We’ve been having a heatwave. Nothing compared to what you dwellers of the tropics have, but still hot for us temperate flowers here in Wales. It’s too hot to walk the dogs and too hot to do much gardening, so we must either sit still outdoors or occupy ourselves inside. Since my creativity seems to have returned, I have been doing the latter, but making a couple of things that really don’t suit the weather.
First, some sewing… I happened to have already cut out the pieces for a coatigan from a lovely boiled wool fabric. This garment is intended for chilly autumn days (or possibly chilly August days, considering the unpredictability of the weather). My favourite, long, 30+-year-old cardigan is now so disreputable that I can’t wear it in company, so this is intended as a replacement. It should do for outdoors and indoors. The pattern is the “Jessie Coatigan” from Sew Over It. I found the instructions rather difficult to follow in places, so I ignored them and did my own thing and it seems to have worked ok. Whilst the machine sewing has been fine in the heat, there’s still the hem and cuffs to hand-stitch, but it’s too warm to have it in my lap, so the finishing will have to wait until next week. If it turns out to be comfy I may make a second one with patch rather than in-seam pockets because I think these are better for hankies, crochet hooks, a Bluetooth speaker and all the other bits and bobs I find myself transporting around the house.
Then, I have to have some knitting or crochet on the go… and what better project to start on during a heatwave than a cosy blanket? I’ve had the yarn for this sitting around for years and finally decided to get started with it. It came as a kit and was supposed to be knitted, but I didn’t want to conform, so settled on a wavy crochet pattern. I’ve been at it for exactly a week and I’ve used more than half the yarn so it won’t be log before it’s finished… just in time for the weather to get cooler. As a point of interest, it’s Colinette yarn – they used to be based in Wales near Welshpool, but closed down a while back and have now re-opened in Wansford, near Peterborough.
Although not much work is happening in the garden in this gloroious weather, I have managed to harvest the shallots and they are ripening and drying in the sun, and we finally have courgettes after a very slow start to the season. There are couple of lemons that are nearly ready too, but sadly the lettuce hates this weather, so thank goodness for oriental leaves.
The Snail of Happiness 
Nice Piece of Work
/ July 22, 2021A friend who lives in London has succumbed to the heat and the family has gone off to Cornwall, where they can at least ramble around on the beach. The funny thing is that she’s South African, so should be used to much hotter temps than the mid-20s that she says they’ve been having.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 22, 2021It got up to 31 degrees here today on the west coast, so she might have been hotter in Cornwall than in London!
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Nice Piece of Work
/ July 23, 2021Oh no!!!
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polesparadise
/ July 22, 2021Love your projects. We have decided to make a kind of curtain/sail thing for the Peach House, in a kind of stained glass pattern with tree branches on it.
I wish we COULD take a break from gardening, but having had a week off 2 weeks ago, it’s kind of tricky!
We don’t have courgettes yet, but we do have cucumbers, and baby peppers, and I spotted one tomato beginning to turn this morning.
I agree about lettuce though!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 22, 2021Lettuce really does not like the heat and I can’t even plant more for later in the season as it won’t germinate 😦
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Wild Daffodil
/ July 22, 2021Much too hot for me! 6 – 8:30am and then 8:30pm and beyond are the only times I venture out. I have lots of left over Colinette wool. I bought it because i love the colours but the colours run and so are hopeless for kids clothes. If you want some let me know. 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 22, 2021I have a lovely snuggly blanket that I made a few years ago from Colinette yarn, but it only ever gets washed in Eucalan, so colour-running is not a problem. I don’t think I’ve used it for anything else apart from an occasional hat!
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cedar51
/ July 23, 2021I don’t want your heatwave, but I could I have smidgen as yet again, another dreary and rainy kind of day and the heatpump is on! Our seasons are so opposite for sure – Catherine (NZ)
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anne54
/ July 23, 2021What a useful garment a coatigan is, and what a great word, although autocorrect doesn’t like it! I am feeling a little chilly at the moment, so I might get my coatigan out rather than turning the heater up a notch.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 23, 2021I love a big woolly garment to wear over other things indoors, so I think this new creation is going to get a lot of use in the chilly months.
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iamsimplyhooked
/ July 23, 2021I had no idea Colinette were back in business – I remember it from way back and have a long scarf in their merino ribbon yarn. You are doing well with your warm projects.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 23, 2021I only knew that they had returned because, having order online way back, I suddenly got an email from them. I don’t know the story behind their re-emergence. They closed because the chap who founded it died and his wife (who is the real Colinette) and their son decided that he was so central to the business and the one with the vision for all the yarns and colours, that they couldn’t keep it going.
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tinaor
/ July 23, 2021It’s been too hot here to do much as well. I dabbled with knitting which was ok in little sessions though my hands kept getting too slippy! I thought about a little stitching but it was a passing thought. I attacked a shady part of my garden and what was supposed to be a mini weeding session turned into three hours of pruning a large tree – so that was more of a success. You are right – the gardens just keep growing and growing – you almost daren’t miss a week or it becomes too much of a job and not a pleasure.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 23, 2021There’s a neglected patch in our garden where the fruit cage used to be and it’s turned into a jungle… and when I say “neglected” I only mean a few months… we may need a manchette to get through it!
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tinaor
/ July 23, 2021Ooh I spent three hours on Wednesday hacking back a tree enthusiastically – I had only planned a light spot of weeding in the shade but neglected that particular tree last year and it had sprouted every which way!
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Going Batty in Wales
/ July 23, 2021That coatigan looks lovely and such a nice colour. Between the heat, the garden (and dealing with the blackcurrants and suchlike) plus my son’s visit I have done hardly anything creative recently!
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katechiconi
/ July 24, 2021I have learned to do hand-quilting on a table so that the air circulates under it, otherwise I’m stuck with a big heavy thing in my lap. Maybe the same might work for your hotter projects? And I’ve had some success growing lettuce indoors, in the bathroom, in scorching weather; the hard surfaces tend to keep the room cooler, so long as there’s enough light.
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tialys
/ July 24, 2021I haven’t found the heat unbearable yet but I’m still acclimatising to the British weather after living much further South for a while. Next year I expect to be fully re-integrated and complaining along with everybody else about it. It did get rather hot in the garden room which is half glazed and is also Mr. Tialys’s office so I tried to buy a fan having left both of ours in France. Of course, everywhere has sold out. We wondered how this can happen every year. Surely not everybody has moved house and left their fans in their previous houses. Where do all these fans go between one year and the next?
The coatigan looks great so far – is that a Dorset Button necklace I see around the mannequin’s neck?
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The Snail of Happiness
/ July 24, 2021It is, indeed, a Dorset button necklace – too warm to wear it myself at the moment!
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