2022 Fair Results

 The North Idaho State Fair is on. My daughter, Ruth, and I went last Friday. The weather was nice for it. In the mid 80's, which is far better than the previous week's 90's.

Here are the results of my entries.

Starting with my peyote stitch necklace, it won a 1st place blue ribbon and a Top Special Entry award.

This is the first time I've seen the Top Special Entry ribbon. I don't know what the qualifications are for this ribbon. I guess I'll have to find out.

In knitting, my child's fairisle mittens won a 1st place blue ribbon and a Top Special Entry ribbon.

The Argyle mittens won a Second Place red ribbon.

The Norwegian snow set won a 3rd place white ribbon. It also won the Superintendents Choice Award!

The adult fairisle hat didn't win anything. The ones that won were pretty spectacular, so I understand why.

All in all, pretty exciting results.

I have not been feeling well the last couple weeks or so. My Panic Attack Anxiety disorder has reared it's ugly head. I'm having almost constant panic attacks now. I went to my doctor about it and I've got a new medication, but it's going to take a few weeks for it to kick in. They also had me install an app on my phone called Mindful Thinking which is helping some, and I've been instructed to read a book called Feeling Great by David D. Burns. It claims to be a revolutionary new treatment for depression and anxiety. I'm about a fifth through it.

The weather has cooled off just a bit this past week. We've also been having thunderstorms. Friday night we got good and whomped by one. Lots of rain came down. It was great!

I can't believe summer is almost over. Out in the woods the leaves are starting to turn. Autumn is coming.

Live long and prosper. \\//

It's Fair Time

 Today I took some entries for the 2022 North Idaho State Fair. I had just a few for KnitWits. 9, to be exact. For myself, I've entered just 5 items. 

I have 4 knitting entries.

Lovelia, of course, entered as a whole set.

The Bonnie Isle Hat in Adult hats.

The Argyle Mittens in Adult Mittens.

And the Orange Children's Mittens

I also entered the Peyote necklace with Black and White Checks. It was made the year there was no fair because of the pandemic, so it was okay to enter it.

That's it. They have severely decreased the number of classes to enter in, and you can only enter one item per class. They also charged to enter things like they did last year. I had to pay $1.00 per entry. This will be the last time we'll have entries for KnitWits at the fair. With such a drop in entries, and having to pay, it's not worth it to go to all the trouble.

I did manage to obtain some free tickets. The Crochet department supervisor needs two clerks to help her on judging day, which is this coming Thursday morning. Her clerks have crapped out on her and aren't coming, so I will help her. It's about a 2 hour job, and free tickets are well worth it.

We did get a few days of cooler weather. Last Thursday it was one of those rare absolutely perfect days of blue sky, a few puffy white clouds, a nice cool breeze, and the temperature was in the mid 70's. I enjoyed it so much.

On Friday the air got smoky from a large wild fire a ways west of Spokane, Washington. The winds were blowing pretty stiff so I stayed indoors. Then the heat returned. It was 91F today and it's going to get hotter over the next couple weeks. The last blast of summer, before autumn starts tiptoeing in. I can't believe it's almost over already. 

How about a cat picture? My boys were looking so cute laying together on their favorite chair.

Some territory disputes have been happening between them and Boba so they've banded together a lot lately. Doesn't matter. Boba is still winning because young and sassy.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Fair 2021 Results

 Ruth and I went to the fair Tuesday. Everything I entered won blue ribbons. I also won a grand champion ribbon. I'm gobsmacked. I took pictures.

I won Grand Champion and First Place on the Norwegian Snow Set.

I won First Place on my Margaret Tudor. Now, this is a bit of a  mystery to me because one of my friends went to the fair on Sunday and emailed me that I won Grand Champion on her. I saw no such ribbon anywhere near it. My friend is completely certain there was a purple ribbon there, so maybe it fell on the floor behind or something.

Everything else with their ribbons. Dog sweater.

Fairisle Kep (Adult size)

Child size Fairisle Kep

Mittens.

Pink Hound's-tooth Check necklace. (Entered in Needlework--Beaded Necklace)

Black/Rainbow necklace (Entered in General Crafts-Jewelry/Necklace)

The weather was perfect for fair going. The temp was in the upper 70's with clear blue skies. It hasn't been that nice during the fair in years. I enjoyed going too. They've done a lot of work improving the grounds. Buildings are painted, there were actual sidewalks and lawn instead of gravel, and lots of flower beds chock full of flowers. I enjoyed my visit there.

