June brought us a heatwave and it was a bit too hot for me truth be told – I am much happier in cooler weather.  We had 3 consecutive days of temperatures over 30 degrees and as the house felt too warm and airless I sought out the shade in the back garden. It was even too hot to knit so instead I read from a gentle and lyrical book, a perfect read for a shady spot under a tree full of birdsong; ‘Birds, Art, Life, Death’ by Kyo Mclear. But reading doesn’t really help my get-up-and-go as it tends to make me dozy – I think years of reading before sleep at night has conditioned my brain this way. Though I may not have got as much done as hoped for, I am not complaining. That kind of heat is a rare treat and one to be savoured:

I love the start of hot days, with the haziness that appears just after dawn when it’s already warm and balmy and you just know the day is going to be a scorcher. It brings to mind my 1970’s childhood holidays in Cornwall or Devon and the promise of a long day on the beach building sandcastles, splashing about in rockpools and eating warm, slightly gritty sandwiches, because somehow the sand always managed to sneak into even the most tightly sealed tupperware container. Speaking of food, it’s been too hot to eat much so we’ve been living off salads. Mostly impromtu combinations of avocados, tomatoes, rocket, spinach, french beans, goat cheese and whatever else is lurking in the fridge like a smattering of left-over roasted beetroot. Light and summery food that doesn’t involve standing near a cooker, that makes me happy.

I also love the evenings of hot days; the hum of the lawnmower from 2 gardens over; the song of a blackbird (still so vocal at this time of year) proclaiming his right to this patch; the drifting smoke from a barbecue somewhere nearby coupled with the smells of flowers, dusty paving and sun-cream, all mingled into the unmistakable scent of summer. The summer evening sunlight paints my kitchen with a rich gold that is so particular to this time of year. Then there’s that magical shade of blue that appears after sunset, before it’s fully dark, so luminous and so difficult to capture or re-create. Summer days like these have a magic – probably because here in England they are not so common and so have the power to transport us back years, or maybe it’s just me being nostalgic. Either way I have enjoyed them.

With July cooler days have arrived again and it’s a more comfortable knitting temperature which is good because I’m busy auditioning yarns for the next pattern. I’m sure you can guess from the yarn colour which kind of animal I’m working on 🙂  

I’ll keep you posted on progress, but with the summer holidays approaching it is likely to be early autumn before it’s ready to share.

This week has been all about being outside. Summer is really here now and it's been so lovely to throw all of the doors and windows wide open and let the breeze blow through the house. It's meant a bit more housework as it's blown lots of little dust bunnies out from their hiding places under sofas and chairs but I suppose that having more fluffy dust than most people is an occupational hazard for a knitter!

Yesterday Toby had his school sports day and surprised everyone by how fast he ran. He would have won his races easily if he understood the concept of competition and the purpose of the running, but true to form he ran when it felt good to him and stopped when it did not, so his races were a series of spurts of speed and dead stops with everyone then shouting 'keep running Toby'. He seemed to cope better this year with the event and all of the waiting around between races and after enjoying some evening chill out time in the garden he slept better than usual, not all night through but not far off!

I'm enjoying knitting in the garden and have all sorts on the go at the moment; my WIPs (works in progress) include 2 pairs of socks, 3 shawls, 2 crochet blankets and the pair of mittens above that I'll  be hopefully finishing off over the weekend. The pattern is a free one; Small Flower Mitts by Pinneguri and I'm knitting them with Ysolda's Blend No.1 and Jamiesons Shetland Spindrift  - you can see project details here.

Well, that's it from me today and I'm heading back out into the garden for a little more knitting time. Just wanted to wish all of the Dads out there a very happy Father's day this Sunday, especially my own lovely Dad and Father-in-Law who is very poorly at the moment and is in our thoughts all of the time.

Until next time I'll leave you with some views of the sky over our garden which this week has been full of lots of varieties of beautiful clouds – mostly the high wispy kinds of ice crystal cirrus clouds which look like wonderful great brush strokes painted across the sky. See if you can spot the angels wing in one of them…