The Carolina Fiber Festival was a success all around. First off, my Shieldmaiden Shawl won first place.

I wanted to have a picture showing the competition. That silver blue one in the front is gorgeous and absolutely deserved best in show. It’s actually how I found out that I’d gotten a ribbon. Someone posted their winning silver blue shawl on Facebook and my friend noticed mine in the back and texted me. Funnily enough, I’ve knit that silver blue shawl before. It’s called the Evenstar Shawl. I made it years and years ago and won first place for it. Gosh that was a decade ago…

I was pretty conservative with my purchases this year. On Friday I got a new bag, some yarn for a pair of socks for my husband, and cards from my favorite artist at the event (Ken McNeill). Saturday I was good in the morning but when I went back to pick-up my shawl I did buy grey yarn for the boarder and some minis for my Jelly Roll blanket. I also got an NC themed stitch marker that I’d been eyeing that morning.

I’m still really enjoying knitting on the Jelly Roll blanket. It’s gotten big and difficult to carry around but it’s growing at a stratifying rate and picking out colors for the next stripe is always fun. I’m not sure what’s going to come after this lime green though.

I’ve brought my knitting with me to work to play with at lunchtime, as I usually do. I’ve brought the red yarn from my purchases above to knit a pair of socks for my husband. I started them previously but they were coming out too large so I frogged them and now have to restart. I’m using the custom fit socks formula with a pattern from Sweater Weather Sock Collection (toe-up) by Carlie Perrins. It’s disheartening to have to restart but it’ll be worth it to have them fit properly. I don’t think I took my gauge properly the first time so it got me off right at the start. But my husband is patient and understanding and so won’t mind waiting for me to get it right.