Summer heat, not much fun sometimes, I was thinking autumn starts in September, here in Wisconsin , not to far south, we hang on to that heat sometimes till the first part of October, than Indian summer.knitting scarfs reminds that I have some charity knitting to do, for this winter and had better get at it before winter raises in nasty col winds. Colorway looks nice. Have and think cool.

It's been over a 100 here with 50-60% humidity for the past week and I am working on a cardigan. Work keeps the air at meat locker temps so one must layer up. :)

That scarf is looking really neat. I think I'll have to borrow your idea. I was talking with my lys owner just yesterday about how we're both ready for fall. I can't wait to get out my woolens again. :)

You have described our house perfectly. We, too, have no a/c. Fans, but not ceiling fans. Drafty and cold in the winter. Hot as all get out in the summer.

I remember Pa Ingalls in the Little House books saying, "the rich man gets his ice in the summer; the poor man gets his in the winter". Same idea.

I'm also setting in to knitting for fall and back-to-school. Not as pretty as yours, but the recipient (daughter) picked her own colors.

Welcome to my knitting in Florida dilema! Our problems are exact opposite - majority of time is steamy hot longing for the few days of cool weather (can't even say cold here!). Hang in there!

We live in a hot, 100 year old house, too. I think about how everyone who lived in this house understood the heat in the summer. They built a sleeping porch in 1922, with three sides of windows (not the West) to accommodate that heat! I like that our house breathes, not being insulated in the walls. We insulated the attic to help with the heat. We do like the ceiling fans.

I love the idea of "backyarn kiddie pools"!

Your fingers clearly know that y-a-r- should finish with an n.

That colourway looks like pistachio icecream with raspberries - a wonderful reminder of summer foods to carry into winter.
Here in the UK the rain that has been missing for the past four weeks has arrived and the poor school kids are having a damp summer break.
Enjoy your heat ... and enjoy the knitting for cold weather yet to come
x

I, too, am knitting scarves (and shawls & warm socks), in anticipation of a move to Germany next month. No, I don't think it's too soon to knit for the cold. Knitting is anticipation personified, putting stitches on our needles in a sort of fiber bank against winter's worst, while dripping humidity in rivulets. :)

Sometimes knitting wooly-winter-wear is the only thing that keeps a reasonable hope alive that summer will not last FOREVER! Living in Florida, sometimes it feels like endless hot, endless humid, endless hell-on-earth.

But, winter WILL come again and even if winter here is only 70*F -- I WILL enjoy my woolies just as, in due time, you shall enjoy yours.

Happy knitting ---- the scarf is lovely.

A small portable air conditioner to put in your bedroom for the hottest days is all you would need. Not that big of an investment, and well worth it. Or, maybe you could consider a sleeping porch. I remember sleeping out on the porch at my gramma's house when it was really hot. That was fun, and nice.

You can have my summer. I cannot cope with this heat at all.

A couple of weeks ago when it was 91 degrees in my house at dinnertime (33 C), I thought back to that morning when I got my younger two kids in the car so I could take my son to art class, and it was 7 outside. (-14 C) I don't miss that, and so I'm not complaining. I prefer summer, too.

I hear ya, all around. We just came off a water ban in our town so we can FINALLY fill up the kiddie pool again. I've been keeping the veggie garden alive with rain barrels and when those run out, dishwater.

We don't even have a window A/C, unless you count the one currently serving as a mouse high-rise in our garage. It's a monster and we prefer to suck it up and sleep in the basement when it gets too hot.

Might install one of these next year: http://www.tamtech.com/userfiles/HV1600%20April%202010.pdf
It would be nice to cool the house off fast at night.

Maybe you both should talk to your bosses, maybe they will spring for a night at a hotel with A/C or a window air conditioner so you both can get the much needed rest to be productive employees during the hot weather ;-)

You're better at tolerating the heat than I am, I can't even bear the thought of holding wool in my hands on these sticky days. All my cotton projects get finished during this steamy heat.

Oh Stephanie, I know exactly what you mean -- here in Edmonton we had rain rain rain for most of June and the first half of July. By the time the heat came, it was already nearing the end of July, and I began to feel that panic that there was only one more month of it before the inexorable slide into autumn and winter. Like you, I am a heat-seeker, which means I enjoy the little bit of summer we get, here.

I have a stash of summery cotton knits to make, but I can never get to them (or through them) while the weather still warrants it. Woolies are much more practical, here, during the 10-month countdown to the next summer...

I'm doing the same thing! I just designed a charted pattern for a yolked sweater. I tested it out on a hat to make sure I like my color choices. Finished the hat last night and am now starting a sleeve to the sweater. I think I am willing winter to come.

Even if it were only hot one day per year, central air would be worth it to me; I hate to be hot that much! I think a Nobel prize should go to whoever it was that invented it.

I just started some wool socks--it seems weird now, but I'll love them come winter!

After going through the first sweltering summer in our 2nd floor apartment 7 years ago, I made my husband buy a portable air conditioner for our bedroom. The poor little thing doesn't come close to being able to cool the whole apartment, but it can do our bedroom, which means I can get some sleep even when it's been 115F outside all day. I can't sleep if I'm too hot, and if I don't sleep I get to be a right bitch. There's something so nice about it being triple degree weather and walking into the bedroom and saying, "Ah, 90. How nice."

Hello again, I think it's easier to get warmer than it is to try to get cool, (Can be alot more fun too.) I live in an old farm house we have ceiling fans and central air, sometimes the cost competes what it takes to keep this place warm in the winter.

Stephanie, I know exactly what you mean. I have the overwhelming urge to knit a moderne log cabin blanket in the middle of my southern california summer.

I am in a similar situation. My family & I live in a 100+ year old house with a single bathroom (and two teenaged girls) and no central (or non-central) air conditioning in Southern California... Before you say that's nothing like Toronto, we live inland, near the foothills, where it's either lovely and in the high 70's, or brutal and up over 100. The thing is, it's never over 100 for long, and every year as I sit contemplating ways to cool the house down, I laugh because I know that in a few weeks we'll be back to normal and hunting down the quilts that I put into storage.

Plus, there's always the pub/bookstore - they have AC.

This has been one of the hottest summer on record here too...(Baltimore) and grateful am I that we live an hour north of the city... in the "zone" a.k.a. Hereford Zone. Pool is almost a necessity this year, and our central air is hanging on for all that it is worth...new one is on back order, so pray for us! We have seen 106/42 or 43c?
You have my heart felt wishes for cold beer or ice cold tubbies. Fans for fannies anyone???

I live in the Seattle area, so I know that our wet, rainy winter is coming soon. It's fairly warm today, but I'm sitting here knitting a heavy wool sweater - I'll be happy I knit it during our 10 months of 'rainy season.'

