It's County Fair Time

It's that time of year again! Summer is county fair time, and state fairs too. I'm the knitting and crochet judge for two counties. The first one was this morning. Crochet categories were quite good. Nothing was outstanding, but nothing too bad either. Knitting was disappointing. I wish more of my guild members entered the fair. Nothing was terrible this year, but most of it was just mediocre. I've seen soiled items and beginner workmanship, luckily not this year.

There were the usual items entered in the wrong category. A knit sweater entered in the "over 60" crochet category. The "afghan stitch" afghan category is a usual problem. Many crocheters don't know what afghan stitch is. The afghan stitch afghans I saw were entered in the embroidered class, which is ok.

The new one to me was 2 entries in the crocheted pieced afghan class. One entry was one piece and the other was four pieces. What was wanted was whole afghans with pieces seamed together. I forget the exact wording in the book. Both pieces were entered by the same person. (This fair, you can enter up to 3 pieces in each class.

In the hooked rug section, a piece latch hooked with felt strips was entered in the traditional class. It wasn't even good felt. Some of the entries were outstanding. Finishing this year was generally good.

To enter a fair, you need to get the book ahead of time, fill out the entry form, and send in a small amount of money by the deadline. Entries are to be delivered a day or so before judging. For this fair, the deadline was July 20. Entries were delivered Friday after 6:00 pm and on Saturday. Judging is on Sunday. The fair opens on Monday. Food deliveries may be later. The judges get to really inspect the entries. Here's what our building looked like on judging day. When judging is finished, screens are put up to protect the entries, making them harder to see.

You can see how I planned ahead to get a picture of the welcoming inflatable. It's hard when you're making a left turn from a busy road. Here's the exit picture. I have 2 passes to the fair. If I go when it's open I'll try to get a better picture. No promises though, I live at the other side of the county.

Knitting continues. I'll soon finish another pair of socks. I'm working on a jacket of dishcloth cotton. I'll show that when I finish the back.