Antiquarian Book Fair

A few weekends ago, I went over to St. Petersburg to attend an Antiquarian Book Fair. My Mother-in-Law had been to this annual event many times, but she didn't want to make the trip by herself. So, my husband and I decided to drive her over and make a weekend out of it. We've been to Tampa many times, but never to St. Petersburg. I have been to St. Petersburg Beach, but that's further west. We drove across the state in the rain on that Friday and the weather cleared up just as we hit the Book Fair for the opening night.

The event was held in an older Deco-style building near the downtown area. I loved the Women's room, which was done in black and white tile and small hexagon tiles on the floor. It reminded me of the bathroom in Grand Central Station - from years ago.

The vendor area was fully decorated and it was nice that it wasn't that crowded. We enjoyed looking through the booths of books, maps and some prints.

I loved seeing the children's books and the first booth I stopped in had a copy of  "Strawberry Girl" by Lois Lenski prominently displayed and for sale for several hundred dollars. I remember reading it when I was in grade school. I recalled that I read a lot of Lois Lenski's books, but I particularly remember that one because it inspired me to plant my own strawberry patch when I was 11 or 12. Of course that copy didn't come home with me, but I did get it from the library last week to re-read.

We went back to the Fair on Saturday morning to check out the booths we didn't get to on Friday night. Since my husband's mantra the whole drive over was, "We are not bringing anything home!" My MIL and I had been calibrated and only ended up buying one book each and my husband did agree to buying one book as a Christmas present. We were clearly restrained!!!

The rest of Saturday we spent driving around the downtown area and then visiting a very nice nature preserve that was around a large lake just south of downtown. On Sunday we headed back across the state and stopped in Arcadia for an hour or so. Just off the major route, in the historical area, are two-three blocks of antique shops. My MIL and I were able to get through a number of shops before we were ushered back to the car to resume the trip home. I'll have to try to get back there sometime because there were lots of shops and STUFF to see.

Here is my Classic Elite Yarn Knit Along project. Kind of looks just. . . BLUE. But I think I'd mentioned that I'd post my progress. I've got a few more inches to knit on the body and then I'll start on one of the sleeves. There is double moss stitch around the neck and a front button placket is also done in double moss stitch. It's been a fun project so far.