Wednesday, April 11, 2012

It's show time!

Every year around Easter, knitters in Sydney (and elsewhere) tend to be a-twitter about the knitting competition at the Royal Easter Show.  What has been entered, what are the classes, what has changed since last year, who are the judges, what are the judging criteria, how are the entries displayed, and of course, who has won!  Every year, for the last few years at least, I have thought about entering, but haven't, for various reasons.  But I really must!  I think I will double dog dare myself to do so next year.  Not that I think I will win, but because I think it is a good way to show people the beauty of a handknit garment, that handknit garments can be modern (and even *gasp* fashionable!) and with any luck, help to encourage others to either take up knitting or enter as well, just as some of the wonderful knitting this year has encouraged me to actually enter!
But putting all that aside, some of us have had another reason to be excited.  This year, the RAS (organisers of the show) asked the Knitters Guild of NSW to be a part of the "Feature Display", along with the Handspinners and Weavers, Machine Knitters and Felters.  And my lovely friend DrK took on the task of co-ordinating the display, assisted mainly by MissFee, as well as a few others from our Inner City guild group (ok, including me!). 
I volunteered to (wo)man the stand on Sunday, and as one of the main perks of volunteering was free entry to the show (for me), husby and Connor came too, just for the morning.  We had an early start, and headed straight for the baby animals - a massive shed with baby farm animals, many roaming free for maximum patting opportunities by the visiting children (not to mention adults!).  Mostly lambs and kids, and a few calves and chickens.  The shed also has piglets, deer, puppies, chicks (including some hatching) and ducklings, amongst others.  Lots of fun for Connor, who persisted in standing behind the lambs and kids and patting them (gently, thank goodness) on the butt.  Even when I moved him to stand beside them!  Oh well, there were no kicks, thankfully!
The rest of the day was spent at the Guild stand, knitting, chatting to passers-by, chatting to my knitter buddies on the stand and escaping away every so often to check out other bits of the Show.  Not to mention eating various "foods" on sticks - cheese on a stick, hotdog on a stick, and banana dipped in chocolate on a stick!  Lucky the Show is only once a year!!
mmmm dagwood dog and plenty of sauce!
I didn't take many pictures of the knitting competition (others have done so already) but I will say that the items were displayed beautifully this year - nothing hooked up on fishing line this year, hurrah.  And there was a lot of beautiful knitting.  Some not to my taste, but you can't deny the quality of the entries.
amazing irish crochet lace coat (not on guild stall!)
I have liberally added photos of the Guild stand however!  Not least because it might happen to feature quite a few of my own knitting and crochet items, heh!  But I think it is a good demonstration of the skills of our members and of the versatility of knitting and crochet - we all know this already, but we also know that knitting tends to suffer from the perceptions of non-knitters.  It wast most gratifying as a knitter and guild member to hear people express an interest in joining the guild or learning to knit, or to take up the sticks again.
Al's brush turkey!  And a cauliflower!
Many many thanks to DrK for taking on the job of organising everything (I know just how much work that is) and to MissFee for all the design work that went into the stand and the associated paraphernalia.  I am really proud of the way the stand represents knitting, both historically and now, and how it represents the Guild.

19 comments:

DrK said...

Thank you for this lovely write up! I'm really proud of it too, despite everything its been so worth it, for all the reasons you mention. and it wouldnt be what it is without your contributions, knitted and otherwise. I think I will put something in competition next year too. Hmmm what shall it be......

Bells said...

that dagwood dog looks vaguely obscene!!

Great work everyone. It looks like it was a great day.

Dorothy said...

Wish I had been there with you - it all sounds fantastic.I used to love going to the Sydney show when we were showing the dogs - its a real 'occasion' isn't it?

MadMad said...

Sounds like a cool show, and a very good time! Love the recap - felt ALMOST like I was there. (Well, maybe I just wished I was!) :)

Donna Lee said...

What a lot of work that was but so worth it. It's a gorgeous display. Amy said we should challenge each other. You will enter the Royal Easter Show and I'll find out where my State Fair and Show is and enter something in that.

You game?

roxie said...

Yes, I double dog dare RoseRed and Donna Lee to enter in their local competitions. I'll get into this too. Time to check the categories for the county fair and the state fair and plan the knits accordingly.

Is the dagwood dog coated in batter and deep-fried?

Mereknits said...

What an amazing display, so much talent. Thanks so much for sharing this, and glad Connor had a great time.
Meredith

Gidgetknits said...

I love the imagine of Connor patting lamb bottoms! And what a great shout out to Dr K and helpers and all the hard work that goes into organising and running things.

Leonie said...

Sounds like a very interesting show especially with that wonderful display in place. Well done to DrK and all of the helpers. I'm always a bit hesitant about planning stuff for entering into shows especially after all the comments of previous years about how the items were displayed, but it sounds like this year they got the displaying right, such a good way of showing respect to the knitters for the work they have contributed. Let us know your show knitting plans for the year, it will be interesting to keep an eye on your (and other's) progress!

LynS said...

Having read this, I'm actually looking forward to my day staffing the stall (see, there's a perfectly respectable gender-neutral word - 'staffing') and seeing it all up close. Thanks to all of you who put this together - so good to have something that might actually inspire others to knit!

Anonymous said...

That looks like an incredible show. How cute is Connor patting the animals on the rear? lol.

amy said...

I think it would be quite a bit of fun to sit there knitting and being an ambassador of sorts to passers-by. Good on you all!

And yes, I double dog dare you. :-)

Zena said...

I triple dog dare you!

Hey you forgot to mention being interviewed by Show Radio!

Ingrid said...

The display was amazing, and maybe I will enter the show one of these days...

yoel said...

Wow! It looks like an amazing display!

2paw said...

Well done on womanning the stall and thank you for the great pictures. It is good to hear that the knitting is being treated more respectfully. I think you should definitely enter next year!! Nice that Connor is so kind to the animals, baby animals are just so cute!!!

Faeryfay said...

Wow! The Sydney show knitting looks amazing! Very cool!:-)

Sarah said...

Yay for a lovely show - and I love your cardi for Connor - I'd caught sight of it in the photos of the show on Dr K's blog and thought it was a ladies cardi and started thinking of stripey goodness for my own self. Love the colours.

Lynne said...

Well done DRK, MissFee and the whole team.