My thumb is still hurting but ice packs have helped a lot. I think I can go back to doing my cross stich this coming weekend, but just a little. No doing it for hours.

Railroad Ramblings

 Before I start on what I plan to write about, I have to say this. My friend Dorothy went to the fair yesterday and she let me know I've won the Grand Champion ribbon on my Alice Starmore sweater. I'm so excited! I needed to hear that. The last couple weeks have been really hard, and stressful. I needed the good news.

Now, on to today's post. Not last weekend, but the one before, I spent the whole time working on hemming up some drapes that I bought online. I had planned to purchase these drapes in 2017, but Hubby came home with the news that he was laid off. The drapes were kind of expensive, so I cancelled my plans. Then, 3 weeks ago or so I was just browsing drapes, wishing, and I came across my favorite ones on clearance sale for $10 bucks a panel for the 95 inch long ones. The length I actually needed, 84 inches, was not on sale. "Well!" I thought. "I have a sewing machine and I know how to use it!". I ordered them. I got eight panels for 4 windows. Two windows in the living area, and two in the dining area. (These are one giant room.) 

Each panel is 51 inches wide. They are made of Voile, which is a slippery fabric to work with. I chickened out on doing them on the sewing machine and decided to do them by hand. That's 408 inches of drape I hemmed. It took the whole weekend, but I got them done and now they're hanging. Here's a crappy pic. There is quite a bit more daylight in the house now.

Anyway, to get to the point, on Monday morning my right thumb was sore and very swollen. Apparently, it was too much hemming. So I didn't do any stitching on the bicycle picture for a few days. I did a bit of knitting, which didn't hurt anything at all. I'm working on the first sleeve of the cardigan.

I was trying to make the purl side the right side because it looked so pretty, but after frogging the sleeve 3 times, I gave up on that idea. Just couldn't seem to make it look nice at the row changes. So, knit side it is.

This past weekend, my thumb was still a little sore, but I figured it was safe to work on the cross stitch a little bit. Here's where I am on it. Working on the window in the background.

Unfortunately, I seem to have over done it, and now my thumb is super swollen and hurting. I've been plying it with ice packs, which is helping. Sigh. No stitching this week for sure. 😒

While I was stitching away, I got to thinking about laying tools. I sold them when I had my shop. I started wondering how they work and looked them up on YouTube. That is when I learned about Railroad.

A laying tool is used to keep the strands of thread parallel to each other while stitching. This allows for maximum coverage of each square and looks a lot neater. (They're also great for doing satin stitch.) I want to improve the look of my cross stitch, cuz sometimes it gets to looking quite sloppy with strands twisting and crossing each other. However, after watching videos, I'm not interested in laying tools. To much effort. Railroad, on the other hand...

Railroad is a simple technique to get the strands to lay parallel without using a special tool. It works best when using 2 strands of thread, which is the most commonly used in cross stitch. 

You start by putting your needle between the two strands, 

push the needle through the hole and draw the thread through, 

then finish the stitch. You can see here how the strands lay parallel and flat.

It's a little slower going, but looks so much nicer. Definitely worth the trouble. I'm so glad I got curious about laying tools. I love it when I learn something new and useful.

We got some much needed rain over this last weekend. Yay! It knocked down the smoke in the air, and the temperature has dropped considerably. The heat wave is over. It's going to be cooler the rest of the week. Perfect deck knitting weather. Also helpful in putting out wild fires. There are a lot of them around us.

My husband has a job! He's been hired by North Idaho College to teach 3 computer programming classes. It's not much money. Practically nothing, and no benefits, but it could lead to a full time position if he plays his cards right. He announced this morning he's going for his doctorate at the same time. So he's set himself up for some very busy weeks ahead.

The North Idaho State Fair opened over the weekend. Me and Ruth should figure out which day we're going. Today I have knitting at the library.

Live long and prosper. \\//

North Idaho State Fair Entries 2021

 We did not have a fair last year because of Covid-19. We are going to have one this year and we can enter items we would have entered last year if we want. There are some changes they've made too. For one thing, it will be two full weeks long instead of the usual 5 days. That seems like such a long time. We also have to pay to enter things. They're charging $1.00 per entry. No free or discounted gate tickets for entries either. The prize money has gone up, though, to $7 for blue ribbon, $5 for red ribbon, and $3 for White ribbon. It has never been that "high" before.

