First entries at the fair!

I haven't been to the local Altamont Fair since I was a kid, but today I stopped by the fairgrounds to drop off three items at the Sheep Barn for their competition. One of the items is a color-stranded hat, so I thought it was fitting that one of the two women processing the items was Deborah Andersen, knitter extraordinaire and the woman who first taught me to do colorwork. Deborah also is a colleague at work, and her background is as a librarian, so how can she not be wonderful?

I believe the judging will be done by the time the fair opens next week, so I'll have to use my free pass and see how I did. I'll also look forward to seeing everyone else's work.

Above is the hat I entered. This item was entered in the open class, so I wouldn't compete with my twined half mitts in the novice class for these small items.

















The third thing I entered is a felted entrelac bag.


Right now I am working on the Alexandra Ballerina Top from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits. This is the second item I've knit from this book, and both have been a pleasure to work on (though there seem to be a few errors that haven't been caught for the errata page). Folks on the Fitted Knits Along are fabulous, though, about helping. And it is a treat to see what everyone is making.

I am about halfway done with the left sleeve, and still have the right sleeve to do. My goal is to finish by tomorrow night (which means I should be knitting, not blogging!). It also needs to be blocked, so the cables will stand out a bit more. But at the moment, this is what it looks like.

I think the Boatneck Bluebell sweater may be next on my horizon, but after finding Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks at the library last night, a pair of sock might intervene. I find this book even more inspiring than the first. Normally I prefer using worsted weight yarn for socks (pretty much instant gratification), but I have lots of more typical sock yarn around, and perhaps I'll pick one of those patterns. Come to think of it, the worsted weight socks I make for myself come from Deborah Andersen's pattern! I guess I'll start this blog with her, and end my first entry the same way. Thank you, Deborah, for teaching me so much!

This is the hat I made in Deborah's colorwork class last year.