Thursday, 13 August 2020

Hot and bothered!

 Hello from a very hot and sticky Norfolk. Despite the fact that Mr JK and I went to Greece each year for a holiday, I am not a huge fan of the heat in my own back yard. Give me cooler weather any day. I can be found sitting close by a fan, with Flo nearby, not really knowing what to do with herself. Wearing a black fur coat must be tough for her, poor thing. My current medication and sunshine don't make a happy combination, so if I do sit outside, I have to be in the shade, with sun protection and covered up. I've found it better to stay inside during the day and then sit in the garden in the evenings when it's cooler. This heatwave is due to break in the coming days, and the thought of cool raindrops splashing the garden is very appealing. My knitting has been limited to socks as they are small enough to not make you too hot whilst knitting them. I have also kept up to date with my temperature blanket, and had to introduce some new colours into my palette as the temperature went well over 30 degrees for several days. Anyhow, I thought I'd just share a few snippets of what I've been doing over the last week.

*** Yarn buying ***

These beauties are from Lay Family yarn, one of my favourite yarn dyers.

*** Baby knitting ***

I've started knitting a little stripy jumper for Dottie. These were the colours her mum picked out so I cast on a sleeve to check she was happy with them. She loved them and said they looked like a 'posh boarding school uniform'! I can't wait to see Dottie wearing this in the autumn. The yarn is Stylecraft Bellissima and Bambino, which are interchangeable.


*** Casting on a sock ***

This is the second sock in a new design. I'm really happy with how it's looking, and will hopefully be ready to publish it in September. The yarn is from Ducky Darlings and is called 'Ice Lolly'. I could do with one right now!


*** Getting excited about colourwork socks ***

Someone I follow on Instagram has been knitting some absolutely amazing colourwork socks, so I asked her where she got her patterns from. She recommended this book and it is absolutely brilliant. I've wanted to do colourwork for ages now (and I really do mean ages!) and am excited to start my first pair. I just need to make a decision on the pattern.


*** Adding more colours to my temperature blanket ***

Thank goodness Stylecraft Special DK comes in so many colours, that's made it a lot easier to add some extra colours in to show the temperatures over 30 degrees this summer!



What's been keeping you busy this week? Leave a comment and let me know. Also, if you have any tips about how to keep cool, do share them. xxx



4 comments:

Jane Winter said...

I am not a fan of the heat either Helen. Did you know that the Perseid shower can be seen at the moment? We sat out after dark yesterday (in reclining chairs so more or less laid on our backs). It was lovely and cool and we got to seem some 'shooting stars' too!

I hope that you manage to keep cool.

Jane

cristina said...

To keep cool: shut your windows during the most hot hours, especially those sun-exposed (you might want to cover these all day long).
Don't move too much. Drink "tons" of water. Use some essential oils (if you are allowed to, with your medication) like peppermint (combined with a carrier oil) to put on your skin (hands and feet, mostly) for a cooling effect.
Excuse my English, but I wanted to help.
Another advice: enjoy the heat while it lasts, because the cool days are coming and are lot more than the hot ones (this mentally helped me, I'm not a heat lover either).

Jennyff said...

I’ve mostly been busy keeping cool and watering the garden. Since we left the UK nearly 6 weeks ago I have managed to knit 75 rows of a sock, nothing more. I have however read a lot of books, lost about 6 lbs, turned a nice shade of tan and been unable to keep my feet clean as I flip flop around.. We are all doing just fine and pleased to see you are as productive as ever, Grigio and Enrico suggest Flo spends her days in a darkened room when not chasing lizards.

VeggieMummy said...

I'm no fan of the heat either, but thankfully it seems to have cooled a little over the weekend. I love the colours in Dottie's knitwear and that sock book looks lovely. I want to master colourwork too - I had a workshop booked for back in April but it was cancelled. Maybe next year! I hope you and Flo keep cool. xx