Hi! I'm in Arlington, VA (very close to Washington, DC). I moved to this general area 2 years ago but only moved to Arlington this past July. I'm always on the lookout for all things craft-related. :) I've got my own business selling handmade jewelry at http://www.lexscreations.com. Hope to sell at Eastern Market when the weather gets warmer...have any of you done that? How were sales/what do you sell? I'm closer to the Clarendon market, but I've heard selling there is tough...

Also, where are good places in your neighborhood to put up fliers (usually cafe bulletin boards, etc)?

Anyway, if anyone has any tips on doing craft business stuff in this area, or just wants to post anything at all related to this area, or even just wants to say hi, please reply. ;)

Lex

Is there NO ONE else in the Washington, DC area? :(

in arlington there are a couple of coffee house u porbably can put up fliers.....theres that one off of clarendon..common ground....off columbia pike there's the rappanhock (sp)

Hi Lex!

There are a bunch of us in the DC area (MD, DC, and NoVA), but we haven't been very active recently.... Some of us are doing a Shop-n-Mosh in Baltimore on February 8, so check out www.mypapercrane.com for more info about that! I think we can still have a few more sellers... Some of the glitterati sold at Eastern Market last summer, and had one less successful trip in March or April, and a much better one in August.

That's what I know. :)

kat

(email is in my profile if you want to drop me a line!)

Hey, I'm heading to DC this weekend--we're visiting a friend, but as long as a DC thread is on page one here, I thought I'd ask if there are any not-to-be-missed DC fabric stores, vintage stores, indie designer spots, or flea markets. We're also quite fond of hot record stores with dusty stacks to the ceilings.

I may go to DC for Valentine's weekend. Did you find anything good, monkeyrocker? Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Valentine's Day in DC: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=entertainment%2Fsearch&type=keyword&query=Valentine%27s+Day

Eastern Market (Sundays) has some good stuff, though I'm not sure what it'll be like due to the cold weather. I don't really do much thrifting down here, though I know there are some cool places on U Street that you may want to check out -- Meeps, which has vintage clothes, etc. Hmm, and check out DCCD on 18th Street....indie music store, and maybe the Black Cat on 14th Street (if someone good is playing, not sure who's there this weekend).

kat

i noticed last night.....that this ecclectic place near ballston metro does consignment by appointment. i be glad when the bus goes by tonight to look in her windown and get the #....i always look in her window but i haven't recently looked down to see the hours and stuff til last night.....

i think eastern market is starting back up in march or may?.?.?

Sharem,

I think i know the store you're talking about near ballston...i've been in there plenty of times. She has some great stuff! Her mother owns the thrift store next door (filled to the ceiling with all types of interesting stuff!) I work right down the street so every now and then I pop in a browse during lunch.

What is Eastern Market? I did a google search but couldn't find any of the details I was looking for. I live 40 miles or so south of DC, so I've never heard of it before, but it sounds like a sort of expanded farmer's market. Is that what it is? (The flea markets around here kind of all blend together and we've been trying to find more interesting stuff.)

Whoo boy. This post is out of control and I apologize. I've probably lived in this area for WAY too long. I'm including the inner suburbs on the list because sometimes, given the rents in DC, you can find equally interesting things there.

OK Go is playing at the Black Cat on Saturday. The show starts at 9:30.

Meeps also features a small but awesome section of reasonably priced local designers: 1520 U Street NW, 12-8 pm on weekends

Georgetown Flea Market: Sundays starting around 7 AM, weather permitting, Wisconsin Ave., just north of S St.

Polly Sue's Vintage: 6915 Laurel Ave., Takoma Park, MD

Takoma Underground: 7000 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park, MD

Rerun: 7001 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park, MD

Knit + Stitch = Bliss: 4706 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, MD

Suttle Thoughts plays an interesting fusion of jazzy R&B and Go-Go (the DC flavor, not the plastic boots kind), from 9 PM - 3 AM on fridays, they play at 94th Aero Squadron restaurant (5240 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD), barbecue and drink specials -- >http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=entertainment/profile&id=1086037&typeId=17&type=keyword

Bohemian Caverns (2001 Eleventh Street N.W, right off U Street): Shirley Horn, Duke Ellington, Pearl Bailey, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Ramsey Lewis, Less McCann, The Supremes, Roberta Flak, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, JFK Quintet, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday have all played here since it opened in 1926

Cakelove: 1506 U St. NW - mmm, tasty cupcakes from scratch

Ben's Chili Bowl: 1213 U Street, N.W. - a DC landmark, open since 1958

Ethiopian restaurants on 18th St.: You can't go wrong with one of these. My favorite is Meskerem.

