First day of the Minnesota State Fair
Aug. 27th, 2015 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carbonelI went to the fair today with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
1crowdedhour and her cousin. The first order of business had to be the Creative Activities building, because I had two skeins of handspun and a handspun, hand knit cardigan entered, and I wanted to see how I'd done. I was gratified to find that I'd won blue ribbons in both the wool category (this was 2,500 yards of fine lace weight yarn that took me a month of spinning) and the art yarn category (a skein of beehive yarn). I also won the Steven Be award for novelty yarn (I think the two go together), which carries a $25 prize -- the others are $8 each, I think. And my cardigan won fifth prize. Given that I'm much more comfortable as a spinner than a knitter, the fact that I placed at all is gratifying. I also looked out for Pat WINOLJ's items, and found out how she did. More on that later.
After that, we went to the Dairy Building for various snacks -- I had Greek yogurt with strawberry -- and wandered a bit. We went to the horse barn to see the draft horses, after a stop at the Ag Star building where they weren't, but where cow judging was going on. I shared a plate of Australian battered potatoes with the group, which was a treat for me. I'm very fond of them, but they're too expensive and there's too much for one person -- but I can't usually find anyone to share with.
Around this time Pat WINOLJ, her sister, and her father showed up. We walked around the Coliseum and admired the various things for sale, then went into the seating area and watched the show jumping for a while. Then1crowdedhour and her cousin peeled off to look at the hogs, and the rest of us went to the Creative Activities building to see how Pat did, because I refused to tell her.
I'd chivvied her into entering two shawls and a crocheted top in the fair. She was dubious about the second shawl, and told me that if they needed to be in the same category, it was the one that should get the boot. Luckily, they feel into separate categories because the second shawl was small enough (under 16 inches wide) to go in the scarf category. And, most gratifyingly, it was that second shawl that got a blue ribbon. I'd refused to tell Pat her results partly for the suspense, but also because I wasn't positive the shawl with the blue ribbon was hers. But it was. Her crocheted top also placed, with a 5th place ribbon. The first shawl didn't place, but that category is one with a lot of competition. Next year, perhaps. We stopped by the area where the spinners were demonstrating, and introduced Pat to a couple of the Guild people.
After that, we went to the Fine Arts building. I didn't last through the whole thing, because I was hot and soggy. Pat and I intended to sit down, but instead we ended up watching the parade, which was just going by. The rest of the group emerged, and we had pizza from Green Mill. Then everyone else went home. I wandered around a bit more, walked through the Merchandise Mart and bought some bamboo socks, had bacon-on-a-stick (Big Fat Bacon), then went home myself. Unfortunately, this meant I hit rush hour, but at least I was in a nice cool air-conditioned car.
I'll be back again on Sunday (8/30) and Labor Day (9/7), both times to demonstrate spinning from 9 am to 1 pm. If anyone reading this happens to be around the fair then, I hope you'll stop by the spinning demonstration area in the Creative Activities building.
1crowdedhour and her cousin. The first order of business had to be the Creative Activities building, because I had two skeins of handspun and a handspun, hand knit cardigan entered, and I wanted to see how I'd done. I was gratified to find that I'd won blue ribbons in both the wool category (this was 2,500 yards of fine lace weight yarn that took me a month of spinning) and the art yarn category (a skein of beehive yarn). I also won the Steven Be award for novelty yarn (I think the two go together), which carries a $25 prize -- the others are $8 each, I think. And my cardigan won fifth prize. Given that I'm much more comfortable as a spinner than a knitter, the fact that I placed at all is gratifying. I also looked out for Pat WINOLJ's items, and found out how she did. More on that later.After that, we went to the Dairy Building for various snacks -- I had Greek yogurt with strawberry -- and wandered a bit. We went to the horse barn to see the draft horses, after a stop at the Ag Star building where they weren't, but where cow judging was going on. I shared a plate of Australian battered potatoes with the group, which was a treat for me. I'm very fond of them, but they're too expensive and there's too much for one person -- but I can't usually find anyone to share with.
Around this time Pat WINOLJ, her sister, and her father showed up. We walked around the Coliseum and admired the various things for sale, then went into the seating area and watched the show jumping for a while. Then
1crowdedhour and her cousin peeled off to look at the hogs, and the rest of us went to the Creative Activities building to see how Pat did, because I refused to tell her.I'd chivvied her into entering two shawls and a crocheted top in the fair. She was dubious about the second shawl, and told me that if they needed to be in the same category, it was the one that should get the boot. Luckily, they feel into separate categories because the second shawl was small enough (under 16 inches wide) to go in the scarf category. And, most gratifyingly, it was that second shawl that got a blue ribbon. I'd refused to tell Pat her results partly for the suspense, but also because I wasn't positive the shawl with the blue ribbon was hers. But it was. Her crocheted top also placed, with a 5th place ribbon. The first shawl didn't place, but that category is one with a lot of competition. Next year, perhaps. We stopped by the area where the spinners were demonstrating, and introduced Pat to a couple of the Guild people.
After that, we went to the Fine Arts building. I didn't last through the whole thing, because I was hot and soggy. Pat and I intended to sit down, but instead we ended up watching the parade, which was just going by. The rest of the group emerged, and we had pizza from Green Mill. Then everyone else went home. I wandered around a bit more, walked through the Merchandise Mart and bought some bamboo socks, had bacon-on-a-stick (Big Fat Bacon), then went home myself. Unfortunately, this meant I hit rush hour, but at least I was in a nice cool air-conditioned car.
I'll be back again on Sunday (8/30) and Labor Day (9/7), both times to demonstrate spinning from 9 am to 1 pm. If anyone reading this happens to be around the fair then, I hope you'll stop by the spinning demonstration area in the Creative Activities building.
