Knit Flix

Sunday, July 14, 2019

In the top 1/3

This year's California State Fair results are in. My entry this year was the 52 Pickup Scarf, a piece that I would rank as ridiculous in level of difficulty, at least for me. This is a double knit scarf with twisted stitches throughout, knit in a light fingering weight yarn. All of that wouldn't be so tough, but there are 3 colors and different designs on both sides of the piece. For me, that blasted 3rd color and the pattern made tension practically impossible to keep consistent. But those who know me know that I'm not one to shy away from a challenge.

Here it is right before I sent it to the judges. It is blocked--I had to block the ends twice--and shaved.

52 Pickup

52 Pickup

Of the 12 entries in the Knitting Division, Shawls & Scarves Class, 52 Pickup placed 4th. This Class has 12 entries that are being displayed this year (1st through 4th and 8 Honorable Mentions) so the glass-half-full way to look at this is I placed in the top 1/3. Who knows how many entries there were overall? It is impossible to know and there are so many talented knitters in California, there must have been many that didn't make the top 12.

However, my true self--the one that spent 14-1/2 months almost exclusively on this project--is a tad disappointed. The last 6 weeks have been a bit frustrating. Every year it seems they change something in the competition. This year they changed how they communicate with the exhibitors. In the past, we received the results and our judges comments and scoresheets in the mail soon after the pieces were judged. This year, we received an email letting us know which pieces were accepted to the show with no placement information and no schedule for when the results would be available. I sent an email to the coordinator and she said they would announce the results the day before the fair opened. That would be okay (I guess) if there wasn't an awards presentation on the second day of the fair. If you placed highly or got one of the prestigious awards, certainly you'd want to be there. California is a big state--I'm fortunate that I'm only a 2 hours drive away (traffic willing), but what if an exhibitor lived more than 8 hours away? How could they plan? I decided that I would go with a friend if I placed 2nd or better, but we were in limbo until Thursday. Becky, thank you for being flexible, I appreciate it. So what happened on Thursday? The results were quietly posted on their web site. There was no email or notification. *sigh*

This may sound like sour grapes, but honestly I'm not taking anything away from the winners or the judges. I am aware of all the things that could have been better with my piece and with stiff competition in previous years, I'm confident that the accepted entries are magnificent. I'm also sure that picking and ranking the top 12 out of many entries was not an easy task. I know what it is like to have a piece NOT be accepted to the fair and that is not a good feeling, let me tell you.

If and when I receive the judges' comments and scoresheets, I'll share them with you.

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