Brooklyn Flea

Yes, the nutcrackers ARE for sale. Maybe Martha had some crafty ideas for them during her 3-hour tour of the Bridge Flea on Sunday (postponed from Saturday for weather). One of the Flea's finest hours yesterday, thanks to all for coming out. Relive it here.

We're a bit overwhelmed here at Flea HQ this week. We'll get the Scavenger Hunt and vendor layouts up soon, but in the meantime we just want to let you know that the special guest you may have read about coming to the Flea this weekend--she's coming on Sunday instead of Saturday. Yep.

For this reason, coupled with the millionth crappy Saturday forecast this season, Sunday is packed to the gills with the best mix of vendors the Bridge Flea has seen in its brief tenure. The Flea Design Co-op is hopping over to Sunday from Saturday, as are loads of regulars and newcomers--too many to list here. And we've carved out extra space to squeeze in virtually every food vendor in the Flea family on Sunday as well, many of them shacking up together for a sort of one-day stand.

So come, fly into the mystery, and we'll see you on the other side.

Pretty special item this week--special enough in fact to compensate for Saturday's non-item. Happy Hunting!

When you find the item above, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

1. "A-Light" accent lamp, with shade inspired by dilapidated NYC building facades and Japanese wabisabi. New/handmade (Brooklyn Bridge/Sunday)

Don't call me a third wheel. Who wouldn't approach a hot pair, looking all in love, to be their bestie? Welcome Jamie and Jeff!

So, what did you buy here?

Jamie (right): We bought an awesome dresser from a store called My Little India. They actually have a store but they just closed down. And then we got this chandelier.

Did you also get that from My Little India?

Jamie: Oh, yes.

What are you going to do with it?

Jamie: We just moved in together, so the dresser is going in the bedroom to replace the Ikea furniture--you know, movin' on up. This is going over our soon-to-be-purchased dining room table.

Cool, where are you getting your table from, somewhere at the Flea? I hear Long Island Eddie makes a mean table.

Hopefully.

Have you been to the Flea before?

Jeff: Yes, I have.

Jamie: I haven't.

So you guys are making that big step together?

Jamie: Yeah, we are.

Did you move in the neighborhood?

Jamie: No, Greenwich Village, about a block away from where we live.

How are you getting your dresser home?

Jamie: Those awesome moving guys are going to help us. (Ed. note: Word up, Eddie Rock.)

Cool, well enjoy the love nest, and come back for some plates and picture frames and stuff.

Jamie: OK Thanks!

Think I'll get invited to the housewarming? I would totally bring something awesome like a grapevine from Groundworks or maybe a clock made out of vinyl from Wecords By Monkey (hint hint). Thanks Jamie and Jeff!

Saturday is a big day for the Flea, with special guests galore. Among them will be a troop of about 40 budding marketeers from across the country attending the "How to Create Successful Markets" conference put on by the excellent non-profit Project for Public Spaces.

The marketeers tour New York's "great markets" in addition to attending seminars and the like, and the Flea is apparently one of those now. We're pretty sure folks just wanna eat lunch at our yummy vendors and peruse the antiques and clothes, which is fine, so if you see Senor holding court with a bunch of huarache-juice-spilling out-of-towners by the bleachers around noon, tell 'em how much you love the Flea!

The weather, um, could have been more awesome this past weekend, but somehow Saturday held up enough for the Flea to flourish, if modestly. Hunters persevered nonetheless, naturally. We only have info on one winner, awaiting the other...

Kate (left) just moved from Indiana to Brooklyn Heights, where she works as a nanny. She's never won anything before, so she was pretty psyched to find the cute earth-mover onesie in Brooklyn Junior's booth. She's gonna send it to a good friend back home in Richmond, Indiana, who just had a baby. Nice. She's with BK Junior's Nadia, she of the fire-red hair, who churns out stylish, versatile kids clothing over in B1 every darn week. Nadia also just launched a new shop of her own, after 2 years of success at the Flea, over on the corner of Myrtle + Clinton Ave. Do check it out!

