Renegade Craft Fair - Chicago 2009

Back in December, Nat 'dragged' me to the Renegade Craft Fair on the north side.  She's been to a few of them (one of them outdoors, I think) and convinced me that it wouldn't be the worse way to spend a Sunday morning.  Secretly (or not so secretly in some circles), I'm a bit crafty.  (Hence why I put 'dragged' in quotes.)  I tend to gravitate towards either food crafts (Vanilla Extract) or holiday-driven (Christmas stuff), but I'd never been to a Renegade fair, so I was in.

I had no (read: ZERO) real expectations for the fair so I couldn't leave disappointing.  Us silly suburbanites drove, and alas, there was NO parking (I know..."mass trans, dude.") - in fact, the place was a zoo - much to my surprise.

I guess those hipsters really love them some screen printed shirts.  MY GOD WERE THERE SCREEN PRINTED TEES!

In fact, that's probably my only gripe:  too many screen printers.  Ironic tees.  Indie band posters.  Lots of things I didn't understand.  They had the crafts in 4-5 big and small rooms.  I think they can kick out a few screen printers, shrink the thing down and allow me to concentrate a bit more.  The tables were packed and some were hard to belly up to.  We managed to, I think, hit all of the rooms and even shared a cupcake from the temporary cafe they set up.

Nat ended up buying a crocheting tool 'holder' of some sorts for her aunt, we bought an elephant print for our then un-born daughter, and Nat fawned over a hand-made winter hat. It was a bit pricey so we passed on it.  I grabbed the vendor's card and ordered it for her for Christmas, so she got it anyway!

Magnolia Photo Booth Company also had a booth setup which we took advantage of.  The guy running the booth asked us if we wanted to use his props like glasses or hats or giant cigar.  We were all like, "ahem...don't you see this HUGE belly and goofy beard?  We're all set.  Thanks."