State Fair Knitting! // Casual Friday S7E19

[@foleyjp1]

I loved the recording of the State Fair knitting display. What a wonderful collection of beautiful items. I would so enjoy seeing something like that. Living in VA., my knitting has become using much lighter yarns because it is so warm here. Even worsted weight yarn is most of the time too warm for me to get much use from the garment. I really liked the discussion of your band stabilization. I have used the double ribbon technique before but enjoyed the refresher course in itl I actually have a sweater that needs to be reblocked and reinforcedl Will put that on the list for February. Thanks for the reminder. Now, on to your Danish sweater. I really like your choice of completing the entire sweater and then removing the off color ribbing and replacing it. I know that it was a huge disappointment to find the offending area, but I lthink after your brain heals and is on board with your solution, you will end up with a beautiful Danish sweater in the perfect yarn and in the color you really want. WELL DONE..... thank you for all your discussions of the reasoning that you do rather than just presenting your choice with no explanation of why.

[@mauras8848]

Since you were wondering why the bunnies were in the poultry barn, here's the reason. The bunnies are there ready to get the eggs for delivering on Easter.

[@sisterstephanie2557]

😂

[@marsy1480]

🤣 bun buns

[@elaineenstone6834]

Thank you. Great pictures from the state fair. 🇬🇧

[@annewebbpots]

The knits at your State fair are inspiring. I would hate to have to judge them all! Beautiful work. Love your sweater as well

[@laurielecours8426]

LOVE the video from your state fair - impressive! Thank you for taking the time to film it.

[@maureenbell1628]

The key message I got when watching your decision making process was ‘Know yourself’. Always satisfying to watch a woman who knows herself and acts accordingly 👌

[@alisonsmith376]

Wow, hand knitting is certainly alive and well in Minnesota, nice work everyone!😊

[@RoxanneRichardson]

It's a competitive sport here! :-)

[@verylikecheryl]

Roxanne out here modelling the calm, confident certitude of a Master Knitter, in control of her craft 🥰👏🏼

[@jackiepowell3591]

I live in Texas and love the state fair. Seeing your state fair knitting submissions is wonderful. It is great that there is space to display all submissions. In Texas they only display ribbon winners. People mail in submissions and supply $and packaging to send their submissions back home.

[@nicolekougiou]

I love the way you dive in your subjects and explain all about them. There are not many podcasters that do it as seriously as you do it. Thank you very much! My knitting gens to next level with you!

[@cathycarbone1598]

I appreciate how you problem solved. There's typically more than one way to fix things.

[@magdalenas8713]

I appreciate your honest sharing. It’s good to know that we are all in the same boat - no matter the experience level you can still forget to check dye lots or color match. Helps me be less disheartened when it happens to next

[@DebMcC3]

I learn so much from listening to your problem solving. Thank you for sharing your thought processes with us!

[@penihavir1777]

I’m so glad that the other skeins matched. ♥️ Thanks for the Fair visit! ♥️♥️♥️

[@harrietyarmill2873]

Roxanne, thank you so much for sharing the Minnesota State Fair knitting on display! This is a favourite theme for me, and I would dearly love to attend the Fair one day. In the meantime, I experience the Fair vicariously through your channel, two years in a row now, and it doesn’t grow old. As well, kudos for you for your plan to redo and graft the bottom cuff; there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work! You go!

[@kristinm3729]

Thanks so much for your clear articlation (with props!) about how overdyeing does not work to even yarn colour. I am constantly amazed when people overdye because, unless the yarns are practically the exact same colour to begin with, it will not work. Not only that, and this is just my personal perspective, I'd rip something back (or do some fancy footwork) before I'd dye yarn any day. That's why I buy my yarn dyed to begin with :-) :-)

[@newmoonjlp]

My take on laddering down a small area to fix an error-- if I just can't get it knit back up correctly then I can rip out the whole section. I was nervous the first time I did it, but there's no harm in trying--you learn a lot about your knitting by doing those kinds of repairs! It can be mind boggling in lace, but often it's not difficult at all to reknit a small slice.

[@TheAlkaPalka]

THANK YOU for sharing this with people who may not be able to make it this year

[@debmullis4087]

I was blown away by the shear number of knitted items at your state fair! Amazing work, thank you for filming this.

[@D0GSH1FT]

Omg a fellow Minnesotan! Wasn’t able to make it to the fair this year, thanks for showcasing everything!

[@jimmydoesknitting]

Loved seeing the state fair knits and your latest historic endeavour.