And speaking of touque's, I'm looking for a pattern that makes an authentic looking one. Any suggestions?

I am heat intolerant--it brings on the lingering migraine headache and then I am literally immobile. Air conditioning is worth the cost for my health. Presently, it is too hot here for heavy wool and will be for awhile yet.

It is hotter than *&^% here in VA and has been for a while but I needed your post today about 4 weeks left. We don't get "winter" for a while but it will soon turn cooler and we will be complaining about the cold again. Thanks for reminding us to count our blessings whether we like them or not.

Thanks for the reminder. Our winters never reach Toronto levels of cold, but I know come January I'm going to be wondering why I didn't spend more time lolling out picnic blankets out of doors. I'll try to work that into this weekend's plans.

Here in Minnesota, I read the following in the newspaper this morning:

"People who live in climates with consistently high dew points sweat more than Minnesotans, and their sweat carries away less salt and electrolytes, said Stephen Katz, associate professor of integrative biology & physiology at the University of Minnesota. That means they are less likely to suffer heat exhaustion and heat stroke. It might take about a week for a Minnesotan's body to learn those tricks, Katz said."

So it may be hot and humid, but at least we'll get used to it?

I am doing the same - telling myself, really, it is only too hot for comfort a week or 2 - not enough to get air conditioning, so I keep working on my shawl - Annis - and my first design project - a cowl!

Glad to know I'm not the only one. It's 101 here, above 92 for almost 40 days in a row, and no end in sight... So what do I dream about knitting? Aran cardigans. I started a scarf yesterday just to deal with my need for cables.

Give me a/c . 4 weeks 4 months- when the inside of the house is warmer then outside at night- no contest. Air. Conditioner.

Uck. We slept our downstairs living room rather than our upstairs bedroom last night. Our 150 year old brick house seems to be part of the same heat holding club.

(Though, I love living without A/C. I enjoy feeling the seasons and if it's too hot to sleep, there is always wine!)

I love your scarf! I got some boucle (eh?) that I have no idea what to do with. I'm going to be on the lookout for a nice yarn to mix it with and give your pattern a go! Thanks!!

Steph, you can get energy efficient window air condtioners for a pretty reasonable amount of money. We've just been through a bona fide heat wave of high humidity and temps over 90+F. We hunkered down in the tv room or our bedroom with our dogs and waited it out. And, of course, I knit through the whole thing......hats and squares for a stash busting afghan.

I live in Chicago and would take a subzero day to what we've been experiencing ANY time - I grew up in So. California so I have a bit of perspective :)

You could give your friends in the UK 10 degrees if you like? The maximum temperature in Leeds (Northern England, not the one in Kent) was 16 celsius today...SIXTEEN in AUGUST. If we're lucky we get about 4 weekends where its hot between May and September, if we're lucky. It has been cold, wet, miserable and I have even been able to wear wool socks. OK so it's not freezing but it's pretty grim and grey considering it's supposed to be the actual summer time right now and it's only going to get colder (though obviously not as cold as Canada!!)

I'd love to have actual seasons you know, not just endless drizzle.

Our weather report reads, "plentiful sunshine". Which is code for "hotter than hell and expected to remain that way until the end of September".

Sigh. Off to fry an egg on the sidewalk.

I have been threatening all summer to move to Canada to escape the heat. Looks like I need a "Plan B."

"Cooling off in backyarn kiddie pools" - great Freudian Slip!!

I have 4 words for you: window unit for bedroom!

Here in Arizona where temperatures are routinely over 100 for a large part of the year, we have tricks for coping with air conditioning failures. Sleep is important and usually not very satisfactory when the night temp doesn't drop below 100 until after 2 a.m. The temporary solution is large blocks of ice in a pan on the floor positioned between your bed and the large box fan positioned a few feet away on the floor.

On the other hand, I jealous, sweater wearing is a rare and celebrated event any time of year unless we are above 5,000 feet. Skiing is available above 7,000 feet.

The scarf is genius.

Get a window air conditioner for your bedroom. If necessary, drape a sheet from the window to your bed, so all the air conditioning stays on your bed. That got me through 7 years in Riverside, California, in a Victorian house like yours. (Riverside is a small city near the desert, widely renowned for its hot climate.)

Or, you could visit me at my vacation home in Oregon. I'll be there for the rest of the month.

Oh good, I'm not the only one who knits things in the wrong season. I just finished a pair of gloves!

It might not be as hot down here, but I am on stage (yeah, stagelights!) wearing a 100% wool (scratchy, for wool) scarf. I keep taking it off between scenes, so I won't die!

Wow!!! It is cooler in central California than in Canada!!!

It is in the high 80's and low 90's here this week.

How bizarre! My sympathies!

Pretty Scarf.

I would die without central AC. I have no heat cooping skills.

Audiobook req. -- The Thirteenth Tale

Forget central air. Here in upstate NY we have the same thing: out of the 365, only a few brutal days requiring A/C. Our solution -- a small unit just for our bedroom. It typically gets turned on about 6 nights out of the year...this summer being an exception. Totally worth it! And the best part? Even if the rest of the house is dreadful, it's cool enough in front of it to knit....

I'll take the cold over this heat everytime...

I was contemplating mittens yesterday. It's not nearly as hot here in the Seattle area as it is there, but...there's that hint of crispness in the morning air that has me turning my thoughts to warm, wooly things.

I've been thinking along the same lines. It's not been much cooler in Michigan but I'm starting to think about working on a scarf. Still, I don't want to touch bulky-weight wool right now.

Amen. I feel especially like we were robbed of summer last year, so I want this one to last twice as long even though it's hotter than blazes!!!

Perhaps you could buy a window air-conditioner or two so you have a room to go to when it's hot?

I just finished a scarf out of yummy warm alpaca. I'm not laughing at you!

Come visit us in Oakland/SF (CA) where it's 62F (17C) as I type this. Good knitting weather year 'round! Granted, it's been a particularly cool summer here, but given the alternative...no complaints from moi. Hope your heat wave breaks soon, and ... think cool, autumnal thoughts.

Last month, my dh was making fun of me that I was the ONLY person thinking about making sweaters in July. But fall is coming and I want them to be ready for everyone to wear. So the planning and knitting continue!

Sam's on a tall ship? How cool! We just went to the Tall Ships Festival in Duluth, MN. It was great. The students on the ships were from all different nations - would be interesting to meet people from such varied places. I hope she doesn't get seasick - I was getting woozy on the ship when it was docked!

