Remember how I had to undo my nearly finished hat and start over? Well, I did it, and won at yarn chicken! Do you see that little, tiny ball of yarn? That is just over 1 yard. I am absolutely thrilled with the flat, circular crown on the hat, and really glad that my calculations worked. Today, I am polishing off the pattern to send to my tech editor, and should have it ready for beta knitting in a couple weeks. Are you interested in that? Please let me know, as I really hope to get some project photos from beta knitters out there on social media. It has been almost nine months since I last published a pattern, and I really hope to have this and at least a few others before the end of the year. Your willingness to try a tech edited pattern for free helps me publicize my patterns, make sure that it is knitter-friendly, and I really appreciate those of you who do that.

Our fair had super weird rules on exhibit entries this year, and it didn't seem like the department superintendents really knew much about them, nor had any input on them, nor liked them. The rule for knit/crocheted items at our fair has always been that they needed to be completed in the time between the last fair and this one. This year, that gave us two years. So, I wanted to enter my Khamseen shawl. However, this year, they prohibited professional division entries. Before, I hadn't qualified as a professional, because you had to make over a certain amount of money that year to count, and I was just below, so it didn't matter. This year, I did, but there were no professional entries allowed. So, did that mean if you made under that amount you weren't a professional? Or that you couldn't enter at all? Also, do all my knitting entries count as professional? Or just my own designs? I asked four people, none of whom knew. So, we compromised, and I entered a pair of mitts I made from someone else's pattern, but not my shawl. I'm frustrated that they entirely eliminated the professional division, especially because it's not like they have a surfeit of entries so they need to limit them. It was so empty. The superintendents were upset, because they said that the professional entries helped the beginners see what they could do if they progressed. I am going to politely ask the fair board about it once fair is over (along with a few other questions/suggestions) and try not to be elected to the fair board, since I want to tell them what to do.

Anyway, my mitts received a blue ribbon, as did my blackberry-lime pie*, Cashew Brutal, Brown Sugar Shortbread, Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sirnica, and Light Bread. Yasmina and Mariam also made the chocolate chip cookies and shortbread, respectively, and we entered a special contest for a parent and child contest, and it seems like we were the only ones to enter, so we probably have a good chance of winning. Also, we are waiting to see if I get best pie award, or any awards for the yeast breads. Jerome entered a loaf of his gluten-free bread and Amira, Jerome, Yasmina, Mariam and Nejat all entered pictures they had painted or drawn and some crafts that they had made.

So, I'm frustrated that just about every modern fiction piece I have read recently has to include at least one divorced person. I know it is a reality of modern life, and much more common, but why do all the main characters have to be divorced? Where are the happily married characters? Or even widowed ones? Anyway, I was trying to decide if my happy, little murder was worth all the divorced people on the make or not, but I did finish it. The kids and I are slowly working through Anne of Windy Poplars. Fair booth schedules and work schedules and who is at home schedules threw all our reading and family time off last week. I picked up Desert Queen again, and I'm hoping to finish it soon.

* I will be posting the pie recipe this weekend!

Linking to Unraveled Wednesday.

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Labels: Books, Design, Fair Week, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Knitting, Tales from the Kitchen, Yarn Along

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:59 AM