Oregon State Fair 2013

"Our State Fair is a great State Fair..." If you don't know that tune, you've got a Rogers and Hammerstein movie to watch!

Be that as it may, we made sure to attend this year's state fair, and I made sure to participate by entering some of my knitting and spinning. Last year they monkeyed with the entry deadline and a lot of people missed it, but this year they put it back to where it was supposed to be, and entries, while not as abundant as prior years, were better than last year.

Here are a few highlights of interest to fiber-philes:

Quilts!

And quilts!

And quilts!

Yes, there were lots of quilts! This "chicken quilt" was particularly interesting.

I liked the stained glass effect in this one that made the colors pop.

This was intriguing. The stitching on the black section was in charcoal gray and was in circular designs that made me think of some Japanese textiles, and in contrast to the linear patterns.

My vintage vest in handspun Polwarth from Fat Cat Knits (Esther colorway) took Judge's Choice for items knit from handspun!

My Annis shawlette, from laceweight handpun, took a first.

Clarissa took a third for cardigans. I wish they'd displayed the cardigans a little better than this to show off the lace patterns, but oh well.

A not-very-good picture of my beaded Entomology shawl with its second place ribbon.

Out in the barns, I looked for the presence of fiber animals. The llamas were there.

Milk goats, not fiber goats, but the romping kids were fun to watch. This one is king of the haystack!

And yay, there were angora goats! Mostly the fair shows milk and meat goats, but maybe we'll get some fiber goats, too.

And speaking of fiber, I wandered through the Artisan Village and found Alexandra's Crafts! That's Alexandra on the right and her faithful assistant, showing off their beautiful yarn and spinning fiber. So while other "normal" fair-goers went home with cotton candy, caramel corn, toys, t-shirts, or Sham-Wows, I came home with four ounces of a luscious merino/silk/baby camel blend spinning fiber!

In the end, of eleven things I entered, nine got ribbons: five first place ribbons (plus the Judge's Choice rosette for the vest), two seconds, a third, and an honorable mention. And a bonus! That tote bag in the background is a prize from the Aurora Colony Spinning Guild, and it's full of spinning fiber! Yay!

Plan for next year: Use the yarn that I spun this year to knit things to enter in the "knitted from handspun" category next year.