Larimer County Fair, 2023

I'm in the county's new system now, so I received an email on May 16 that the county fair was ready to receive entries.

The fair itself is held in early August, but I do appreciate being reminded that it's time to think about my entries and get them finished.  :-)

I downloaded several categories and had some thoughts about branching into several of them, but ultimately decided to enter in the following categories, which I have entered before:

• Photography
• Spinning and Weaving
• Knitting, Crochet, and Felting

As we got into July, I started setting items aside as well as washing and blocking the candidates.

The entries ended up being as follows:

• Minty Mitts - these are made well and match quite closely.  I also think the thumb join was executed well.
• Inigo Socks - these have two mistakes that I know of.  One can be viewed as a design feature.  Neither are obvious, in my opinion.
• Save Our Sheep Sweater - this has one obvious mistake, but I think the overall body of work and composition is good.  It should receive high marks for the variety of yarns made and used.
• TM 2-Ply Yarn - this is one of the better Chiengora yarns I've made.
• Peek-a-boo Photo of Wilma - I love the personality of this photo, but have no feel for how photos are judged and therefore placed.

The Minty Mitts and Inigo Socks are in the same class.  I only realized that one entry per class was allowed in the Knitting/Crochet/Felting department after I completed registration.  So it seems odd that the registration system allowed for and confirmed both.

So upon confirming with the Check-in Staff and then the Special Check-in Staff my second entry was cancelled.  Then as I was speaking with the Department Steward during Drop-off, She confirmed they were both allowed because socks and mittens should not be in the same class and they would be judged separately, but they would not let her break the class, so I re-entered the second entry.

There was also a change in the Photography Department to disallow matts, even though it is called out as specifically required in the Premium List.... and to be clear, I would not have mounted my photo unless the Premium List said it was required.

I also confirmed that the Premium List Posted still states the matt is required the morning after Drop off.

Annoying on both accounts but alas, all of my entries were dropped off to their appropriate departments.

Judging happens the day after Drop Off and is open to the public.  However, I've never been able to attend judging due to day job commitments.

Upon visiting the Fair over the weekend, I saw that my entries placed about where I expected them to.  It's always fun trying to find them in the display...

My Sweater was displayed prominently, with no ribbons.

I have to acknowledge that the Sweater Competition this year was quite good.  With the Brown one receiving the Grand Champion placement.

My Tibetan Mastiff yarn received 1st place and a Special Award.

The Minty Mitts received 2nd place.

The Inigo Socks received 3rd place.

.. and Wilma's Peek-a-boo photo was placed prominently in the Amateur Domestic Animal Display (directly under the Labrador/2nd place photo), with no ribbons.

So I am pleased that my entries placed about where I expected them to as well as looking forward to getting everything home and seeing what the comments are.

The written comments received were minimal.  I did not receive the written comments/score sheet for the Mitts, but I did receive some oral comments on the photo as I was checking out.... so I now have something to focus my attention on.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!