Blue Ribbon

I first entered the San Diego Fair in 1999. I crocheted this Baby Pinwheel Afghan just because I thought it was cute, with no intentions of entering it in anything, but my husband encouraged me to so I could see what it was like. He and I would walk through the hall with all of the handmade displays every year and I loved seeing what people were making. I was very excited about having it displayed with all of the other beautiful things I had seen there. It didn't win a ribbon but it gave me a chance to see what it was like to enter. I checked out the ones who were awarded ribbons and made some mental notes on what won, so I could maybe get a ribbon next time.
The pattern for this is in a Leaflet from Leisure Arts #2756 called Make One For Baby. I've made a couple of patterns from it and they were all wonderful patterns. It uses a Crochet hook size F (3.75 mm) and each motif is 6". The afghan consists of 52 pinwheel motifs of 12 rounds each. After assembling the motifs, you work two rounds of edging.

In 2000, I entered this Cascading Curls baby afghan. I showed up to the fair all excited to see if I had won something. They don't notify you if you've won, you find out when you go see the displays. If there is a ribbon on your project, then you've won! So it's kind of suspenseful until your able to go see. I was very excited to see I had gotten a ribbon! Second Place, and I was happy to have been part of the top three.

The pattern for this is in Leisure Arts Leaflet #2904 called Curly Cuties. I loved making these little twirly ends.
Then, in 2001, I entered the Granny Bear Afghan. And finally, I had a blue ribbon. A first place ribbon! Woohoo!

This pattern is in Annie's Favorite Baby Projects. It consists of 61 Bear motifs that are crocheted together. I had a lot of trouble with this one, because it was hard for me to line of the motifs straight and then the bows had to be made out of a different yarn so they didn't overpower the bear.
I haven't entered anything since I had my children. Partly because I know it takes something special to be awarded a ribbon and I just haven't put the time into it. I know if something I make is worthy of being entered or not and the timing just hasn't been right. I am very proud of my entries in the fair and hopefully will be able to enter again this year. I've heard there is going to be a sheep to shawl contest happening this year and I definitely want to check that out. I've always wanted to see one. It would be really fun to see the process live and in person. The only thing I've seen of them are from Cat's video podcasts Letsknit2gether. I hope it works out that day for me to be there!