What they do in Bangladesh to beat the heat (after 3 years of doing it):

Construct homes that exude heat (mud/concrete), sleep on the lowest level available to them, visit friends during the afternoon naptime (post-bath) that have cooler places to sleep and love your fans. Life is better under a fan and mosquitos can't bite you :)

(p.s. my hottest day on record there was 52C and that's when you sweat while you shower and your toothpaste is hot to the touch)

In the LYS this afternoon, in the hot and humidity while shopping for worsted weight wool. As I was buying 10 skeins of red and blue, the owner says "Stocking up?" I said "No, starting my Holiday knitting-- a red sweater for my grandson and a blue one for my son, with fair isle" She laughed... then stopped and looked at me for a moment and said "Really, there's only about 16 working weeks to Christmas, isn't there, what with school starting and Thanksgiving and all." Yup. August isn't too early to get started on holiday knitting. Especially if you have a family like mine, who is active in the winter months.

um. . . don't make fun of me, but what's a touque?

Ahh...the fun of knitting warm garments when the weather is steamy! I just finished a single-skein wooly hat for myself, then made the mistake of mentioning to my sister that I'd completed a scarf (lacy one in sock wool, luckily) last week also. She - living in Florida - requested a scarf/stole from my knitting sweatshop, but in a "cooler fabric" for her birthday. Yech....the thought of dragging out cotton or linen yarn to knit up (and keep clean) when it is this hot and this humid makes me wish I'd kept my mouth shut!

Re. Bangladesh weather comparisons - I was in a conference call in early June with a person in Bangalore, India who was mentioning that it was 124 F and raining all day (start of the rainy season), so I keep that in mind when the weather here in upstate NY gets really miserable....that could be me.

Forgot to mention - Guess who is going to knitted/felted clogs class next week? I'm having visions of all of the students keeling over in the heat with our huge piles of worsted yarn partially knitted-up on our laps....

Ah yes, It is 105 here (Texas) and I am knitting a scarf for Christmas too. It is too hot to do anything else. I do have AC though. Yours is very pretty.

We're having summer in fits and starts here in Seattle. Nice and hot for a day or two then back to the 60s (18-21C). We're lucky to get 8-9 weeks of real summer as a rule. Regardless, we invested in a portable a/c a few years ago and use it for those nights when we don't feel like sleeping in a pool of sweat. It is worth the space it occupies in the basement when not needed. Thankfully, our 104 year old house stays decently warm in the winter. Because it doesn't usually get all that cold in Seattle...except in the summer.

Here in Northern California (I'm about an hour south of San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley), we're enduring our coolest summer since 1971. The newsguy said it was part of a general weather trend that we are getting cooler summers than usual and the rest of the North American continent is significantly hotter. It is currently 71F (21.5C) at 1:30 pm at my house, instead of the more normal 85F (29C) for this time of year (the air is dry in California, so hot weather doesn't feel as hot and cold isn't as penetrating as in more humid climes). I've been wearing long sleeved shirts and throwing on a lightweight sweater for most of the summer -- it just doesn't feel right!

I have been knitting wool hats for charity (immediate family says they have enough for now, thank you very much) since Sunday. I guess I needed a break from the more summery knitting I had been doing. This has the added benefit of helping me work through some of the "leftovers" portion of my stash, so I get to feel virtuous on two fronts. I definitely get the need to do something wintery in August, and may need to switch to scarves for a while after seeing your gorgeous one.

Amazing how beautiful garter stitch can be in the right yarns!

Looking at a map of the US it looks like it's hot everywhere. All oranges and yellows - no green at all. We are in our 2nd or maybe 3rd week of temps pushing 100+ (112 today). It's so hot it all runs together. At least in the air conditioning I am able to knit with wool so am getting ahead start on my winter knitting. Your scarf is delicious!

Just this morning I was about to properly file my complaint against the heat of this summer until I remembered the winter we had the LAST time I complained.I will just keep lining up sweaters and scarves and mittens to make for the cold months as well...(absolutely beautiful scarf by the way-if I weren't flat broke, I'd wander over to Blue Moon and order myself some...)

HOLY smoly a scarf in this heat !!! I could hardly read this post thinking of it around my neck right now. Summer be damned, bring on the cool fall, skip winter and then Spring. Winter and Summer can disappear for me . Just wishing it were so. The yarn you chose is lovely.

Window a/c unit. I too live in an old house. I only need one (or 2 with appropriate open and closed doors) cool room.

Loverly yarn!!! I like the color. I have started knitting for Christmas gifts already. One grandchild sweater is done, three to go. A pair of socks finished and now I am working on son's sweater. And, by the way....it is sooooo cold here on the Oregon Coast...I have a turtle neck on today!
Maria

I am in central Idaho, I have been sitting in my lovely cool central air conditioned first floor/basement working on feleted clogs for my father in law in recent days..... only because I have air conditioning is this even remotely possible to me....

And yesterday I was thinking that there were only a few more weeks until the weather might be more sensible! I'm not a heat lover. I've been busily knitting hats , scarves and mittens ready for my favorite kind of weather. :)

When the heat gets a bit much up here in Sunny Queensland Australia, and it does !!! I just sit and watch "Day After Tomorrow". trick the brain.
Last Friday it was sunny and a warm 24. (80), but then on Monday it had gone down to 13 with freezing winds and yes, we are in winter here.

This yarn is gorgeous! I know what you mean. In North Idaho, you almost want the AC, but not for a few really hot days a year. This too shall pass.

This yarn is gorgeous! I know what you mean. In North Idaho, you almost want the AC, but not for a few really hot days a year. This too shall pass.

Well, I always remember that body temp in Celsius is 37, so anything near that (especially ABOVE that) is Too Dang Hot. Here by Lake Superior, we think anything over 75 is getting pretty warm. I really don't know how I survived growing up in southern Minnesota... But I totally understand about the short short summers hereabouts!
And did you say tall ships? We had 9 of them come through this past weekend. Didn't visit this time (9 month old at home who I don't think would appreciate long lines), but we went last August and they are AMAZING! Lucky girl!

It's both amusing and frustrating to me the way people always complain about what they have in the way of weather (other things, too, but I am sticking to the topic at hand). My personal philosophy is that I'd rather it were summer because it's when tomatoes grow in my garden. If it gets too hot, well, I don't complain because it's better than if it were too cold. It's nice to see someone actually think this one through for a change. If the humidity bothers you, you can always go somewhere at high altitude. It turns out that lack of humidity makes the heat more bearable. Just my thought.

Where I live (deep South Texas) it can be blazingly hot for about 4 months on end. Last summer it was over 100 F for 60+ days in a row. This summer it has been hot, but rainy, which has kept temps at around 90 most of the time...

What is funny here is that in my university office (where I work) they have air conditioning but no heat. While it doesn't get cold during winter days (50 F) it does drop below freezing at night. And because the buildings are not heated they seem to trap the cold, to the point that all of the professors sit huddled in heavy sweaters in their offices- my favorite is one of my colleagues who is bald- he always wears a stocking cap while in his office, which looks a bit out of place with his blazer and tie!

It's really too bad that you can't just siphon all that heat off into a box, store it somehow, and get it out and use it to rock the furnace wars!

