A Fair Question
 

Well, I just wanted to follow up here on this issue. I made a truly
beatiful baby bunting bag in a fairisle design of single ply angora
(multiple colors) on cream color kid lambs wool. I used cut and sew
for assembly (so it would qualify) and lined it with 100% cotton knit
material) with a zipper up the front. I knew that no mattet how
beatiful I made it or how difficult it was manipulating all the
stitches on the machine.....it would probably be disqualified in the
regular knit category. But, I thought it was so nice I really wanted
to risk it and show it off so I put it in under regular sewn baby
items. I realized it would have to compete against all the other
regular sewn items with whatever fine sewn details they had...but I
wanted to risk it anyway. Even if I were a judge I know that I
couldn't have given it any points on the actual "making" of the
material" just on the construction, which was basic. As luck would
have it....it was the only item entered in that category so it took a
blue ribbon! I am still very proud of my baby bunting and wish there
were a separate category for machine knitters. I guess based on the
lack of posters in this group....that interest in MK is waning.
Joy

On Wed, 09 Oct 2002 07:17:14 -0400, Mike Hardie
wrote:

Has anybody ever entered a Machine Knit item in a State Fair? Do they
judge it against the regular hand knit stuff?
My 11 year old daugther made a really cute MK kitten, wearing a
dress and ruffled slip with a bonnet. It turned out beautiful and was
not an easy project.
At the Fair she only earned an Honorable Mention while some
really sloppy simple hand knit things took all th top awards.
Does your fair have a separate category for MK? If there is no
separate category do you bother entering?
I really want to pull my knitting machine out again after a
couple years away from it...but I am also trying for "exhibitor of the
year" at our fair and don't want to "waste" any effort on a project
that wont way-off this year.

Joy

ps. If there was a MK category...then it would probably come down to
who had the most technical advanced machine with the most gadgets?

Not to mention that interest in entering fairs is waning even more quickly.
The MD state fair used to have a lot of machine knitting categories, but I
didn't even look at a premium list this year. No time to haul myself miles
and miles to enter and pick up items at inconvenient hours even if I had
set aside anything to keep it nice enough to enter.

| On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 08:03:49 -0400, Mike Hardie wrote:

Well, I just wanted to follow up here on this issue. I made a truly
beatiful baby bunting bag in a fairisle design of single ply angora
(multiple colors) on cream color kid lambs wool. I used cut and sew
for assembly (so it would qualify) and lined it with 100% cotton knit
material) with a zipper up the front. I knew that no mattet how
beatiful I made it or how difficult it was manipulating all the
stitches on the machine.....it would probably be disqualified in the
regular knit category. But, I thought it was so nice I really wanted
to risk it and show it off so I put it in under regular sewn baby
items. I realized it would have to compete against all the other
regular sewn items with whatever fine sewn details they had...but I
wanted to risk it anyway. Even if I were a judge I know that I
couldn't have given it any points on the actual "making" of the
material" just on the construction, which was basic. As luck would
have it....it was the only item entered in that category so it took a
blue ribbon! I am still very proud of my baby bunting and wish there
were a separate category for machine knitters. I guess based on the
lack of posters in this group....that interest in MK is waning.
Joy


Helen "Halla" Fleischer,
Fantasy & Fiber Artist in Fairland, MD USA
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/

Joy,

Congratulations! I'm sorry to see that there is not much activity on this
list. :( I'm brand new to machine knitting and it seems nearly impossible
to find others who machine knit. It looks like they're all in the UK and New
Zealand. I wonder why it's so dead over here in the US.

Susan

"Mike Hardie" wrote in message
...
Well, I just wanted to follow up here on this issue. I made a truly
beatiful baby bunting bag in a fairisle design of single ply angora
(multiple colors) on cream color kid lambs wool. I used cut and sew
for assembly (so it would qualify) and lined it with 100% cotton knit
material) with a zipper up the front. I knew that no mattet how
beatiful I made it or how difficult it was manipulating all the
stitches on the machine.....it would probably be disqualified in the
regular knit category. But, I thought it was so nice I really wanted
to risk it and show it off so I put it in under regular sewn baby
items. I realized it would have to compete against all the other
regular sewn items with whatever fine sewn details they had...but I
wanted to risk it anyway. Even if I were a judge I know that I
couldn't have given it any points on the actual "making" of the
material" just on the construction, which was basic. As luck would
have it....it was the only item entered in that category so it took a
blue ribbon! I am still very proud of my baby bunting and wish there
were a separate category for machine knitters. I guess based on the
lack of posters in this group....that interest in MK is waning.
Joy

On Wed, 09 Oct 2002 07:17:14 -0400, Mike Hardie
wrote:

Has anybody ever entered a Machine Knit item in a State Fair? Do they
judge it against the regular hand knit stuff?
My 11 year old daugther made a really cute MK kitten, wearing a
dress and ruffled slip with a bonnet. It turned out beautiful and was
not an easy project.
At the Fair she only earned an Honorable Mention while some
really sloppy simple hand knit things took all th top awards.
Does your fair have a separate category for MK? If there is no
separate category do you bother entering?
I really want to pull my knitting machine out again after a
couple years away from it...but I am also trying for "exhibitor of the
year" at our fair and don't want to "waste" any effort on a project
that wont way-off this year.

Joy

ps. If there was a MK category...then it would probably come down to
who had the most technical advanced machine with the most gadgets?

There are plenty of machine knitting related groups and several are
very active, you are just in the wrong place---try yahoo groups
http://groups.yahoo.com
--do a search for machine knitting and knitting
machine

shelly H


On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 10:16:24 -0600, "Lawman"
wrote:

Joy,

Congratulations! I'm sorry to see that there is not much activity on this
list. :( I'm brand new to machine knitting and it seems nearly impossible
to find others who machine knit. It looks like they're all in the UK and New
Zealand. I wonder why it's so dead over here in the US.

Susan

In my humble opinion,

The availability of economical imported knitted goods have had a big impact
on machine knitting. When one can purchase a completed garment for less than
1/2 the price of yarn needed for the garment, then we all question the
validity of our labor.

Following that premise, there are fewer and fewer machine knitting dealers.
Those that are still in business, are working very hard to promote machine
knitting. The importers don't seem to be advertising heavily enough in the
right places to entice new knitters. The price of raw material has not
dropped, nor has the price of machines. "Artisan" brand is in a good price
and value point for what you get; handmanipulated / punchcard.

On the optimistic side of things, handknitting seems to be taking off,
hopefully they will discover the benefits of the knitting machine.

MAC, On. Ca.

Congratulations! I'm sorry to see that there is not much activity on this
list. :( I'm brand new to machine knitting and it seems nearly impossible
to find others who machine knit. It looks like they're all in the UK and
New
Zealand. I wonder why it's so dead over here in the US.

Susan