Too Hot to Knit

It was 26C on our landing, or around 79F and it's warmer than I'm used to. I do not do well in these temperatures. I can feel readers from outside the UK inwardly sniggering, but all but one of our windows face directly south (the exception is the junk room) and our house is built to keep the heat in. I am grateful in December. I'm less grateful when the temperature limps towards warm. And I'm iffy about having windows open in the evening as the neighbours smoke much weed that the smell would stop a clock. So I'm not knitting while watching England. 

As it is, England v Slovenia is unlikely to go down as one of the great classic matches in football history. I remember when father was coaching the works team and he went mad about them standing around and being static. These were factory workers on basic wages and, if I remember rightly, their movement off the ball had a lot more purpose than England tonight. Though, to be fair, this was usually a soggy afternoon in February rather than a heatwave in Cologne. 

Bear had a marvellous time on his Duke of Edinburgh expedition. He's now looking up hiking trails in our area. He's also looking at trails a lot further away and I may suggest that if he wants to travel for three hours each way then he takes the train. He came home without sunburn or blisters, which is apparently a triumph as a lot of his co-hikers suffered. He had a friend suffer a concussion who the teacher had to take to hospital at 1am and there were plenty of wrenched knees and ankles. I am a wreck at the idea of bear wandering around the North Yorkshire Moors on his own, but I can't wrap him in cottonwool. I'll just trust him to take a first aid kit and at least some common sense. All in all, he's really looking forward to the expedition next year. 

I've taken over the hiking washing for bear apart from his backpack liner. To be honest, he doesn't really need me much anymore and that means that I've done things right. He can keep his clothes clean, manage basic meals and has some idea about managing money. That doesn't mean that I won't fuss over him. Of course I'll look out for him and next year I'll be running around after him like crazy as he deals with exams. But it means that he's got a good chance at being a functioning adult, and I'm taking that as a sign that I've done something right. 

In other successes, I've finished the blanket. It's the yarn that I bought in Aldi a few months ago. It's 800g of aran weight knitted on 7.5mm needles (the yarn band asked for 5mm but I wanted slightly bigger and the 7.5mm were handy) and it's roughly 72 inches by 50 inches, or very roughly 183cm by 127cm. I think I cast on around 115 or 120 stitches and just went with plain knit. I kind of like it. I was considering selling it in the autumn, but I like the colours. 

Writing stuff - a brief snippet from the White Hart is here and the latest instalment of Cookies and Carburettors is here. 

Hugs and good health to all.