Habana Village: 1834 Columbia Rd. NW, fun little bar/salsa club

Wheaton Library Book Sale, Wheaton Plaza edition, has an entire mid-sized room jammed full of records for $1 each (11160 Veirs Mill Rd, Silver Spring, MD). The store is a little hard to find, it's tucked away right outside the enterance to the food court on the lower level.

Visions Cinema (http://www.visionsdc.com/dyno/index.asp), AFI Silver (http://silver.afi.com/afi_web/), E St. Cinema (http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/WashingtonDC/EStreetCinema.htm) or The Uptown (http://www.thehoya.com/guide/082401/guide6.cfm) for movies. An added bonus of The Uptown is a visit to the Yenching Palace (http://www.washingtonian.com/dining/Profiles/yenching.html), the oldest Chinese restaurant in the area and the place where they met to end the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In general, in terms of nightlife, it's hard to go wrong in the U St. area. Adams Morgan (slightly northwest) is fun, but way more crowded. Georgetown is overrated and too expensive, in my opinion.

Thank you so much Wendy_Darling! This is great info.

Hey everyone,
There is a group that meets every two weeks at Teaism by the Navy Memorial Metro that is for knitting, crocheting, crosstitching and whatever little portable stuff you want to bring. This Sunday is the second meeting, last time was a really great turnout! Here is the link to the Yahoo Group page for more info:
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dc_stitchnbitchers/

Hope some of you in the area decide to come out sometime!
FeegaRo

okay i would see this after the fact...the meeting at teaism..

Sharem, we still meet every other Sunday if you want to come! This last Sunday was only the second meeting, it didn't have as many people as last time, plus Teaism was kinda crowded (despite the moderator calling a few days before to reserve a space for us) so they moved us upstairs to the party room for the apartments next door and we may have lost some late comers.

There is another knitting group in the Metro area that meets on a regular basis, their wesite is www.papaya-palace.com/dcknitters . They seem to get together a lot, and all over the place. I haven't been yet, but I think it sounds good!

FeegaRo

A group of us did Eastern Market last May (?-sometime around then). The weather was crappy, cold and rainy, and we did not do well at all. I make jewelry too, I sold four things I think and the other sold even less. The logistics were kind of nightmarish because although you can pay and reserve a space in advance, you don't know until you get there (lugging all your stuff--you provide your own table and chairs and canopy, although we didn't have a canopy), whether you'll actually get a space.

That said, if you could magically choose a weekend with good weather, you might do better. I would be probably be up for trying again.

The website is http://www.easternmarket.net

Thank you for the link, nicegirl! (I did a google search for "eastern market d.c." and couldn't find a site; I think it was the "d.c." that threw it off.)

thaks feegaro, i will put it in my book

wendygirl i think u covered everything.....but i have to add if u are into house music there are plenty of places in the dupont area......:)

lots of live music all over u street and in va near claredon....:)

the consignment info i talked about in the above post....eclectic threads 703.276.0051 windows says CONSIGNMENT BY APPOINTMENT. i guess that means u have to make an appointment with her?.?.? 2647 (?) Pershing Drive...it's on the corner kinda of pershing and arlington blvd....a few blocks from clarendon metro station.....

Sharem,

Ooh, I love house! Can you recommend any place in particular? Have you ever been to Red? (I THINK that's what it's called...)

wendy-darling..there are so many house events that are regular or just there in dc/md

u can feel free to email me if u like about djs and what they play..style and stuff.. .no problem

-Red is a regular thing for me...i do the saturday night when oji spins (every other sat) and sometimes sunday shouting with sam the man burns. thursday night with tom b is good too...

five on 18th street is really nice on saturday 5 brings big name djs like mike grant, miguel migs, ron trent..also some really good local talent djs too (sometimes u can catch a house show)>http://www.FIVEDC.com

-andalu (besides five) does a european house gig...

-18th street lounge besided 5 and them does deep tempo beats and stuff.

then there is also sanctaury on h street in ne that does deep soulful house....with an all female lady dj night and other favorite local djs...>http://www.dcsanctuary.com

then there is now some house things at mantis in adams morgan. it was just in weekend section of the post.....>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54518-2004Feb19.html

saturday is the districtsoul guys...friday i beleive it's the open door crew...

there's also the lemur lounge crew that do thier thing on friday's in alexandria..they are an hiatus right now i believe for like a month....

there is a party on u street in erico's on friday i have to see if they are still doing that with dj chi chi and guest....

also starting again in march or may...BLACK..with local djs on georgia avenue......and that's a real nice party i can't wait til it comes back.....

off the top of my head

There was an article in the Washington Post today about s'n'b knitting groups in DC. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41676-2004Mar8.html

i saw that and last week the sunday cource had how to do marble magnets...