Results of the County Fair

This is first of three posts about this year's county fair Folk Arts division. Herein I will lay out the results for my own entries. In following posts I will address some opinions I have about how things are done (warning: Catty Christina just might make an appearance, but I'll try to keep her in check), and then explain and ask advice about the annual quilt block contest.

But first things first, and I don't want to keep you waiting any longer. You will remember that I entered 10 handmade items and two photographs:

[Note: I've edited the original post so that now when you click on a picture, you can see a better photo of the actual item. When there are two items in a fair picture, I've had to chose just one to show in the detailed pic.]

1. Candleflame Scarf

Second place ribbon in the category of knitted hat, scarf or mitten set. (I wasn't sure if it had to be a set of all three or if the "set" only applied to the "mitten." It was confusing.) I never did locate the blue ribbon, so maybe they liked it but gave me second because I didn't make a set? Who knows. I wish the judges would leave remarks. But I'll save that for a later post...

2. Embroidered Baby Sweater
Entered in the category of knitted baby sweater, hat and bootie set. Again, I wasn't sure if it had to be a set of all of them or just a bootie set. I'm thinking it was the former, because really? no ribbon for this adorable item? I never did find any ribbons I could be sure were in the same category. Since mine was prominently displayed at the front, I will assume they really regretted not being able to ribbon it. (Please don't disillusion me; it makes me feel better.) *

3. Lace Slippers
Second place ribbon in the knitted miscellaneous item. Again, I couldn't tell what it had to go up against.

4. Pencil Sketch Camisole (left) & 5. Sahara

First place ribbons in the categories of knitted vest (left) and knitted blouse. (They look so funny because they're hanging over the end of a bed with a bar for a footboard.)

6. Mariah (bottom) & 7. Embellished Plarn Bag
First place ribbon in the category of knitted cardigan or coat and third place ribbon in the category of crocheted miscellaneous item (the white bag with flowers on the upper shelf).

8. Reversible Cable Shawl (left) & 9. Snowflake Illusions Blanket
Second place ribbon in the category of knitted baby afghan. I was worried the judges wouldn't notice the illusion effect, but I think they did since it's the only one they pulled the bottom out like that. You can just make out a snowflake on the very bottom of the striped section. **

10. Knit Metal Bangle
Entered in the category of jewelry. (What else?) It was not in the knitting class but a separate one, so the bangle was up against all methods of making jewellery, not just knitting.

11. Kitchener Stitch photograph
First place ribbon in the category of colour photograph: still life. If you want to win, enter big. I've never seen a ribbon on a 4x6, even though I've seen lots and lots of 4x6s entered. I still had this one framed up from the church show last fall.

12. He Lost his Head at the Beach photograph

Entered in the category of colour photography: head or figure. I don't think anyone could have entered the category more exactly than I (it's a head or figure), but I still didn't win. I didn't really believe this was what they were after, but I am amused enough by the picture that I wanted to enter it. Maybe next year I'll enter it under "seascapes." Think it'll have a better chance of winning then?

This is the photograph, btw, that did get chosen by the Jones Soda Company. It was printed on some of their strawberry-lime (my favourite) bottles. I had a lot of people looking, but we never found it in the stores to buy. The company doesn't send you bottles with your picture on it, but they do send you about 10 labels. That was cool enough for me. (You could do this too. Just take a good picture, submit it here, and then have a few of your friends rate it really high.)

All and all, I guess I'd have to admit that was a pretty good showing at the fair. I did not get "Grand Champion, Best in Show" in knitting and the woman who did is good. (I'll show you some of her stuff later.) But she should know...I have my eye on her now! Watch out!

One funny incident while I was checking out everything at the fair (not just my stuff). I heard two women talking and caught only part of the conversation, but heard something like, "There's Christina again...wow...[something something]...a lot of stuff." At that point they were pointing at my Mariah and had seen the Cami and Sahara.

I decided to identify myself before they said something I would regret hearing. (Like, "She does a lot, but I don't like any of it..." or pick your favourite foot in the mouth phrase if the person you were talking about suddenly said who she was.) They were very kind however and said nice things to me.

Signed,
Clickety-Clack, the Machine

ETA:

* When I picked the items up from the fair, I saw the note a judge had thoughtfully written for me on the back of the entry tag: Entered in wrong category; could not be judged. (So I was right! Well, wrong about the category, but right about why there was no ribbon.) (And, again, please do not disillusion me by pointing out that I still may not have gotten a ribbon if I had entered the right category. I'm just not ready to hear that.)

** And as for the pink shawl, the judges wrote a note that the item was soiled. (They don't accept soiled or excessively worn items, at their discretion.) I thought I had looked the item over because I was considering washing it. I guess I should have either looked closer or just washed it to be thorough. I'll assume putting the note on it means that they liked it enough to consider it for a ribbon. I have no illusions that it would have definitely won.