She's Crafty: State Fair Crochet Competition Edition

Another part of my trip to the Iowa State Fair was to see the crochet division of the Fabric & Threads competition. I had entered my hamburger into the toy division of the competition and wanted to see it on display.

I knew a few days before my trip that my hamburger hand not won any awards, not even "honorable mention" but I still wanted to see it, and suss out the blue ribbon winners.

It took us a while to find my hamburger, tucked into the back of a bookshelf featuring some of the other toys. I saw the 2nd place toy winner right away and immediately conceded that it was totally deserving. It's so cute! If I saw this in a store I would buy it!

Stacia Zink has some serious skills! I love the eyes! That monkey and that little stylized Mickey Mouse are also great, they deserved ribbons too. But where was the 1st place blue ribbon winner?

Oh.

My.

Gawsh.

That's right. That's the 2010 blue ribbon winner in the toy division of the Iowa State Fair Fabrics & Threads crochet competition. That...that....springy thing with the plastic rabbits head.

I'm not saying that *I* should have won the blue ribbon, though I would have loved to. I would have thrown my vote for Stacia Zink if I were a judge. Not...that...that... rabbit death spring. It's not even in a pretty color! And I'm pretty sure that head came straight out of my worst nightmare. Pretty sure!

Shameful.

Here's the money shot:

How does a plastic head beat out so many awesomely crafted animal heads? How does covering a metal spring trump the delicate crafting of arms, legs, cute outfits? Never mind the fact that I made a SLICE OF ONION and a SLICE OF TOMATO!!!

Ahem. Pardon me.

I didn't expect to win, sincerely I didn't, I was just excited that my hamburger was going to be on display and that I got to buy discounted tickets to the fair at which I would be able to get my grub on, in a fried food fashion.

Now for the details regarding my precious hamburger, in case you want to make your own.
I started the top bun using instructions for a spherical shape and then stopped when I got to a height I liked. I then turned my crochet needle 90 degrees to make the flat part of the bun, working in a spiral towards the center. I used a lighter, white color for the inside of the bun.

For the bottom bun I made a spiral, turned 90 degrees to make a lip and then 90 degrees back into a spiral for the other side. I stuffed both pieces of the bun with poly-fill.

For the hamburger patty I used dark brown yarn to make a spiral, curled it up a bit using some double crochet and then made another spiral, leaving a small hole. I then turned it inside out to give it more of a patty shape. It was think enough not to need poly-fill.

The lettuce was green yarn, single crochet stitches in an irregular roundish shape that I tucked and mis-stitched to make it look ruffled like a piece of lettuce.

The onion is made from bright white yarn and is a combination of chain stitched circles that are attached together with single crochet. This makes it look like real rings of onion. I'm really proud of that little onion slice!

The tomato slice was the last and most difficult piece. I made a round circle and then crocheted at a 90 degree angle across the top of the to make triangular sections appear and also around the edge. Then I added yellow seeds to make it look more like a tomato.

Besides the top part of the bun it was made without the use of patterns. I just tried to think of what the food looks like and then how I could replicate that using the few crochet techniques that I know! In addition to the hamburger, I have also made a corn dog (which may have played more to the fair judges), a cupcake and an oversized strawberry.

I doubt I'll have anything to enter into next years competition, this was my only shot at crochet glory, but I hope to make some more yummy food soon!