Electric Picnic crafts!

I went to Electric Picnic this weekend. It was my third year attending, and my first year paying - last year I volunteered as a steward, and the year before I came with work (and technically qualified as a performer and got a performer's wristband, no big deal). Part of my motivation for paying this year was that I'm more interest in the crafts and performances than the music, and most of that goes on during the day. I might revert to not paying next year, but it was lovely to have a year to wander around the Green Crafts Village at my leisure and not be in a rush to pick a workshop that would finish in time for my shift.

The Green Crafts Village also makes me want to run away and live in a tree in a hippie commune where everyone teaches everyone else new skills all day. Hopefully some of those skills are farming and cooking, so we don't all die.

On Saturday I made this ring at a workshop run by Forgotten Silver.  I've never worked with metal before, and never had occasion or opportunity to solder, so I really enjoyed it. I've smithed something!

I carved this 'wood spirit' from lime wood at the Irish Woodcarving stall. I started with a triangle of wood with two divots taken out of it for the eyes and the area just beneath the nose, and the carver marked the lines I should carve with pencil as a guideline. I think he looks a little bit like the Deku Tree.

The wood was a lot lighter before varnishing. (I also got a henna doodle, but it didn't stain very strongly!)

In Mindfield I encountered the portable version of Winnie's Craft Cafe. I'd never heard of it before, so I'll have to make an expedition of cycling out there while the nice weather holds. I had intended to pop in last thing on Sunday to pick up a small project's worth of yarn (and then it could be my EP hat/pair of gloves/etc.), but they were packing up when I arrived. In fairness, it's usually a safe bet that no-one is looking to buy yarn at half eight on the last night of a festival. Usually.

They also had giant needles! More giant than the child with the wand in the corner of the lower photograph. I bet her that the needle was taller than her, and we measured her against one of them, and then we had to measure the second to be sure. Kid has the heart of a scientist.

The yarn I'm using in that photo is fabric selvedge, and I completed a row. No big deal.

If I could find an event in Dublin that allows craftspeople to run casual workshops, I would be very excited. As it is, I'll just get excited bout next year!

P.S. I saw The Cure. The Cure. I saw them. So.

"Are you intoxicated? You're being all affectionate."

I went to Electric Picnic at weekend!  Last year I got to go for free as I went with work, this year I got to go for free by volunteering.  By chance, I was working in the boutique campsite, so my wristband let me into the campsite where my work-friends were staying.  I took advantage of this after the first night, when my brother's friend crawled into our tent in wet clothes and fell asleep on my legs.  (I did manage to fall asleep, but woke up a while later because he was shivering violently, and couldn't convince him to put on dry clothes.)

I made this bag out of two t-shirts the night before I left, as my conveniently-sized one got snatched in Lima.

Confession: The 'handmade' one isn't an old, re-used one, I just saw it on sale.  But how could I not buy it to make it into a something?

I was happy enough with it for a speedy job - though the strap was a bit stretchy, which I solved by tying a knot a few inches down it - until Saturday night, when the bottom ripped and my wallet fell out.  So now it's at the back of the drawer while I sulk about that.  That will teach me to be lazy and speedy in my sewing, especially hand-sewing (though I expect my clothes to take much less strain than bags, so first time mistake etc.)  I have a pretty low opinion of whipstitch, too.

The wallet thing was also annoying as I'd planned to go to a few Greencrafts workshops on my last morning.

Happy concert things: PJ Harvey, Republic of Loose, Jazzberries (the guy playing the keyboard lives up the road from me, and he and my brother have been friends since they were teeny, but I've never heard them play before), running into people I haven't seen since the start or the Summer, the spicy veggie burgers from the big orange stand.

A incident I'm not sure how to feel about is that when I went to buy a shirt, I asked for a men's small (babydolls sit funny on me, and men's shirts are easier to made into different things, plus the material tends to be lighter) and was given a women's small.  I asked the person who gave it to me, and he said that was all they had, and sure that'd fit me better anyway. (1. Wonky proportions, no it won't, and 2. Men's Small and Women's Small aren't equivalent size-wise.)  I ended up getting it because it was the design I liked the best, but giving a guy a Women's shirt because it was the only kind left would be seen as a weird thing to do.  It's nice to have the option to buy things from either section of the shop, which isn't really available to guys, but assuming without checking that I'll take something from the section I didn't choose this time sits a little strange with me.