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While talking with my Mom about the entries I had this year, she laughed and asked me if I just frantically knit for a month before the fair, JUST for the fair. Well, almost.

About a month or more out I'll go through what I have finished in the last year that I could enter. Oh hey, the Mickey Hat was finished sometime last year. And I just knit that blue hat. There's the handspun, hand-knit socks I finally finished, those can go in too. The rayon tank that I finally knit the neck and arm bands for, that can go in. And that wool yarn I keep petting, and couldn't sell, that's going in. Oh! And if the Muppet Alpaca yarn doesn't sell before the fair, I'll take it too.

Then I look at the current projects, and decide what there can be finished in time. Hm. There's the yellow mitts for a friend that I'm designing...her deadline is after the fair, so let's get those done. And the afghan! I'm so close to done, if I just push a little more...maybe I can get it done too. So that's what I work on for the time until the county fair.

I love to also enter a dishcloth...let's see if there's any patterns I like that I can whip out kinda quickly. (Two more days of knitting and that's ready.) Then there's the baking. I haven't done bread in a while...so I made some the day before you turn in your entries. It was a little denser than I like, but I took it anyway. I would have made chocolate chip cookies as well, but we were out of brown sugar, and last time the What Cookies won their category, and were so distinct, I didn't feel like they had any competition, so I didn't make any of those either.

So with everything gathered together, I took it all to the fairgrounds. Dropped all the things off at their respective places. Checked in for both volunteering gigs I do. And then waited overnight.

The first volunteer job I do for the fair is to set up the display for the knitting/crocheting/everything else that's lumped in there. I started doing this one after seeing heavy sweaters distorted on bad hangers and other display atrocities one year. It also gives me a chance to see how well I did in all the categories, which is a nice bonus.

Then I went back with the family on Thursday night to play at the fair. We ate fair food, watched pig and duck races, I talked with the sheep, we fed parakeets and a camel and a llama and lots of other animals, managed not to win a goldfish, and overall had a pleasant evening.

On Saturday I took my spinning wheel and set up shop in the display barn as a demo. I was joined by a couple of knitters and a weaving friend, and we made fiber arts interesting. Once that wrapped up, my weaving friend and I wandered the fair a little on our own, fed the parakeets again, looked at vendors, and overall had a good evening. It had poured earlier, so the fair wasn't crowded. Bad for the fair, good for us and wandering.

Then today I went back a last time and picked up my entries as well as my winnings. Everything I entered had placed, and I walked away with a check for $36.00.

So how did I do?

White Bread: Third place
Afghan: Third place
Dishcloth: Third place
Mitts: First
Blue Hat: Second
Mickey Hat: First
Rayon tank: First
Alpaca Muppet Yarn: First
Wool Yarn: First
Hand spun, hand knit socks: First, and Reserve Champion

The light is fading; tomorrow I'll take the beauty shots for everything and post them as well.

Bathing suits. And get out in the water. I did just that, and survived. Let me explain.

I read this article recently. Around the same time, this one popped up in my view. I took them as a sign that no matter what, I was taking my bikini with me to Daytona Beach, as well as other suits. I found pieces that fit, and they all came with me.

We had such a busy week that we were on the beach very little. But the first night we went down to the beach, I wore those two bits that could be called a bikini. Sure they didn't quite match--I'd needed to go to a bottom from a different set. I didn't care. They fit, I was at a Florida beach with my son and husband and a friend not much older than my son. The four of us had a blast, playing in the water and digging up the little clams that so quickly dig back in.

There I was, a woman over 40 in a two-piece suit that bared her midriff and showed the fat on her back. And I was having a great time with two kids and a man I love. While I enjoyed the moment, I also watched the people around me. There was a younger family nearby, with two younger children. The mom was sitting on the beach, watching the littler one for a while. Then after watching us play, she got up and got into the ocean as well, a little unsure, then with a grin. The two older men with their red solo cups slowed their walk as they went by, appreciating the view. (?!?!) Then there were the two lifeguards, just off duty, who were catching a few waves before calling it a night. One lost his board and it threatened to smack the kids. We caught it, and I picked it up about the time he caught up to it. He did look me in the eyes while saying thanks, before glancing down at what was covered in a bit of fabric. *grin*

The lesson? I was a little apprehensive, but hey! I don't know these people. They have never seen me before. And I was having a great time teaching a pair of kids about the cool things in the sand of southern beaches. I may be 42, I may be obese, but dammit, I didn't care. Those memories with the kids, and reminiscing about my time at that age, are what that evening was about.

And it was glorious.

Nowhere near as organized as one might hope, but here's what I've got going NOW. Because I need to see it all, and prioritize. All things that have been finished will not be discussed.

The Boy's quilt needs sandwiching and quilting.
The latest "blocks of the month" in the quilting shop's class need to be finished (one week! there's a deadline!)
The punis needs to be spun and the singles plied (5 to go!)
The hand dyed needs to be spun and plied (the other half is finished, and I see long draw in my future!)
I have a sampling of a new yarn for a company to complete (also in a week! another deadline!)
And there's a cowl I started as an "easy project" when I need the fingers moving so the mind stays focused at work.

