks maybe she'll do an RF if she can find one that's close enough and long enough running for her tastes and time. Oh!- almost forgot- she runs a booth that does crafts with kids: sachets, pomanders, roving angels (sacriledge- she cuts the roving so the angels will stand up!), painted lanterns/fans, and bath bombs. The nice thing about kids' crafts is that you don't have to be concerned with authenticity. I may work for her (the pay would be slim-to-nothing, 'course), because she's fun to work with, her daughters want nothing to do with it, and it'd give me an opportunity to a) do crafts and b) be at a Renn fest.