KnitWits decided not to enter anything this year because we didn't know if we were going to have the fair or not when I had to start collecting entries. Hardly anyone comes to the meetings anymore anyway. We have less than half in our inventory than normal. I fear we will have to disband the group if things don't start to improve. 

I am going to enter things in the fair. I have 8 items. I will need to take them in on Tuesday so today I spent the day getting the 6 knitting items ready. I had a bit of pilling to get rid of, which I do with a razor and a lint remover, because most items have been worn. I also made sure all ends are woven in and whatnot. I am also entering two beaded necklaces which I will be washing in the morning because I've worn them too.

So, here's what's being entered this year.

My Margaret Tudor pullover

The Norwegian Snowset I made for my little nephew Everett.

The Hounds-tooth check sweater I made for Zoey

The first Fairisle Kep I made. (Entered as a childs hat)

The Fairisle Kep I made myself. (Entered as an adult hat)

The adult Norwegian mittens.

In beading I'm entering these two peyote stitched necklaces. One in Bead weaving/Needle Arts, and one in Jewelry/General Crafts. 

I forget, at the moment, which goes where.

I wish I had one of the Pink Hounds-tooth Check layette sets to enter, but they are long gone, hopefully being worn by some loved babies.

I have not had a chance to hem up the new drapes like I'd planned for the weekend. Other things took precedence. I'm not in a huge hurry anyway.

We had the most wonderful weather today. The temperature stayed below 80, and we even had some rain this afternoon. The smoke got blown away for awhile and the sky was so blue and the air smelled so good. I opened some windows and aired out the house. I eventually had to shut them back up though when the afternoon wind changed and blew smoke back in. It was very nice to have a break from it though. Tomorrow the heat returns to upper 90's and even triple digits on Wednesday.

Tomorrow I've got knitting at the library. I'm looking forward to it.  I need to get out of the house for a couple hours.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Fair Results 2019

Went to the North Idaho State Fair yesterday to check out the entries. I saw that people 60+ got $2 off the entry ticket price. So I mentioned I'm 60 and I got in free! It was seniors get in free day. My very first senior discount. I was both surprised and delighted.

My six entries did pretty well. The baby set won Blue.

And so did the fairisle mittens. YAY! This was a difficult project for me so I'm really proud of this one.

The Peytwist necklace won Blue

and the blue bracelet too.

The necklace, which I entered in General Crafts, won White/third place. The competition was stiff so I did pretty good all things considered.

The big surprise, though, was that my Mini Star Trek won a ribbon. I really didn't think it would. White/Third place!

Now, if you'll remember, I started Margaret Tudor after making an agreement with my friend Dorothy to do so at the beginning of the year. We both wanted to make sweaters out of Tudor Roses by Alice and Jade Starmore, so we made a deal to work on them together and encourage each other to get them done. Well, Dorothy got her sweater done in time for the fair and she won Best of Show! It deserved it too. She did an incredible job on this cardigan. The pattern is Kathryn of Aragon.

She's out of town this week, so won't even get to know she won until next week.

So, about my asthma/cough that I've been struggling with for months. I finally found out what was wrong. On Tuesday night of last week I didn't get much sleep at all because I coughed all night long. I also could feel bubbles in my lungs with every breath I took. That's not asthma, so I decided to go to the Immediate Care clinic instead of my regular doctor. It was time for a second opinion.

Well, am I glad I did that! I saw Dr. Bailey. He listened to my lungs and then ordered a chest x-ray. Well, what do ya know? I had pneumonia!!!! He prescribed an antibiotic med, which I took faithfully, and I started feeling better by the next morning. I'm feeling so much better now. The cough is almost gone, and no more bubbles in my chest. It feels so good to be able to breath properly again. I'm actually getting sleep at night too.

Sometimes we can get so focused on something that we don't think of other things. I think that's what happened with my regular doctor.

Did I mention my daughter Ruth finally found a job? She's been filling out applications ever since she graduated last December. It's very hard to get a job in computer programming. The application process is very difficult. I'm so glad she was able to break through it. She's starting as an intern for 90 days and if it works out they'll hire her full time. We are so happy! What a grueling and frustrating thing it's been for her. I'm so glad she stuck it out. I'm hoping the job will be one she'll enjoy. She'll be programming machinery for a local company that makes holsters for concealed guns. They do a lot of custom work.

