Renegade Craft Fair SF

I'd emailed J+B about the Renegade Craft Fair when I found out about it, so it was a definite To-Do item on our itinerary.  We powered up Sunday morning with an awesome homecooked brunch, and geared up for the ride there.  Helmet, gloves, backpack, practicing braking and setting off... and a bright sweater so B could easily glance back and make sure I was still there!

Let me tell you, riding a bicycle in San Francisco is very different from doing the same in the countryside of Japan or the mostly-bikes metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City!  It was a bit daunting riding alongside so many cars -- thank goodness for bike lanes! -- but very satisfying, especially on such a nice day, and even more so as we zipped by all those cars (and brake lights) along Embarcadero.

The craft fair itself was poppin'.  There were a lot of booths and a ton of artsy people all around.  Seeing it all in person, I really appreciated the hard work that went into organizing the event, as well as the artists' creativity and *pluck* in setting up each of their own display areas.  It was cool to see some of the booths of people I've seen on blogs or Etsy -- good to "discover" that they are people, after all!



I was hoping to find buttons for my Forecast sweater, but saw "completed crafts" more than "craft supplies." I noticed lots of baby items.  Perhaps I've got baby on the brain (more on this later), but I was drawn to the onesies, bibs, alphabet prints, mobiles, and other wee things.  I saw one with hand-silkscreened earphones (those big ones that the DJs wear) and was pretty tempted.  But in the end, I couldn't drop over $20 for it. 

See, that's my thing with these sorts of fairs.  I want to support artists, support local, support handmade -- but I can't afford to!  Also, even though I'm not Ms. Uber Crafty, if I see something that I think I can make --  which, honestly, I saw a lot of there -- I'll never buy it, even if I never end up making that item.

 Am I the only one who feels this way?

 

Needless to say, I left empty-handed, and sooner than I'd anticipated.  One of these days, though, I'd like to try going to a fair like this again.  As I get more into sewing (in the near future), maybe I'll gain a better understanding of what it really takes for these artists and craftsmen and women to do their thing.