Knit from your stash all year for everything including all gifts and buy 2 window a/c units.....I'd give up yarn for A/C!!!!

'' backyarn kiddie pools ''... the knitters freudian slip?
greetings from a damp raining Ireland! We'll be due our next bout of summer when the kids are back to school in September :)

You should get window AC units! My house doesn't have central air, but the window AC keeps us nice and cool on summer nights :)

Can I dive into your yarn stash, please?!?!?!?

Ice pack on the head feels like airconditioning to me

as i read this i'm taking a break from making a kilt for my son.... that's 8 yards of wool and 37 pleats...i'm thinking of the possibilities of making a kilt from linen....yup, sounds good to me!!! thanks for the diversion, kath

Ditto on the window unit. But buy it in January when no one else needs them.

If you're going to make a big investment, I have to say go for really good energy saving windows. My building put in great windows about 12 years ago and I can put my air on, cool the place down and then turn the air off and the windows help keep the cool in the house. It makes a big difference.

With Global Warming beginning to really kick in, you might reconsider AC for the future.

Wow, your description of why you don't buy air conditioning sounds exactly like mine (except I live near Philly where June can be pretty bad). But I'm at a loss as to how you keep wool moving through your fingers in 104-degree heat. I've got the whole keep-the-scarf-up-off-your-lap-on-a-tray-table thing down, but wool just likes to stick to my fingers in weather like this.

I also can't believe it's hotter right now in Toronto than in Philly. Hope it passes soon, but please don't send it our way!

A facewasher and a bowl of ice water with a few drops of rosemary, peppermint and lavender essential oils got me through during a heatwave we had here a couple of years ago. It was over 46C in our house at one point. The same oils in a cold bath are lovely, but the ice water is a good alternative for when you want to get out for a while.

I've always thought that living in an old frame house (& I've mostly lived in them during my lifetime) is a lot like living in a tent. We now live in an old brick house & it's a bit better inasmuch as it takes longer for the heat to penetrate the brick walls. But, once it does, there is that same "hotter inside than out" phenomenon. When I lived in unairconditioned apartments (almost all of the old units in this area), I used to get one window AC unit for really hot days & we would all sleep in the living room - like camping out. But I have found that the older I get, the lower my tolerance for heat. So now we have window units for all 3 bedrooms & one big one for the first floor (rarely used because usually leaving the bedroom doors open provides sufficient cooling for the first floor too. You might consider one portable AC if the heat becomes intolerable.

As long as your house's electrical system will support it, I recommend you buy an a/c unit. Your summer knitting productivity will increase. Mine did.

You're not alone in your thinking! I made a pair of mittens last month! There is way more cooler, wet weather in BC than there is hot weather, so I'm well and truly prepared for it now!

Ha! You said "backyarN kiddie pools!" Thanks for making my night!

SAMS ON A TALL SHIP!!!!! HOLLY COW!!!!!! Seriously I am so jealous. I totally read the rest of the post and got the thing about heat and weather and knitting, but all that time Tall Ship just kept rotating through my head. That is an experience that I wish someday to have.

Seriously, Sam's got guts to go off and do that. It is a big adventure to undertake, and as a Mother, you are brave too for letting her go and have that experience (my mom would still have a cow if I told her that was what I was going to do).

This only makes sense if you've read the greatest fantasy book series ever (A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin) but it seems appropriate to quote it:

Ned Stark: Winter is coming

What ship is Sam on? Is that too private to ask on such a public forum? I have sailed on tall ships for the last five years or so and love it. Is she doing the races/festivals in the Lakes? Tall ships are the best, the most interesting, kind, generous, and all around great people as well as oodles of knitting time.

When the house is hotter than outside, we put up the tent in the back garden and sleep out there.

And if you run a really long power cord out there you can have a fan too :-)

Summer has been pretty hot in Chicago this year, too, and the husband has decided that, despite our house needing new windows, electrical upgrades, and a new kitchen, that we are getting central air put in. The residents of this house have made it through 100 years without it, but we're caving. I'm hoping to get through the end of the summer, and perhaps sneak in the windows first when he's stopped sweating, but we'll see.

And maybe that yarn was just too pretty not to be knitting it right now. It doesn't need any excuses; it's compelling enough on its own.

Meantime, when we moved here I asked a contractor about getting AC in here. He told me he didn't want to talk himself out of a job but suggested I live here a few years first and see if I still thought I really needed it.

The answer was eventually yes, and I gotta say, I love love love having AC now to cool it down just enough when the San Francisco fog isn't doing its job.

I'm with the one who said she'd give up yarn for AC! I have had AC for a few years and I'll never, ever go back. I live near Seattle and we have way less summer than you do, but I used to dread summer and now I look forward to it. Sorry you are melting!

What, has no one suggested an attic fan? It is a humongous fan that sucks the hot air out of the house when the night falls. We run ours from sunset to midnight during the hot times. You install it in the attic and add enough venting so that the hot air can be pushed out at speed. The switch on mine died for a few short hot days and I remembered how hot a house without one gets. It is way cheaper than AC and uses much less electricity.

It's almost as hot here in western New York; thank goodness we have a "backyarn" pool. Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should stay in (no bugs) or spray my head and make a run for the pool. The mosquitos are truly ferocious this year. Are there public beaches in TO? The lake is usually on the cool side.

I have been working on wool socks and also Norweigen mitts. I knit at work in the mornings before work, break, and dinner time. The one question most people ask is what are you knitting and why, it is summer. I simply reply that they don't get knit over night. Winter will show up ready or not. I just love to knit

I live in the southern New Mexico desert, where we get several months of 90-100+ degree heat every year, and I'm not interested in having an air conditioner installed, either. Somehow, humans managed to survive in this area for centuries without it, and since I've done the same for the last fifteen years, I think I can probably hang in there. (Heck, I don't even use the evaporative cooler that came with my house, since the idea of using that much water to moderate the temperature bugs the crap out of my inner desert rat.) Love your scarf, by the way -- I'm going to have to try that technique!

Ditto re: hot house. Ditto re: desire to knit all things woolie and wonderful. We part ways when it comes to our thoughts/feelings/opinions about summer. I LOVE winter. I DELIGHT in layers. I keep much better in the cold, and am a much nicer person. Thus I am waiting patiently (some would argue this) for the three sweet seasons that promise relief from this steam bath we in Ontario call summer.

Yes, it's the duration of our summer that kills me - beginning of May through end of September (really mid-October for the mosquitoes to go away). If the heat were only 2 months, I could totally handle it.

But there's no way I could touch any wool until the temps went down.

Oh yes, I was recently in your sweltering neck of the woods. I always thought of Canadians as generally hospitable hosts, but for that week, I wasn't sure you all weren't trying to kill me. I had not one moment of conscience over using the A/C in the hotel, even though we try to be pretty frugal about it otherwise. Sending cool thoughts.

