To outsiders, entering a hand-knitted item in the Minnesota State Fair competition sounds quaint—a cozy throwback to a simpler time. But if you've ever stood in line outside the Creative Activities building the week before the fair opens, balancing an oversized bag on one wrist, frantically paging through a pink booklet to see if your hat fits Lot 331, 332, or maybe even 356, and casting furtive glances at the amazing piece of intarsia peeking out of someone else's bag, you know that, at least in Minnesota, the State Fair is a hotbed of cutthroat competition on a par with the Tour de France.