It's been a bit smokey around here from wild fires burning in areas not too far from here. Not as bad as last year, or even last month though. It's been hot the last few days too. Last night the rain came and washed the air. It cooled things off too. It's a cloudy and cool day today.

I have finally cleared off the dining room table and set up my blocking board. Margaret Tudor is getting blocked!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Fair Entries for 2019

I took all the stuff for fair entries in today. I had a total of 22. 6 of them are mine. Here's what I'm entering this year.

Mini Star Trek Cross Stitch. I was literally finishing the framing an hour before I left today. I'm very happy with how it's turned out.

Polka Dot baby set.

Fairisle Mittens

Necklace

A bracelet

I entered this necklace too. Apparently I forgot to blog about it. I made it for my daughter Ruth for Christmas. I remember life was crazy then, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised I forgot to blog it.

It's made with the new technique by Gerlinde Lenz called Peyote With a Twist - Not Crochet, or Peytwist for short. The pattern is Tiger by Mero Lugaa on Etsy.

That's the list. I will find out how I do in two weeks.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Layette Set #39

The North Idaho State Fair is coming soon so I'm getting the entries ready. I did the KnitWits entries today. Including mine, I have 17 entries. I will have 5. One of those entries will be the cardigan, hat, and booties for Layette set 39, which I've finished.

These colors were very hard to photograph. I made adjustments on my camera and this was the best I could do. I think I need to take them in the sunshine rather than shade. Anyway, here it is. I used my slowly developing Polka Dot pattern I thought I would have finished a long time ago but Margaret Tudor gets my attention instead.

Cardigan

Pattern: Polka Dot Baby Cardigan by Me. Not available yet. I'll get to it eventually

Size: 3-6 months

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran weight
Color: Aqua

Yarn: Unknown Acrylic
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Orange

Needles: Circular size 6 and 8

Started: April 9, 2019
Finished: June 25, 2019

Comments: I love knitting this pattern. I was test knitting it while making the cardigan and found several mistakes. I had it on my phone as a PDF file and made notes as I found errors. One of the things I really like about Adobe Reader. I lost that file last week.

An Android update took place on my phone and when it was done I lost all my photos and files that I had on my phone. I was able to get the photos back because they're automatically backed up by Android (via our phone company). I was only able to recover a small handful of the PDF files, (which sucks cuz I had some really cool beading patterns on my phone that I hadn't backed up on my lap top yet). I guess I'll have to test knit again to re-find the errors.

Isn't this a pretty stitch pattern?

Hat

Pattern: Polka Dot Baby Hat by Me. Not available yet. I'll get to it eventually

Size: 6 months

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran weight
Color: Aqua

Yarn: Unknown Acrylic
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Orange

Needles: Circular size 7

Started: July 9, 2019
Finished: July 16, 2019

I found a nicer 3 stitch decrease for the last round of decreases in the crown and used it, though I doubt anyone will notice. I also used a different SSK (Slip, Slip, Knit) left leaning decrease. I like how it looks so much better. It lays smoother, more like the K2tog does. You can find it here: One Step Left Leaning Decrease (Alternative SSK)

Booties

Pattern: Polka Dot Baby Booties by Me. Not available yet. I'll get to it eventually

Size: 3-6 months

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran weight
Color: Aqua

Yarn: Unknown Acrylic
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Orange

Needles: Circular size 7

Started: July 21, 2019
Finished: July 21, 2019

I have not written up the bootie pattern yet. I need to get that done. Perhaps after the fair.

Almost forgot, the buttons. I wanted to use orange buttons but I only had 2 in the stash and was loath to go anywhere to search for more, so I decided to alternate between orange and aqua. I really like how it looks.

Here's hoping it does well at the fair.

The matching blanket is not done yet. You'll be seeing it in the not too distant future. I am not entering it with the rest of the set because it's a crocheted edging rather than knitting. I hope I have enough orange yarn left. If not, I'm screwed cuz there is no way I can get more.

Still coughing the goopy cough. It's not asthma. I'm not having asthma attacks right now. The air has been very clear. Sweet Hubby asked me if any of the new meds I've been taking have coughing as a side affect. I had never thought of that. I checked, and coughing is the first thing on the side effects list for one of them. I've stopped taking it as of today to see if it makes a difference. I'm going to have to make an appointment with my doctor about this. It's getting worse and driving me crazy.

Live long and prosper. \\//