County Fair 2025

As in most years, I did enter a yarn.

This year it was only one Tibetan Mastiff yarn from Ramen.  I have been working on this set of yarn for a few years, since I intend to make a sweater/wrap from it.

The vision is a rustic, big, warm, hug and I have finally crossed the half-way mark on the needed yarn.

I also entered a batch of Biscochito Cookies.  There was a lot of cookie competition... especially in the "other" category.

Thanks to being laid off from my Day Job, I was able to spend some time watching the judging.

I think it's quite nice for the judging to be open to the public, but I've not been able to fit it into my schedule until now.

The baking judges were silent.  So I had no idea what they were thinking and decided to wait for the comments.

The Spinning and Weaving Judge was very talkative about her thoughts... and thanks to that, I learned a lot about what they are actually looking for on the accompanying label that goes with each entry.

I took copious notes when I got home.... so hopefully, my yarns will be better explained in the future.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair, 2024

As mentioned in my Tour de Fleece, Hommes wrap-up, these two skeins were entered into our local county fair.

On the left is Tibetan Mastiff (2 3/8 oz of 2-ply) and the right is Huacaya Alpaca + Bamboo (~4 oz of 2-ply). Both were primarily spun during the most recent Tour de Fleece.

I don't have great expectations for either yarn... 

• The Huacaya Alpaca + Bamboo has bits that are over-spun and not resolved during plying.  But it is a really soft and consistent yarn, otherwise.
• The Tibetan Mastiff is a much better yarn.  It is well-balanced and generally an even gauge, but not entirely.

So we shall see what the judges think...

I also had one entry in Preserved Foods for Blueberry Curd.  This idea blew my mind.  I'm so excited to learn that many fruits can be made into a curd... not just Lemon, which I absolutely love.

While we bought the blueberries, the eggs were produced by our hens.  :-)

The grand champion in the spinning+weaving category was a 3-ply yarn that was absolutely exquisite.

I always (!) love going to the Fair, and especially looking at the quilts.  I'm certain that I've mentioned this before.... we have some truly amazing quilters in my county.  :-D

We looked at all of the open exhibits and the 4H exhibits.  We watched some market lamb showmanship.  Walked through the barn to see some of the sheep and pigs.  Ate some amazing Brisket+Mac-n-Cheese.

I hope you have the opportunity to visit your local county or state fair.  It's always a fun time, in my opinion.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Larimer County Fair, 2023

I'm in the county's new system now, so I received an email on May 16 that the county fair was ready to receive entries.

The fair itself is held in early August, but I do appreciate being reminded that it's time to think about my entries and get them finished.  :-)

I downloaded several categories and had some thoughts about branching into several of them, but ultimately decided to enter in the following categories, which I have entered before:

• Photography
• Spinning and Weaving
• Knitting, Crochet, and Felting

As we got into July, I started setting items aside as well as washing and blocking the candidates.

The entries ended up being as follows:

• Minty Mitts - these are made well and match quite closely.  I also think the thumb join was executed well.
• Inigo Socks - these have two mistakes that I know of.  One can be viewed as a design feature.  Neither are obvious, in my opinion.
• Save Our Sheep Sweater - this has one obvious mistake, but I think the overall body of work and composition is good.  It should receive high marks for the variety of yarns made and used.
• TM 2-Ply Yarn - this is one of the better Chiengora yarns I've made.
• Peek-a-boo Photo of Wilma - I love the personality of this photo, but have no feel for how photos are judged and therefore placed.

The Minty Mitts and Inigo Socks are in the same class.  I only realized that one entry per class was allowed in the Knitting/Crochet/Felting department after I completed registration.  So it seems odd that the registration system allowed for and confirmed both.

So upon confirming with the Check-in Staff and then the Special Check-in Staff my second entry was cancelled.  Then as I was speaking with the Department Steward during Drop-off, She confirmed they were both allowed because socks and mittens should not be in the same class and they would be judged separately, but they would not let her break the class, so I re-entered the second entry.

There was also a change in the Photography Department to disallow matts, even though it is called out as specifically required in the Premium List.... and to be clear, I would not have mounted my photo unless the Premium List said it was required.

I also confirmed that the Premium List Posted still states the matt is required the morning after Drop off.

Annoying on both accounts but alas, all of my entries were dropped off to their appropriate departments.

Judging happens the day after Drop Off and is open to the public.  However, I've never been able to attend judging due to day job commitments.

Upon visiting the Fair over the weekend, I saw that my entries placed about where I expected them to.  It's always fun trying to find them in the display...

My Sweater was displayed prominently, with no ribbons.

I have to acknowledge that the Sweater Competition this year was quite good.  With the Brown one receiving the Grand Champion placement.

My Tibetan Mastiff yarn received 1st place and a Special Award.

The Minty Mitts received 2nd place.

The Inigo Socks received 3rd place.

