Fair Results - 2007

I went to the Gratz Fair tonight, and it was a beautiful night to be at a Fair. Walked around & ate "fair food", and looked at all the agricultural stuff, also the stuff for sale, like jewelry.
In the Arts and Crafts building, I enjoy looking at the artwork - especially the drawing, painting and photography. The needlework entries seem to be getting fewer and fewer each year. I looked at the knitting, crocheting, and quilting, I didn't see anything that was really exciting. Well, except for all of Margie's freeform, but I'd seen those items already, at the CGOA meeting. I usually see at least one afghan or quilt that is spectacular, unique or inspiring.
Last year, one of my doilies placed 2nd and at first I asked myself "what more could they be looking for?" Then I looked at the 1st place winner, it was a large doily, done with white #30 thread, mounted on dark blue paper and framed. It was an exquisite work of art. I bowed in homage to the work of the "Thread Queen". Tonight, the first item of mine that I saw was the pink doily (see my entry of Aug 25). It had a second place ribbon. Now this doily has all kinds of interesting stitches, like front post trebles, and split front post singles! If this placed second, the "Thread Queen" is still around, so I looked for her 1st place doily. Imagine my surprise, the oval doily that I made in burgundy #10 thread was the 1st place winner. This pattern did use only basic stitches, but it took a lot of concentration to keep the pattern working correctly. I don't think I have a picture of it on the blog, yet. Will have to get a picture after I bring things home.
My scarf placed 1st. It was done with Tunisian Simple Stitch and a novelty yarn.
The Baby afghan placed 3rd, I'm not too surprised at this. It was done in Tunisian Knit Stitch, and I sometimes think I should stick to "classic" crochet if all I'm looking for is the ribbon. But, this afghan is so pretty, I really hope to inspire someone else to try Tunisian. But anyway, it was done in Knit stitch, with a purl border, so it looks more like knitting than crocheting. It was also a diagonal, or corner-to-corner design, and it tends to "bias" or slant to one side. It's impossible to fold this into a nice square. So, overall, I wasn't expecting it to place well again classic crochet, but it was my original design, and it placed 3rd. It's all good!
If your county fair is coming up soon, I'm encouraging you to go and look at the needlework, you might find something to inspire you. If you haven't entered your local fair, please consider entering next year. Start planning now. (Hey, I should listen to my advice)