craft fairs

[marnie]

I went to visit my sister in Kansas this weekend. It was culture shock for this city girl! But the point of this post is that we went to the "Bizarre Bazaar" in Lawrence, KS, which is an annual craft show thing.

knitting was everywhere. every single table had an offering of a few fun fur skinny scarves - even the home-made soaps and the hand painted gourds.

The interesting thing was that I had maya dressed in a pair of soaker pants and so many people stopped to ask me about them. At least 12 people said that i should get a table and sell them next year (my sister kept count of that). Loads of other people poked and prodded and admired them (half of the day she was in a pair that I had made, the other half of the day she was in her swap pants - and those got twice the compliments!)

Anyway, i am, as i said, a city girl, and we don't have a whole lot of craft shows around here, but i would recommend any of you knitters who live near any fun shows or festivals to look into getting a table.

[dandelions2]

Awesome!

[CraftyMommaOf2]

cool! i love kansas. we lived in olathe for a year.

[averymybaby]

that's so funny.. I took dd to a small craft fair this past saturday too. it seems like every other table had a few furry scarves. they all mainly sold different crafts and knick knacks, but they had a few scarves for sale too. and half the women there were knitting to pass the time while they ran their booths!

[marnie]

it was the first time i'd been to kansas. i'm not very well travelled as far as staes are concerned. i liked it!

and yes, Julia, that's exactly what i meant. everyone had a few furry scarves!

[pmcgary]

Lawrence isn't exactly a good example of what craft fairs would be like for wool soakers though. They are pretty "progressive" in that way IYKWIM....(I like Lawrence a lot...Didn't think to tell you to check out The Yarn Barn...way cool yarn/spinning/knitting store..)

Over here in Jo. Co. people would pay $50 for a scarf but put their kid in disposies.....

I am about 30 mins. from Lawerence - and about 10 from Olathe (Actually were in teh Olathe school district for a year.)

[CraftyMommaOf2]

Oooo...you're neighbors with Bev Johnson! (dec painter)

[marnie]

we never even discussed the fact that they were actually soaker pants. people liked them because they were wool and knitted. i don't think it occurred to anyone that they were diaper pants and i didn't talk to anyone long enough to get into it.

i know i'm making a few pairs for some kids at the park who don't use cloth diapers - just for warm pants. I'm not really concerned about what choices other people make - especially in this city where I know I spend close to $30 in quarters and several hours sitting in a laundromat doing diaper laundry every week. Not everyone has the time or money to do it.

I guess i just assumed that most people would NOT use them as soakers but just as pants.

and of COURSE i stopped at the yarn barn. bought some 12" addis and my sister bought yarn to make an aran sweater for Maya. yippee!

Crafty, on the same block, is owned by a friend of my sister, and she stocks the more basic yarns - lion brand, patons, etc. I got an AMAZING knitting bag there - i'm so in love, and it only cost $16!

[pmcgary]

I think it probably is a pretty selective market that CDs....
I get a lot of odd looks for my dd in wool - and she is out of diapers entirely....I always assume it is the "why are you dressing your kid in handmade...can't you afford to buy stuff"? but don't really know what they are thinking...Too bad that they don't know that the wool pants she wears probably cost more than pants many places.

[marnie]

heh. that's the truth!

[Aurora]

I took the kids to Swiss Day's in a little mountain town close by here last month and they wore their LTK Pumpkin Hats I made. Tobias was in LTK Longies as well. My little ones looked so cute! :pink It was super neat and they had lots of booths and games and food. Anyways, I lost track of how many people asked me which booth I bought the hats at. I looked around and nothing like that was being offered. I am thinking of making some for a booth at some craft fair next year.(we have lots around here)

[Meredith]

If anyone is ever interested in setting up booths at local craft fairs, my Mom found this site...

www.craftlister.com

You can go in there and find craft shows/fairs within so many miles from you, who you have to register with, where, when, how much, etc etc.