.. and Wilma's Peek-a-boo photo was placed prominently in the Amateur Domestic Animal Display (directly under the Labrador/2nd place photo), with no ribbons.

So I am pleased that my entries placed about where I expected them to as well as looking forward to getting everything home and seeing what the comments are.

The written comments received were minimal.  I did not receive the written comments/score sheet for the Mitts, but I did receive some oral comments on the photo as I was checking out.... so I now have something to focus my attention on.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair, 2022

It's County Fair time again.  :-)

Upon looking at the Hand Spinning and Weaving Department Premium List when it became available in early June (~6/6/22) I was surprised to realize that I did not have any yarn completed since the specified date (8/1/21).  However, it does make sense given the move and focus on the large SOS Sweater.

Then, as I started to review the premium lists for other departments and thinking about where I was on projects, I realized that I might be able to field a decent entry.

So I have three photos:

Thanks to the Tour de Fleece, Hommes and Femme, and some warmup spinning, I finished two yarn entries.... Tibetan Mastiff (Ramen) and Dorset Horn (SE2SE) to go with one Handspun+Handknit Hat.

And some last minute Strawberry Jam.

Of all of these things, only the Hat was complete between August 1, 2021 and June 6, 2022.  Everything was dropped off last week.  Judging was on Wednesday and the Fair was open Friday thru Tuesday.

I went over the weekend to see the exhibits.  There were large entries in both the Spinning/Weaving and Needlework departments... especially Needlework was much larger than in recent years.

I'm happy to report that each of my yarns received second place and were displayed on the wall with the other beautiful yarns.

    

None of my other entries received ribbons, but it was quite fun to see my photos displayed with the other entries.

  

As well as my hat and jam on the shelf displays.

 

The Best in Spinning was this remarkable Handspun-Handknit Sweater.  This did not look like handspun yarn at all.

Some of the other entries....

  

  

  

Wilma and I picked up our entries on Wednesday.  She was a very good girl while waiting in line... and very excited when we picked up the fiber projects.  :-)

The comments received mostly make sense.

For the yarn:  The majority of points lost were for not following instructions.... while I did state the intended project for the yarns, I neglected to include the intended technique... knit, crochet, weaving.  oy.

The canned goods can only come from pre-approved recipes.  This wasn't clear to me in the Premium List prior to entry.  In going back to read it again, it's still not clear to me.... Although I now have the list of approved sources, so I will take a look and then decide if I want to try again.

There were no notes on the photographs, which was disappointing.

Overall it was a good fair for me and the fibery-stitching competitions are definitely my favorite.  I have no doubt that I will continue to compete.  :-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair 2021, part 2

Hubba and I went to the County Fair last weekend.

My Results

Neither of my wools placed but my Tibetan Mastiff yarns received second and third place behind a beautifully spun skein of yak.

This is expected since both of the wools had quite a bit of vegetable matter (VM) in the roving, and therefore so does the yarn.  Though the judge only mentioned it on one of them.

The judge recommended a figure-eight for tying all of the skeins, which I've not done but will start.

It's interesting that the judge thought both of the wools were harsh for the intended purpose (a blanket) and recommended long-draw over short-draw as the spinning technique.... I had already decided that I want to practice the long-draw technique over the next year because it should produce a loftier yarn.  So now I have a new goal of entering a long-drawn yarn into next year's fair.  :-)

The judge also mentioned guard hair in the Tibetan Mastiff skeins as well as over/under-spun areas in each yarn.

I agree with all of the workmanship comments and I always find it interesting to see what each judge tends to focus on.

The county fair is a place where consistency and the following of best practices is rewarded.  Therefore, I believe it's an excellent place to test your skills.

Other Entries

There were a lot of beautiful yarns this year, all of which were displayed behind glass... None of these photos turned out well... I guess I should practice taking photos of things behind glass.  :-/

The grand champion was a hand-spun, hand-knit cardigan-vest with lots of cables.... really quite striking.

As always, the Quilt entries are awe-inspiring for me.  One day, I may attempt to make a quilt.  ;-)

Other Exhibits

There was a mini-Ninja Warrior course at the entrance to the Fairgrounds.  They had a big-buff dude helping kids thru the course.  It was fun to see dreams looking possible in the kids' eyes.

There was also this phone charging station.  It was set up with a variety of cables.  All you had to do was plug in and start pedaling.  Fun!

A Sign of the Times

Since Hubba and I both have first-hand knowledge of non-vaccinated people not wearing masks, and the fact that enforcement of the public health policy is not occurring, Hubba and I continue to wear masks in public... especially now with the Delta Variant surging.

AND...

Since most people were not wearing masks, and a large thunderstorm was brewing, Hubba and I decided not to stay.... so we did not visit any of the other exhibits, animals, or midway.

All of that being said, there were fewer people than we typically see at the fairgrounds while we were there.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!