Summerhill Stitchery has been up & running now for over a year. In that time, I've made some pretty good strides with the business, such as repeat customers and a reputation for good work that makes people happy!
During the past year, for the first time ever, I entered my crochet work in a State Fair. All those years I did crochet in Maryland, I never made a Fair entry. This year, I said, "Why not?" Yeppers... We had an entry in the 2012 New Mexico State Fair. After scanning the online Rules Booklet, I decided to enter four items.
The first was a double thread, blue ripple stitch afghan which met the size restrictions (60" x 84", excluding fringe). I am particularly proud of this particular afghan as it is very luxurious and very cozy. On Zibbet.com, it was described as follows...
"The rewards of this unforgettable throw are twofold. Zigzags in shades of deep marine blue, ocean blue, and Caribbean blue combined with a lavish woven-in fringe offer soothing comfort and timeless elegance. This is a warm, luxurious throw worked in two strands of yarn. I can see someone sitting on the ocean's beach, wrapped in this watching the sunset with a Mai-Tai in hand."
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| Ocean Swells Afghan, 3 Shades of Blue - SOLD |
The 2nd item I entered was a square afghan (measures 54" x 54") that was done for a woman in Virginia, who graciously allowed me to use it as a Fair entry. My notes on this afghan during its construction were,
"It's one of those that looked like a great idea until you start working it. What a pain! For every row I stitch, 2 rows need to be torn out. Grrr.... The original thought was to offer this particular piece, in addition to the dark red, in green and blue. Nope... ain't happening! This is going to be the one & only!
The afghan is being worked in 2 strands of yarn. It will be quite warm when completed and it will be the proper size for a sofa throw. All yarn in this particular piece is USA made."
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| Double Thread, Southwestern Afghan |
The woman for whom this afghan was made, purchased a different one. This one is now available for sale on Zibbet.com.
The 3rd entry was a light & lacy neck scarf or muffler made with a high quality, German yarn -
SMC Aventica in the shade called "Sunset". I fell in love with the yarn when I spied it at a local store,
Edgewood Yarns & Fibers. It's a sweet yarn to work with and I'm planning on eventually buying enough of it to do a ruana. It's a wool & acrylic blend. I really, really like it.
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| Autumn Roses Scarf |
The final entry that I selected was done as I was walking out the door. Really...
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| Mesh Beret, 100% Acrylic |
LOL... I've always heard that everything happens for a reason and I truly believe this more & more the longer I'm around. Anyway, as I was going out the door, I realized I had forgotten my phone. I'd left in on the table on which my crochet work is sorted. Sitting there next to the phone was a mesh beret done in autumn colors. I looked at it and thought, "Oh... what the heck... might as well make it four entries." Snatching it up, out the door I went, heading to the Fairgrounds bright & early on a Wednesday morning to make my entries.
Entries could only be made on that one Wednesday and only between the hours of 8am and 3pm.
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| State Fair Tag |
The entry process is pretty straightforward. One fills out a form, which requires a category number (available in the rules booklet) and a description, such as "ripple afghan," for each item. It also requires your name, address, etc. and an entry number. The entry number is assigned at the Fairgrounds and comes on a two piece yellow tag, which also needs to be filled out with your name and some other stuff.
After the tag is attached to your entry, the entry taker tears off the tag stub, attaches it to the carbon copy of the official entry form, and gives them to you. You are told the day that you can retrieve your entries and to bring the stubs or you will be unable to retrieve your items. When I got home, those stubs were prominently placed on the front of the refrigerator with a magnet that has a clamp! Did not want to lose those babies!
Competitors are not be present for the entry judging and no one notifies you if you win. You have to go to the Fair sometime during its two week run & check for yourself to see if you did anything.
The first day of the Fair, I snuck in through a hole in the fence and ran to the Home Arts Building. I could not spend a lot of time there as Rob & I were leaving the next morning for a long weekend in Ventura, CA. But, I wanted to know if I won anything!
Walking through the exhibits, an older woman started walking with me. She chronically complained about none of her entries winning anything other than a 2nd or 3rd place ribbon. "My afghans ALWAYS win! My dolls ALWAYS win!" Sigh... you get the idea. I mentioned to her that I was a first time entry and I'd be absolutely DELIGHTED if I got a 4th place ribbon. After all.... look at all the lovely work that was submitted! Some of the work was so exceptional and even after all the years that I've been doing crochet, I fully expected to not do anything.
I had to search for the entries because most of them were bunched in with lots of other items. The blue afghan was the first to be found....
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| Double Thread, Blue Ripple |
As you can see.... No ribbon. That's fine because the ribbon went to an outstanding afghan, which I did not get a photo of. The brown, orange & white ripple afghan next to it in the picture above took a 4th place ribbon and the purple one above it took a 2nd place ribbon. Both were lovely!
The next entry to be stumbled upon was the Southwestern item. Again, no ribbon but that's OK. The blue one to its right took something. I really liked the texture and design of that blue one.
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| Double Thread, Multi-color Afghan on Display |
The hardest ones to find were the scarf & the beret. I went through looking in each of the display cases, two & three times each. Finally, I spied the scarf! I thought they'd lost it! I found it in a display case with crochet toys? Oh well... Whatever... I found it and was absolutely delighted that it took a ribbon! I was on cloud nine! I got a ribbon and it was a 2nd place ribbon! Wahoo!!!
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| Lacy Muffler, Autumn Roses - 2nd Place Award |
The last item to be found was the beret. When it was found, I did not see anything attached to it and mentioned that to the woman standing next to me. She took a look and said, "Hon... you got a blue ribbon."
What? A blue ribbon??? I took a harder look and finally saw the ribbon hiding behind the entry tag! You can see in the picture how the ribbon is hiding. I started blubbering I was so happy & proud of my entry!
I could now go to CA and not wonder how my items did.
When I picked up the entries, I looked to see if there were any comments written on the backs of the tag and found, much to my delight, a comment on the beret's tag. It was a very short comment but one which was very appreciated. The comment was, "Great Job!".
Thank you to whomever wrote that short and sweet comment.
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