Nine Ribbons

I entered 8 exhibits in the 2019 Chilliwack Exhibition and managed to win 9 ribbons! 7 firsts, a second, and a Best in Show.

Firsts for a "counted cross-stitch on aida",

an "adult hat and scarf", (my Year in Temperatures Scarf with a hat to match)

a "recycled article with a major style change", (a tunic made from duvet cover)

"Spinning - any natural fibre, plied" (a 2 ply cotton)

"Collection of 3 or more decorative items", (16 of my Stitch Meditations")

"Yardage of woven material", (my travelling inlay Saori yardage)

"Wearable article woven with recycled material" (my coat from denim strips).
The coat also won a "Best in Show" rosette.

And in the "Scarf or cowl" category I received a second place. 

Three For One

I entered 3 hand woven items in the exhibit at the ANWG (Association of Northwest Weaver's Guilds) Convergence 2019 held last month in Prince George and I did far better than I expected. My "What Rubbish" jacket won three different awards!

The awards ribbons from left to right are:

"Other Techniques, Best in Show"

"Recycled Yarn(s)/Fabric(s)"

"Other Techniques, "People's Choice"

Cash prizes were provided by:

The Portland Hand Weaver's Guild, 

The South Cariboo Weaver's Spinner's and Fibre Artists,

and The Shuswap Spinner's and Weaver's Guild

I've decided to use the cash prizes to buy a Mahatma Centennial Charkha and embark on the new adventure of learning to spin cotton. The charkha will be arriving soon, but it may be awhile before the cotton I also ordered arrives.

The members of the Tzouhalem Spinner's and Weaver's Guild did such a beautiful job of the handmade award ribbons that I decided to frame them and display them in my weaving room. 

The awards ribbons from left to right are:

Hand knit from handspun silk.

Tablet woven by hand and beaded.

Handwoven in fine cotton in an intricate pattern.

A big thank you goes out to the many people who worked so hard to make Convergence 2019 a success.

Late Exhibition Report

Just realized that I never did report back to my readers about my Chilliwack Exhibition entries for this year. Enough time has passed that I can barely remember what I entered let alone how each entry did! (Why yes, I DO have a very short memory!) I do recall that I entered 6 items and all 6 got some sort of ribbon. No rosettes this year, but lets see if I can search Flickr files to see what was entered and which ribbons were won for each category.

Oh. This photo is somewhat helpful. It at least shows the ribbons won in the weaving department.

A second for my Saori "8/2 Blues" yardage.

A first place ribbon for my Saori vest,

Another first for the little red cross-body bag with its handwoven Saori fabric.

The Saori woven coasters also won a first. I'll be posting a bit of a tutorial tomorrow about how those were finished. Come back around if you are interested and haven't already found my explanation on Ravelry.

The other two ribbons were won in a different department. For sewing I received a third place ribbon on the orange Runaround Bag.

And finally, in crocheting, a first for the miniature 1/4 scale afghan I made for the doll couch. 

So there you go, the 6 ribbons won at this year's Chilliwack Exhibition, though I neglected to get photos of the ribbons with those last two projects.

A Gift Prepared Early

I've been super busy lately, but haven't been taking many pictures. When that happens I end up not blogging at all for what is a story without at least one picture?

Here's just one of the projects I've been working on lately. I finished it up today and the weather cooperated for photos.

It's a newborn sized layette for my hairdresser.

She has found out that her baby, due in early February of 2016, will be a girl. 

She had been told that she would never be able to have children, so she's very excited about becoming a mommy.

It felt right to welcome her miracle baby with a hand knit gift.

This is the "Nouveau-né"pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka The Yarn Harlot.

It's a fairly gender-neutral pattern so I pushed the femininity with a bright pink yarn and added, lacy embellishments.

As with all new born sized layettes I'm sure it took longer to make than the baby will actually spend wearing it.

But perhaps it will be something special to bring the baby home in and then tuck away as a keepsake.

Seconds Count

So, as promised, here is a lineup of the fair items I received second place ribbons for.

The Saori hat I blogged about some time ago came second in the Handweaving, "open" class. It's a catch-all category for things like soft sculptures, toys, and tapestry of any technique. I put the hat in that category because there wasn't one specifically for hats and because this hat includes both knitting and weaving. I'm not sure what the competition in that category consisted of because the items are not displayed together by category once they are judged.

The hat is for sale, $60 Canadian, no tax. That's a bargain for American shoppers. With the way our dollar has been falling it works out to about $46 US. The hat is hand woven almost entirely from handspun wool and wool blends. There are a few accents of commercial yarns that contain some man made fibres.

The little handspun sweater I knit for my granddaughter's doll at Christmas also received a second. It was in the "Knit or Crochet, Small Article" class.

A last minute construction, this second place ribbon was won in the "Small Expressions" class of the hand weaving category.

The bookmark was created from a narrow end piece I cut from my handwoven rainbow yardage. It was about an inch of weaving with hemstitching and twisted fringe. After going to all that work to twist the fringe before washing (not knowing what I would use the yardage for), I was loathe to just throw it out when I cut it off the yardage to make a purse.

I manipulated that narrow piece of weaving down a small rectangle of felted handweaving and after stitching it in place with meandering machine quilting I trimmed it back to a rectangle shape. It still needed something so I added a few star shaped sequins held in place by beads.

The little hat I crocheted for my youngest granddaughter's Christmas doll received a second as well.

And here are all the second place items posing together with their ribbons.

I've Got the Blues

I brought home a significant pile of ribbons from the 2015 Chilliwack Fall Fair! Of the 13 classes I entered I came home with 14 ribbons. How is that even possible you ask? Well three of my first place entries also took home those gorgeous "big ribbons" that my 6 year old granddaughter loves so much!

I'm very pleased that my handwoven Saori tunic not only received a first in it's class (handwoven garment), it also received a beautiful "Best in Show" ribbon.

 Yay for free style weaving becoming more of an accepted art form. 

In that class, along with the big rosette ribbon, I received a nice gift basket.

It contained a couple of cones of weaving cotton, a book light, a plaque, a package of post it notes, a great little pair of scissors, a small rotary mat, and some yarn needles of a style I have never even seen before. Can't wait to try those out!

I entered a two part purse (a black inner purse and a removable Saori woven outer section) in the "Craft Project: Handbag or Tote" class of the sewing section. It received a first place ribbon and a "Best in Section" rosette.

Apparently there were a few laughs over the tiny little sweater I entered in the "Knitted Sweater, any size" class. I don't think they pictured doll size entries when they wrote "any size", but it still won a first and the "Best in Section", perhaps because it IS actually a full sized adult woman knitting pattern that I miniaturized by knitting it with laceweight yarn and 1.5mm and 2.0mm needles.

I also entered a lace cowl in the hand knitting section. It received a first place ribbon.

Another score for the advancement of Saori weaving: my Saori woven rainbow clutch won a first in the "Bag, any style, shape or size" class of the hand weaving section, ---

-- as did a Saori woven scarf which I entered in the "Scarf woven with handspun" class.

So here they are together the six items that took first place.

I'll be back soon to show you the 2nd and 3rd place items, and I'll even show you my submissions that did NOT win.