onionbagblog

To the Bookshop! To the Loveless Hall! [where else?] To, um, the Methodist Church! …on Saturday morning, for a loosely connected network of events that *some* hyperlocal social commentators have dubbed the Great Wivenhoe Crafty Weekend.

They’ll be staging similar gatherings in New York, Paris, Munich etc before the Christmas lights of St Mary’s are illuminated.

It wasn’t quite Buy One Get Three Free, but for a hat trick of hyperlocal Saturday morning sales to be taking place in the same town, on the same morning, made for something of a pre-Christmas shopping crawl.

A pop up shop at the Bookshop, the annual Wiv Soc Craft Fair at the Loveless Hall [where else?] and a Bazarr at the Methodist Church.

Blimey.

How bizarre, etc.

The scene was set for the crafty weekend when upon wandering down towards the foot of the High Street, a crack team of stuntmen were spotted scaling the lofty heights of the St Mary’s cupola.

Extreme sports come to sleepy Wivenhoe?

Um, nope – just the excitement of the lovely Christmas decorations being put in place ahead of the BIG TURN ON, come 1st December. I’m seriously creaming myself, Comrades. St Mary’s looks rather lovely already, with the angels looking down from the tower (decorations, not the extreme sport enthusiasts.)

First up on the crafty catwalk of fun was the wonderful pop up shop put on by local artisans Jayne Wallett and Denise Clendenning in the back shed of the Bookshop. Trading under the name of Pink and Twist, Jayne and Denise were proudly displaying a detailed collection of knit and print based products.

Matching the quality of the design was the surprisingly affordability – prices clocked in at £3 to £16. I don’t think that I’m giving too much away when I say that the modern interweb unfriendly Mother in Law will have something nice and knitted when she when she leaps out of bed at 5am on Christmas morning.

I walked away with the most unique designer iPhone holder that can be found in all of Wivenhoe. As the artisans themselves were keen to point out, it may *or may not* have been crafted for this purpose, but if this sock fits…

A short hop – or limp nowadays, if I’m being honest – and soon @AnnaJCowen and I were entering the familiar world of the William Loveless Hall [where else?]

The occasion of course was the annual pre-Christmas Craft Fair, staged by the good folk of the Wivenhoe Society. Stalls for the day were apparently at a premium. Wivenhoe has a crafty character lurking within.

But it wasn’t all about knit one, pearl one. I applauded the forward planning of plugging Open Garden Weekend 2012 upon entering the Loveless Hall. A couple of tickets were then sourced for the Wiv Soc Wine Tasting Evening for next weekend [Congregational Hall - where... um, hang on.]

A raffle ticket was purchased from the Broomgrove School stall, and a charming conversation then followed with a local clock maker, who hopefully is going to deliver with a big DING DONG for the Girl and I.

Phew – all of this crafty carrying on requires a moment of reflection. The trilogy of hyperlocal happenings was complete when we entered the Methodist Church just up the High Street, and prepared to blitz the Bazarr.

But time and handicraft wait for no hyperlocal lover of all things handmade and bound.

Bugger.

The good folk of the Methodist Church were just starting to pack away the trestle tables, rejoicing for another year in the success of their sale.

Ah, but wait! What’s this?!

“Would you like to buy a raffle ticket, Sir?”

Am I a crafty so and so that eats Kraft cheese for lunch every day as I practice my craft of, well, whatever it is that the craft I practise is?

Where do I sign up, Comrade?

And so we snaffled up the raffle and waited for the glory run of yellow strips, 300 – 305. Sadly our number wasn’t up, but it was great fun sitting in the pews and watching the delight of other snafflers snaffle their prizes.

Unlike the Great Quay Quilters Raffle Draw of the fag end of the summer of 2011, the glamour girl of raffle number picking, um, @AnnaJCowen, wasn’t required to dip her fudge fingers into the magic box.

*not* a euphemism.

And so that was two craft fairs, a church bazarr and the Mother in Law taken care of for another year.

Crafty sod.