The four day craft fair

was a challenge. It always is. 
I like helping my friends. It is so very different from the sorts of things I spend the rest of the year doing that it is almost a holiday - but not quite.
I came away feeling relieved that there are still people who want to create beautiful things. To get to the venue I had to catch the train. It was a new venue in the city centre and I had time to watch people on the train. The early morning commuter train is a sad affair.  It was silent. Staring down the carriage all I could see were people staring at screens or sitting with their eyes closed and plugs in their ears - presumably listening to music. There were a couple of people reading books. Nobody was indulging in knitting or crochet. I suppose it was too early in the morning for that  unless you happen to be someone like me.
The morning commute though is different from when I did it on a regular basis - pre-screen days. The passengers often knew one another back then.
But in the venue it was a different story. Even before the doors are opened  to the general public there is a general chatter going on. I have helped out often enough now that people will say, "Hello Cat" as I go past or they go past me. On the first day when the stand was set up I could prowl a few metres down the same aisle and talk to the man who runs the craft book stand. He promptly passed me a book. Did I know it? What did I think of it? I could ask how a new volume of Japanese knitting patterns was selling. At another stand I was asked what I thought of a new product. The vendor knows I will never use it as I don't indulge in that particular craft but she was still interested to know. When I suggested another use for it as well she was even more interested. 
I had a quick chat to one of the wood turners so I could inquire after a friend I knew would not be there. Yes, they had spoken only last week and he's fine.
And at the stand itself I am asked about colour, the composition of yarn, what yarn might be used for and whether there is any of this or that or something else. I am asked how you do something and what my friend is teaching in her class. I take money and give change and laugh when someone comes back because they think they will get that skein of yarn they liked so much. Yes, but take it this time because some one else (yes, really) has looked at it too. My friend and I can tell someone else the pattern she has brought with her will be too long for her but if she shortens it here then yes there is enough  of that highly specialised stainless steel yarn in stock for her to make it. It isn't something I would even contemplate making but the buyer's personality suggests that she will not just make it but wear it with pride.
The profoundly deaf woman I met the last time I helped out came too. She looked around, saw me and smiled. There was relief in her smile as she came and, knowing how poor my sign language is, she slowly signed what she was looking for. I showed her. Yes, that's what she wanted. She gave me a thumbs-up. As she went off I admired the back of her beautifully made crochet top.
I lost count of the number of crochet hooks and knitting needles I sold. I kept saying "One skein will make this size and two skeins will make that size."
And I saw people go off with their purchases and thought of the hours of pleasure most of them had just bought.
It's not even over yet. Tomorrow I expect to see a visitor to our bookshop group. I am taking some yarn up there, a sort my friend does not stock, so that this woman can mend a precious scarf. She was a little startled when I said I would help with that but it is all part of the process of crafting. 
People need to create and it was a relief to see so many young people. 
Perhaps some of them will come to realise that they can use their time on public transport to knit.