I had a fantastic weekend at Renegade Chicago. The weather was gorgeously sunny and Division Street was crowded with lots of friendly faces shopping for handmade treasures. Loved it.

Even better, I was surrounded by this crafty mob of fellow Des Moines girls. They were great company throughout the weekend (although I wish I had more time to hang with them.) And they took good care of me when I was in need of a food or bathroom break.

In the booth right next to me were the super sweet girls of Urban Posture.

And in the very next booth down were my pals Chrissy, Danelle and Sarah at the Domestica booth. (Look at all of the gorgeous stuff they brought!) Further down the row from us was our other crafty pal, Amanda, of No Tengo Miedo Clay. (Next year, we'll coordinate that better.) ;)

This year, I decided to split a booth with another vendor – especially since I'm pregnant and didn't want to stress all summer about knitting enough to fill up an entire booth. So, I shared a space with a sweet girl named Kate Funk and her friend J. We consumed a lot of tacos and shared quite a few laughs during our two days in Wicker Park.

One of the highlights of my weekend, though, was finally getting to meet up with Rachel. We've emailed and tweeted and read each others' blogs for quite a few years now, so it was extra special to be able to chat in person during Renegade. What a lovely lady!

Here are a few pics of the knits I brought with me ...

(Lots and lots of cowls.)

I was worried that it would be too hot and sunny for people to be in the mood for cold-weather knits, but I guess Chicagoans know what's headed their way in the months ahead.

I met so many completely adorable shoppers and loved having friends and blog readers stop by to say hello.

Reckless Records kept our ears happy by spinning vinyl nearby. (Bo used to shop there a lot when he lived downtown during his college days.)

And our booth was super close to all of the food and entertainment near the center of the fair, which gave us easy access to favorite spots like BigBite. So good.

A barber magically appeared in the middle of the sidewalk to give free Renegade haircuts, barber's choice.

My boothmate's helper decided to get one and it turned out pretty rad ... he eventually had stripes shaved into one side of his head.

Gotta love the people watching – it's always lots of fun to see what everyone is wearing.

I managed to shop around a bit and hit up a few favorite booths like Vaya ...

... and Ork.

I even made a quick stop at the best yarn shop in Wicker Park, Nina. (I think they know me in there by now.) ;)

Lo and I did a little meandering on our own. She likes to meander.

Just like last year, I ended my two-day stay at Renegade on Sunday night with Starfruit. By Sunday, I definitely felt like I deserved a delicious fro-yo treat.

And as the day was coming to a close, my wonderful, buff, oh-so-helpful husband helped me load up all of my stuff back into our Civic Hybrid, and we drove off into the sunset. Back to good old Des Moines, Iowa, with my little girlie fast asleep in the back seat. Six hours later, we were home sweet home.

It was a good weekend.

I'm headed to Renegade Craft Fair again, and the Chicago show comes around just in time for fall knits. (You know, the ones I've been knitting all summer long!) Renegade is only a week away, so my needles are flying furiously these last few days. Here's what you can expect to see if you come out to visit me next weekend.

Big, huge insanely soft 100% virgin wool cowls. They're seriously giant.

Smaller super chunky seed stitch cowls in every color in the rainbow. (Here are just a few!)

Long drapey cowls that you can loop around your neck twice (as shown in the first pic above.)

My mom even got in on the action and crocheted this beautiful rainbow of scrubby cotton dishcloths. I'm in love with them.

One week! Chicago. Wicker Park, Division + Damon Street. Over 300 handmade artists will be there and it's always such a fun time. (More info here.) Come on out!