Friday, July 31, 2009

Summertime ...

My husband is fanatical about his grass ... it is the envy of all the guys in the neighbourhood ... plush, velvety, soft and lush ... sigh! And for the last 2 weeks, it has been devoid of humans, due to an unbelievable heatwave -- upwards of 40+C -- I saw 104F and 111F on our old thermometer -- ghastly. The fans are on overtime and we are lusting after A/C -- grocery shopping has taken on a new appeal.


I entered my scrapbooking, photography, knitting and dill pickles into our local country fair last weekend and came out with 6-1st place ribbons, 3-2nd place ribbons and one third, resulting in $35 prize money. Before you become unduly impressed, read on!


This is going to sound like sour grapes, but you're not going to believe this -- my gorgeous 'Alhambra' scarf came in 3rd to ... wait for it ... an eyelash yarn scarf!!! Yep, you read that correctly! Apparently my 16 row, lace pattern on both sides, stick a needle in your eye took me three months to knit scarf just didn't cut it. The judge preferred the garter stitch, red eyelash yarn scarf, instead. First place was given to a shawl, which was somehow entered in the 'scarf' category (go figure!) and then 2nd went to the eyelash scarf. I was scratching my head for a moment, until one of my knitting pals who volunteered at the fair whispered to me that the judge was actually a 'non-knitter' -- can you believe it???

My February Baby Sweater came in 2nd to a 'swallowtail shawl' which must have literally been cast off in the car, on the way to drop it off, because it hadn't even been blocked out! It was still in the 'before its glory, lace blob stage'.

Needless to say, it was a learning experience ... I was wise enough to keep my mouth shut while I was there, for fear that I'd get roped into judging next year's competition, which would really mess me up, because then I wouldn't be able to participate :)



The kids were away for the weekend, so we had the 'granddog' for a few days. He's very sweet and a joy to have around. My garden took a beating, but I was prepared for that. His only other foible is that he loves to chew on tennis balls. I went to the dollar store and bought 3 sleeves of balls because he can chew through one in only 10 minutes. Once he's popped it, he proceeds to shred and spit out the pieces. Once he's done that, he gets up and walks away, as if to say 'that job's done'!

6 comments:

mames said...

that is truly a travesty, the knitting judge sounds a bit less than competent. i saw some of the same at our county fair last year. hope it cools a bit before the grass takes a beating. hang in there. :)

Laura said...

That is just ridiculous - to have a judge that is a non-knitter!!!!
Your yard is beautiful. Hope it is cooler today. We have had a cooler than normal summer so far on Long Island and I am loving it.

Rachel said...

Congrats on your ribbons, and I agree you were robbed!

Jackie said...

Oh my. I think that they should get a judge that knits even a little bit!

I think that you are getting our weather this year. It has been cool and damp here on the prairies.

God bless.

Tara said...

I don't know why, but I am deeply, deeply smitten with the idea of submitting anything to a county fair. Really. I want to move to BC now. Congrats on your ribbons! (even if you TOTALLY deserved the blue ones for knitting).

Gail said...

Not sour grapes at all! I am shocked at what won.

I was at the fair, and saw your entry, it was lovely!

I am seriously thinking of volunteering to be a judge next year. Do they have no criteria for judges to even follow?

ARGH! Craziness!

P.S. I saw Joanne at the fair (another OUAS ex-volunteer), she was with the quilters however, not the knitters!