I have always been a winter person who loves cold and blowy weather. I only survive this weather by dreaming of blizzards. But I figure I can complain now, since I love the cold in winter.

When I was a child, growing up in Ohio and my parents could not afford air (my dad being a poor Methodist minister), I would take a bath, do not towel off. Instead, wrap lightly in a towel, aim the fan at my bed, unwrap, fall slightly wet on the bed, and by the time the bath water had evaporated, I would have managed to go to sleep.

However, there was no one else in the bed next to me. Might be interesting with one's husband there! ROFL!

I'm currently knitting a set of armwarmers and a scarf for myself out of cascade yarn. My muggle friends don't get why I have to knit so early in the season to get things done. I'm hoping to finish the scarf by the end of this month, and bring it to university with me.

Think I can do it? :D

It always feels weird to be knitting something warm as heck in the middle of summer.

Try Freecycle.com People are always giving away air conditioners.

Come visit me here in TX. It's cooler than you are way up there!! And I have AC and no kids. It's quiet and you can knit and work in perfect peace! 8^) You can come back again when you get sick of snow and thaw out for a few days. I warn you, though, I don't cook! We'd eat out a lot.

Wet kerchiefs for my neck usually keep the evaporation fooling me into being a smidge cooler. My house is hot/summer and cold/winter, but it is OK, better than constant forced air. The scarf technique is fascinating, thank you for the possiblity...and what gorgeous yarn.

yea WINTER!!! I have a strong dislike for summer, bugs, heat, tornadoes(which is a new one) I love to wear my handknits and well, ppl look at you funny if you wear a wool sweater in the summer...lol

Speaking as someone who sells ACs, get a portable AC. One with the "backpack" (small outdoor unit with a tiny hose connecting it to the unit) and not the big hose. They're more efficient and cool better. It will keep you from going stir crazy with the heat.

And you can have my summer too. Anything over 25°C is just far too warm. I'll take the snow any day.

I love the heat-love it. When the humidity keeps on, I start to wilt, then I think of winter and snow-and I stop complaining. We got a new furnace two years ago (to replace the octopus in the basement), and for a brief moment contemplated central air. After looking at what it would cost, and thinking how often it would be used, we didn't go ahead with it.

Sometimes, like tonight, I wish we had. Then I hear the crickets chirping out my open window, and the soft hum of the fan-and I know I can hold out 4 more weeks. Still can't bring myself to knit a scarf, but I did start my niece's Christmas stocking.

I know it is too soon, but I am thinking of that which shall not be named till September anyhow. Thinking about it a lot.

Be glad of 11 weeks of summer Saturdays. Out here on the prairie, it usually is 8 weeks, and the last 2 weeks of August are iffy. Of course that is if you forget all of June, (which should absolutely be forgotten about) even though there might be some really fine weather somewhere in June.

In northern California we are having unseasonably cold weather. I am a teacher and we will get the hot weather in about 13 days----the first day of school!
Question: Will there be a knitting calendar for 2011? I have not seen one advertised yet.

I spent six months staying with relatives just North of Toronto in a small town called Meaford in 1986/7 can't remember which... and that was a very hot unusual Summer. We had to set up big fans at either end of the upstairs corridor by windows to get a breeze... ended up taking showers int he middle of the night just to cool off and spent many hours in the lake swimming with the little fishes.

I feel for you both... hang in there...

I would expire without AC. AT least spring for the window variety for the bedroom. In Dallas we are roasting. It feels like an oven outside. I googled Toronto weather and they say it's in the 80's (F). Is there some other Toronto?

Love the scarf!! It's fun and that's what I love about knitting scarves. I didn't quite understand how you are doing it, scooting the yarn and all, but fun!!

I love warm weather - here in the UK we had some earlier in the summer, but it's been a bit cooler and greyer recently. Yesterday I got a thorough soaking while cycling to work, then looked at a pleasant day from my desk, only to see it start to rain cats and dogs five minutes before I left!

I admire you for toughing it out without AC. The Western world could do with using more solutions for problems that don't involve flicking a switch (and causing more problems somewhere else!) But having said that, sometimes the AC at work plays up, and at about 28 degress, I stop thinking so well!

Sounds like Texas weather, but here it lasts from May through October! Like living in Dante's Inferno...

We had the extreme heat come early this year in May, and it only got worse from there. We were in northern England (wearing wool!!) during the worst of it in July, so it was double torture to come back to the high 90's. It used to cool off here (Washington DC) after Labor Day, but the past few years it's been hot right up into early October. I'm pleased to report a "cold front" is expected late today--it will be only 91F tomorrow!

What Dancer said. Attic exhaust fans are the best thing, and fans take almost no electricity to operate. You need to make sure you have air intake from the eaves for them to work, but it is absolutely worth the investment if you aren't married to your carpenter. Also, please consider an ac unit in your bedroom and one where ever you eat. Absolutely necessary.

Please remember that central air requires duct work and your house already is strapped for storage space. You will give up closets!!! NOT a good tradeoff for something you'll use sporadically at best.

Lovely scarf, ingenious construction. Keep cool.

heat and humidity - my hand is sticking to the computer mouse

I was shocked at the 104F temps, when it's tended to be in the 90's here in Maine this summer. Then I looked at a map and realized that Toronto is actually further south than I am. CRAZY! Anyway, hope that it cools off a bit for you soon. I'm going to go plant myself in front of the window A/C now.

40+ degrees C - oh my goodness!Its 21 here today (English midlands), and I feel uncomfortable! I love cold weather - must have penguins in my ancestry! I too am knitting winter socks, and thinking about a scarf - winter comes sooner rather than later. I love your scarf idea - just off to explore the stash.....I have just decided to add that scarf to my to-do list.

OMG, 104 degree temps?! We've been in the 90'sF down here in Michigan and THAT's unbearable. Can you hang a ceiling fan in your bedroom? They make an amazing difference when you try to sleep and cost a small fraction of what AC costs.

As others have stated, there is an intermediate solution. Window AC! Sure, they block a bit of light from the window, and you gotta lug them in an out of storage every year, but the only way for me to approach a summer heat wave with equanimity is if I have some chance of sleeping through the night.
For a couple hundred bucks? Worth it.

I am so, so, SO sick of this heat - and I, too, love the summer. This one has me ground down, though.

Not so ground down that I didn't pull out two sweaters' worth of wool, glorious wool, from the stash, and pair it up with two suitable patterns.

That's as far as I got, however.

