Iowa State Fair 2012

State Fair Results are in !!

My green/yellow Toddler Dress

I've been entering crochet projects in the Iowa State Fair for the last several years.  I put in 6 pieces this year.

The fair holds a preview for the Fabric and Threads exhibit before the fair opens. I got my invitation and went last night to feast my eyes on crochet goodies and loads of other needle crafts !!

I almost didn't make it !! There was a giant thunder storm boiling it's way through Des Moines yesterday afternoon and if my husband hadn't been driving, I would have turned tail and driven all the way back home.

Wind and rain lashed the car as we drove the last bit on the freeway and the tornado sirens started going off as we got down to the surface streets. Great ! Where in the heck are we ??  No place to take shelter !! and NONE of the radio stations had any announcements as to what's going on.  So we kept driving and got to the fair with buckets of rain pouring down. One good thing from the storm was that none of the guards were out at the gates so my husband drove me onto the fair grounds and right up to the door of the building I was going to. I only got a few drops on me. Sweet !

3rd Place - Felted Heart Shaped Bag

It was worth it to be there. So much creative excitement. My only woe was there was not nearly enough crochet ! But there were plenty of quilts, sewing, knitting, weaving and other hand made delicacies to fuel my creative gas tank !

 I found I got a few ribbons this time around.

3rd Place for my Felted Heart Shaped Bag ! The 1st and 2nd place felted items were just beautiful, so nice to think my bag was included !

Hon. Mention - Freeform Scarf

My Freeform Scarf got an Honorable Mention ! I didn't expect any award because Freeform is not very well known and wasn't sure the if judges would be familiar with it.

The scarf is bunched up with some other scarves here in the middle of this picture. It's in there, I swear ! Too bad the ribbon is hanging down over the scarf so no one will get to see much of the design. Oh well.

3rd Place - Sweater Vest

Another nice surprise was 3rd place for my Sweater Vest. It's a very simple design and I wasn't sure if  it would compete well, so I was jazzed to see it got 3rd place !!

There were several really nice crochet sweaters.  Next year I have in mind to do a cardigan style sweater with lots of color changes in the yarn, sort of a Fair Isle effect. We'll see !

Tunisian Sampler - folded middle

My only disappointment was no award for my Tunisian Sampler Shawl.  Of the 6 pieces entered, I thought this one was the best of the lot.  Plus they had it folded up in such a way that none of the stitch work showed up. There is a lovely stitch combination in the middle that I was super excited about, but you just get a peek at it. I was temped to crawl under the barricade and
refold it !

However there were loads of entries in the shawl category and the ones that placed were lovely. One of my online friends got a ribbon for her beautiful shawl ! Good Job !

Double Rainbow !

Then, for a special treat after that brawling storm, we got to see a double rainbow on the drive home !!











It was spectacular !! Double all the way across and the inner rainbow was so intense it almost hurt your eyes.

We were driving east so we got to enjoy it for a long time.