Spring Squam 2015: Day 3 and Travel Home. Art Fair and Re-entry

I was dressed for the Art Fair (in my Stephen West "Mesa" which got a lot of comments...it was the right crowd for this sort of thing) and was ready to go with cash in my pocket!

Last time, I had scoped out all the vendors on the Squam website beforehand, but I couldn't find the information when I looked this time. It wasn't quite as important as there weren't the crushing crowds I remember from last time.

The camp always does a good job of dressing up the dining hall.

These ice block candle lights are a specialty and are fantastic every time. (For video and pictures of the ice harvest, click here.)

I circled the outside of the room visiting with every vendor--talking, asking questions, admiring the wares. The first time around I bought this wool from DeepWater Dyeworks.

The man was wearing a kilt; I am helpless to resist. (In addition to selling yarn, he represents utilikilt.) The orange is sock yarn--80% superwash wool, 10% nylon and 10% cashmere. It's lofty and squishy. The purple is a scrumptious lace weight--70% alpaca, 20% silk and10% cashmere. I don't have any plans for it, but it is unbelievably soft and whatever it becomes will be wonderful. :)

I then made a circle of the inside block of vendors. I think I circled the whole place two more times and picked up these lovelies:

A sweet little charm from Jessica Mixer.

She had so many sweet charms. If you browse her etsy shop, I bet you'll be tempted!

These don't match the charm, but I have a hard time resisting leaves.

The earrings are from Melissa Partridge at Color Me Happy.

And I picked up this printed cloth from Elisabeth Kelly Design.

I think it was sold as a napkin but it's larger than a usual napkin. I bought just one and my first thought (as always) is to use it in a quilt. But on second thought maybe I'll stitch on it.

My most self-indulgent purchase was this leather purse from LeatherWoolLinen.

She described the bag as "comfortable" and she was so right. It sits so softly on my shoulder and yet won't slide off because of the texture of the raw leather. Once I tried it on, I was sold. It was frightfully expensive, but remember...I had cash in my pocket and I knew how to use it.

Some of her leather items were marked by the cow's brand but this one was not. You can just make out her name stamp on the upper right corner. After using this bag for the past week I think I will be giving away all of my other purses. Or maybe I'll try to sell some on Yerdle. If anyone knows how that works, please let me know!

I visited Colleen's booth (from the altered book class) and got to chat with her and her daughter for a bit. She gave me this sign which came from a conversation she had with a cab driver.

I plan to hang it on my door at work. ;)

There were many, many lovely objects. While it's still up, you can see a list of the vendors here.

By the time I left, it was 9:30, hardly anyone was there and they were starting to pack it up. I enjoyed a walk back to the cabin and was tired enough, replete enough, that I didn't look for any living rooms to invite myself into. I cozied into bed, did a little reading and enjoyed a good night's sleep.

The next day was time to go home. :( But at least this time I wasn't leaving at 6 am and had time to enjoy breakfast and left at a more reasonable 8:30. By this time my necklace was "this big":

So close to done!

So close, I finished it while waiting for my flight. (With a two hour delay, I had plenty of time!)

I tacked down the circles with little stitches using the yarn. I arranged them to make two infinity symbols on the sides. The pattern recommended using thread, but I didn't have any and the stitches are hardly noticeable in the garter stitch.

I also didn't have a clasp but it was long enough that I just sewed the ends together and put it on over my head. I think it hangs a little low but we'll see how it is with a proper shirt to wear it with. I did see a version on Ravelry that was only three circles instead of five and I think that would be better. Maybe I'll undo this one to the third circle and then reknit it instead of knitting a whole new one.

After that I had no more knitting so I took out my Zentangle card and finished it up.

I added dots to the top right quadrant, filled in some missing lines and solid parts, and did some shading with the pencil.

After that I was out of activities and "had to" read. No sad story here.

On the way home I stopped at my sister's again. It was my niece's birthday and I had some notepads to give her from the Art Fair. I picked them up from a classmate who had a booth, Genevieve's Granddaughter. [It looks like her website is still under construction.] My niece is a crafty one and recently has self-published a book, The Life of a Bunny. I thought she may need more writing supplies. :)

I made re-entry into regular life a little easier this year by taking Monday off of work. I spent the day stitching and reviewing pictures. You've seen that I have made good progress on the embroidery project. I even tried to recapture the feeling of stitching on the dock by sitting on my porch, but it is very humid here and I am sorely lacking a lake.

I have done nothing to the altered book except gather up bits of paper and things that might go into it. In part, I'm waiting for an email that's supposed to come from Colleen of the supplies that we used. There's no way I would remember them all and some were very handy.

I'm still working on unpacking and putting things away. I brought a lot of supplies with me and you've seen how much I bought at the fair. But perhaps I'm stalling to try and keep with me the feeling of being there. The communal feeling of support. The shared value placed on making. The belief that nothing needs to be cheap, easy or fast for efficiency's sake. And that you can only start from where you are, being who you are.