This is my second year competing as I mentioned in a previous teaser blog post. Last year was more of a rushed throw together what I already had and make a few smaller items sort of thing. This year I started after the previous fair and among my gifts and commissions and other pieces I threw in some category specific projects. The result was 15 pieces to enter myself and a few among the 4 older kids. Echo simply wouldn’t settle down and make anything. Maybe next year.

I was actually rather surprised at my results. Ken and I splurged on a date night and went out on the Wednesday and visited the fair (for the first time ever) ourselves. There was “Quebec style poutine” so how could I resist? Seriously, HOW? It has been 4 years since I have had a decent poutine… WORTH IT!

Note the stand in the background.

Anyway, Renee had sent me some images from her visit to the fair with her kids days previous but I had balked a finding out all of my results with the hope we would make it there in person.

We started with the kids’ stuff where they did relatively well. Emanuel only got a participation (which he loves – RAINBOW RIBBON) and Zander and Gavin’s large perler bead didn’t place either. We figure they may have assumed parental assistance… which we DIDN’T… but the rest placed. Two lego pieces and a much fought over bunny drawing. Not bad, not bad.

The lovely surprise was Gavin’s shawl taking first in his crochet item category. We ran out of steam at the end of this project and didn’t trim our fringe which was the comment on the back of the tag BUT FIRST PLACE!! WOO!! His first COMPLETED project really!

Then it was time to wander around, seek out Renee and her kids’ stuff and see how I did. To my surprise 13 out of my 15 entries placed. And, the two that didn’t both had great comments on the back and the statement that it was tough competition. I was not surprised on my maple leaf dishcloths… first off all, red-white and no blue (blue could have put me in the running as patriotic) in a general category that I am sure was full of variety. The other, my purse was much more “purse like” than the ones that placed. I think they were just looking for more… crochet? The winning purse was granny squares and highly colourful. Not my thing.

Onto the 2nd place pieces – TWO. And tough categories because they are super popular baby gifts – booties and blankets! Well, I am very proud of both – in fact have gifted versions of both in the past. Again favorable comment on the blanket just… the first place ones had more detail (booties) or were a different style (blanket) BUT certainly something to be proud of.

For first place standing alone I had NINE pieces! Woo!!! I cannot tell you how proud I am of them. This is a wonderful cross section of this past year’s creativity. TWO of these pieces will be sent to new homes in the coming weeks – the rainbow ripple blanket which I have blogged about previously) and the evil sorceress doll. Seriously if you have the knowledge and ability and the urge, it is a GREAT pattern and when I got stuck the designer talked me through it on Facebook… check her out! This piece was posted under the storybook character and though the JUDGE didn’t comment on it on the slip, the people working there said MANY of the people who came to see the exhibitions loved it.

Let’s see… Monkey – as in year of 2016. I did it bigger than the original and am TOTALLY KEEPING IT. Yup… my monkey, not your monkey, MINE! Ken helped me with the frame work on this little beauty. The designer is doing up all the Chinese Zodiac over the years and I totally plan to go back and do the years she has already designed for eventually.

Apparently the biggest suggestion was blocking. We THOUGHT we had that done right, but apparently they figured we could have done better. So back to the drawing board on that one. BUT that is a finishing thing and not a crucial crafting issue. So there is less worry about time and such. I did make a second of the wedding gift from this summer – that would be the off white doily. Crocus doily.

Other than that… well I am very proud of these 9 pieces! Super proud!

And now for the BIG surprise to me… 2 plus 2 plus 9 equals 13… so two more to come… and both of those first place PLUS Reserve Best of Show. Now no one could completely explain how that was chosen or anything. But what it does mean is that these are pieces that stood out to the judge. What made me laugh is that I tossed that hat in there on a whim. I had made it after I made Emanuel’s for Halloween this past year and still had enough yarn left over for a second smaller version. Go figure!

So all in all… we did good. We placed, we showed off skills that we will continue to nurture and next year will have a whole new batch of creative ventures to exhibit! I know I am already brainstorming how I can make newer and harder items in duplicate – one to gift/sell/etc and one to show… why not? Just getting the judge’s feedback made it all worthwhile!! And now I have some ribbon winning pieces to sell if I ever get the chance to have that craft table I want to try out. Or gift of course! EXCEPT FOR MY MONKEY! That little guy is already on my bookshelf guarding his monkey!

(Oh, if anyone is interested in any of these pieces feel free to ask me – minus the two mentioned above that are on their was to new homes of course)

Everyone has their coping mechanism, their safe place and quiet moments. Mine are all tied around productivity. Before all of my yarn infatuation I was a cross stitch girl. Now I am fully immersed in the world of yarn. Crochet has become not only a challenge but a safe haven. I am not highly skilled in design and absolutely adore a good pattern and that is something that the internet has in spades with crochet.

This year is my second year entering into the local county fair. I have worked hard all year to try and make a wide variety of pieces, and after the fair I want to put many up for sale or gift them. I have had to pull down most of my Etsy store sadly as it was costing more than it was bringing in, but my plan is to revitalize my Facebook site and get a move no making things. If nothing else I am going to have a bucket of gifts for almost any occasion (maybe I already do!).

Anyway… onto the creativity. I am just going to give quick glimpses of a few of my fair pieces… wish me luck!

Mid wet blocking

And my current quiet time work in progress…

A little slow on the post but with Renee’s support (and ride to drop the items off) Emanuel and I entered our very first County Fair (well American one, I remember entering a fair way back in 4H as a child…). The Anoka County Fair. Very exciting. I entered 7 pieces and Emanuel one. There was no fee for entry (just if you wanted to come and see your entries while the fair was going on… we didn’t) and small cash prizes for placing. 

We didn’t expect much and were over the moon when Renee reported back that it looked like we had received some ribbons! In fact, what we thought was a participation ribbon for Emanuel’s was in reality THIRD PLACE !!! He did a unique creation… a Lego version of the Minecraft zombie villager. So very proud!!!

Yours truly entered (as I mentioned) 7 items, out of the 7 SIX placed either first or second in their categories! The only piece that didn’t place was my baby hat with beard and I threw that one in more because it was in my store and on hand than anything else! 

Now for the pieces that DID place! I have to give design credit for TWO of my first place ribbons – Rapunzel and the zebra were both designed by Kristen’s Kords. I love her designs and have had the great privilege to test many of her pieces. You HAVE TO check out her Etsy store… she also sells the amigurumi she makes herself there HERE.

My other two first place items are both up for sale CURRENTLY in my Etsy store! I was rather surprised that my baby sweater DID get such a high ranking, it is a relatively simple pattern. Ken says it was the adorable buttons… and the comments on the back of the card DID state that they WERE adorable! (Of course HE chose the buttons) The other is my lamb bag that I made a few months back as part of my stash buster attempt (successful I might add). I have multiple bags up for sale with differing flower colours. It was fun to make and I actually really love the final look! You can find the items for sale HERE and HERE. 

And now for my two second place pieces! First off my Blue, White and Red Granny Square. This was a bit of a surprise to me, a very simple single granny with colour changes. Though there was a suggestion to switch to a smaller hook size midway to keep the square shape more square that I need to research further (I actually like the pulled look. It looks almost 3D when stretched out). The other was a surprise to me as well – my dragon scarf… I have one up for sale in my store as well HERE and have made multiple versions of this. This particular scarf was Ken’s Christmas present last year! With how many scarves entered coming in second was certainly a bit of a surprise! Anyway those are my placers… next year I plan to enter more things!! Just… gotta think of them first…