Weekend Recap!

Howdy Dynamos!  Little known fact about the Maraia household, we rock a Sunday/Monday weekend.  Yes, Mr. Dynamite works the Tues-Sat shift at his pays-benefits-and-money job (as opposed to his doesn't-make-a-cent-but-he's-livin-his-dream job).  So, we're back from our fun weekend now, and the Tuesday blues won't set in for at least a half hour, so now is the perfect time to dish about all the fun stuff we saw at the Renegade Craft Fair in LA on Sunday.

  

Okay, so confession time, I am a horrid travel blogger.  I am ridiculously shy, and I am super embarrassed to ask people if I can shoot pictures of their stuff.  I know what I intend to do with the pictures (put it on here so you guys can see the awesome art!) but get crazy nervous that the artist will think that I'm trying to steal their ideas/bootleg their prints or something.  So, I shot a crap-ton of crowd and tent pictures and virtually no awesome-sauce booth stuff...

Except my new friend Miryha at Blarney Yarn was so sweet to let me shoot pictures of all her yarn-y goodness!  She hand dyes rovings, and she makes the most beautiful yarns.  Plus, she is just a delight to talk to!  I couldn't leave before I'd bought a new spindle and some of her gorgeous rovings!   So much fun!!!  Actually, Jake asked me what I had bought when we got home, and when I showed him, he asked me why I hadn't bought more of her stuff!  Ahaha!  But lucky for me, Miryha has an Etsy store (it's down right now because of the fair, but it should be back up soon).

Miryha's the one in blue!

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is ALL OF THIS! xo Jaime

The woodworking trailer that SideStreet.org brought was just the coolest thing ever!  Jake and Mims took a one hour (free!) woodworking class.  It was great, and Mims is so proud of the fact that she used a saw and a drill.  (I wish she looked happier in this pic!  Honest, she had the best time at the class.  She wants to do more woodworking projects!)  They made wooden toy cell phones, and Mims has had the best time playing with them.   The class was so good we had to make a donation to the program!  Thanks Blue!

There were a ton of food trucks to choose from!  Indian food, Belgian street food, New Jersey-style hot dogs, fried chicken, blended coffee drinks, even a little ice-cream cart that sold artisan popsicles!  I will say that the curry smell kinda overpowered the other smells, but that was good, since it also overpowered the stench coming from the porta-potty area... :(

 We weren't the only ones at the park!  Do you want to know what the difference between a gopher face and a rat face is when it's looking at you from a hole in the ground right next to your feet?!! The gopher face is bigger!  That's it!  It looked like a giant rat head looking at me.  I am still completely freaked out.  **Fun Fact Tuesday:  Jaime is deathly afraid of rats!  It's irrational and illogical, but I totally totally fear them.  Pass it on!***

While we were in LA anyway, we cruised by a landmark and grabbed some uber-yummy donuts!  It also happens to be about a block away from Jakes 'real' job, so Mims and I got to see where he works.  Industrial and non-descript are the best words that I can use to describe his office...  I think he might use the words "soul crushing," but perhaps I'm wrong... (psst... I'm not wrong...)

When I got home I grabbed my shiny new spindle and wool and got to spinning! The yarn was so soft and spun beautifully.  And the balance on the spindle was a dream!   

 I hadn't spun yarn for almost ten years, so I ended up with 35 yards of rather uneven, but gorgeously colored, yarn.  Seriously, Miryha at Blarney Yarn is a genius!

This is my spindle all full of freshly spun yarn.  The cell phones are the SideStreet.org project that Mims and Jake did.  Cute, huh?!  Mims mocked her dad for having such a boring phone front... Hers is a scribbled pink...

My crazy yarn is now hanging in the bathroom to dry.  I soaked it to set the twist.  It should be ready to use in the morning, or I can twist it up if I don't want to use it right away.  (I'm going to use it right away...)  

Also, I want to give a shout out to some other crafty awesome folk I saw at the fair:
Peanut Butter Dynamite!
Mama Gourds!
Mon Cher Pug!
Emma SanCartier Illustrations!
Gnome Enterprises!
If you get the Tuesday Blues later I would highly recommend checking them out!  I found them to be delightfully inspiring.

Also, today is the last day to enter my giveaway!  So, have you entered yet?  No?!  Go do it now, or no dessert for you tonight.  Seriously.  That's the kind of power I wield.  So click the link already, there's nothin' left to see here...

xoxo

Update 8.1.12:  The giveaway is closed now.  Thanks to all the sweet Dynamos who participated!