Yes, it is state fair time in Minnesota, which is bittersweet. It means that fall really is here and summer is almost gone. I love fall, but what the …??!! Where did summer go?
Okay, stop ranting! Kim and I went to the fair yesterday on a picture perfect day. My dear hubby dropped us off! The buses were set to start an hour later than usual and that would be well after the Creative Activities doors opened. The only reason we were a tad late was because I had to use the restroom! The traffic snafus caused by the transportation changes were the highlight of fair coverage on the evening news.
The first order of business was to hunt for our entries.
The first thing we spotted was my Moose River Cowl (this was made from yarn I won). And congrats to Lucy for her blue ribbon sweater!
The next two items were next to each other in the case: Pravigan and my latest Plaid Squared Felted Bag.
Doesn’t it look like that rosette ribbon has been snipped off?
Then we eyeballed Kims’ gorgeous fair isle blanket which also won a blue:
After that we had to hunt a little for our other entries. Here are Kim’s stunning hat and stranded scarf:
My Capture the Moment won a 2nd place ribbon and was kinda flopped into the case:
Our friend, “N,” also won a ribbon – her first time entering!!
Baby Bonnet did well, and is hiding in the garments section!!
Also hiding in Garments is a sad looking little pancake, my Fair Isle Long Hat:
The hats that don’t win ribbons get plopped onto sewing mannequins! Here is how I see it!
We finally found Dumbo – so proud to see him with his second place ribbon!!
I also entered three items in the senior category:
Bonnie Esplie again won our Penelope Knitters award for a beautiful pair of gloves!
Kim and I volunteered at the MKG booth where we talked to fair goers about knitting and the guild. A highlight for me was when my dear friend Lynn and her family found us at the MKG booth!! We also dined on several healthy food choices: Corn Dogs, Mini Donuts, Fried Cheese Curds, ice cream cones, and Big Fat Bacon!! It’s the Fair!! You have to eat like that! 🙂
PS to Commenters: Unfortunately I don’t have all the details about Kim’s projects!! She is Luckydogknits on Ravelry if you want to ask her about them or ask her to post them to her project page. 🙂
PS2 in response to Amy: Amy asked why I entered some items in the senior category instead of regular knitting. There are several factors. I entered Fading Point in seniors because I thought it would not do well against the level of competition in the regular knitting category – it would have been entered against shawls. (Senior has three knitting lots: sweater, scarf, and not a sweater or a scarf, aka “other”!!!). I entered my Ovale Decke shawl in the “other” lot. I didn’t know what lot to enter my beaded Snowfall Hat in in the regular knitting. I already had an entry in the colorwork hat lot so it would need to go elsewhere, but if they moved it into that lot it would have been disqualified because you can only enter one item per lot. They had a couple of beading lots under seniors: beaded necklace and beaded “other.” So Snowfall landed in Beaded Other and snagged a blue!!
Congratulations to you and to Kim and to Lucy. So enjoy experiencing the entries and ribbons and sharing the joy!
Comment by Nancy — August 24, 2018 @ 11:16 am
Ah, my August is complete now I’ve seen your State Fair entries and well deserved blue ribbons:D Congratulations on your beautiful work – although I think Capture the Moment and Dumbo also merited first place. Does Kim’s lovely hat use Lorilee Beltman’s vertical stranding technique?
Comment by Pru — August 24, 2018 @ 12:01 pm
Congratulations on your success at the fair! It’s really quite maddening how many of the items are displayed so poorly that you can’t even see them properly… and those ghastly mannequins! UGH! Perhaps MKG should raise funds to replace the state fair mannequins… (and what in the world happened with that rosette??)
Comment by Lotta Kiuru-Ribar — August 24, 2018 @ 12:13 pm
Thanks for my yearly State Fair treat of seeing all your beautiful entries! I’m wondering why you had some entries in seniors and some not…? (And really – are you old enough for seniors?!?)
Also, YES – it does look like the rosette ribbon is snipped! Is it?
Comment by Amy — August 24, 2018 @ 3:56 pm
We missed you at the MKG booth, and we ate exactly the same things. (This year was the 41st consecutive year Paul and I went together).
I’d love some details on Kim’s blanket. Pattern? Yarn?
Comment by Susan — August 24, 2018 @ 4:01 pm
Congrats on all the ribbons and rosettes! And thanks for the congrats on my sweater. Finding things this year was a challenge, but at least your cowl and my sweater were easy to spot. One of my non-ribbon entries was displayed in such a way all you could see was a 6″ X 6″ piece of it. Oh, well. Sometimes it’s kind of like playing Where’s Waldo 😉
Comment by Lucy — August 24, 2018 @ 5:01 pm
Missed you yesterday, but found almost all of your entries except Fading Point and your elephant. I always go twice so of course I will look again! Congratulations on all your ribbons. Well deserved!. Thanks to you and your knitting group for sponsoring the Penelope Knitters Award. I love knitting gloves and it is such a treat to see them with that big rosette attached!
Comment by Bonnie — August 24, 2018 @ 5:33 pm
Another winning year! I should probably find out if there’s a State Fair in Colorado now that I live in an actual state!
Comment by Surly — August 24, 2018 @ 7:27 pm
Congratulations to you, Kim and Lucy for all the ribbons you received.
Comment by Renate Baur — August 24, 2018 @ 8:31 pm
Congrats to you both!! Stunning knits as always!
Comment by Penny — August 24, 2018 @ 9:23 pm
Congratulations, Susan, on your well-deserved ribbons! I just knew that baby hat would melt those judges’ hard hearts! 🙂
You’re always an inspiration.
Comment by Catherine Smegal — August 25, 2018 @ 2:12 pm
Gorgeous photos. Even better to see the projects in person at the fair. Congratulations on your ribbons! The competition looked really tough this year. Seeing your items at the fair inspires me to try something new or try to improve on my knitting. Too bad my trip to the fair is over and I have to wait a year to see what next year’s projects will be.
Comment by Marla Swanson — August 27, 2018 @ 2:28 pm
Lovely stuff at the fair. Hve a smoked turkey drumstick for me, wil ya. Does Capture the Moment have a zipper in front? I might make that.
Julie
Comment by Julie in San Diego — August 28, 2018 @ 3:42 pm
For the past 5 years, I have trekked to the fair from Iowa just to see the knitting. Sometimes it is anticlimactic because I see so much of the good stuff on this blog. This year I am passing on the MN fair. Is there any place on the internet where most of the knitting is displayed??
Comment by Suzanstew — August 31, 2018 @ 6:07 pm