O is for Ogle

And ogle I have done -

This last weekend the man and I took the kids to the state fair. I made it clear I really wanted to hit up the hobbies building because a gent in my yarn group had won 2nd with a knitted afghan that took him 2 years to complete. So that is what this post is all about - ogling the wonderful fiber arts and hobbies from the state fair.

First I want to apologize for a lot of the glare in the photos. The majority of the displays were behind glass. It was nice to see they took great care in the delicate items created by so many people, but it did make it difficult to get a good photo.

The first photo to the left here is of some gorgeous pillows. The majority of the pillows were done in thread and were crocheted; however, a few worsted weight items made their way in. I really liked the two pillows here, the white with pearls and the blue and white up in the upper side of the photo. I went back to them a few times over.

The rose pillow was gorgeous too, but I think because the others were thread, they sat somewhere special in my list of preferences/difficulty to complete.

Surprisingly enough there were not a lot of crochet afghans. Of the afghans on display, I have to say I was a bit disappointed in about half of them simply because they looked old. Not vintage old - old as in it looked like it was just pulled off someone's bed and brought in as a last minute entry. Seriously - so many of them were pilling and some of those were physically dirty. A run through the wash would have been a good idea. But - there were some very nice ones, as you can see by the image to the right.

There were a lot of gorgeous crochet wearables as well. I could tell a lot of people took a lot of time to really make quality items for entry

Now, while the crochet afghan department was a little lacking, I have got to say the knit entries blew me away. It was insane to look at some of the designs - knowing it took those individuals a lot of time. As I said in the beginning, the primary reason I wanted to go to the crafts area was to get a gander at a knitted afghan a gent in my yarn group entered and won 2nd place on.

This is his afghan!

I really wish I was able to get a nicer photo as this one does it NO justice whatsoever. The color changes were awesome and the stitch work was amazing. I have only seen him work on sweaters at yarn group so I knew from the quality I seen in that work that his afghan would be beautiful - and it did not disappoint.

I was really bit with the bug to create something for next year's fair. I have only entered something once in my life, a piece of bobbin lace when I was about 11 years old. I won 2nd place - losing only to my instructor (as it probably should be, yes?)

Anywhoozle - back to my ogling adventure.

There were a lot of other crafts in the building as well, which inspired my kids to thinking perhaps they would want to put something in the fair next year. There were even lego creations which made my son really happy.

This is a box someone took the time to carve. I don't remember the exact method used or the type of wood, I just remember my jaw dropping at the exquisite detail.

The baskets entered were really nice too, which of course peaked my yarnie interest because every dedicated yarnie needs some awesome baskets to hold his or her work, right?

*laughs*

The basket that made first place was really well put together. I don't know if the person had a pattern (is that what its called for basket weavers?) or if it was of their own design, but it was really nice. The stitching (again, not sure what the translation for basket weavers is) was really tight and consistent across the whole piece. I ogled that basket for quite some time.

Trust me when I say there were a LOT of baskets there I would happily bring home and fill with the deliciousness of my yarn stash.

I am going to leave you with this last photo of my daughter. As I was browsing through the afghans and wearables, I looked over and she was admiring the dolls and their crafted gowns.

I guess the fair left us all with more than just thoughts of what we could possibly enter next year - it also left one little girl with stars in her eyes and a mother knowing she needs to get crackalackin' in finding some cute patterns for her dolls.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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This post is part of the Learn Your ABCs with the Accidental Knitter meme. Others are posting their links in the Blog Hub Ravelry Group and the link party is located here (link will be made once available).