I guess no one is safe — not at the beaches and not in the ballroom!Â
In response to a comment regarding the sweater I made for Erika: does she have blue eyes? No. My brother has the darkest brown eyes you’ve ever seen in your life. His wife is Ojibwe — so their two kids have gorgeous deep brown eyes as well. Erika’s father is Hispanic. So, Erika has brown eyes, but fairly light colored hair (?).Â
I’d promise this will be the last one, but I.just.can’t.
A friend of mine who lives in Minnesota who knows of my new-found infatuation with monkey garments just told me that the designer of the Monkey Dresses was on the local evening news. She is working on a new design. For a bikini.
Here is the sweater I made for my niece. I knitted it out of Cascade Etoile in color Iris — very soft: 70% kid mohair and 30% acrylic, 164 yds/50 gm. Probably similar to Kidsilk Haze but bigger. The gauge on the label is 5 sts/inch on a US 7. I used a size 6 to get 5.5 sts/in.Â
 
Here is the pattern. It is a bolero style from Sirdar. I made a size 4 because everything I have ever bought her is too small. I hope she’ll get to wear this some day! I love the picot edging, but I would have done it differently if I had had time to think. They picked up the edges after knitting each piece and then did a picot bind off — I would have done a picot cast on and saved a step. The pattern shows the collar in 1×1 ribbing, but I changed it to reverse st st due to LACK OF TIME!
 
It looks very different in the yarn I chose but I think it turned out pretty cute.
Since this is a knitting blog, I guess I’ll actually share some knitting updates :). I have done very little on the Woman’s Continental, but I did knit a sweater since my state fair post. My great niece turned two today (Happy, BD, Erika!). Her mom called me Wednesday evening to invite us to a little party for Erika to be held yesterday afternoon. I realized that other than her family Christmas stocking, I had never knitted her anything, so I thought I’d try to whip something up. Good plan, but the timeline was a little tight. I bought the yarn on my way to knitting (on Thursday, after my day at the fair) and started that evening. Friday I worked all day. That did not leave a lot of time. I had until 3:15 pm Sunday to finish. I sewed the button on at 3 pm. I was still wet and not dressed. That is cutting it close. I’m not sure if or when it will fit her — she was covered in chocolate cake and frosting when the gift was opened, so we did not let it near her! But it was a labor of love. I’ll share a picture and project details when my daughter brings the camera back.Â
Sally found another picture of the the Sock Monkey Bra Gown showing the BACK, with sock monkey back pack in full view:
The name of this dress may need to change to the Sock Monkey Butt Gown. The designer is Rebecca Yaker. She sells these creations through Crafty Planet, located at 2318 Lowry Ave. NE, Minneapolis, Minnesota phone: 612-788-1180. Go ahead, you know you want one!
Are we done with monkeys yet?Â
Apparently we struck a chord with the State Fair post, so I thought I would share the photo I took of the Sock Monkey Bra Gown. This gown has a sleek silouette for a more sophisticated look. The gowns are not hand knit, but rather sewn from knit fabric. Please note the adorable matching back pack that rounds out the ensemble :). To view the Sock Monkey Ball Gown, scroll down through the next post.
The Great Minnesota Get Together
The weather: cloudy, rainy, dreary
The crowds: not bad
The food: put it on a stick, fry it and you’ll find it there. This is pretty much how I looked after a Pronto Pup, pork chop on-a-stick, and a Caramel Pecan Log (omigod, the best!):
This is a momma pig waiting to give birth in the Miracle of Birth Center. They time the pregnancies so live births occur every day of the fair. It is pretty fascinating. The bars are to prevent mom from rolling over on the babies.
Back to What’s REALLY Important
Yes, the phone rang just as Sally hit “publish.” I called her with the “breaking news.” As usual, I was a bit surprised at what ribbons went to each item. I was absolutely certain that some things would do extremely well (they didn’t), and equally convinced that some things would not do that well or even get a ribbon (they did). This happens every year and every year I am surprised — last year pleasantly so, and this year, not so much.
The results, in a nutshell:
And, as they were displayed in the Creative Activities Building:
Sunrise was tucked behind a post, next to Mermaid:
The silk scarf was displayed rather nicely:
I could not get a good picture of the Camilla Gloves — they were hanging down from the ceiling and the light reflected so much off the glass that you couldn’t see anything.
There are many types of handiwork in the fair. In the What-the-Heck-is-That? Category:
Another guy and I were looking on in slack-jawed amazement. Check out the dress behind it with the built-in Monkey Bra.
As someone who tats, I love to see beautiful work:
And here is the sweepstakes winner:
What a gorgeous shawl. Thursdays at Four is contributing a $25 gift card from Panera’s:
I guess now we have to pay up! There was a sweepstakes award on another item as well (I don’t quite get how all the categories work). You may recognize the Koigu Hexagon Skirt from Vogue knitting:
The real excitement for me came when I found that my daughter Laura’s artwork, “Through the Woods,” had been selected for display from among the many high school entries. She won Honorable Mention (whatever that means — but, hey, a ribbon is involved!). Again, the reflection made it difficult to get a good picture:
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So, please excuse this long post. It’s been a long day! But — it’s Thursday! I am heading to Panera’s for knitting group!
This is the first day of the Minnesota State Fair, which means my sister will be there bright and early to see how her knitted items fared. I expect a telephone call at any moment. . . .
I taught a new class last evening and had four of my favorite knitters there, so it was really fun. I called it “I-Cord: the Versatile Wonder.” We did i-cord bind off and edging, double i-cord straps, etc.Â
The official countdown has begun. Tomorrow is the fair. We had a lot of rain last night so I am hoping for no rain tomorrow, 80 degrees and partly cloudy skies for fair day.Â
Again, my knitting mojo did not kick in yesterday. I did some knitting over my lunch hour, but nothing other than that. It will be back soon — I HOPE!! 😐
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