Adventures at the Ren Fest: 4th Weekend

Well, the weather was perfect, and we finally had some good crowds out at the Renaissance Festival. However, with larger crowds comes crazier guests, it seems.

I can’t even phrase them all into “I” sentences. Here’s all the crazy that I got to experience last weekend:

•  A guy walked into the booth, stood about a minute, said “ugh, knitwear,” and turned around and left.
• During my demo, multiple people asked me if what I was doing was “actually how you spin yarn.” My response was always “No, I’m faking it.” Most people found that funny, but one woman became very offended that I would be faking.
• A guy walked by my demo, lighting a cigarette, wearing a yarmulke with palm trees on it, and whispered to me “you’re crazy.”
• A woman ran up to the booth yelling “Spinning Dumbo!” I was so confused, but she went on to ask why they were different prices. I asked her to elaborate, she pointed to our sign. I explained we were doing spinning demos, and those weren’t prices they were times. She looked at me like I was mistaken and said “But you’re spinning right now.”
• A couple came over to watch my spinning demo. The man says to the woman “You should give this a try.” The woman gets huffy, yells at him “Would that turn you on?!” and drags him away.
• I upset a child ’cause I wouldn’t let him poke his magic wand toy in the spokes of the moving spinning wheel, so he poked at my feet instead. His parents laughed.
• When I had a group of people watching my demo, a man turned to all of them and exclaimed “WHEN THE SOLAR FLARE COMES AND ALL YOUR TECHNOLOGY IS DEAD, SHE WILL BE THE ONLY ONE IN BUSINESS.”
• A couple came in to look at the mitts Marci displays in the front. The woman says to me “I want mittens.” I tell her I’m very sorry, we only have the fingerless mitts. She responds, very angry, “I need mittens!” I guess I was supposed to go in the back and whip up a pair?

It was a lot of type-2 fun to be sure, but at least the booth did much better this week than last! I also got back on the wheel to spin this new yarn:

Marci has a brand new roving base I was excited to try: Targhee wool, silk, and bamboo. It made for a gorgeous DK weight yarn that, I think, will be mittens (Ha!).

And I finished my Gaga Shroud!

I was five yards short on the bind-off, but I very fortunately had a tiny skein of handspun yarn that was also dyed in a rainbow by Marci, and it was a pretty great match! I’m very happy with it. It feels like a warm hug! If you want to make your own, it takes a WHOLE skein of Th’red Head Designs Superwash. If you get it out at the Ren Fest, I’ll tell you where to stop so you don’t run into the same bind-off problem I had!

Hopefully the weather stays this perfect (or, if anything, gets cooler), and I can wear it out there next weekend!