A couple of Saturdays ago, I paid a visit to my friend Vera, who invited me to come see her and her yarn at the Empty Bottle. Now the Empty Bottle is one of my favorite places to hear music and I was excited that it could be a showcase for something called the Handmade Market.
It was just about perfect! Here you see the stage behind a row of cool animal toys, a jeweler and print artist. Now imagine this: outside it was snowing like mad and when you walked in here, an oasis of color and craft.
I got there early on because the Empty is right down from my house and other neighborhors started coming in from the cold as well…
Vera was already busy at her space; she’d brought handspun alpaca and wool and an assortment of really cool slippers and skirts.
Here’s the yarn she plied for me, dyed with marigolds and spun from wool from the farm’s flock of mixed-breed sheep. It so speaks to the chartruese in me…
I was also seduced by some beautiful wool/seacell handpun from CloudLover. I’m thinking it’s going to make a snuggy cowl and hat set very soon…
What a wonderful oasis in a cold winter! The yarn is beautiful.
I want to be able to “biggen” the pics so I can really see the awesomeness.
That’s some yummy yarn, Miss B. Reminds me that I have a couple of skeins of Vera’s goodies too..
sounds like a nice place to relax, listen to music AND buy yarn. the place looks very cozy to boot.
Those are gorgeous yarns! I love supporting local artists, though it is sometimes hard to find them in my area (I know they are out there, so I must be pretty oblivious!).
What an interesting place. I adore your merrigold wool ~ can’t wait to see what it’ll be.
With out a doubt, the Inside Market is the coolest idea yet…. Bonne, I will be driving by Chichgo in May, on my way to SheepiePalooza in St Louis… If you know of anything that will be going on, lets say around May 21st or 22nd, let me know….. fiber related would be great, we will however have two Old English Sheepdogs with us…. outside markets that wouldn’t mind seeing a hairy beast or two…
You have been very inspiring of late.. I see you are keeping your chin up….
I love what you have been doing with your blog recently. Such inspiring photos. Just lovely. Cheers
Isn’t it wonderful to have the inside market for ‘Handmade’ sellers. They do the very same here in Portland Oregon regularly. Were big on handmade around here and we’re also loaded with yarn shops.
What a cool idea! Even cooler if they served booze during the show. I’ve even been there for a (music) show, small world…