Not the one with the Ark, [although that might be a good idea] but the current wetness. Mostly I knitted and caught up on some sewing repairs and alterations and soldiered on very spasmodically with my latest lilac blouse top. But apart from rescuing sodden stuff from the shed, if the truth be told it was nicer to hunker down in the afternoons and forget the rain and just knit.

The handspun Blue Faced Leicester cardigan I knitted recently has been worn quite a few times before I have got round to the promised post about it. But here are the pictures. When I was about 10 years old I saw a display in a tailor’s shop in Canterbury called ‘From Sheep to Wearer’ – so this is mine;-

They say a picture tells a thousand words, well these tell quite a few hours of this and that. Finally I had to choose the buttons. The ones on the left were from Jane Austen’s house at Chawton, about 18 miles from here further down into Hampshire. As can be seen they are silk covered from the silk mill at Whitchurch, also in Hampshire. However, they were the wrong shade, too brown.  The others are more my style, just basic buttons, and I eventually went with the ones on the right.  Not really much more to say about this cardigan except that it is soft, light and comfy, but it wont be as hardwearing as commercially spun wool. The difference in ‘loft’ and texture is like that of alpaca and wool. – The other knitting was purely utilitarian and necessary because of the cold spell,  a pair of fingerless gloves for Abigail, ‘gardening’ gloves for me [for non dirty jobs out in the cold] and I am now on pair 3 in the purple wool for ‘proper’ wearing. I have actually been sewing – I am progressing with the lilac blouse – should be finished very soon.