Ohhhh That Was a Mistake

Ok, so I've been looking forward to Winter Wonderland, which is etsy.com's yearly winter sale, for months. It just so happens that it was today and today was also the day that it decided to snow and snow and SNOW! We planned on going to the sale today and then I was supposed to make my way up to Olympia to visit Star and Ben for a couple of days. The weather wasn't looking good and I don't have chains or snow tires AND it didn't look like it was going to warm up any time within the next couple of days so there was a potential for things to keep getting worse and worse. We decided to look up the weather between here and Olympia and that just looked super ugly. It was unanimous: there would be no Olympia trip. However, if we could make it to the max station in Gresham we could maybe make it to the Etsy sale. Mom, Dad and I decided to give it a try. We left at 10:30 and made it with a minimum of slipping and sliding to the max station at the little outlet mall nearby. We hopped on the max and went to the Convention Center just outside of Portland by 11:30. Last year the show was at the Norse Hall, it was tiny but amazing. This year, because of last year's crowds, they moved to the much larger Convention Center.

OldSchoolStationers' booth at the sale. Mom got a few cards, and I really loved this print.

Now, this is a lamp made from slides. The cool thing about this one is that it reminded me of Star. Why, you ask? Because it's an LOL Cats themed lamp! I knew you'd love it Star! I just wish I could have gotten it for you...

These were some sweet sock monkeys, but I didn't catch the seller's name.

I wound up buying the Sloth and Bunny print from berkleyillustration (I'm going to frame them and hang 'em up!). I loved all the ones he had, but I had to pick just two and these were my favorite. I would have loved to get the lady-bunny version and some others but I know where I can get them later!
The real adventure began when we decided to head home. We hopped on the max but then decided to get off again at Grand Central Bakery a few stops away. It was soooo cold outside! We hustled over and got there three minutes before they closed early and then hustled back the max tracks. Unfortunately, we probably should have stayed on that first max. We were waiting at the stop for a little while before we realized that the red line that was sitting in the station wasn't going to go anywhere. The switches at Gateway had frozen so everything was backed up. We got on the red line just to keep warm and sat there for at least 40 minutes. The conductor or whatever got on the intercom and announced that they were going to pull out, but that there was a blue line (which is what we really wanted) coming right behind it. We got off only to realize that the next train was, in fact, another red line. We hovered outside for about 15 minutes until we gave in, got on that train which was also sitting in the station for a long time like the last one, and rode that to Gateway. THAT process took well over an hour. It was freezing and crowded and boring. We had to sit at each stop for about 15 minutes because everything was backed up to infinity. We finally got to Gateway, sat there forever, then the red line we rode in on changed to blue and we thought "YES! We can just stay here! You suckas who thought you were going to the airport gotta get OFF! Hah!" Fifteen more minutes later the conductor got back on the PA and announced that he was changing BACK to a red line and everyone who wanted to be riding on a blue max had to get off and wait for the train that was "right behind" him. LIES! We huddled in the cold, windy arctic tundra that is Gresham for 15 minutes. 15 MINUTES! At that point I hadn't felt my feet for about two hours and things were going from bad to worse. My chilblains (ok, I included a link but there are pictures. I do have these, but not THIS bad, still...) were practically moving in to stay. Sigh... We'd left Grand Central Bakery at 2:30 and we finally got home at about 5:30... that's practically 3 hours of cold hell.
Now, we're home, in one piece. There's no WAY I'd be able to brave the weather to get to Olympia at this point. I think knowing what I do now, I wouldn't have even gone to the sale! But really, I love supporting local artists, and etsy, and seeing crafty things. But I'm not ready to sacrifice my toes to do it!

These Flocks

These Flocks is a site that sells all sorts of unusual knitted things ranging from huge knitted rugs,

(and yes, this was knitted on enormous needles)

To mittens which, when you order them, have a tag that corresponds to the animal whose fur it was knit from. So cool!

And lastly, they are selling this book by Christien Meindertsma who spent the last three years researching all the products made from a single pig. Amongst some of the more unexpected results were: Ammunition, medicine, photo paper, heart valves, brakes, chewing gum, porcelain, cosmetics, cigarettes, conditioner and even bio diesel. Nice.

Oh, No WAY!

So I'm diddling around, looking at crafty blogs and misc. things on the wide world of the internets when I find this site BuyOlympia.com! All those things I've been seeing in Hot Toddy or the Archibald Sisters or all of the other great stores I can't think up into memory right now are here at Buy Olympia.

Here is some of the goodness, ready and waiting for you there:

I still have an irrational love for this series. The Reading is Sexy, Knitting is Knotty, I Heart Public Transportation, Future Librarian, Guy Brairian, all so good and all by Sarah Utter. Plus this mug is 100% biodegradable corn plastic, grown and manufactured in the US. Bonus.

Chalk Eggs! I'm going to have to do a series about "things packaged in egg cartons" because I found a couple of felting kits packaged in them and something about the way these recycle makes me giggle every time.
Tree Pattern skirt. This reminds me of those awful hunting camo outwears that I see at Cabelas whenever Dharyll can manage to drag me there (now it's far far away sucka!). But this, at least, is cute. So there.
Hello Sweet Morning wallet sold through Tinymeat. They make their wallets and other goodies through independent artist submissions (like Threadless). The wallet I have now is actually a Tinymeat wallet that I got at last year's etsy sale in Portland. I have a stash of these wallets in my closet somewhere that I bought at that sale but then forgot about for a year, so they may resurface during the holidays.Watch Movement ring made from the innards of small, old-school watches.
Handsome Zebra plexiglass coated super magnet.

Oh, I miss Olympia.