Wednesday, August 18, 2010

summer mendocino art fair

last weekend "washboard woolies" (rhodi and i) ventured to mendocino again for an art and craft fair. i cannot tell you how much i needed to get away from the heat and sun. this time of year i'm so sick of everyday sunshine i could scream!!! the weather was perfect: drizzle, fog, mist, clouds but we actually did see the sun peak out every once in awhile-the locals went gaga for it.

the cost of mendocino summer lodging can be pretty pricey we opted to save some money by camping. being that the state parks have been booked solid all summer long-we found a gem of a place to camp. right by caspar beach. only $25 a night. we had a groovy site:


there's rhodi heating up some tea water for us. a 5 minute walk from our tent and wa-la:

nice, eh? we didn't have time to rent surf boards or kayaks that they had available. there was even a bluegrass jam at night. we really lucked out.

i insisted rhodi bring the iron bed frame she found in a dump in Louisiana-i think it added the perfect touch.


a perfect place to hang rowan's kid sized fingerless mittens.

too cute!!!! it was a bizarre sale. we thought we'd sell mainly knitted items. but low and behold-we hardly sold any of it- the popular items this fair were the hand dyed rovings(felters came out of the wood work i tell ya!) and our yarns. wow! we were surprised.

this wine rack was loaded with rovings when we started and we came home with just a few. rhodie dyed silk scarves and did some nuno felting too. they are the crinkly scarves. there is actually wool felted into the silk. here's a closer look:

last fall all my baby sweaters sold out. this summer, not one sold. at least i have more craft fairs coming up. so i'm not too bummed.

here's some of my hand dyed sock and shawl yarn.

the flowers were a nice touch too!

i did trade a pair of fingerless mittens for this pin. i want to make the perfect "woolydaisy" hat to stick it on. this woman had some amazing metal sculpture.

i love the town of mendocino.(actually i love all the coastal towns around here!) we were fortunate to be there on the second saturday of the month. all the art galleries are open late. not only do you get to view great art but have tasty treats as well. did you know the movie "summer of '42" was filmed there? the mendocino art center had the still photographs from the movie-it was great!! i really enjoyed the" studio odd hours" gallery too! it's been forever since i've had the time to just wander around and look at art.

i just love the old water towers in the coastal towns. i actually found one for rent and thought it would make a fabulous fiber studio. of course it would be quite the commute:) when i tried to show it to rhodi later i could not find it anywhere. the town is not very big. very strange. but we did find one for sale.

yes, i could live here. and drive a cool truck like this:

no problem!

7 comments:

Sara said...

Your booth looks fabulous, and so does the weather! I bet you two had fun :).

soxchik said...

Holy cow. I could never clean myself up from camping and switch gears into vendor mode. You and Rhodi never cease to amaze me. I love how your booth and merchandise is evolving. Very cool indeed!

Birdsong said...

Your booth has a lot of charm! I hope you do well next weekend at the local fair. Maybe it was too hot for woolies? Though not over there on the coast. I recognize that beach... love to visit, though I will probably always be a mountain grrl. I love your new pin and think maybe a beret or a felted, brimmed hat would be perfect to show it off. Happy hunting on Ravelry...

Sharon said...

Yipes. I saw Summer of 42 in theater. I didn't know where it was filmed, but that makes sense. You are insanely productive!! Love your camping place, and yes, I could live there too though I know I'm planted here.

Sierra said...

Your booth looks great and your work is amazing! Almost makes me want to do craft fairs again.

Jim Hallberg said...

I lived in one in Cotati for 2 years. It was about 100 yards from a freight train track that went into Penngrove about 4miles south which I hopped to go down to buy beer. I also drove one of those Chevy's except it was a panel truck which I parked in a Sebastopol apple orchard. When it stopped running I put it on blocks and lived in that one too. We learned all sorts of survival skills at the Riv, eh?

Anonymous said...

Way Cool! Sweet site, California Girl! Grew up in Sacramento and Bay area as a child from 4- 15. My parents has a cabin by the Russian River.

Cute house

Cheers from Colorado