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With many of our friends and neighbours away on holiday, it’s quiet. We have planned a short break later on, but for the time being we’re at home, quietly working, gardening, caring for our grandson, decluttering and DIY-ing. It’s quiet in my inbox, quiet on Ravelry, and even quiet in our chicken coop, as our old cock Floris has died.
He was a magnificent bird and his presence and even his crowing are sorely missed (by us, perhaps not so much by our neighbours.) Floris’ death was followed by that of the last of our old hens. Now we have only four hens of a younger generation left. This is a photo of them I took earlier.
At the moment they are moulting, which means that they look scruffy, are rather subdued and are having a break from laying eggs.
It’s quiet in the forest, too.
We’re in the middle of a heatwave. Adapting our pace to the temperature during our walks gives us the time to notice things that we may otherwise just have walked past. Unassuming brown butterflies on blackberry blooms.
The veins on the wings of a bumble bee.
Some kind of fungus covered in droplets. Could it be dew? Beads of perspiration? It is very hot, after all, but a perspiring fungus…?
Looking it up, we found out that it is called zwetende kaaszwam in Dutch, which literally means sweating cheese fungus. Seriously! (I haven’t been able to find the English name; in Latin it is postia guttulata.) A saucer-shaped older one had droplets along its rim (click on pictures to enlarge).
Okay, I realize this may be getting a tad nerdy. For everyone who isn’t all that into sweaty fungi, the heather is also in bloom:
I wonder why it is so quiet in the forest, with all of the campsites and holiday parks around here fully booked. Can you see the tent and caravans on the edge of the wood, looking out on the sheep? I think they have some of the loveliest camping spots around.
What are the tourists all doing, if they are not out walking? Maybe they are sitting in front of their tents, caravans or cottages knitting? That wouldn’t be a bad way to spend these quiet, hot days, if you ask me.
It is, in fact, how I am spending part of these quiet summer days, and my Featherweight Cardigan, knit from the top down, is growing nicely.
While I’m writing this, there are 10.2k Featherweight Cardigans on Ravelry. Over 10.000! And that is just the ones posted on Ravelry. There must be thousands more who knit it without posting theirs. I wonder why this simple little cardi is so immensely popular. Knitting on, I hope to find out.
I have also wound my cheerful pink-and-orange sock yarn and decided on a sock pattern. My friend and fellow-translator Angelique suggested 2 patterns from the book 52 Weeks of Socks (scroll down to see all of the 52 sock designs). She has finished translating it into Dutch, but the Dutch version won’t be published until January 2023.
I’ve chosen Garia by Erika Lopez A – socks knit from the toe up with an interesting detail at the cuff. I’m looking forward to starting them.
If you’re in a heatwave, too: kalm an, hè?
PS: Angelique is also a knitting pattern designer – her designs can be found here on Ravelry.
Categories Knitting Tags knitting, outdoors, summer
Magic Toes and Flowers
6 thoughts on “Quiet Summer Days”
August 12, 2022 at 8:11 am
Wat een leuke verrassing! Die sokken worden vast prachtig.
August 12, 2022 at 10:46 am
Later op de dag hoop ik wat tijd te hebben om de sokken op te zetten. Groetjes en fijn weekend!
August 14, 2022 at 4:16 pm
I love these views of your walks. I am sooo curious about that fungus! Your pictures are a treat!
August 14, 2022 at 5:53 pm
Haha, it’s great to hear that I’m not a total weirdo, being so taken with a fungus. Thank you!
August 15, 2022 at 3:44 am
As always, reading your post is like having a bit of of a catch up with a very special friend of a thoughtful and wide ranging interests nature. Sweating cheese fungus – who knew!! Fascinating. As are your other photos. Including the cardi and socks. Perfect projects for times of such heat. Keep enjoying. Thanks again for making my day a little richer and leaving me inspired. To enjoy the pace of summer as well as to look into some future project ideas. 👌
August 15, 2022 at 6:05 pm
Hi, it’s lovely to hear from you again! Comments like yours really mean a lot to me. It’s a wonderful thought to have friends around the world with the same kind of interests and tastes (even if they are friends we may never meet in person.)
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