Crafty Like That

Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

I did the math. Very boring math. I looked at my gps app to determine the furthest I’ve ever been from home. So, not really math so much as it was typing in city names to see which one was the furthest from where I live. Funnily enough, Chicago was the winner. Actually, not funny. Sad actually. I have not travelled very far from home in all my 43 years. Hoping to rectify that at some point before I get to be too old and feeble to travel.

Since Chicago is at the top of the leader board, I thought of one thing I didn’t share much about from my trip there this last weekend. And that has to do with the 4th largest craft fair in the country that we went to on Saturday morning. This was a truly massive event! White canopies covering booths in every direction you could see! We came nowhere close to seeing everything. My debit card begs to differ! It may have worn out a little bit from all the times I yanked it out of my wallet. My rationale was that these are independent artists and they deserve support. They not only got support from me, but my brother-in-law who absolutely pointed out an expensive set of interchangeable crochet hooks at a booth that made fancy pens. I was balking at the price tag of some of them (though absolutely worth it, they were gorgeous!) and was going to leave the booth when he kindly asked if I saw the crochet hooks. I had not, but now I have not only seen them, I have also used them in a couple of projects since coming back home. Obviously I had to pick the orange handle. I was torn between that and the one with the purple sparkles.

Further down, I also couldn’t resist the f-bomb purse given that I have made quite a few handheld f-bombs out of yarn.

Other things that came home with me included a sampler pack of Wisconsin cheese and sausage, a jar of honey and a jar of beets from an order of nuns, handmade earrings and bracelets for my nieces and I to wear, and some hand painted bookmarks and magnets.

I also left with the idea swirling in my head that I would like to do a craft fair sometime to sell my yarn creations. My brother-in-law, once again, talked me into thinking that could be a real possibility for me. I really have always wanted to do that. But I also figured it would probably take me years to make enough items to sell at a festival this size that lasted for three days. I’m thinking these vendors do this for a living and don’t have separate full-time jobs like I do.

Then I thought maybe I could create my own website to sell things. My site, my terms, my schedule, right?

That idea lasted for exactly one day. Because then I remembered conversations I’ve had with other crafters like me and we all agree, we do it because it’s fun and we want to do it. If we have to do it because it’s our job, it takes the fun out of it. That’s not to say I’ve never done commissioned work. I will, on occasion, make something and let someone pay me to make it. I’m very discerning when it comes to accepting offers like that from people.

Visiting that festival was still a lot of fun. Fun to buy neat stuff that’s handmade, and supports indie artists, but also fun to imagine myself doing the same thing. Maybe one day I’ll do a little festival. One of those one day things in a small town. Or I’ll keep making stuff for me and random people I feel like surprising. I’m good either way.