Check back at noon Friday for this weekend's items.

It might have been a bit rainy in the morning, but the sun, shoppers and happy vendors took over the afternoon. If you missed it on Saturday, check the slideshow.

Plenty o' news bites to go around of late, figured we'd do a little gray-day roundup. Not least among them is Lonely Planet, whose homepage splashes (above) on the Flea with an informative Q+A with Senor. Hopefully lots of global backpackers and adventure travelers will take heed!

Some other cool hits:

Stylecaster peruses the Fort Greene Flea, tries on a fur stole, ogles a turtle-shell purse, plays with a Stormtrooper action figure, visits Charlie the Child Swami.

The Daily Obsession drools over Kumquat Cupcakery, like so many before them. Sweet.

Heart Fish's Hijiri cruises the Flea, also extols the virtues of our new Design Co-op.

NBC NY also digs the Design Co-op.

The Voice's Robert Sietsema returns to the Flea food fold and discovers (relative) newcomers like Liddabit and Asia Dog. Also acknowledges the Salvatore ricotta "toasts" as out of this friggin' world.

Senor is quoted in the Times Styles section as helping redefine the word "curate." Silliness.

Longtime vendor Brooklyn Junior has opened a new shop of their own at Myrtle and Clinton. Congrats!

NYU Local, the big U's unofficial news site, hearts the Flea.

The Daily News gets hip to Boiled in Brooklyn's Goober Peas. Boiled peanuts, yum. (Unfortunately, Katherine and crew are done for the season we just learned! :-()

Supposedly it may rain this weekend--if you believe weatherpeople we've got a bridge in Brooklyn.... Anyhoo, two quite nice handmade items of a very different sort on offer this weekend for hearty Scavengers. Happy Hunting!

When you find one of the items above, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Really cute soft cotton onesie, printed with eco-friendly, non-toxic inks. New/handmade (Fort Greene/Saturday)

2. Two tri-pod candle holders, made of three metal rods hand-tied with wire rope. New/handmade (Brooklyn Bridge/Sunday)

There's nothing finer than the intra-Flea connections that spring up around the markets. A ricotta-and-granola combo here, a handmade sweater photo shoot with a jewelry vendor there, and a Blue Marble sundae with Nunu caramel everywhere.

Lillian Crowe (left) and Darlene Estremera, together known as Fringe + Feather, met at the Fort Greene Flea last summer (2008) and decided they liked each other so much, they would just share a booth from then on, pairing original jewelry and vintage clothes. Nice.

Lillian's two cast-jewelry lines are Shipwreck and Anatomical. The former features items like driftwood and squid pendants; the latter's signature piece is a human rib cage that Lillian fashions into gold, silver, and brass necklaces, and she's got other body parts too. They're a big hit at the Flea. About half her stuff is made from salvaged goods and dead stock, because not creating new waste is important to Lillian. So are her cats, Buffy and Cuthbert Cut Throat.

Darlene, originally from Long Island and doing the fashion thing for a few years now, has the vintage. She sells boots, belts and bags, scarves, skirts and dresses, and even one or two ponchettes (Ed. note: term coined at the Flea, check the images below, you'll see what we mean). Her picks are very cute young sophisticated stylish gal in her 20s--not unlike Miss D. And if you see Darlene in the morning, don't be surprised if she's rocking a new outfit that afternoon. She's got it like that.

In addition to Flea biz partners, Lillian and Darlene are also friends. They try to match their outfits (until the plan is black and white, and Lillian shows up in bright yellow) and give each other feedback on their wares. Aside from the business, they chill, and at their first sleepover, Darlene found a cuddle buddy in Cuthbert Cut Throat while sleeping on the floor. Hence, another shared interest found in Lillian's cats.

Fringe + Feather can be found at both the Fort Greene and Bridge Fleas most Saturdays and Sundays. Pop in, and ask about the ponchettes.