Too hot

Summer has hit with a vengeance and it was in the low 30s C at the beginning of the week. I hate hot weather as I overheat easily and sunburn in minutes.  My office has air conditioning but it is almost never put on because some people complain about drafts or being too cold.  They had to turn it on for three days, but chose not to turn it on until 10am by which time I was just about to throw up on Wednesday it was so hot. On Tuesday they turned it off at 2:30pm because some people said they were too cold, and when I left early at 3pm it was already an oven and apparently the people working until 5 or 6pm were just roasting. It's crazy.  Then it broke down altogether on Thursday but luckily Friday was cooler when I was back in the office and I could tolerate the temperature with the help of my desk fan.

When I finally tottered into my house Tuesday afternoon after walking a mile from the station in the roasting temperatures, I shut the door, put down my bag, and just lay down on the deliciously cool Victorian tiles of our hallway for about 10 minutes, spreadeagled, soaking up the chill.  The cat was rather mystified and kept walking around and over me, meowing. Luckily our house, being older, has quite thick walls and the lower ground floor stays wonderfully cool. So I spent most of the evening down there working on my dollshouse porch.

I've now finished all the shingling. I ended up removing the top row of shingles and reapplying longer ones for a better fit against the house. I've given the roof several coats of acrylic paint and nothing warped so the sealer did its job.  It looks good.  Since taking this picture, I've sealed over the acrylic paint to protect it. The construction is now basically finished, I just need to apply some trim to the dormer. Then I can move the house and the porch back into the dollshouse room and put in some furniture and perhaps make some hanging baskets.

I also did some sewing on the hot days because my sewing room, while not as cool as the workshop, is still cooler than upstairs.  I've completed several rows of Whirligigs now but haven't sewn the rows together yet. That's why they look a bit skewed in the picture.

I was lucky on Thursday, my day off, because it was overcast and a lot cooler. I was able to go into my attic knitting room and knit the neckline onto my machine knitted t-shirt and seam the big seams on my linker.  Then I sat in the relatively cool living room and finished the seaming and backstitched the neckline.  It has turned out quite well, perhaps slightly snug but I think it will relax a bit with wear. I haven't pressed all the seams and hems yet which is why the hems are flaring a bit in this picture. It will be a nice transitional garment as it is 50 cotton/50 acrylic.

Commuter knitting has been the Rainwater Shawl, which I am enjoying. The yarn is lovely, it's a heftier fingering weight that came with my KnitCrate subscription a few years ago, really bouncy and squidgy and lovely tones of pink from an Indie dyer. The stitch definition is great.

Today I acquired what I think is an IKEA Detolf glass display cabinet, for about 30% off from a local shop that is closing down.  It just fits into the gap by the door in the dollshouse room. After I give it a clean, I am thinking I will bring my 1:48 houses down from the dining room where they are hard to see, and put them in here instead. IKEA sells spotlights for these at £5 so if we are ever down at the IKEA in Milton Keynes I hope I remember to pick one up.

TV knitting this week has been the toddler dress, where I have completed the gathered yoke and am now facing a lot of stockinette for the dress skirt.  I also kitted up the next applique block for the 25-block applique quilt and have done a bit of stitching on that in front of the telly.  After visiting Castle Howard on our Yorkshire holiday, we are watching our way through the original Granada drama series 'Brideshead Revisited' which I don't think I ever saw and DH doesn't remember.  I was enjoying it to begin with as it was all lovely architecture in Oxford, Venice, London and Castle Howard, but now we are about 2/3rds through and it is all getting very black.  No spoilers please  :)

I've done a bit more on my dollshouse inventory this week but I've also been working on my itinerary for a holiday to Japan.  There are loads of blogs online listing great craft shops in Tokyo, but it is a job to work out where they actually are and to try to plan an itinerary that won't make DH's head explode.  And of course I want to fit in some actual sights as well, I'm not sure DH is going to think Nippori Fabrictown to be a highlight of his trip, ha ha ha.