It's State Fair Time

I love going to the Creative Activities building at the Minnesota State Fair to look at all the hand crafts, particularly the knitting.  Until a couple of years ago, I never looked into how to enter a knitted item into the competition, and certainly never planned my knitting during the year with the idea of entering the fair.


I entered one item a couple of years ago in the "vest, textured pattern" category.  I had done a very nice job on the finishing work for the vest I had knit for Level II of the Master Hand Knitting program.  I didn't win a ribbon, although I got quite a high score (in the mid 90s).  It was apparent that vests that won ribbons had texture patterns on the front and back, rather than just the front, as mine had.  The sweater categories are divided out by "limited texture" and "texture," but the vests aren't, so it worked to my disadvantage that my vest had a plain stockinette back. 

Last year I didn't get my act together in time to enter anything, but this year, I managed to look up the dates before the deadline had passed. (I really ought to put those dates in my calendar!) I had a couple of things I wanted to enter, but as I inspected the two pairs of socks that I was particularly proud of, I could see that neither pair would do, as there was obvious wear on the soles, either because of some felting on the inside of the heels in one case, or soiled soles in the other.  (Again, I don't plan ahead for fair-worthy items.  I ought to put them away until after the fair is over, but that never occurs to me.)

I decided to enter just one wee hat, and as it turned out, the competition was Garment Making, not Needlecraft, as it was an infant's hat and baby items are not part of the hand knitting categories.

This morning and afternoon, I received two separate text messages on my phone with attached photos.

Here's what my friend Rosemary sent to me.

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Garment Making, Infant's and Toddler's garments,
Bonnet or cap, knitted