County Fair recap 2014
Sep. 15th, 2014 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imjustloriWhile talking with my Mom about the entries I had this year, she laughed and asked me if I just frantically knit for a month before the fair, JUST for the fair. Well, almost.
About a month or more out I'll go through what I have finished in the last year that I could enter. Oh hey, the Mickey Hat was finished sometime last year. And I just knit that blue hat. There's the handspun, hand-knit socks I finally finished, those can go in too. The rayon tank that I finally knit the neck and arm bands for, that can go in. And that wool yarn I keep petting, and couldn't sell, that's going in. Oh! And if the Muppet Alpaca yarn doesn't sell before the fair, I'll take it too.
Then I look at the current projects, and decide what there can be finished in time. Hm. There's the yellow mitts for a friend that I'm designing...her deadline is after the fair, so let's get those done. And the afghan! I'm so close to done, if I just push a little more...maybe I can get it done too. So that's what I work on for the time until the county fair.
I love to also enter a dishcloth...let's see if there's any patterns I like that I can whip out kinda quickly. (Two more days of knitting and that's ready.) Then there's the baking. I haven't done bread in a while...so I made some the day before you turn in your entries. It was a little denser than I like, but I took it anyway. I would have made chocolate chip cookies as well, but we were out of brown sugar, and last time the What Cookies won their category, and were so distinct, I didn't feel like they had any competition, so I didn't make any of those either.
So with everything gathered together, I took it all to the fairgrounds. Dropped all the things off at their respective places. Checked in for both volunteering gigs I do. And then waited overnight.
The first volunteer job I do for the fair is to set up the display for the knitting/crocheting/everything else that's lumped in there. I started doing this one after seeing heavy sweaters distorted on bad hangers and other display atrocities one year. It also gives me a chance to see how well I did in all the categories, which is a nice bonus.
Then I went back with the family on Thursday night to play at the fair. We ate fair food, watched pig and duck races, I talked with the sheep, we fed parakeets and a camel and a llama and lots of other animals, managed not to win a goldfish, and overall had a pleasant evening.
On Saturday I took my spinning wheel and set up shop in the display barn as a demo. I was joined by a couple of knitters and a weaving friend, and we made fiber arts interesting. Once that wrapped up, my weaving friend and I wandered the fair a little on our own, fed the parakeets again, looked at vendors, and overall had a good evening. It had poured earlier, so the fair wasn't crowded. Bad for the fair, good for us and wandering.
Then today I went back a last time and picked up my entries as well as my winnings. Everything I entered had placed, and I walked away with a check for $36.00.
So how did I do?
White Bread: Third place
Afghan: Third place
Dishcloth: Third place
Mitts: First
Blue Hat: Second
Mickey Hat: First
Rayon tank: First
Alpaca Muppet Yarn: First
Wool Yarn: First
Hand spun, hand knit socks: First, and Reserve Champion
The light is fading; tomorrow I'll take the beauty shots for everything and post them as well.
About a month or more out I'll go through what I have finished in the last year that I could enter. Oh hey, the Mickey Hat was finished sometime last year. And I just knit that blue hat. There's the handspun, hand-knit socks I finally finished, those can go in too. The rayon tank that I finally knit the neck and arm bands for, that can go in. And that wool yarn I keep petting, and couldn't sell, that's going in. Oh! And if the Muppet Alpaca yarn doesn't sell before the fair, I'll take it too.
Then I look at the current projects, and decide what there can be finished in time. Hm. There's the yellow mitts for a friend that I'm designing...her deadline is after the fair, so let's get those done. And the afghan! I'm so close to done, if I just push a little more...maybe I can get it done too. So that's what I work on for the time until the county fair.
I love to also enter a dishcloth...let's see if there's any patterns I like that I can whip out kinda quickly. (Two more days of knitting and that's ready.) Then there's the baking. I haven't done bread in a while...so I made some the day before you turn in your entries. It was a little denser than I like, but I took it anyway. I would have made chocolate chip cookies as well, but we were out of brown sugar, and last time the What Cookies won their category, and were so distinct, I didn't feel like they had any competition, so I didn't make any of those either.
So with everything gathered together, I took it all to the fairgrounds. Dropped all the things off at their respective places. Checked in for both volunteering gigs I do. And then waited overnight.
The first volunteer job I do for the fair is to set up the display for the knitting/crocheting/everything else that's lumped in there. I started doing this one after seeing heavy sweaters distorted on bad hangers and other display atrocities one year. It also gives me a chance to see how well I did in all the categories, which is a nice bonus.
Then I went back with the family on Thursday night to play at the fair. We ate fair food, watched pig and duck races, I talked with the sheep, we fed parakeets and a camel and a llama and lots of other animals, managed not to win a goldfish, and overall had a pleasant evening.
On Saturday I took my spinning wheel and set up shop in the display barn as a demo. I was joined by a couple of knitters and a weaving friend, and we made fiber arts interesting. Once that wrapped up, my weaving friend and I wandered the fair a little on our own, fed the parakeets again, looked at vendors, and overall had a good evening. It had poured earlier, so the fair wasn't crowded. Bad for the fair, good for us and wandering.
Then today I went back a last time and picked up my entries as well as my winnings. Everything I entered had placed, and I walked away with a check for $36.00.
So how did I do?
White Bread: Third place
Afghan: Third place
Dishcloth: Third place
Mitts: First
Blue Hat: Second
Mickey Hat: First
Rayon tank: First
Alpaca Muppet Yarn: First
Wool Yarn: First
Hand spun, hand knit socks: First, and Reserve Champion
The light is fading; tomorrow I'll take the beauty shots for everything and post them as well.
