Cabled Eyelet Baby Blanket

Hopefully this is the last baby blanket I'll need to do for a while, though there are quite a few in my favorites that I'd love to tackle. Eventually.

Now I can concentrate on getting my "wall art" done, and start on my coat. I love starting new projects!

That's It?!?

My state fair hat came back in today's mail. I was a little confused at first as to why I was getting a package, but then I recognized my own handwriting. It was dark, okay?

They judged in three categories on a scale of one to five: Appearance (cleanliness, design, use of color, appropriate fiber choice), Workmanship (gauge, uniformity of stitches, proper casting on and casting off, no knots or loose ends, appropriate seams and other construction techniques) and Finishing (blocking, fringe, embellishments).

I got fives in all three categories and the comments "Very nice job. Tough class!"

"That's it?!?" was basically my reaction.

I don't have much I can go on for improvement for next year (oh yes, I'm planning for next year), except that they probably went a little bit on personal preference and I need to submit things that are more striking/memorable. I've already got a couple ideas in mind.

Seafoam Lace Scarf

I finished Nicole's graduation present last week, and I dropped it off Friday before I went to pick up the kids. Nicole picked out the pattern and the color. I picked out the Blue Heron Metallic Rayon. I liked the subtle color changes, plus shiny! I liked the yarn so much, I picked up the same in Kelp for an as yest unknown project but I'm thinking another lace scarf. (I'm not the kind of knitter that stashes a whole lot of yarn, so this is significant.) This was my first scarf, and my first completed knitted lace project. I started a baby blanket with some lace in it, and I've done lace in crochet before, but this was a very good project for someone with my lace experience.

State Fair

When I was younger, I was in 4-H. I wanted to join the Girl Scouts, but I think it cost more money or something, and Mom had been in 4-H, so 4-H I joined. I have to say I learned some useful skills, like running meetings and presentations and all that other business stuff, but I hated it at the time. I also really enjoyed the project I did for the fair. Not the goal-setting or documentation, but the actual learning how to sew, refinish, and baking. (I also learned the art of procrastination and coming up with goals and documentation after the project was done, so that was a useful skill, too.) I was a nervous presenter, too, so the interviews with judges at the county fair were pretty stressful, too. But the year I was chosen to send on a pair of pajamas I had designed myself to the State Fair was a very proud moment.

Now come to find out, all that rigmarole of county judging is superfluous. I can submit any old thing to the State Fair for judging. At the urging of one of the other knitters in my group at my LYS, I decided to enter one of my knitting projects. The only one I finished within the past year that I still have access to or hasn't been used is my Inga Hat, and I'm pretty excited to show it at the fair.



I'm actually going to go to the fair this year so I can see it on display. Plus, all that food on a stick. I'm trying one of those deep fried somethings this year, diet be damned.

Hayden's Stocking

I think I knitted this thing three times over, more than that for the short row heel, but in the end, I think it turned out well.

The weird coincidence of the thing was that the same day Emily and Matt were discussing the wish that Hayden would have a homemade stocking, since they also had stockings made by family members, I was browsing Ravelry for stocking patterns that I liked, and this one was so appropriate for my Alaskan-born nephew. It was committed to the US Mail yesterday, along with my contribution to the contents. Hopefully it gets there on time.

Now if I can just get my Christmas cards out...if you'd like to be included and aren't sure if I have your address, you should know one way or another to get a hold of me.