Today was Day 1 of the Minnesota State Fair! As I mentioned yesterday, I volunteered to help staff the knitters guild booth. That is a great excuse to hang around lots of knitters. And lots and lots and lots of other people, too! Opening day, perfect weather and “Thrifty Thursday” prices meant a huge crowd.
I got to the fair at 11:30 am and needed to report for duty at 1 pm. I left right after my shift. Needless to say, I did not see much of the fair this time around. BUT, there are a few places I always get to no matter what.
Best Corn Dogs
Location: kitty corner from Creative Activities
The corn dogs are piping hot and fresh, with a tender, melt-in-your-mouth cornbread crust. Yum!! I had two. 
Best Coffee
Location: Down the street from Creative Activities
They also have a cool jazz trio that plays live music — they are quite good:
I did spend quite a bit of time wandering around the Creative Activities building trying to find my entries. It took a full half hour to find everything!
My entries and their standings (full results here):
Baby Cables Pullover — first
Sweetheart Tunic — first
Lace Beret — first
Quincy hat — first
Aran Wrap — second
Sunburst Beaded Amulet Bag — second
Beaumont Beanie — third
Swirl Scarf — nuttin’
I couldn’t find my hats right away because they were on mannequins wearing beautiful sweaters and my eyes were drawn to the sweaters. I couldn’t find my scarf because it was so well hidden behind everything else in the case! I mean hidden. I mean, please make sure no one is subjected to this scarf! Protect the innocent!
It is very difficult to take good pictures because of the glare off the glass, but here are a few:
Baby Cables — my scarf is in this picture!! Exactly!
Sweetheart (aka Whiskey) Tunic and Aran Wrap (in the back)
Could someone PLEASE cough up a few bucks to buy new mannequins? This next shot looks like “Night of the Living Dead.” The mannies are downright embarrassing.
Quincy in foreground
Lace Beret #13 from Vogue Knitting (hi, Trisha!)
Note the special award for intarsia on someone’s fair isle vest!
Sunburst Bag
Beaumont Beanie — on a headless mannequin (almost an improvement!)
And check this out:
No, not the “Night of the Living Dead” creepy child mannequin…look at the hat (by person unknown)! It’s our Roslin Fair Isle Hoodie knit up as a hat!
Now, I know they have a few bucks to spend on displays — this glass exhibit looks like a fine art house. Breathtaking:
They also had an exhibit of vintage-looking lingerie:
Here are some gorgeous crocheted and knitted table linens:
All in all, it was a quick trip, but felt like a full day indeed.
PS — One of the little knitting items I brought for the MKG booth is my latest FO, and something so clever and cute that a lot of people were interested in the pattern:
It is “Knitted Bunny” and is made with a 6″ knitted square! It is such a clever idea! It is all in the way you sew it together. You knit the ears separately and can also add a little tail. I wanted to share the link here because so many people liked it. Mine is made of KidSilk Aura.
That is such a cute bunny, thanks for the link to the pattern. I hope to make it to the fair this weekend to check everything out.
Comment by Yarndude — August 28, 2009 @ 3:20 am
Congratulations, Susan. I’ll look for these when I go to the Fair on Monday.
Comment by Julie — August 28, 2009 @ 9:57 am
Those mannequins DO look like Night of the Living Dead!!!
Congratulations on all of your ribbons.
Hmmm. Maybe I’ll knit one of those bunnies for my Little Assistant.
Comment by surly — August 28, 2009 @ 10:25 am
Big congratulations!!! Our fair doesn’t have any mannequins; they stuff things into cases and you can’t see them displayed at all. I would LOVE some of those mannequins you have pictured! Looks like a wonderful time. Wish I were there! 🙂
Comment by Romi — August 28, 2009 @ 10:54 am
Congratulations on all the ribbons! Really lovely work.
Comment by Valerie — August 28, 2009 @ 11:41 am
Congratulations!
At least you HAVE mannequins! Our county fair puts sweaters on hangers, and hangs them about 2 inches apart, then says ‘don’t touch’! Lace shawls are folded and laid on a shelf!!! And everything is crammed into way too little space!
I wonder what mannequins cost?
Comment by Jan — August 28, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
Congratulations. I took my own dress form to the fair for display. There were none otherwise. I did get a blue ribbon for my cap shawl–my first ever entry into a fair and what is sadly Michigan’s last state fair.
Comment by rudee — August 28, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
Those mannequins ARE scary – however, you guys are lucky to have them. They’re expensive! The Humboldt County Fair of California has no such luxuries! And wow, glass to keep the public from touching!
Congrats on the ribbons.
Comment by theLady — August 28, 2009 @ 2:37 pm
Mmmmm! Corn dogs! 🙂 Congratulations on your ribbons! Nice, nice work. (Although I think you were robbed on your swirl scarf!)
Comment by Kym — August 28, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
Cute bunny! Congratulations on your ribbons. Where is the scarf? lol
Yum, corn dogs.
Comment by Carrie K — August 28, 2009 @ 3:42 pm
Congrats! I’ll look for your items when I go to the fair tomorrow (Saturday). My son is showing a dairy calf for 4-H tomorrow – hope he does as well as you did!!
Comment by Judy Petzel — August 28, 2009 @ 3:52 pm
Congratulations! I can’t believe the swirl scarf got nothing–it’s beautiful.
Comment by Cath Pete — August 28, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
Congratulations, again, Susan! I knew I was seeing a lot of familiar stuff with ribbons on it.
And I’m pretty sure Karen’s bridal veil is under your scarf – they really didn’t want it to be seen!
Total agreement on the mannequins. I think last year my Skull Cap was on the one your Quincy is on this year, and it looked every bit as natural.
Anyway, it is always fun to see how the judging goes and to immediately start thinking about next year!
Comment by twinsetellen — August 28, 2009 @ 6:01 pm
Congratulations on your entries. Wow!
My stockings were twirling above the Night of the Living Dead maniquins. My first entry ever!
Comment by Liz — August 28, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
A packed blog post indeed! Where to start.
The first thing that comes to mind is about a comment above – no more state fair for Michigan????? So sad.
Your garments are lovely and nice to see appreciated and shown ribbon love! I cannot believe all of the entries! Has it always been that many? Or with the current trend to be a knitter pushed up the volume?
Question, if you and Sally entered the same contest, with the same garment, who would win? hee hee. ;0) I am SURE they would call it a tie!!!!!!!!
Comment by Susan — August 29, 2009 @ 10:19 pm
Congratulations! The competition at the state fair is amazing. I took my Pi Shawl up about 20 years ago and got a 6th place and was thrilled with that, esp. after seeing the rest of the competition from knitters far better than myself.
I love those pronto pups and on another blog this week I saw someone with a handful of state fair cheese curds too. They can’t be that bad if you only indulge once a year, can they??
Comment by RuthieJ — September 4, 2009 @ 9:04 am
I was saying the same thing about those mannequins! They look like that glass case was a gas chamber.
And your hats are beautiful. I was loving the beret when I went Saturday so I’m glad I get a chance to tell the knitter how beautiful it is!
Comment by Allyson — September 4, 2009 @ 10:41 am
Congratulations, Susan! Your work is always exquisite! Can’t wait for the guild meeting to see everything up close! Won’t make it to the fair this year, so I really appreciate all the photos!
Comment by Vel — September 4, 2009 @ 11:49 pm