On July 4th, I spent about four hours doing a spinning demo at the Marin County Fair. The organizers were very attentive to us – we walked into the room for the demo to find this:

Our spinning ribbons and samples had been put on a spinning wheel – and they definitely picked our ribbons to show here because we volunteer every year! So thoughtful and very much appreciated. I had a bit of cognitive dissonance, because while Judy had deservedly won two firsts and a second here (she had more elsewhere), I got a third but also the special award from the Knitting Angels. It’s from one of the local fiber guilds. Third place gets the special award? The only thing I can think is that I got it because my yarn was spun on a spindle.

My hats did pretty well – a third for one, and the scarf and hat combo won a 2nd prize:

The sock category was brutal this year. My handspun socks (the one I quested for years to do), only got a fifth place ribbon:

and my sweater, while lovingly displayed, was totally bare of ribbons:

Which means that there were many, many lovely things in the fair. A couple of my friends won Best of Show, including a gorgeous lace shawl by Gail, to whom long ago I taught a beginning lace class – I guess she learned pretty well!

And another friend, Christine, put in some delightful jewelry that she won a Best of Show for:

It was great to share our skills with young and old in spinning, and for the fair to have so many talented makers show off what they can do!

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