At the fair

Saturday was the first ever Fiber Fling at the Allen County Fair. When I organize these knit-weave-spin-tat-whatever events in public, I worry that those who sign up won't show up (half of them did) and/or that no one will come see what we are doing (it was hot, the building we were in was air conditioned, so a good number of families came through). We all had a good time, the home ec club was happy to have us, and they want us back next year.

I learned a few things. We were there from 10am to 2pm, but not very many fair-goers show up until the midway opens at noon. So next year, we will shift to a 12 to 4pm slot. Also, we need signs saying who we are. Hopefully, next time we will have tee shirts advertizing the guilds.

I also want to mix up the fiber arts a bit more. There were four spinners and a spindler, two weavers, a basket weaver, and a tatter. We could use a crocheter, a knitter, and rigid heddle and inkle weavers as well.

A (very) few guild members entered the Open Class competition, and we were basically competing against each other. My sweater won Best in Show! The buttons were purchased and sewed on just in time.

The judges include written comments about each item they rate. In past years, it was obvious that they did not know much about fiber arts. So several of us cobbled together some guidelines, which I delivered just before judging. I included my email and phone number for questions and feedback, but heard nothing. However, I can tell by this year's comments that they used the guidelines.

To get more guild members to enter the Open Class competition, we plan to have a program covering the guidelines and the registration forms. Hopefully, that will prod more fiber artists to enter.

Knitting: The non-matching socks are finished; separate post to follow. The L-Bag is about an inch from the decrease rounds for the bottom.
Sewing: The shorts I used for yardwork lack usable pockets. Using a tutorial from One Hundred Acts of Sewing, I added a patch pocket to each pair so I can at least have my cell phone with me. A learning experience.

Spinning: I got a LOT of spinning done at the fair - hope it is not too kinky, as I tend to spin too fast at spin-ins. I'm almost done with the dark brown roving.

Besides the fair, several of us spun at a local farmers market this past week, in part to raise the profile of the guilds, in part because of a deal the spinning guild has with parks and rec. We were inside a big barn with the vendors, and it was HOT with nary a breeze. On Friday, I tried to purchase some cooling neck gaiters at Dick's Sporting Goods, but they had sold out the day before. You snooze, you lose!