the nc state fair

the fair has come & gone, and i wrote a big post about it over here. i took a lot of pictures, and i didn't want to clutter things up here, so i divided the knitting/crafty stuff with the other aspects of the fair. so, if you want to see "more", just click that link above.





stuart and i went to the 2011 nc state fair, primarily to see all the crafty knitting & crochet exhibits. we'd been following crochetbug's journey as she created her 2011 nc state fair afghan, we really wanted to see it in person. so, that was our main mission.

we first stopped at the quilts, because sometimes, they do hang the crochet blankets with the quilting.





i really liked this one.





and the one on the left here, LOVE it too! see the nice lady? she goes back and forth slowly moving the quilts from one side to the other, like gently turning the pages of a book.

when she finished, and i didn't see the crochetbug afghan, i asked her where it was. i described it in detail, and she said, "oh, it's down a few rows in a glass case!".

we headed in that direction, and looked at other things along the way ...





such as, cross stitch! i am not a cross stitcher at heart, but i do appreciate the time it takes to do these designs. heck, my little snowman took forever!





and, in the next aisle, i spotted it ...





who knows how they judge things, but the honorable mention ribbon simply doesn't capture the journey of creating this blanket. i think it deserves a blue ribbon.





i snapped a shot of these, as the socks in the center is a pattern i've "tried" to start before. the pattern is called nightingale by vintage purls. i did start it once (it's toe up) and i got stuck on the toe. lol! perhaps i'll revisit the pattern in 2012.





this pair was knitted by a friend of mine. i don't know what pattern she used, but it's a simple and elegant design.

stuart and i finished off the fair with some ice cream before departure.





if you wanna see the rest of the story ... just click here.