[@marybutler9581]

I'm with you, Roxanne! Rip it all out and start over? NO WAY!

[@nicolelafontaine1720]

Your sweater looks so good, I totally trust you can do the grafting and make it perfect. I don't know if I could do that, but I am sure YOU will ! 🥳

[@margueritefoley1262]

Thank you for the tour of the Fair. It was great fun and very inspiring!

[@janegarnier5693]

Thank you Roxanne, love your show today . You are so lucky having that great county show , wow. 💕

[@vadec5909]

I really enjoyed your fair, loved seeing all the knitted work. Your sweater problem is very interesting! I do look forward to seeing the fixing process and end result. Enjoy your weekend with your daughters

[@marsy1480]

All first places from me! What a stunning array of artistry! Saw a few things that I would love to add to my Ravelry queue… and lots of things that I would love to be able to knit skill wise! Fantastic!

[@denisenj7648]

I'm in the camp of just finish it, wear it, and consider the color variation a fashion choice.😅

[@EvieO1950]

Thank you for the trip to the fair. Interesting!!

[@aroundtheworldfibers]

The talent and incredible skill of hand knitters never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for a wonderful tour of fabulously talented fiber artists. There was a time I used to rip out my knitting - back when I couldn't figure out how to fix my screw ups. I only rip things out when it's absolutely necessary, or when I try to fix the mistake and it makes it worse than ripping it out. Even then, I'll still try to fix by going back further to try to fix the error. I've never had the issue of different colors, so I can't speak to that issue. I did have to frog a mohair mix once, because my tension was way too tight and I didn't even notice until I was a few inches in. I swore to myself, I'd never do that again. I'd rather cut off the goof up where the goog-up was, then re-attach and start from that point. I think the sweater will be beautiful. :-)

[@mscdbran]

I really appreciate you responding so quickly. I've been looking at cardigans and am really unhappy when I see the front pulling apart at the buttons but didn't know how to avoid it. Now I do!!😊

[@teacat55]

Wow…the textiles award presentation was fabulous 11:09 That multicolored blanket (?) by Evelyn --- is stunning.

[@magdalenas8713]

That blanket - That’s the Marie Wallin Annual Club kit from last year

[@teacat55]

@@magdalenas8713 thank you!

[@danbev8542]

Roxanne, what a wonderful video! I loved seeing the fair & all the beautiful entries. I also loved hearing your discussion on the blue-green sweater solutions. We are all different with different skills & tolerances - it sounds like you’ve worked out the best solution for You! It’s a beautiful sweater!

[@teresaoconnell4790]

Thanks for spending time on each item. I want to look at all the details.

[@camtosh]

love that Arne & Carlos xmas stocking got a blue ribbon! thanks for the tour.

[@elisekt1860]

Funny, I like the way the hem is darker.

[@krazedvintagemodel]

Thank you for showing all the lovely knits at your state fair. My favorite was the sunflower handbag!🌻🧶

[@aranjackson259]

I went on Tuesday with my sisters, we had a great time! I loved the knitting! I even stopped by the weavers guild demo and tried a spindle whorl for the first time. We definitely ate our way around the fairgrounds.

[@dorindabalanecki9307]

I love your solutions! You will be very happy with your sweater 😊

[@sheryltisdale]

Beautiful filming of the fair, really enjoyed it! I live in South Texas, our fair is in Dallas, no way can I go. Thank you!

[@yojeffschott]

Oh my goodness, Minnesotions are beautiful knitters! Thank you for sharing your State Fair with us. I love going to the Kentucky State Fair on opening day. I go that day because I absolutely love seeing chickens and mules; however, sheep & goats are my new favorites! Enjoy your visit with your family! Thank you Roxanne. 🧶

[@mariehansen2534]

Thank you for the beautiful visit to our Fair, my goodness there are some very talented and dedicated crafty people who created articles for the fair, what a way atmosphere there must have been. Your Sweater looks great and it wasn't until the end that I saw your dilemma with the color. Thank you for your visit, catch up next time.

[@holly4kid]

Reknitting and grafting the band of twisted ribbing is a great idea. If the overlap of stitches becomes an issue, they don’t have to over lap, it could just be a split hem. Thank you Roxanne for all you do!

[@RoxanneRichardson]

They're going to have to overlap, because the round above has 10 fewer sts!

[@carolhansen4657]

Gorgeous works beautifully displayed.

[@awilson8521]

Hello from TX! Yes, I don't go to the state fair because it's too far away. It looks like fun, but I can't swing it with four children and all their activities, until they're old enough. I'm hoping they'll submit their own creative handworks one day.