I grew up in Maryville, TN in a 100+ year old house with no a/c. Our summers are long and our winters short, but still I knit and spin and make things with wool so that for those five days of truly cold weather, my family and I will be warm and loved. I feel very fortunate to have air conditioning in my apartment, though I try to keep it as warm as possible during the summers to save on energy. I remember being forced to play outside in weather like this and seeking shade and water wherever possible. My mom took us to the public pool whenever she could and when she got a window unit for her bedroom, I cried "unfair!" but laid out on her bed with my siblings just to be in a place that wasn't a thousand degrees.

Today it's meant to be 39ºC and I'm going to make something with wool.

Here in the middle (ie: Missouri) we've been hitting the 100's with the same humidity! UNBEARABLE!!! Ick! Ick! Ick! I'm agreeing with everyone - a window AC downtairs and everyone can camp out in the living room! Even if you turn it up to the "warmest" of the cool settings, it would take the edge off and give you some rest! An Attic fan would be good, except that it also tends to suck the hot air INTO the house - but it WOULD keep the air moving! Always a help there!
Lucky Sam on her ship! What a wonderful way to spend the summer - or at least part of it!
Non-knitting people just don't get it! I'm currently working on mittens and scarves! Christmas is coming, after all!

Well - hopefully if the house has sucked in all this major heat, it will hold onto enough of it so that you will easily win the Furnace wars this years.

Last night we looked at a weather map of North America and it's red everywhere - it looks like the whole continent is on fire. I would relish in some snow.

It would be appropriate for me to say "Stay cool," but according to that weather map it's not going to happen for at least a week. So, I'll just say, "Stay Hydrated."

Hey, Stephanie, you may have discovered another place to store your stash, since your house doesn't seem to have insulation - inside the walls! Just have to solve the problem of getting at it when you want it.

I wonder what the R value of wool is?

If you like the heat, move down here. Summer begins in mid-March and ends until mid-October. *lol!*

Actually, I wouldn't mind moving up there, if it wasn't for those terribly cold things you have. Y'know, winter. ;)

I'm in the middle of making sweaters and hats and mittens for the fall - knowing full well if I don't do it know, I'll wait until it's super cold and my children, and only mom in the daycare that knits, will be wearing store bought hats. Unacceptable.

You need your own kiddie pool. Fill it part way with water, then add ice as needed. You can either sit in it for a real cool down or sit near it with a fan blowing over it at you for more gentle cooling. You might even try sleeping out there. ; )

Enjoy standing the heat right now...in about 10 years or sooner you may change your mind about air conditioning!! Been there!! ;-)

Love the scarf and hey, it's Canada, we could have snow in any month!
Love that you said "backyarN" kiddy pools. freudian slip? me thinks so

I totally started knitting a scarf too! Call me crazy for thinking about winter in August, but I decided that being a slower knitter, and given that it's my first year of showering everyone with knitwear for Christmas, I should really get to work on those presents. Just cast on a nice thick wool scarf for dad, knit in ribbed seed stitch.

Window unit? That you could put in your bedroom window and then take out and put into a closet during the cold months?

Well, it's been unseasonably (unreasonably) cool in coastal San Diego (overcast most of the day--we haven't been sleeveless yet this summer!). We do have "whole house" fans if we need them though--my husband installed them--they vent the hot air into the attic, which then vents outside. So if nights are cooler than days, they let you cool down your house. Much cheaper than air conditioning too!

I have one window unit in my old Victorian. It's in the bedroom window so I can sleep on those nights that the temperature doesn't drop below 70 (roughly 20 C - I think?). On days when there are heat advisories (like today), a cat or three keeps me company in our cool retreat.

I love that Megan has figured out a way to sleep cool. Hey, with her out of the house, you and Joe can do the "less wardrobe" thing to stay cool!

Wow, you have much more love for the heat than I do... We stayed up till 5am last night installing a new (efficient) window air conditioner. We've been without AC all summer on the second floor of a brick building that basically turns into a pizza oven in the sun.

Still, I'm totally jealous of the fact that you have a tub to cool down in. Way Cool~

What the hell IS that, when the heat doesn't fly away in summer like it does in winter??? I wish I knew more about physics.

I, too, have lived in such a house with no AC. FANS, girl! Window fans to suck the hot air out during the day, cooler air in at night! Any moving air helps. And by "window fans", I mean big box fans in the windows, with open spaces sealed with something. Those so-called "window fans" that are labelled as such are useless. (Oh, and ceiling fans everywhere.)

When it's hot like that, EVERYTHING soaks up the heat. Living things have grown-in cooling systems, but buildings and pavement don't so they get warmer and warmer. Think passive solar heating!

A compromise (in both cost and cooling power) option on the cooling front would be a whole house fan. It's an industrial strength fan that you put high in the house. At sundown (or as the inside temperature approaches the outside), you open all the windows and doors you can, turn it on, and the moving air cools the house itself down and provides very welcome breezes. It's also good for getting smoke out if you burn something!

Another option (possibly in combination with the house fan) would be a window air conditioner for your bedroom. When the girls are home, it could be the cause of family slumber parties up there.

But you know all this already, right? LOL

I went through our "mitten, scarf and hat" drawer two days ago. I put one of the hats I made for last winter on the Mogrunt's 13-month-old head. It didn't fit. I have a lot of work to do before the snow flies!

wow, here in southern florida it is cooler than up north. The irony just floors me. It's 90degress with 90% humidity, but still cooler. Hey Steph, think about a workshop on Marco Island Florida sometime Nov to Feb when our weather is exceptional!! I'll help organize if you will visit us. Thanks

When it gets this hot, I prop a couple of pictures up on my computer--my car and my balcony covered with twenty inches of snow.

We also don't have air conditioning. We also have been having one of the two weeks a year it seems like it might be a good idea to have one.

I have been reminding myself that
(1) Air conditioning is a new and environementally costly invention. People lived for thousands of years without it.
(2) There are weeks in January when I feel like I have never been warm, much less hot.

So hard to imagine.

I had this urge to start a sweater today. I just wanted something soft and comforting on my needles. The laceweight I was working on just wasn't cutting it -- but then I went out to knitpicks and ordered a boatload of laceweight. Am I nuts? obviously :-)

Me again--Cold's better. You can keep adding layers, but there's a limit on what you can remove when it's hot.

My husband finally broke down and bought a room air conditioner. I would have tried to argue him out of it, but I was suffering from heatstroke at the time.

You do keep flashing these yummy yarns at me, as if mocking my diet.

if you are on facebook - this video was posted, probably find-able on YouTube too:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/video/video.php?v=420103699231

's cute

I feel you. I live in a 70s trailer "The Meadowbrook" :) We did this with fans and it has worked amazingly http://ca.lifestyle.yahoo.com/home-garden/articles/archive/yahoolifestyle/yahoolifestyle-how_to_make_the_most_of_your_fan_and_beat_the_heat

I never would have guessed Toronto could get that hot. My grandmother lived on a farm in Oklahoma, where it regularly reaches those temperatures in the summer, and they didn't have AC, so my mom basically just refused to visit during the summer. I think Grandmother was 80 when she finally got AC.

