I don't need a picture to say a thousand words...

I keep putting of blogging because of a lack of photos. I could blame this lack of photos on a lack of camera, but that would be a lie…really it’s sheer laziness. I seem to believe that I can’t blog without photos, like my writing isn’t enough for my readers. I have lots of interesting things to talk about with very few photos, hopefully I can be descriptive enough to be interesting.
I went to the Fall Fair on Saltspring Island a couple of weekends ago, it’s something I try to go to every year. The Fall Fair is like a mini reunion, I get to see a lot of old friends and enjoy a fantastic event. My Mom is the poultry coordinator, so I spend a lot of time with chickens volunteering. The past couple of years I have assisted the judging of the poultry, I think it is possible that I now know more about chickens than a person who doesn’t actually own a chicken should…I also attended a breeding seminar so I could learn how to breed my non-existent chickens. However, 0+0=0, so I still have no chickens.
I entered a lot of things at the Fair, I entered a whole bunch of spun yarn and a sweater. Mom entered some yarn, sheep and chickens, and Mackenzie entered yarn. We all did very well and when we gathered all of our ribbons I discovered we had 30 ribbons, 3 rosettes, and 2 trophies, which was a pretty darn good haul! Mom’s cockerel got best chicken, which was awesome because it was a record year for entries!
Another great thing occurred at the fair. I met a lovely lady by the name of Alinka who had an angora rabbit she no longer wanted. This lovely bunny included a crapload of rabbit feed (I say crapload because honestly…that’s what rabbit feed turns into…) a beautiful hutch and all the accessories needed for a happy bunny. She is a delightful bunny but I am unsure of her parentage (which I don’t hold against her) I think she is a cross because her fur is not that long. She might be part Satin or French because she has no fluffy stuff on her ears or face…she could be a French and the lack of fluffy on face and ears is the result of crossbreeding. Either way she is delightful, her name is Liela-which I was sorely tempted to change because I had a boss named Liela who was HORRIBLE-but I can’t seem to make anything else work. I often call her Bunny-wei, which is what all the “Egyptians” in Stargate were yelling all the time. She is a fantastic smokey colour, mostly grey with just a hint of brown. And she is so incredible docile and polite. She likes crackers. The cats are undecided about her. Chase brought in a baby mouse and played with it and ate it in front of the rabbit. I think it may be a warning…
In terms of knitting, I have burned through a couple projects. I knit the Louisa hat and it turned out great (I gave it to Alinka). I designed a hat pattern that I test knit and need to tinker with a bit and get test knitters for-it’s a fair isleish style pattern of a dragon/phoenix. It looks really cool and is knit from a neutral colour and Noro.
I finally started knitting Tiny’s sweater. It took me 1 day to burn through the first ball of yarn and has taken me 5 days to get through the second!!! The yarn is…not stretchy…it makes my hands ouchy. Because of this I keep looking at other patterns and get to the point where I am pulling yarn and needles out of my stash and then have to throw them on the floor while yelling ”BAD CAROLINE!” I know because of the difficulty with knitting this yarn (an incredibly inflexible Icelandic Lopi) if I stop knitting this sweater, I will never start it again. I will say that I particularly enjoy the cabling in the back because it looks like a Klingon’s back. This sweater is a circular knit cable sweater with raglan sleeves. If it turns out well perhaps I will write the pattern down and have it on etsy. I may need test knitters!!!