Will it never end?

That seems to be the question which is forever on my lips at the moment. The one thing that I wish would end is the rain. I honestly cannot remember the last day on which we had no rain at all. At the moment, while it is not actually raining, it is dark enough to make me think the Apocalypse cannot be far off and requires the light to be turned on (it's just past mid-day.)

The other thing I wish would end is the "Anne" cardigan. If you have been following, you will know that the yarn is beautiful and the pattern is fearful. Vertical intarsia stripes, if you please, with the whole thing being knitted in one piece, thus requiring twelve balls of yarn to be hanging off the bottom. It seemed to take me an unusually long time to reach the eighteen inches required before dividing for the armholes. I measured it - seventeen and a bit inches. I did two rows and measured again - seventeen and a bit inches. I did two more rows and measured again - seventeen and a bigger bit inches. I swear I knitted ten rows and it never got any bigger. Black hole knitting, obviously.

I finally decided enough was enough and divided for the armholes. I'm not quite sure how long it is. Round about seventeen and a bit inches probably. Next step? "Continue in the same sequence on the first 57 stitches for 7 inches." Simple. Only three balls of wool at this stage (so only about a quarter as annoying). Seven inches? I knitted a bit, eyeballed it and measured.

I suppose you all know what's coming ?

Eight inches. Not six and a bit for ten rows. No. Eight. Straight off. Just like that. Black hole knitting, with a vengeance.

Here's the fearsome thing:



all scrumpled up. (Note cycling magazine in the background - it is "Le Tour", after all).

Another picture where you can sort of see how I've finished the right front and am working the back on the next six stripes:



Six balls of yarn now, so twice as annoying as what I've just done but only half as annoying as the first part.
The colours are slightly lighter in real life. Another function of the constant rain is that there is very little light, so it's almost impossible to get a decent picture.

I'm so fed up with it that I've rattled off a small doily from Marianne Kinzel's "First Book of Modern Lace Knitting". No picture for reason given above.

I have even taken out the Wedding Ring Shawl and done a row or two - which just goes to show how truly ticked off I am by the Anne Cardigan, if the WRS is "light relief".

Finally, Saturday Field. In a new departure, this is the front field:



Not raining there (it did later in the day, though.)

Life in the rural backwater is not all bad.