[@emmacandland9755]

Happy fair season! I went on the first Friday and the creative activities were amaaaaaazing! I was wowed by those canoes. My sister was all about getting the …..deep fried ranch….. but I kept on saying “We might see Rox! We might see Rox!”

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I'm always astounded that canoes is a category! It's amazing that enough people do that to make it so. :-)

[@catherine8770]

You have some seriously talented knitters there.

[@sueaitkin8030]

So helpful. Could you have put another horizontal band before the ribbing, to add some length? Thanks

[@damdamfino]

I always try to knit my sleeves and socks two at a time to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome, but I also funnily enough also have no problems ripping out something I’m unhappy with to completely reknit it from scratch. “If I did it once, I can do it again” is my motto. Id rather be happy than unhappy with a FO. Usually if I have dyelot differences, I’ll use the odd dyelot for hems and cuffs. People won’t know if the slightly darker ribbing is a trick of the light or not lol

[@beagare2197]

Excellent solution to your colour issue. I was persuaded to buy the book by your earlier video and am now working on the Hillerod pattern. For me - I needed to resize a little, and I wasn't so keen on the sides of the neckline so I've done the charting to achieve what I want from it. Lovely book and I'm sure your sweater will be as near perfect as it needs to be. I'd be interested in seeing how you do the overlap grafting and if that works.... so if you could just keep your head out of shot for that bit.... Good luck!

[@Sequoya]

Great episode!

[@peachy75019]

The only state fair I have ever been to is the State Fair of Texas because I used to live outside Dallas. Haven't been in 30 years tho. I have considered entering some knitting in the fair, but haven't done so yet. I would love to attend your fair and see all the knitted items ... they look wonderful! Is far as the dilemma with your color differences in your cardigan, I guess it all boils down to what you can live with. For me, if my piece contains a critical error, I frog it and start over because I know I won't be happy with it otherwise. I hate fixing errors almost as much as I hate seaming. We are all different and have differing methods of dealing with problems. I love hearing all the other people's suggestions and solutions, but at the end of the day, I have to do what is going to work for me and please me.

[@robinmccamont]

Interesting…! I didn’t comment last week because the solution I thought of is exactly the same as your “fallback” solution if your first attempt doesn’t work (e.g. cutting off a little bit higher up and grafting a new piece on at an “easier” section to avoid having to deal with the “crisscrossed” side sections). I didn’t see anyone else suggest that, though, so I thought maybe it wasn’t a very good idea! Anyway, thanks for the lesson on reinforcing the button / button hole bands. I’m going to remember that for future projects!

[@lsherry2429]

Omg ❤ thank you. I love your videos, you are an effective instructor and I need a lot of that in my knitting. You touched on a couple of subjects: 1. Color variation and 2. dying yarn. I have a wip that is natural color wool and it’s beautiful seed stitch upper body and all I have is the waist and sleeves left but I cannot match the yarn!!! Where do you buy your yarn? I’ve spent a lot of $ trying different companies and their natural and white colors differ immensely. Help 😮I don’t want to take it apart

[@katebowers8107]

❤

[@xbaczewska4197]

Golly, Roxanne! We are all soooooo annoying. Your Danish night sweater is lovely, as is the shade you have chosen. Whatever you need to do to be comfortable wearing it, is the BEST solution. (Yes, do NOT overdye! [Anyone who is familiar with dying should know that will not work, as you so eloquently showed!]) From my little camp, I would say leave the sleeves. Their positioning on the sweater would just make the difference seem like a trick of the light. Gorgeous knitting as always.

[@jhannon9495]

Your Danish sweater is some pretty fabric. 😊😊

[@sisterstephanie2557]

Thank you for the tour of the fair. That blanket at 10:57 is especially incredible. I wish I knew the name of the pattern.

[@MaryMlynarski]

Have only done a limited amount of grafting however found it very helpful to run a line of contrasting sewing thread through the last row of knitting I want to keep. Perhaps this would help with the section of overlap stitches???

[@MissHoyden]

I too don’t always like doing the same thing again and again, but in the case of color, my OCD sometimes drives me to things that don’t match. So the non matching skeins would lead me try to find other parts of the sweater I could also not match

[@CaroleN199]

I might leave the dark band and do the two cuffs in the dark green. I think the two different shades of green look nice together. Just my thoughts.

[@DoodleBug84]

Texas is, indeed, huge. Also it's HOT. We have to weigh the benefits of the fun of fairgoing against slogging through 95+ degrees of heat and humidity, sadly. I want to move up north where I can go outside and do things like fairs more often!