As I finish the above, I'd like to...
Make some spring/summer stitchmarkers. The Etsy shop needs an infusion.
Knit on my lime green top. It's of a weight to be worn NOW, but I'd like to get some more inches on it before I tuck it away again for cooler weather knitting.
I'm four knit squares from having all the pieces I need for my OLDEST knitting project, a rather large blanket. I'd love to get that completed this year too.
There's a quilt I'd like to finish for ME.
There's a partially complete quilt sampler from last year I'd like to call DONE.
There's a bajillion other things I want to do.

So it looks like today is for a sampling and some blocks of the month. If I get the sampling started (I'm making colorwork mitts) and the blocks done except for the applique, I'll pin that other quilt so I can get some quilting done. I'm just going to stitch along the seams on that one, so once I start, it shouldn't take long to finish.

Stars Revealed! Woo!

Lots of fit young people, some athletes, and a skinnier Drew Carey. But you know what?

I'm rooting for Lando. *grin*

So there's a Women's Network at Work. A good one, which if you're in a real facility holds things you can go to. I went to one or two of them held Somewhere Else way back when we had a facility here too. Now all I get are the emails about various things like some of those events in places I am not near, the kudos to Our Own for being awesome leaders, and articles about feminism, how to be a high-up corporate woman, and how you can't have everything--you have to pick and choose. It was the transcript of an interview in the vein of that last bit that came through today. I looked through it casually, knowing that my role at work is one I'm happy in, and having no desire to "rise up the ladder", and in doing so, leave what is my profession. I like my job.

***

Tonight I was re-watching Criminal Minds, and caught the quote at the end, recognizing the author hazily, and that he was a cartoonist. So I searched for the quote from the episode, then looked up the author, Bill Watterson. Ended up on a site with more of his quotes. Wandered the Internets and found a tribute comic in his style based on the same quote. Which, I also discovered, came from a commencement ceremony speech he gave at his alma mater back in 1990, the year I started college. I read the whole thing, and realized that this, THIS, is what I subscribe to.

Do what you love. Even when people around you don't understand, or think it's odd. He was doing this back in 1990, when I was entering what he called "formative years". I read his comic in the actual newspaper. I remember his railing against the syndicate, and the sad lack of Calvin and Hobbes merchandise. I, and a good part of the world I live in, seem to have absorbed the message he gave to his college.

As I read the speech, I thought of my friends who have worked to find their writing careers. I have friends who work unconventional jobs so they have the flexibility to do what they love. And I, I work as non-corporate in a corporation gig as you can get. From home, with flexible hours, and with people one time zone as well as halfway across the world. So I can be at the bus stop, and catch a Boy as he runs and jumps into my arms. So I can take part of my lunch hour and spin yarn, or dash out to the Scout Shop for the achievement pins for this month's pack meeting. I work with words, my cerebral love, and at times get to flex the semi-poetic muscles in my brain to match the words with what we really want to say. And at night, I play with yarn, or beads and wire, or fabric, and work with my hands.

Do I have it all? No. There's a messy house and filthy tub that will testify against that idea. But I have enough of the things that matter to me. I am content. I have no need to climb a ladder. I have made my choices, and I am happy in them.

Are you happy in yours?

The weeks finally feel like we're getting back to something like what passes for normal here. So here we go!

Quilting (still nothing! Will work on one of these things over the weekend though. At least one.)

• Mystery Quilt: (ignored) pieced the center of the top. Starting to think about the fiddly piecing that has to happen, though, and might wrap this one up soon. Still thinking about this, and want to get it moving again before the end of the month.


• The Boy's Quilt: (ignored)  I need to clean my floor, move furniture, and get this sandwiched.


• My Quilt: (ignored) With the need to think of my son's quilt's finishing, I think this one will sit a little longer.


• The jelly roll quilt: (ignored until the Mystery Quilt is done) Still waiting for something to be completed.

Knitting

• The (new) socks: Finished the toe! And cast on the second sock. Past the cuff, and on to the body. This is where I expect it to stay for quite a while.


• Boy socks: DONE. He decided that the difference in width wasn't a big deal, so I went ahead and just...finished them.


• A UFO! I've picked up the spats I was making for LAST year's MSFB, and have finished the second one over the week. Well, all but two edging spots. I've also realized that I messed up the first spats' finishing, so I'm pulling it out and making it right. This project has re-captivated me, and there's a good chance I'll finish it in the next week.


• Birthday tank top: Still waiting for the armholes.


• LIME GREEN TANK: Nope.


• Orange top: I thought about it, but nothing happened with it.

• ​Yellowstone Lodge: (ignored)

Spinning

• Blue-green gradient: Still so close to a finished single...will be working on it at Market this week.


• PIIINK!: Spun. Plied. Waiting to be washed and whacked.


• 3#Fiber: (ignored) I'm going to start the test-spinning to reach a DK or Worsted eventually...I want a true 3-ply, I think. Must plan on how to arrange the singles while I spin it all up.


• "Fluff and Stuff" bag: ignored. But we're getting closer. I'm in a real "get the WIPs done" frame of mind.