Sheep Shots: It's Time For the Fair!

Saturday, August 23, 2014

It's Time For the Fair!

The Great Allentown Fair starts next Tuesday. It's a tradition that goes back only a very few years. The old tradition was more of a harvest fair, in late September. Now, it's the last hurrah before school starts. I am thinking that the new tradition has something to do with kids skipping school to go to the fair. . .

Also, traditionally (in a tradition that goes back about 8 years), I enter a number of knitted items. This year, that number is 30.

Only a sampling is shown here, and since I have dropped everything off at the fairgrounds (yesterday morning), more pictures will have to wait until the results are in and I pick up my stuff.

First up, a dressy shawl in organic cotton. IK pattern, I think.

Followed by a scarf from one of the One Skein Wonders books in Noro sock yarn, stashed for a good long time while I looked for the perfect pattern.

The pattern is deliberate bias and the long stretches of color show it off well.

This is Adult Scarf, fine yarn.

The sweater I finished earlier this year in Puno (alpaca) color mulberry. The yoke is patterned, the body and 3/4 length sleeves ribbed (really wide rib). This one is for me.

And I look forward to wearing it this fall.

IK pattern.

Fair Isle, any garment in a variety of odds and ends of wool. The pattern is from Anna Zilboorg's 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats. This is one of the berets in the book.

I'm pleased with how even my stranding is.

I fell in love with this pattern the first time I saw it on Ravelry: Sheep In the Meadow pillow cover in odd bits of wool/ack blend (Encore, Decor, Easy Wool).

I had vowed not to buy yarn for these projects and I (mostly) kept that vow (see below), so my cover is smaller (the pattern calls for chunky yarn, I used worsted weight) but the size is perfect for the form I had on hand and for lumbar support on my desk chair.

These little ladies made me break my promise as I had no washable yarn in suitable skin and hair colors in sufficient quantity to make the knitted doll I had in mind.

So off I went to Joann's (coupon(s) in hand) to buy flesh (I was looking for peach) and something suitable for hair.

Vanna's Choice for the skin in the only even close to pinky flesh tone I could find (and believe me, I looked). WoolEase in a medium brown made up the hair.

This project brought me right down to the wire. I was embroidering features at 8 pm Thursday.

Jean Greenhowe pattern.