Fair Entries 2015

Once again, I got myself to the fair grounds by 8 (am) and managed the canning entries. I check them in, organize them for the judges and then record the results.

Then I turn all the tags over and attach the ribbons so they are ready for display. I left a little after 3 this year.

I also managed to enter a few things myself.

Here is the list of what I am submitting for judgment:

1. Pullover sweater (adult): Ombre Yarneater

This sweater was looking quite worn (since I wore it) so I decided to shave off the pills. I had the thought that I should be able to use hair clippers to cut the pills off. So I tried it. Well, it's very effective. But if you catch the threads, you can easily cut them...or four of them. It was worst where the yarn got really thin in the "thick and thin" sections.

So I cut the yarn in one sleeve in four places. I decided not to have a meltdown because the sweater is made up of so many different yarns already. I pulled out the bag that had leftover yarns from this project and was pleasantly surprised to see that I still had extra of the yarn that was cut. It still wouldn't match exactly because the yarn colour and thickness changes so much, there would be no way to find a piece that was the same as the section that was cut. But again, since everything varied all the time, you didn't notice.

I essentially duplicate stitched from a few stitches to the right of the cut, past the cut and then a few stitches to the left. After I block the whole sweater again, I couldn't even find the spots unless I looked for the ends on the back side. So hopefully it will not catch the judge's attention. :)

2. Vest (adult)

I knit this for Troy either back in our engagement or early marriage days. I think it was always a little small on him. He liked it but did not wear it often.

When I pulled it out of "deep storage" to wash and block it for the fair I noticed that it biased terribly. Even though the fabric is knit straight, it wants to distort diagonally. So one bottom corner of the back, for instance, was way lower than the other. I believe this can sometimes happen with yarn that is unbalanced. (You can read more about it here on TECHknitter's great blog.)

Includes fake pockets and everything! :)

For now, I blocked it to try and get it to straighten out. I think the long term solution will be to ravel the garment and reuse the yarn.

3. Pullover sweater (child): Wool-Aid Sweater

4. Hat and mitten set: Dwindling cables set

Of course, they really are the same colour.

Ok, I spent about two hours Friday night looking for these mittens. They were not with the hat and they were no where to be found. I had convinced myself that they fell off of the shelf and into the garbage can that sits below and had been thrown out. I was devastated and bummed. Not only did it take me about two years to finish them but I hadn't even gotten to wear them yet! No, actually the worst part was that I finished them for the fair and now I couldn't enter them.

But I kept looking. In ridiculous places. In the same places. And eventually I found them in a plastic bag with something completely unrelated. I think I did that when we blew insulation in the attic. So the mittens were dust-free, but almost lost "forever."

5. Any item from handspun yarn: Etoile Hat

6. Any other knitted article: Pennant Skirt

Obviously a picture from before it was finished. After blocking it hangs just how I was hoping...looking like nice regular pleats. I finished the knitting in late June but just put in the elastic and closed up the casing this week. (Once again the fair deadline gets things done!)

7. Quilt--twin size, machine quilted: Orange and Grey Zig Zag Quilt

8. Raffle quilt block: Bear Paws with a surprise

 Ok, I did promise you a surprise on my quilt block.

I had the idea to applique a bear onto the block. My first idea was to use the dark brown (a little more suitable for a black bear) and put it right in the centre, but the dark colour wouldn't show up against the blue and green. So after trying out other browns in my stash, I came back to the golden tan colour already in the quilt. Troy convinced me that having it off-centre would be good and I came to agree with him.

I found a bear silhouette that I liked online, printed it the size I wanted, and then traced it onto the fabric. I sewed it on with traditional needle turn applique. All done with very little drama this year!

Oh, and I used a lot of starch on this piece both before cutting and piecing and after it was finished, and it feels great. Let's hope the judges agree.

9. Tomato Juice
No picture here, but I did one nice bottle of tomato juice last summer and saved it for the fair. But there are a few seeds so I think they will mark me down for that. It will depend what the competition is. (I have at least been shaking it so it's not separated.)

10. Photograph - black and white: animal

11. Photograph - colour: animal

They changed the rule this year and you can only enter one picture into each section (black and white or colour) instead of each class (subdivisions of sections). So that will be a lot fewer entries this year. If I were worried about ribbons, I would enter in the classes that get a lot fewer entries ("abstract" or "digitally manipulated") but I decided to go with my favourite pictures instead.

And that's everything this year. I'll let you know next week how I did!!

County Fair Quilt Block

Yes, it's almost time for the Cass County Fair again. (The 164th!) It opens August 3rd and runs through the 8th, which means I have to have my projects ready to turn in on August 1st.

I have a number of projects I am trying to finish up and prepare for entry, and one that I didn't even start until last night was the raffle quilt block.

I bought the $5 fabric pack last year and the theme was "Up North." I had a few ideas to do with the Mackinac Bridge but I couldn't get excited about a landscape or applique project. I finally decided to do a Bear Paw block. Bears live up north, right? (Right?)

I'll skip to the end and show you my final block:

I put it together in one evening. It is 12.5" this year (I swear), except for a tiny notch out of the right side. (At about the mid point. Don't pretend you can't see it.) But I'm not replacing that piece and will take my chances with how strict the judges are. (They are strict.)

Here is a close up to show the fabric a little better:

The kit came with a dark blue, a green with red dots and a brown and tan with the same vaguely-animal stripe on it. Oh, and the pale pale blue that I used on the outside of the block. I really wish they would chose some more modern, or at least bright and cheery fabrics one year. They are always the same dark drab tones. Ok, ok, I'll stop criticizing before another person asks me why I participate if I hate it so much. (I don't.)

Here is the basic unit of the block:

Make four of those, add the sashing and you're done.

I followed this great tutorial by Delaware Quilts. Except I did the half-square triangles eight at a time instead of four. I followed the Fons and Porters tutorial here for that. (The key formula is that your starting square is 2 times the finished block size plus 1.75".) It worked great except for the missing notch on the right side and I think that was because the block got distorted when I was marking it with a pencil. (Not their fault.)

If I did different colours in each corner, then the four at a time would have been perfect. But since I matched opposite corners, I needed eight total and why not do them all at the same time then!? :)

If all goes according to plan, my block is not actually finished. I have a surprise in store. I'll show you later, assuming it works out!