Howdy, knitters! It’s been a little while since my last post, and it’s been a busy month! If you’re a returning reader, I’m glad to have you back. If this is your first time visiting the Knitting Daddy blog, I’m glad you’re here and I hope you’ll keep coming back for more. The main topic of today’s post is going to be the 2015 Central Carolina Fair, but before we get to that, let’s take a look at some of the other exciting things that have been going on in my knitting world lately.

Recently In Podcasts

I continue to love, love, love listening to knitting-related podcasts. It’s been so long since I last posted that it would be incredibly tedious to detail all of the great episodes I’ve listened to, but I will share a few highlights.

My first highlight to share is a new-to-me podcast: Yarns At Yin Hoo, hosted by Sarapomegranate. I’ve heard about this podcast for a while — many of the other podcasts I listen to have rave reviews of it. But for some reason, I never took a listen myself. A few weeks ago, I finally did, and I am absolutely enthralled by it. So much so, that I’ve downloaded the entire back catalog of episodes and am working my way through them all (I’m about halfway through them). Sara is bright, witty, and a pure joy to listen to. In addition to yarn-related topics, she talks about a variety of other topics that knitters tend to enjoy: cooking, organizing, living simply, and more. I’m a big fan. I think you will be, too. Check her out when you get a chance.

My next highlight is a specific episode of The Yarniacs Podcast. I’ve been enjoying The Yarniacs for some time, but they really hit it out of the park with Episode 95: Knitting, knots, and yarn put-ups. They had an extended discussion about different ways yarns are “put up” — hanks, skeins, balls, etc. They talked to a bunch of industry professionals to learn about the various options and explore what the “standards” are. I loved this episode so much that I marked it as “do not auto-delete” in my podcast player so that I can go back to it and listen to it again and again in the future. It’s great reference material, and I highly recommend it.

Hours and hours of other podcasts played through my earbuds over the past few weeks, and I loved it all. There are so many great knitting-related podcasts out there — if you’re not already listening to some of them, you ought to give them a try.

Periscope

I recently discovered Periscope and am going to start experimenting with it. It’s probably going to end up serving as a little stepping stone to my starting a Knitting Daddy podcast at some point. You can find me on Periscope as @KnittingDaddy, so if you’re on that platform, feel free to follow me. So far, I’ve found Periscope to be pretty interesting. The basic idea is that anyone can broadcast a live video stream at any time. When someone starts broadcasting, anyone can watch — and interact with the broadcaster. Viewers can leave comments and show their appreciation by sending hearts. The broadcasts are then available for replays for 24 hours. At first, I didn’t know who to watch, and I was just finding a lot of nonsense out there. But soon, I started finding knitting-related broadcasts, and once I found one, it led me to finding more and more and more, etc. I even joined the ranks of broadcasters by doing a couple of quick experimental “scopes.”

I like it, and I plan to keep experimenting with it. To that end, I will be hosting my first planned Scope on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 at 5:30PM Eastern. I’ll be broadcasting from the Exhibit Hall at the Central Carolina Fair. There are a lot of great exhibits at the fair this year, including several of my own prize-winning creations (which you can read about below). I’ll be showing them off and looking at some of the other exhibits as well. It should be a great time, and I hope you’ll be able to join me, either live or for the replay. Those of you who can join me live will have the opportunity to interact by asking me questions, and helping direct the way the broadcast goes.

I think it will be fun to watch this platform develop. If you know of any great knitting-related Periscope broadcasters, let me know so that I can follow them, too!

The 2015 Central Carolina Fair

It’s fair time again! I absolutely love this time of year. The first fair of the season around my parts is the Central Carolina Fair. In a few weeks, the Dixie Classic Fair will come to town just a little bit west of here. Finally, in the middle of October, the North Carolina State Fair arrives. I love them all! Last year, I entered my knitting in all three fairs. This year, I’m only entering in the Central Carolina Fair and the NC State Fair. But we’ll still probably go enjoy the Dixie Classic.

This is my second year of competing in fairs, thanks to support from lots of people in the Internet knitting community — especially Dr. Kelly from the Ewe University Podcast, with the discussion and encouragement she cultivates in her Ravelry group. Last year, I entered just a handful of items. This year, I ended up with 9 items to enter in the Central Carolina Fair — including two that were sewing. I’m absolutely thrilled to report that all nine of my items garnered ribbons: 5 first-place blue ribbons, and 4 second-place red ribbons. One of my blue ribbons also was awarded the Judge’s Choice rosette for all of the knitting and crocheting categories.

Let’s take a look at them, shall we?

My first sewn item was a dress I made for Blueberry in July. I had been wanting to re-learn how to sew for a while (I haven’t sewn since middle school), and over the Independence Day holiday weekend, I visited my parents, where my Mom helped me with this dress. Blueberry absolutely loves wearing it, and I had a bast making it. It got 2nd place in the “Dress, Child’s” category.

My second sewn item was a topsy-turvy doll that I finished a few months ago. Again, this was with help from my mom. I started it a while ago, then set it aside. A few months ago, I picked it back up and finished the hand-stitching for the lace work. It got 1st place in the “Doll – Handmade” category.

In knitting, here are two second-place entries. In “Sweater,” I have Blueberry’s In Threes. In “Scarf,” I have my Crackerjack Scarf. The scarf is hard to see in the first picture where it’s the green/white/orange/grey scarf folded on the table. I went back again Sunday night, and they had moved the items around some, which included hanging the scarf so it displays better. I was literally finishing the fringe on it right at the deadline to drop off my items Wednesday night. The Hoppers played their last game Monday, and I had to add the “2015” bookend and fringe before dropping it off Wednesday evening.

In “Socks,” my Bacon Bootstrap Socks took second place, too.

I had a slew of blue ribbons for knitting. 🙂 My Fish Hat took first place in the “Hat” category.

Then, I had my two items I was most nervous about, based on kinda stretching the category. The County Fair doesn’t have a category for knitted dress, or a category for knitted doll. Instead, there is a “Any Other Knitting” category, which is where I entered my stuffed animal last year. That’s where I was planning on entering my Mary doll, before I realized that was the only category where my Lilly Rose dress would fit. So, instead, I put Mary in the “Infant Items” category, which felt a little weird, ‘cause I figure that category is supposed to be for booties and such, but shrug. It worked out great, they both got first place ribbons.

Finally, there was my Candlelit Shawl. I had a blast with this project — it taught me how to knit with beads. Not only did it get first place in the “Shawl” category, it also took the “Judge’s Choice” rosette for all knitting and crocheting entries! When I saw that big ribbon, I actually gasped in excitement. I’m telling you, it’s the beads. Last year, I noticed that shawls with beads all did very well at all of the fairs. That’s when I decided to learn how to knit with beads. It really paid off.

Most of these will be going to the State Fair next month, so let’s see how they do there. How about you? I know a lot of county and state fairs are already in the past — did you enter anything? If you’ve got fairs coming up in the next few weeks, are you planning on entering anything? It’s a lot of fun. Even without the prizes, I enjoy seeing my work on display, as well as getting an opportunity to see other people’s works on display. There are so many great crafters in my community, and this is a way to see what other people are doing, which is a tremendous source of inspiration for me.

Until next time, keep on knitting for the ones you love!

-greg