Weekly Top 10 - fave Central Texas Craft Enterprises

Upcoming! I mentioned yesterday that I would be doing something about making beer. What I neglected to mention is that my dad has continued to document this process daily at his house while I am away, and calls to give me “beer reports.” I will be trekking back down to Houston this weekend to witness and participate in the priming of beer bottles and the bottling of beer. This Sunday I will begin a daily post of the process (on a one-week delay). Exciting! I like this beer-making thing.

Top Ten! This week I’ve decided to highlight some of my favorite Central Texas craft enterprises. Austin has a long, distinguished history of people making stuff and selling stuff. Here in Austin we even have a movement of sorts, an effort to support local businesses is called Keep Austin Weird. There is also a site dedicated to supporting local business called Go Texan. Check it out!

10. Stitch Austin - I think of this (possibly correctly) as Austin Fashion Week for Indie Designers. Lots of crafters. The official billing is as a “Fashion Show and Guerilla Craft Bazaar.” I didn’t know about it last time it happened, but you can find a recap of it on the Craft mag website. This November I will definitely be in attendance! So many times I think “how cool that event would be if it weren’t in Brooklyn” (or somewhere) - and now between this and the Austin Maker Faire in October, I’m going to be in craft heaven this fall!

9. OK - technically this isn’t a singular enterprise, but just the sheer number of vintage stores existing in Austin needs a mention. We loves us some vintage. The Insider Pages tell me 85 listings alone around here! Some near me I like include Flashback, the Family Thrift Store on Oltorf and the late lamented Rue’s Antiques. Oh, heck, if you’re from here I’m obviously a South Austinite, so just check out this SoCo Guide to Antique/Thrift Shopping.

8. Food Pick: I first came across the Chipotle Saltburst spice when at the South Austin Farmers Market. There’s nothing better than the food and spices to be found at craft fairs. The folks from Spiceburst Gourmet Spices who make it can be found at a whole variety of craft fairs in the Texas Hill Country, and I recently spied their wares at Central Market. Handy! You can find a glowing review at the Hot Sauce Blog.

7. This may be stretching the definition of “craft enterprise,” but I give the Dorkbot-Austin group a lot of points for sheer originality. My husband describes them as doing crafty stuff with technology. As a blogger and technology-lover, I don’t feel I can pass them over. The May meeting mentioned “colloids and immersive systems and Satanic anti-war song-cycles. Oh my!!” Wow.

6. Tie! Live Oak Brewing Company in Austin and Real Ale Brewing Company in Blanco, Texas. Both microbreweries. Real Ale is a little bigger - you can actually buy bottled beer from them, whereas with Live Oak you have to get a draft from somewhere. They’re both awesome examples of Texans Who Love Beer (like me!). I’ve included them both because my fave is Live Oak Big Bark in winter and the Live Oak Hefeweizen in summer, whereas my husband is absolutely nuts about the Real Ale Fireman’s No. 4.

5. Hill Country Weavers is an establishment around here. People who like yarn (and basketweaving!) all over Central Texas know about that place. It’s the kind of place where you go in, give them your entire paycheck, and just play for a while. Conveniently, you can even go stay and knit there, too.

4. There are a couple of interesting places around here that specialize in being craft spaces - places you can go craft. My favorite is Craft-O-Rama, a relatively new establishment that is the dreamchild of the very nice owner and sewing teacher Hayley. It’s a craft lounge, really, with a group of sofas and bunches of tables.

What was really spiffarific about going in there was the feeling of “walking into the internet.” Being an internet person myself, I’ve been on the rounds of websites and seen the cool Amy Butler patterns and Vickie Howell yarn - but never been able to look at them personally without purchase. Most craft stores don’t carry these sorts of items for the hipsters among us. And here they were! Such a nice find.

3. I would be drug out into the street and… anyway, when talking about Craft and Austin one cannot forget OR avoid the Austin Craft Mafia. Go ahead, do a Google search for Austin Craft and see what you get. These women have turned crafting into not only a business, but a way of life, too. In addition to being home-town craft heroes, they also host shows on the DIY network like Knitty Gritty and Stylelicious. The goal? Lifestyle craft: making crafting hip and edgy.

2. The Mafia is definitely growing to be a home-town pride and joy, but the 23rd Street Renaissance Market has been a favorite for generations. Down on the Drag across from the University of Texas’ campus, a little courtyard is dedicated to artisans. You can find them there selling their wares amidst the murals most every day, all day. They’re often sitting making their crafts right there. It’s your guess as to what will appear today, but everything from jewelry to leather to ceramics has appeared in the past.

1. I am a soapmaker and really interested in biochemistry (that’s kind of a chicken-and-egg set of interests there) thanks to my biochemist dad. In that capacity, I both really love the use of herbs and sometimes minerals and I’m really against using tallow in soap. Ew!!

So I had to save this for last - the Austin Natural Soap Company. They have their own Top Ten Reasons why their soap is better, and you can believe it! It’s all vegetable oil soap with essential oils and various other stuff in ‘em. My favorite (today) is the Lemon Scrub for Cooks and Gardeners. Austinites will recognize soaps named after Hippie Hollow and Barton Springs, too!

There you go - my craft windup in Austin. If you happen by and have something you like or want to add, please do! I’m always looking for new trouble to get into around here, and maybe my memory is just imitating Swiss cheese today and I forgot something really Austinish or important.

Cheers!

Baby with Bunny

In my last post I shared the end of a lovely project to make a combination blanket and stuffed rabbit. The blanket bunny was for a little cousin by the name of Sam, who recently turned a year old. I had the opportunity to meet the little guy this last weekend and hand over the bunny myself. You never can tell if little people will like what you give them or ignore it, but I was in luck! and lo and behold, here’s Sam with the bunny. Warms my heart!

Later this week: Home Brewed Beer! I did an interview with my dad about his homebrewing. He’s been doing it a few years and coming up with some quite nice brews.

For a preview, I caught a picture of my dad “crafting” - that is - he does craft but he doesn’t really know it. This is him doing probably his favorite type of crafting, grilling. That in itself is not remarkable, it’s that he’s doing it in the rain in this picture.

Blanket Bunny

… and on the 7th day, she finished a project.

No, seriously, I made a blanket bunny. The bunny pattern (which I altered to make it larger and a bit less flimsy feeling) is from Lion Brand, as is the yarn The yarn is Velvetspun in the color Bluebell, which turned out to be nearly impossible to find here in Austin. Difficulties notwithstanding, I think what I ended up with is quite nice. Which is good, because it’s a present for a 1-year-old cousin who I will be meeting tomorrow.

The texture of it is quite nice - both because of the soft yarn and this very nice ribbing that doing a back crochet makes. So here’s some pictures - first, the fabric close-up with the ribbing.  The second picture is one of the bunny before completion, still missing half a head, ears, face and trim.  The third is the whole bunny, after being washed and dried and the little hands knotted up.  Hopefully it’s ready for a baby!