Monthly Archives: August 2026

The planets briefly align

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In early August, we were in need of a break. We had neglected to make holiday plans in advance (those who know me will not be surprised) and I decided on the three necessary components: cooler weather, beautiful views, and relaxation. The first ruled out many of our usual haunts – no France, no Spain, no Italy, no heatwaves. I decided I wanted to go to northern Wales, and fixated on Anglesey. A preliminary investigation showed that it is almost impossible to spontaneously book a holiday on Anglesey in August. But I have tricks up my sleeve. I texted my friend June, who may have lived in Vancouver for decades now, but went to University in Bangor and has a tight network of friends in Wales. June was attending a folk festival at the time, but sent out a text alert to her friends. Proving that it’s not what you know but who you know, we managed to book a holiday cottage for a week, loaded up the car and drove up there. And…. the planets aligned! The cottage was perfect, with absolutely stunning gardens and lovely views. June’s friends were welcoming and proved to be excellent company – thank you Pauline and Paul, Sarah and Oleg, Anne and Paul. It couldn’t have been a more relaxing and lovely break.

I also have a finished project to show you today. I have been quite lazy about finishing this top; not in a negative way, but in a “I am busy doing other things and putting knitting on the back burner” kind of way.

I took it with me to Wales and when I pulled it out, it took me only 22 minutes to finish. I had literally put down this project for over a month with just two rows of the sleeve ribbing to complete and 8 threads to be woven in! I then took my time photographing it, and even did so without blocking it first. Quelle horreur!

The pattern is Silfurberg by Joji Locatelli. I must admit to having completely ignored this pattern when it was first released, probably because the pattern photos show it in a variegated yarn, which I think hides the beauty of the lace. It is amazing how crisp it looks when knitted in a solid colour. This is Knitting for Olive Cotton Merino in Clover Green. I find the bright green so cheering, especially in this season of drought. Most of England is brown right now, witness the ex-grass in our back garden.

However, proving that some things are etched in stone, this weekend is the Reading Festival (a local music festival which draws 100,000 people and over 100 bands over the Bank Holiday weekend), so of course, the drought has broken and it is now pouring with rain. What is a music festival without mud? Our plants are enjoying the downpour. As are we!

Have a good weekend all!

Downtime

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I have taken some downtime from knitting. I knitted about 4 rows in the last month. This is pretty dumb as I have about 4 rows left to knit to finish my current project; nevertheless, I am just not into it at the moment. This is partly about the heat and partly the normal ebb and flow of creative pursuits.

That’s not to say we haven’t been busy here at Chez Knitigating Circumstances. Let’s see, what have we been up to? We watched a LOT of Wimbledon and World Cup Football. Leah was lucky enough to spend the World Cup in Vancouver which was super fun.

She also took what I consider one of the best fan photos from the games:

copyright Leah Saddy for Knitigating Circumstances

Emma single-handedly built an entire wall of wardrobes. (In addition to a bed, a sofa, and dresser. We made IKEA happy.) I had to come to grips with the fact that my eldest actually likes IKEA instruction sheets; in fact, she thinks they are a piece of consummate design genius. And here I’ve always thought she was the normal one. All I did was help to move things out of the way and occasionally hand her a tool.

Doug has spent a month doing the most intensive brainstorming and paper writing in many years. First, he went to France for 10 days to write a paper with two collaborators. They ended up writing two. They were out in the country, during a heat wave, but also away from email interruptions and able to do some big picture thinking. Doug did take off a bit of time to admire Matisse, but it seems to have been part of the big picture thinking.

Then Doug and one of the collaborators, Juan, our very dear friend over many decades, came back here to continue working. The two of them plan to write a book together and they took almost 3 weeks to hash out the basics and produce a draft. They talked theory all day, every day, and wrote in the evenings. Despite the heat, they had a good spot in the garden to work:

Juan made us an authentic Galician paella:

We drank a lot of lovely wine and laughed alot:

I cleaned out my study, sorted through endless piles of paper, and bough a fabulous poster for my wall. How could a knitter resist?

On the very hottest day of the year (so far), while Doug was still in France, I decided to go through all of my yarn and organise it. At the same time, I wanted to get rid of yarn that I knew I would not be using. Having a big stash of yarn seems to just make me stressed, and I wanted a more manageable (and organised) stash. The second photo is me, very frazzled and sweaty in the heat, holding up the yarn that I am getting rid of. (Not to worry; it’s going to a good home.)

We have also been loving our garden.

And through all of this, I have been busy working, finishing out the academic year. Next week, we go on holiday. It’s quite likely a bit of knitting will find its way into my bags.