Blown Away at The Evergreen State Fair

This left me speechless and I'm still not sure what to say about it so I'll use Kelli's words from yesterday.....I'm completely and utterly Blown Away:

I couldn't find this knit ~ Kelli eventually spied it and freaked out (shared glory, my sister!).  The conversation that followed was comical:

Kelli - "look at all your ribbons!!"

Melissa - "those are not all mine"

Kelli - "I've never seen so many ribbons on one thing!"

Melissa - "Kelli, those are not all mine!"

Kelli - "yes they are!"

Melissa - "they can't be all mine"

Kelli - "this blows me away"

Melissa - "did I win ALL those ribbons?!"

You would have laughed if you heard us!  So, here's what this lovely BadCatDesigns modified Snow Queen Pi tablecover took home for awards:

~~~~1st Place Blue Ribbon

~~~Best of Class Rosette ["awarded to best item in each class"]

~~~Best of Show Rosette ["awarded to 3 items only ~ overall best lace, best crochet and best knit (that's me!) entered in the fair]

~~~Special Award Rosette ["awarded at the judges discretion to items they feel are of unusual excellence"]

~~~Reserve Grand Champion Rosette [I'm not sure exactly what this one means but it sure is pretty!]

I know it's such a random thing to have someone give you an award over someone else when just as much time and effort was put into many things I saw entered yesterday, but it is soooo cool to be acknowledged as a pretty good knitter when it's something that you absolutely love to do! Here's the link to my Ravelry project page if you want to see where this project started and how far it's come!

~Melissa

Evergreen State Fair Photo Album 2011

Who is that cutie in the corner.....stay tuned!

The day started perfectly ~ amazing sunny, summer, DRY weather.  Free parking pass, free admission tickets for us knitters and half price tickets for the tagalongs:

First stop was Barn 500 to look for the Knitwits' entries and see how we did.......holy cow, it was wonderful to have so many people enter that we had a hard time finding our things!! 

HOORAY Washington Fiber Artists ~ what a turnout!!!

Kelli won a 1st Place Blue Ribbon!!!!

...and so did Melissa!!!!

What fun ~ blue ribbons at the State Fair.  How cool is that?!?!

Then it was off to the Knit-In ~ they provided us with a lovely windowed tent in a nice shady spot to sit and knit and visit for 3 hours.  It was great fun to see many from our Snohomish Knitters Guild, meet some new people from the Eastside Guild and run into a friend from my work.  We sat and knit and chatted and ate smoked turkey legs, curly fries and cookies, and had a smashing good time:

The knit-in was over before we knew it and we weren't quite ready to leave, so we strolled around and looked at a few things that we hadn't seen yet:

We had such a great time, from watching the 4H'ers enjoying being part of the fair to witnessing a woman in her 90's participate in the knit-in.  We are already looking forward to next year.

Oh yeah, and thanks, Kelli, for teaching me to knit (I don't think I've mentioned that to you at all in the last couple days!  Ok - maybe 10 times or so but I do mean it!)
~  Melissa

Girls in Sheep Clothing

don't we slightly resemble our blog header photo? ~ too funny ;)

Les Miz

My daughter Isabell and I now understand why this play is the longest running show in Broadway history. Alan Boubil captures Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. This 1832, two day event speaks volumes even today. Adding breath-taking voices, music and acting bring you to tears in this amazing production.

My Rock Island shawl was a perfect dramatic mix to the event, which while I knitted, almost brought me to tears.

Enjoy the endings of summer~

Kelli

Sisterly Shenanigans

Kelli and I had such a fun day yesterday!  I want to start off by saying that this:

was most definitely NOT MACHINE MADE and that every stitch was painstakingly and lovingly done by Miss Kelli, contrary to what anyone else may think, and she was very deserving of the ribbons she received at the Skagit County Fair this year.  So there.

Back to the beginning of the day yesterday......

We entered a few things in this years Evergreen State Fair and boy, do they know how to do things right!  Very organized, welcoming, friendly and encouraging, and we're both really excited to see how we did and to participate in this years Knit-In during the fair.

Then it was off to Kirkland for a shopping spree at Serial Knitter's.  That is a great shop!  We both highly recommend it and if you love Madelinetosh like we do, it's the place to go!  Here's what I came home with:

Tosh Sport in Tern for a sweater

Tosh Merino DK in Wild Mushroom for a capelet

 We met up again later in the evening at the Skagit County Fair to sit, knit and visit:

and to pick up our entries when the fair closed last night.  We both did really well but hope for many more participants next year, and I think we're going to try and get involved and see what we can do to increase entries in the future.  It's a shame that with knitting and fiber arts in general seeing such a boom in interest, that every year there seems to be less and less interest in getting your work out there and trying to encourage more people to try your craft.  We're going to have to work on that!  I'll leave you with some better photos of my entries and how I did.  It was a blast and we really encourage anyone with the slightest interest to check into the fair next year!  It's a super easy process and requires very little time or energy and it is FUN!!!  We would love to walk anyone through the signups next year if they need help.....you know where to find us!    ~ Melissa

DAT DA DA DAAA!

This years 'fair-time' fun has been another 'done good' year...
Come check out the 2011 Skagit County Fair, if you got that kinda gas money... I live close, so it works for me.
Yes let's not forget you get a ribbon just for participating, thank you, that's my 'fish tale' scarf,thank you, thank you, thank you...um ouch, that hurt a little. But they did hang it wrong! Hello! Let's move right along to Melissa's beauty...Rock Island... it rocked(sorry), with a "Blue ribbon" and "Best of Class" lovely job! And yes I did recieve a "Blue ribbon" and a "Best in Class" also for my Skagit Valley vest...ooh ahh, I love that vest.

But the "Best Of Show","Best of Class", and a "Blue ribbon".... the best of them all!!!~goes to~ drum roll please...

congradulations Melissa for another fabulous scarf!!! It is beautiful!

(Sorry about the crummy picture it was hard to get a good shot.)

Hers were locked up in a glass case. Mine of coarse was sitting right out there for someone to take.

We have a fun time knitting, ribbons or not, it's just icing on our "cakes of knits."

Oh To Be Fourteen~

Summer days being fourteen...this is my youngest daughter, Isabell.

not just fishing but catching salmon in Canada

camping in the backyard with your girlfriends



Oh to be Bella and have a summer birthday!!!

She sure adds to summer joy!

...therapy...

Lousy week at work but I came home to this:

and then spent an hour doing this:

and suddenly I feel much better!

Getting ready to enter a few things in the Skagit County Fair on Sunday ~ hope to see you there!

Have a great weekend!  ~ Melissa (& Dozer)

She's done!

Meet Ginger!  She and I will be spending a lot of time together this fall....

Pattern: Goodale by Cecily Glowik MacDonald - Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK in 'Ginger' - Buttons: Recycled vintage celluloid ~ I modified the pattern quite a bit but not because it needed it!  A very well written and fun knit~

~Melissa