It wasn’t even breakfast time yet and the temperature was already over 26°C. Not very enjoyable. (Later in the day I think it reached almost 30 in the shade.) Our house is pretty good in the heat, though. The kitchen is cool in the morning, the deck is in the shade already by lunchtime, and the green room has so few and small windows that it stays liveable all through the day.

I pity the poor people in France where the heat wave is breaking all previous records, currently at 42°C. Someone on the internet pointed out that beats the all-time high for Florida. Which, you know, unlike Paris, is famous for its hot summers, beaches and palm trees. I’m pretty lucky to live where I live.

I’m focusing this weekend on finishing undone things. Finally made a decision about a zippered mid-layer… garment… thing that needs a zipper replacement. Cleaned the bathroom drain. Washed some more wool clothes so I can pack them away. Finished the gloves that have been languishing since November.

I regretted starting the glove project, and even after three tries I wasn’t sure about the fit on the fingers. Maybe a bit too tight. But I am not going to make a fourth sizing attempt. Just no. Just get it done. The handling they got while I wove in the ends – turn them inside out and then back again, pull them on, pull them off – has stretched them a little bit and they fit better now. Definitely good enough. And so good to have them done. Not only can I wear them now (or rather, when it’s November again) but I can also start knitting something new!

Elderberry bushes are flowering everywhere. They’re not visually spectacular, I don’t even notice them at first – and then I walk or bike through a cloud of their intense sweetness, almost cloying, and there’s nothing else it could be.

I’ve got enough elderflower cordial in the cellar that there’s no point in making more. It’s just like with jam – nobody in this household consumes much sugary stuff these days.

Last week of June, and people are generally gearing up for their vacations. Today was the last time I come to the Active Solution office, until August. There just isn’t likely to be anyone here apart from maybe some manager. Massage Fridays are on pause and there will be no Wednesday fika.

Already today I was the first one here (although that may be due not just to it being summer but also the Sweden-Japan world championship football game, which took place at one o’clock in the morning for us, and which many wanted to watch) and among the last ones to leave, even though I didn’t stay particularly late.

Vacation prep: take home my towel, which has been here for my bicycle commute, and take home whatever is left of my chocolate stash.

My old ivy died in December after I moved it from the bathroom to the living room. I replaced it, and put the replacement back in the bathroom. That one also died. I bought a third one out of stubbornness – I’d had an ivy for years now! And now this one died as well. Just started dropping its leaves at a rapid pace, and in another two or three days there will be none left. Out it goes, and now I don’t even want one anymore.

I also threw out the Philodendron that refused to grow, as well as a Clusia with a scale bug infestation. Both were OK to look at a distance, but every time I saw them close up, they did the opposite of sparking joy.

I’ve concluded that working the occasional half-day when the weather is fine, and using the other half to enjoy fresh air and good company, is a great way to use up some of my banked flex hours during the summer.

Today I met up with a friend at the edge of Järvafältet and ambled around Hansta hill, where we got beautiful views.

There is one piece of moth damage that really irks me. It’s the very finely knit cardigan for which I replaced the edge binding, which took a lot of time and effort. Which I did because I like the cardigan and want to wear it! So I really want it to be wearable again.

The fabric is so thin and the yarn so fine that there’s no way I can achieve anything that truly blends in. I ended up doing a basic darn with sewing thread held double. (That’s how fine the fabric is.) It’s enough to strengthen the fabric so that it doesn’t unravel around the hole, and to just fill in the hole. Decently tidy, but not pretty in any way. I think I may need to cover this up with something more, something that makes more of a statement and doesn’t try to hide away.

The striped sweater is finished and complete, after I wove in the last yarn ends today.

I’m not entirely sure what I think about it. It fits well, like a second skin, and will be warm and cosy. I enjoyed making it. Do I like the colour scheme, and how I used it? Not quite sure.

The weaving in of ends on a sweater with this many stripes was a nightmare. At first I did actually weave in each individual end. Especially around the neck, where there were no alternatives, because I was knitting flat. The resulting fabric is lumpy and stiff. You can’t really see it that well in the photo, especially with increases going on at the same time, but it is.

Compare it to the reverse side of the fabric where it is just flat with no yarn ends involved:

That took so long and was so frustrating, both in process and outcome, that I tried a different approach along the side seam of the body. I just plaited the yarn ends together and then stitched the end of the braid down onto the fabric. I don’t think it’s going to be noticeable.

A bit wiser from experience, I took a different route entirely with the sleeves. I didn’t cut the yarn at all, just carried each unused colour along until it was time to use it again. This led to a vertical tension that distorts the fabric: you can see that the start and end of each stripe doesn’t line up, because the vertical floats pull them out of place. Again, I don’t think it’s going to be noticeable since this is along the insides of the arms.

It’s never as quiet here as on a summer night in the middle of a long weekend. A lot of people are away in their summer cottages, or in someone else’s summer cottage to celebrate Midsummer. The buzz of cars from distant roads is all gone.

One day I will move to a smaller house on the edge of a smaller town and it will be this quiet there.

The poppy is flowering.

Also, I managed to mow the lawn (as much of it as I was going to) just before a thunderstorm got here. I’ve let the grass under the cherry tree grow until now to let the cowslips propagate, but now it’s time to prepare for cherry season. Picking cherries (and picking getting rid of bird-eaten half-rotten cherries on the ground) is much easier with shorter grass. Now I skip the parts with a lot of clover, or wild strawberries. I wish there was a magical way to get rid of the tall grasses but not touch the strawberries.

Midsummer picnic in Drottningholm.

I was kind of feeling like just having a Midsummer lunch at home, but everyone else wanted to at least go to some nice place, so a picnic it is. Drottningholm park belongs to Drottningholm palace, the home of the Swedish royal family, so there was no risk of any loud, crowded celebrations with line dances and lotteries and whatnot.

We sat in the shade of a giant, beautiful oak tree. Around us were trees and a couple of ponds, a few other smallish groups also having Midsummer picnics, and geese. Goose droppings everywhere. Step one when moving the picnic blankets to a new spot (because the sun caught up with us): remove the goose turds.

Strawberry roll cake for dessert, topped with extra strawberries marinated in lime juice and shredded mint leaves. The last two roll cakes I made (one of them a month ago and then an exact copy of it for the closing fika of our embroidery club) came out so well, and were so transport-friendly, that my thoughts immediately went to a roll cake for this occasion as well.

Roll cake makers all have their own tricks for how to keep the roll from cracking. The last recipe insisted that you needed to roll it up while it’s still warm. Some instructions online say you roll it up in a towel while it’s warm, let it cool, then unroll, fill, and roll again. I tried a third version this time, which was to let it cool entirely, under a moistened kitchen towel to keep it from drying out. And to flip it out from the baking sheet onto a kitchen towel (rather than parchment paper) and use that to help roll it nice and tightly afterwards. I don’t know how much of a difference the moistened towel made – maybe it would have been equally easy without – but there was no cracking whatsoever. Using a towel as support while rolling was very helpful.