June 7th and 8th it was NERDLE TIME! Seriously, how often do you get an event venue full of nerds who want to learn to make things?! That’s right, I was at the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire, VMMF for short and #VMMF, recently and met some lovely people and got my hook on. A few days later, it’s time to put that experience to “paper” and share it with you.

So what is the VMMF? For those who missed out, the Maker Faire is a two-day event showcasing Makers&emdash;the people who make cool stuff and the things they make—from around the Vancouver area and beyond. It all started in San Mateo, California and now multiple events occur around North America.

This year, the VMMF’s fourth year, I taught two workshops. The first, Get Started with Crochet aimed at teaching adults the basics; and the second, Crochet for Kids, aimed at getting young children comfortable holding crochet hooks and making basic chain stitch necklaces/bracelets. You can read the full workshop descriptions here. Luckily for me, both were a great success.

In the adult class, I was most pleased by one particular student, Michelle, who had been V-E-R-Y frustrated trying to learn crochet on her own and, within the hour, had produced a wonderfully even single crochet swatch, the beginnings of a dish cloth. She was pretty excited and I can’t say I blame her! Getting the tension right and, for some, pacifying the urge to pull everything really tight, is a toughie but an essential. Another student, Danielle of WhythisBox? wrote a nice blog post complete with great photos of her experience at the Faire.

As for the kids… Oh, my goodness, did they have tiny little hands! Two students learned to hold the hook and chain stitch with relative ease, while we decided to ditch the hook for another and get going with nice-and-easy finger crochet without the hook. All in all, everyone left happy and we even got a dad in on the crochet action. Plus, I spotted the kids walking around wearing their creations later in the day. This = AWESOME. Big thanks to my mom for helping out and to Brigitte of the VMMF for organizing the workshops.

I also had the pleasure of meeting fellow crochet crafter, Jen Phillips of KnottyGirl – Knotted & Knitwear who crochets recycled plastic bags and pop can tabs into functional and curiousity-inducing bags and jewellery pieces.

So beyond crochet… I know, is there a beyond crochet? Well, yes there is. Also at the VMMF, I admired the knot tying skills of the International Guild of Knot Tyers (Pacific Americas Branch), tried my hand at making letterpress posters and gift cards with Yvon of Fox & Found Press (so cool!), played with an audio-responsive light art installation made by Moshi-moshi (Dan McLaren of the Moshi-Moshi team pictured), marvelled at 3D printers in action, and had my eyes pop out of my head the shear variety of techno-electronic wizards out there—there was even a robotic dog wheeling around that barked at me. All-in-all it was an experience to remember.

Read the full list of makers at the VMMF on makerfaire.ca.

Vancouver Mini Maker Faire Recap

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