Will the public library let you sit and knit there? Or maybe you could take your laptop to a coffee shop that has free wi-fi?

On second thought, it's probably better to just sweat it out. When you go back and forth, it seems hotter than if you just stay in the heat all the time.

Dang. You've finally put down in numbers what I originally found so confusing about summer here. I grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa, where it is hot most of the time, and winter is a brief spell, and there really isn't Spring or Fall. And I remember thinking , around August or so when I first arrived in Canada, "Gee, it's finally hot, perhaps I should start looking for some new summer clothes". Only to find, to my complete bafflement, that all the summer clothes were long gone, and the shops were already packed with Fall clothes. That still irks me, but at least now I expect it. Summer is only 11 weekends long, now I understand! I had better go blueberry-picking real soon.

Did Sam crew on tall ships that stopped in Duluth, Minnesota, USA? We had 8 tall ships invade our town last weekend to crowds of 125,000. Lake Superior helps us with the heat a lot, if it gets to the high 80's F we have trouble. :)

As someone who lives in the tropics, I am frequently mocked for knitting in Summer, or indeed at all. Let them scoff.
I find small things like socks are great to knit because you don't have a big hot piece of knitting sitting on your lap. It doesn't get cold enough to wear scarves here, really, so I've stopped knitting them.(mostly)

After 20 years in our house, we installed A/C at the beginning of last summer, and I offer the following rationale, which you are welcome to adopt if you'd like: With global warming getting worse, we are going to have progressively more hot days over the next few decades, so A/C will be increasingly worthwhile.

And the scarf is gorgeous. Maybe the thought of how hot it was while you knit it will help keep you warm next winter.

yep...doin the heat in the house thing right now. Because a/c is so expensive to run in CT USA, we have window units. You can take window units out after the blazing day star cools off and put them away till the next 11 to 15 weeks of summer. They are not installed..just put in the windows of the indecent upper rooms of the house, which, as we well know, keep and hold the most heat. Do conciter window a/c!!!

Good Heavens!!

Where are you living in TO? I'm just a wee bit east of you off Danforth, and we were only 28-31C?
Elizabeth

I second the window a/c unit idea. Cheaper and really why bother with whole house a/c when you only need it for a little while each year?

Although it may mean the girls camping out in your room when they are home...

It is cold here and I have the heater on, so I would say that knitting is perfectly acceptable. If you were in Sydney! LOL. I knit in summer too!

Have you thought about a window AC?

104 (F) is hot. We have been sitting pretty firmly at 90ish for about 10 days and I am getting weary. We too have a short summer. I remind myself of that when I feel a trickle down my back. Cold beer helps!
That yarn by the way is absolutely beautiful!

You're probably not gonna wanna hear this, but I live in SW Florida - Punta Gorda actually, ground zero for Hurricane Charley 6 years ago - and it's a lot cooler down here. Since I don't get to say that to a Canadian very often, I thought I'd just throw that out there. My son is in Chandler, AZ and it's no hotter than where you are, but then for them it's normal. Also no humidity usually. Meanwhile in South America it's horrendously cold. I think the world is going through some sort of fit.

sitting on my front deck knitting a scarf makes perfect sense to me while every now and then throwing a squeaky toy for my dog to catch and taking a sip of wine It is all what summer is about albeit our short short summershere in Calgary

Your scarf reminds me of the technique and wool used to knit the Fleece Artist Garter Stitch Jacket. I have the kit and haven't knit it because I can't decide if I want such a fuzzy sweater in the colour I bought - the scarf would make a great alternative!

Los Angeles has been known to get 110 degree days (and we didn't have air conditioning), so I know how you feel. Do you keep the windows closed during the day? That helps.
Now I'm living in England and they freak out here when it's 80 :)
I just found this DIY air conditioning link, might help?
http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/07/08/diy-beat-the-heatwave-by-making-your-own-air-conditioner/

I have been told that showering with Dr Bronner's Soap (Peppermint) is a good way to cool off temporarily.
Summer in a non humid climate is much nicer--close up in the morning, open up and turn on the window fans. An attic fan might be just the thing for you, though. I hear what you're saying about fleeting summer (even though I'm a wimp with central air, LOL).

The yarn hanks are beautiful. The scarf construction is clever. The final picture left me with this thought: "Of course, she has a yarn winder. She's the yarn harlot." Duh.

I've had to laugh at people in Illinois who keep trying to tell me that it's as hot here as in my native Texas when it's in the 80's (low 30s) here and 107 (42) there. The kicker is when they look at me and say (a little wistfully), "But it's humid here." Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah (because the humidity there would melt your ever loving socks off, in case you've never been there)

I know exactly what you mean when you talk about whether or not to get AC -- we lived in heat-retaining, thickly walled brick houses without AC in downtown Toronto for 13 years. We had the same conversations about people in other countries living with the heat, so why couldn't we? After 13 years of dreading summer and feeling ill every time the temperature rose to 30+ we finally broke down and got AC (in a different house). After that, I wished we had done it much sooner -- I was more able to function and much less likely to wish summer over! Maybe it would be OK for you and Joe to be kind to yourselves and have AC put in. We paid around $1400 for it in the late 1990's and it was the best $1400 we ever spent! Really. You can use it sparingly and only when necessary but you will feel much better.

http://www.cafepress.co.uk/+answers_purple_tote_bag,99079959

You might enjoy!

A couple of things:

First: Your summer sounds a lot like a Wisconsin summer (except I can almost guarantee that the first few weeks of Sept. will be brutal--mostly because my school is not air conditioned)

Second: We hemmed and hawed over AC too but, finally, scavenged a unit from friends who were getting a bigger one because they added onto their house. It was only about 700$ US total for the unit and the installation. Maybe you could start asking around?

And third: I seem to recall reading something about Toronto having some sort of geo-thermal cooling in the downtown area. Is that truly the case?

The same people that make the Solar Tubes make an attic fan called Solar Star Roof Vent. You might want to check them out.

It hit 100F here in South Carolina before Easter this year. I don't know what I'd do w/o central air. We've got a small house and a good unit, and it has literally run non-stop since April. At first I was afraid the compressor was going to burn out, but she keeps on trucking. Still, we can barely keep the house at 80F in the day and 75 at night.

For you and Joe, maybe a "relocation" to a motel in town for a few days each year might be more cost-effective than central air. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and my state until I heard about 100+ temps and fires in Russia and the heat in Canada.

Sweet (iced) tea is our other weapon of choice here. Not very Canadian, but try it - you just might like it.

It hit 100F here in South Carolina before Easter this year. I don't know what I'd do w/o central air. We've got a small house and a good unit, and it has literally run non-stop since April. At first I was afraid the compressor was going to burn out, but she keeps on trucking. Still, we can barely keep the house at 80F in the day and 75 at night.

