"Look at this!"

Someone holds up yet another item being delivered for judging.
"Nice!" 
"Really lovely!"
"How do they do that?"
"What's this?"
And then, inevitably, "Cat will know. Ask her."
I don't actually know the answer to all things knitting but I do know the answer to some things so I explain where I can because this  time of the year is a craft learning experience for all of us.
Yesterday was one of those days. I was doing my turn as a steward at the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society pre-show preparations. I know I have explained elsewhere in this blog that I go along and collect the entries, put them out on trestle tables, help the judge who does the knitting and crochet, and then help to put them in the display cabinets.
They are fortunate to have an excellent judge. She is very thorough and scrupulously fair. She will tell us why she is giving a prize to one thing and not another. She will show us what she has noticed.
And she takes delight in not just excellent workmanship but she enthuses over things like the delightful "tiger" soft toy. He was straight out of "The tiger who came to tea" and any small child who knew the story would recognise him. More than one person cuddled him and the bears who won the first prize. They all had character.
This year there were a couple of new classes. While I had told the knitting guild about them I had not said a lot. But, they attracted quite a bit of attention. The items in the 100g challenge were not particularly imaginative but we will keep the class and I think there will be more entries next year. It's a difficult one for the judge because of the potential diversity but the sort of thing she feels will encourage more people to enter items.
And then there was the "amigurumi". This was the suggestion of a judge from a neighbouring state. We all wondered what sort of entries it would attract and, this year, the decision was to be fairly flexible with respect to whether or not it could be classed as "amigurumi". What won  first prize was genuine "amigurumi". A tiny suitcase full of even tinier clothes in the most exquisite detail. It also won  "best in show" for the crochet. I know who made them and I hope she will show them to everyone in the guild she belongs to because they are an absolute delight. 
I had very tired rear paws by the end of the day and was absolutely surprised and very grateful when one of the convenors told me her husband was coming to pick  up me and the trusty three wheeler so that I didn't need to catch the train and then pedal home. 
Next item on the to-do list is a thank you note to him!