[@karenmezzacapo8763]

❤️

[@magsohara7908]

Loving the colour of your wip and totally get that you’re going to fix it to be comfortable wearing it. I’m currently knitting a vest/waistcoat and the button band is included but the rib is knitted into the back of the stitch. I’ve noticed a mistake a good few rows down but I’m going to live with it since a)I don’t know how to take out the stitches and re do them since they’re knit into the back of the stitch and b) there’s 264 stitches so I’m not going to unravel it to the mistake 20 rows down Will be really interesting to hear how you get on with sorting this out. 🙋🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I have a video on laddering down ktbl sts! kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4XOnqJ7ms6Amdk

[@magsohara7908]

@@RoxanneRichardson ooh thank you I’ll check that out 👍

[@maureenlewicki437]

Regarding the color differences: What if you leave the ribbing as is, and reknit the ribbing on the sleeves. That seems like a design element?

[@sheryltisdale]

Could you do a video when you do the graft? Please! I hate to rip out! Your sweater is going to be beautiful, love it!

[@TheMaryDaisy]

Wow, I would have hated trying to judge those knitted items!

[@bonnielundholm5535]

I support you grafting a new back ribbing to fix the color issue on your sweater. I would probably see if I could cut off the bottom and try to knit the ribbing down in the opposite direction first. Then decide against it and do the grafting method.

[@mscdbran]

How do you sew on the grosgrain ribbon to the sweater?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I have a video on that kzbin.info/www/bejne/aouTm6ieoJyerbs

[@laurao7006]

You mentioned you had blocked the Night Sweater while in process. I’m curious - did you steam block or wet block on the needles?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I wet blocked it.

[@rachelprichard1809]

Do you have any information on the gorgeous FairIsle-type blanket at 11:07?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I do not, sorry!

[@candiestanton3055]

Hi Roxanne, I was wondering if self-designs are noted and considered when judging the knitted items? And do your daughters watch your postings if they are missing you?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

These days, there is a way to note that the item was self-designed, but as far as I know, that isn't part of the judging for the ribbons the fair itself awards. There are additional awards given by groups, individuals, and LYS's that take things like that into account. The judges award those ribbons based on the sponsoring party's criteria. For example, there are three categories in the mitten competition, and our guild gives a rosette and a year's free guild membership to the best mittens overall. So the judges would make that determination by comparing the blue ribbon winners in the three categories. Likewise, they look at all the self-designed items from all the categories, and give a rosette to the best self-designed item (that rosette is awarded by one of the LYS's, and they also give that person a gift card to their shop). Some of the other things that can be noted are whether the knitted item is 100% wool, and whether it's a first-time fair entry. Again, the judges decide who gets those, but it's not part of the first-fifth place judging criteria.

[@jilliankonig2759]

Would it look more noticeable if you picked up stitches above the back ribbing and knitting the ribbing down, instead of up? Or as my grandmother used to ask, "Would it be noticed on a galloping horse?"

[@elsatoerien6721]

I thought of the same. Pick up the stitches and knit downwards. I have done this many times, even to lengthen an existing ribbing.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

The overlap would still have to be achieved, and would create a 1/2 st offset in the small cables that run up the sides, so not likely to work well in this specific case.

[@emilybeaton2947]

Another Q about stabilizing buttonhole bands: because the horizontal stretch would be on the edge side of the holes, what is the purpose of the ribbon on the other side of the holes?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

In the sweater where I added them later, that ribbing is 1x1, knit in the same direction as the rest of the sweater. That 1x1 ribbing still has horizontal stretch. The second grograin ribbon might not be necessary in the current sweater, because of the direction the ribbing was knitted. The plan is to test again after the first one is sewn down. I can always add the second one later.

[@majormomma]

I have a question about V-necks pulling up on center of the V. When this happens the middle of the garment front gets pulled up, and if there is a horizontal pattern, it's distorted. What are your thoughts on what causes this?

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I've never noticed that in my own knitting. I'd have to see an example. It could be that not enough sts were picked up, so the ribbing is pulling in more.

[@ClaireStrong-me7iq]

Roxane, did you enter any of your knitted items in the fair? I am sure you would have won first prize. Thanks for your podcast.

[@RoxanneRichardson]

I haven't entered for more than ten years! I did win a blue ribbon, as well as some 2nd place ribbons. :-)

[@kellynickles2178]

Grafting is NOT hard. ❤🧶👵🧶❤️

[@robyn3349]

❤