For you and Joe, maybe a "relocation" to a motel in town for a few days each year might be more cost-effective than central air. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and my state until I heard about 100+ temps and fires in Russia and the heat in Canada.

Sweet (iced) tea is our other weapon of choice here. Not very Canadian, but try it - you just might like it.

I live in South Asia much of the year (I flee in summer.) Honestly, people may live and love in Bangladesh (or India, or...) but many, many of them die due to the heat - many of them old folks, babies and the sick. There's just no comparison with Canada is really possible since you can always go to a mall or a movie or even an office with AC. And pretty much anyone in that region will happily take AC if they can get it - which most can't or have no access to. No cold baths or showers either.

i live in vermont where we have about the same amount of summer as you, stephanie, and i so hear you. not only do i not have a/c in the house, i debate about getting it in the CAR every time i buy a new one. same rationale: i am COLD 80% of the year. i'll only "need" the a/c for a few days each year. conclusion: don't spend the extra $$ and contribute to global warming. most of the time i find i can knit on the deck or in front of a fan ...

I also start jonesing for woolly winter knits about halfway through summer -- maybe it's the changing sunlight that triggers it after the solstice, or maybe I've had enough cotton summer knitting!

I agree with the above commenters that a good trick to avoid the expense of central A/C is to install a "whole house fan" along with correctly sized attic fans. The attic fans clear the attic space of hot air and cool down the upstairs significantly. The whole house fan is usually located in the ceiling at the top of the stairwell, and pulls the cool nighttime air through the house up through the attic. My parents in New England had one and it worked like a charm.

I love the scarf!

Where I live, in Colorado, summers are brief but very hot, and winter is often long. I dislike A/C, which is costly and turns one into a prisoner, but I do have ceiling fans in the LR, bedroom, and office, all on rheostats (dimmers) that control their speed. Because it's seldom humid, and usually cool at night, they are enough during the summers. It snows seven or eight months a year here.

In summer, I often sit in the shade of a fine big apple tree in back, or in the cushy rockers on a deep porch in front. And I've altered my summer canning techniques so I don't turn the place into a sauna during the hot-weather season when it has to be done.

One can sometimes find ceiling fans at local Habitat for Humanity shops, which sell surplus and used building supplies. Toronto must have an equivalent.

Anyone with VERY strong arms and a basic knowledge of electrical installation can install one. In winter, they circulate warm air down from the ceiling, as well, and even out the temperature so that your feet aren't freezing all the time.

If the windows are causing the leakage of heated air, and the inflow of cold air, you might want to get an estimate from a Bi-glass licensee. They take out one wood window at a time, install pre-made double-pane argon sealed glass, pull out the old weights, repair anything that needs repairing, insulate the weight pockets, and jigger the whole thing as modern sash (no more propping windows to stay up, or that don't open at all!. Much cheaper than new custom windows, and preserve architecturally fine ones that would be especially unaffordable as custom windows. They can do three openings a day.

My gas consumption dropped 35% month over month for the first year, and the bonus was that I can now keep candles lit on the dining table. Better if you schedule the work in good weather; mine were done in snowy November, and took a week. It was wretched the whole time, even with a roaring fire going, oceans of cocoa, and pots of soup for everyone.

And it is much quieter; I can't hear the summer rock concerts in the nearby park, or the busy traffic on a nearby street.

The opposite of my dilemma: I spend May through the middle of October cursing the heat, and most of the year knitting garments to wear from Christmas season through St. Patrick's Day.

Seriously, get ceiling fans: they circulate warmth in winter (with the blades turned one way) and cool the house in the summer (blades turned the other way). A window unit for the bedroom isn't a huge impact on the budget, either.

P.S. I does make a great deal of sense to knit opposite to the season: if you knit warm-weather things in cold weather, they're ready to wear when it's warm. And vice versa. There are few knitterly disappointments greater than finishing a gorgeous sweater on the first day of spring.

We're just outside Toronto, and I have to keep reminding myself that this hot, humid weather gives me great skin! Dewy, glowing, no exzema on my hands...

I'm sitting here in a sweater and under the covers in the Bay Area where it's maybe 16. I feel the same way about the 40 as you do, but it's the soul-crushing winter that keeps me from moving back to Toronto.

Congratulations on your Tour de Fleece!

Perhaps you should get a mosquito net and sleep outside?

Hi, Stephanie, I have been lurking here for years and finally got the nerve to post "hello". I would be happy to send you all the hot Chicago weather you can handle, as I detest summer. I am looking forward to the fall and winter, along with my football and beer.

Love your Canada Day posts!

capacity caused relative united

In the last few years here in Nashville, TN we have managed to somehow have summer from April to November. And yes it's usually hot here for the summer. However, last week we set a record for the highest low. We only got down to 84F that night. Sleeping on our 2nd floor was completely out of the question and we have A/C. I completely sympathize with you all being hot. Anyhow, it's a beautiful scarf.

PS we barely get any snow and out city nearly shuts down at the mention .

I feel your pain on the on-coming winter, i really do. The UK is exactly the same, about 12 weeks of "summer" between July and September.

The difference between our countries is that at least you get some heat, some sun. We get nothing. A lot of rain, a lot of cloud, humidity. Bah.

It is too hot for anything more active than surfing and knitting. I'm hereby confessing I'm late to the party; I've recently started reading the blog, and am filling in with archives as I can. Makes me laugh even more than realtime. Keep cool all, and happy knitting.

I watched a story about glaciers, and found myself reaching for the wool to start a sweater. Nice to see I'm not the only one aware of the approach of winter!

Ya know, I wouldn't mind the heat, if it would just kill the mosquitos. They love me, and high heat and humidity AND mosquitos are just too much!

the bain of my daughters existence is that we don't have a/c. But like you, we figure that there are only a smattering of days where it is difficult. Plus our upstairs has 14 windows and each bedroom has a ceiling fan.

Love the yarn and am planning on starting my Christmas knitting, oh yeah, I was starting it in June. Oops.

Coming from Sweden I know exactly what you're talking about, short summers. For me, I'm thinking about casting on a hat for those cooler days in late September. Not that I can beat 40 degrees, I have to settle for a modest 24 degrees so maybe a hat isn't that far of anyway :)

Just came back from the States and I bought Free-Range Knitters at Powell's bookstore in Portland, OR, since you're not yet translated to Swedish, nor possible to find in English in Sweden, among with some of the other ones, and as always your books give me much pleasure. I'm especially happy right now about the chapter in Yarn Harlot about the moth because I found some moths where I stayed in Oregon so as soon as I got back home I put all the wool I brought in the freezer and thought about you. Hopefully this will do the trick and kill off possible wool eaters.

Thank you!