Second Premium or My Road to the State Fair

So, the Minnesota State Fair officially ended this week. It is a big deal around here, 1,788,512 people passed through its gates. I’ve never lived anywhere else where the fair was such a big deal. People line up to be the first person in on the first day like it’s a rock concert.

One of my life list items has been to enter something in the fair and just have it displayed. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but the creative activities section of the fair received over 6,700 entries into their competitions this year. So, just getting yours chosen for display is pretty darn cool. I decided to enter the Mittens: Colorwork category, one of three mitten categories.

For weeks I worked on my project. I decided I didn’t want to submit anything done from someone else’s pattern (which is actually perfectly acceptable to the fair judges), so I created my own design as well. I knew the judges would be looking at my gauge and finishing, as well as the over-all look of the mittens. I can’t tell you how many times I ripped these babies back!

I finished my mittens just days before they were due and did lots of careful blocking. Of course, on my way to the fairgrounds to drop them off, I noticed two mistakes in the colorwork pattern on one of the mittens. My heart dropped, but it was too late to do anything now. They were going into the hands of the judges.

The opening day of the fair the winners were announced. I nervously opened the page of the fair website, scrolling through all the categories to find mine. There is was, my name! I had won a ribbon in my first fair!

I was thrilled. I had of course hoped to win one, but never wanted to get my hopes up.
Then, I had to see what had beaten me for the blue ribbon.

Look at the tiny gauge! These mittens not only won in my category, but they won the Knitters’ Guild Award for best mittens in any category. Looks like I have a goal for next year.

Some random thoughts on entering the State Fair (these are based on the Minnesota State Fair, yours might have different rules).

• The Creative Activities Premium Book comes out online in May. Giving you plenty of time to choose a category, or categories, to enter.
• Make sure to read the rules carefully. Some categories are very specific about what can and can’t be entered.
• The project doesn’t have to be current. Some categories say it must be made in the last year while other say the last three years.
• You can only enter one project per category, so pick your best.
• You can pre-register online which makes checking your project in really fast. Don’t worry if you register for a category and end up not entering a project.
• Make sure to check the special categories. Some special prizes like First Time Entry or All Wool may require you to note something special on your registration.
• You won’t get rich from it. I won $4 for my second place. The first place winner received $6. The bigger prizes in the handcraft areas are in the special prizes donated by local stores or Guilds. Those are typically $25 gift certificates or memberships. (The big money is in the cooking contests sponsored by companies.)
• The judges will give you a critique of your project when you pick it up. I’m hoping they’ll tell me what to do to win next year (I’m guessing it’ll be improve my gauge.)

So, I’m already thinking which categories to enter next year, yes categories. I want one of those big fancy blue ribbons now.