Beribboned
Posted by limedragon | Filed under general, knitting
A couple weeks ago, Mom and I took a quick trip to the State fair. We checked out the knit entries at Creative Activities building, stopped in at the new MN wine booth, looked at some sheep, and ate a couple of delicacies unique to the fair.
I found the two hats I entered hanging in a far corner of the main knitting display.
A yellow fifth-place ribbon was attached to my backgammon board. (But I noticed the board was showing the wrong side, oops.)
And these socks? They got third place. I’m excited!
Cute sheep we saw:
And two poor sheep were wearing these… unitards? I’m a vegetarian, and naturally thought, “Yuck!” when I saw them. But the pragmatist inside me said, “Blog this!”
We also visited with Linus and Lucy Van Pelt.
Results and Judges’ Comments
- Maroon and gold hat: 91; Nice work – 1 less row of ribbing would put the neater cast-on side to the front.
Yes, that’s right about the cast-on row, I mistakenly oriented the stitches to the wrong side when I joined them in the round. I left it this way because I thought it matched the purl/fold row quite well (see second picture in this post). Next time I’ll stick with a tubular cast-on. - Short-row hat: 93; Nice work – interesting design.
That’s it…? There was much discussion about which category this hat should go under when I dropped off my entries. Ultimately, it was put into “Hats – color pattern and intarsia” (because of the yarn color changes). I think I will hold onto this hat and re-enter it next year under the plain hat category. - Backgammon game board: 95; This is a great piece, nicely knit and felted, but edges ripple.
The edges do ripple, and that annoyed me. I tried twice to block the edges out smoothly, but it never worked with pins. While drying, the fabric shrank back, pulling the pins with it. I considered blocking with vice grips, but decided that was going too far.
The rippling is due to the construction; the colored triangles are formed with short-rows, and this seems to draw things in at certain areas. After I had dropped it off at the fair, I happened to watch the Knitty Gritty episode about this project. The sample on TV had similar ripples along the edges. I wonder if using intarsia for the color changes would make any difference? - River Valley socks: 97; Very nicely knit socks – well done short rowing. I’m almost tempted never to wear these socks!
Tags: backgammon, competition, feedback, hats, mn, sheep, socks, state-fair
September 10th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Congratulations! The short row hat is still my favorite.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Those River Valley socks turned out really, really well!! Congrats on your ribbons. At least you got reasonable comments from the judges – I’ve seen some doozies…
September 10th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Congrats on your wins! Of course you must wear your river valley socks, silly!
And the unitard… I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m skeeved!
September 10th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Well, they are all beutiful to me! Nice job. Wow. I wonder how you get to be a judge at the State Fair?
September 10th, 2007 at 9:36 am
I’ve said this about four times now, but I thought your red socks were really, truly lovely.
Most of the comments I received were pretty curt, short, to the point. Although… a friend entered a hat that I knit for her little one (in my name and I wasn’t present! They pulled my original form and added it!!!) , and there was quite a wordy judge on the baby knit items. She talked about how cute it was on the doll… how she liked the color… how it really would be rather nice if it were blocked… (it had been gifted, ok? :)
Then, my friend read her comments– how cute it was on the doll… how she liked the color…
So, she really liked ‘testing’ out the cuteness on a doll (?!>!>!?) :)
September 10th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Whoa – I’d be darn proud of all your entries! They’re all lovely as far as I can see!
September 10th, 2007 at 9:52 am
I really, really like the blue and brown hat. I’m new to reading your blog, so maybe you have talked about this one before, but I have to ask: did you design it? It is beautiful.
As to the unitards, it would be more appropriate for this audience if the various sections were labeled sweater, hat, mittens, scarf, etc. :)
September 10th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Nice job at the fair. Those socks are beautiful. You must wear them.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:13 am
You were brave to enter – I didn’t get over there but it was fun looking at the entries when we visited the fair. My dh loved the sheep wear! He is definitely not a vegetarian and always points out how good something would taste as we walk through the barns. Our kids always give him a hard time.
September 10th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Congratulations! I agree with Jeanne; you MUST wear the beautiful socks.
September 10th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Very nice! I love that short row hat…is that your pattern?
September 10th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
You Rock!
September 10th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
But then again we already knew that.
September 10th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Well done!
September 10th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Well done! I am delighted to say that I saw your entries in person :)
September 10th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Congrats! Your work does look very nice:)
September 10th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Congratulations! Wear the socks silly, so you can show off.
But that unitard is both skeevy and mean.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Congratulations!!!
September 10th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Congrats! I love the colour of those socks.
September 10th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
Congratulations. May I ask how did you enter into the contest? The hat is my favorite, and the socks. I don’t play Backgammon, but it’s still cool. Yes it would offend me if someone said the edge curls.
September 10th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Congratulations! I think the hat should have been entered in plain hats, too.
That first sheep looks so, so soft.
September 11th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Congratulations. Definitely wear the gorgeous socks. That’s what they’re meant for!
September 11th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Congrats! Yay for ribbons!
September 11th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Was the short-row hat an original design? I’d love to see it how it was constructed. (And then you might get more useful comments than “Nice work – interesting design).
September 11th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Congratulations! I like the blue and brown hat and the socks. Our fairs start in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to it.
September 12th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Congratulations!
September 15th, 2007 at 8:16 am
Congratulations! It’s all lovely, especially those socks.