I make no secret that summer is my least favorite season. Doubly so right now, when the central air in our home is broken, the air conditioning in my ancient minivan is broken and I’m quarantining at home thanks to COVID-19. My world has rather suddenly contracted into a 10′ x 14′ room: my home office. Fortunately (?), I’m an introvert, so I’m not quite as completely mad as I might be otherwise, but I do miss the world, if not the people in it.

To cope, I am trying to focus more on making things. Even if the physical world is more or less inaccessible to me, making things with my hands helps keep me grounded.

As it was Lammas yesterday, the holiday of celebrating the harvest and plenty, I made two brioche loaves. There was only one left this morning when I went to photograph them, so I’m guessing they were good.

Quarantine has also meant that my summer sewing season, such as it has been in recent years, has been curtailed, too. I’ve had to break down my sewing table setup to make room for my impromptu work-at-home workstation, so neither my sewing machine, nor my serger, nor my overlock machine are accessible to me right now. Pity, since the only thing I want to do is sew! But that’s always how it is with me: I want most to do that which I am unable to do.

So instead I have turned to knitting, which is much more compact and may be done where ever I have a small bit of space. I’ve started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons and I’m a little bit obsessed, so when I saw these socks in the game, I knew I had to make them. They’re adorable, and they would give me some Fair Isle practice in a small and controlled space.

I’ve got a number of knitting projects in process – I’m terrible about starting them and never finishing them – so I’m buckling down to try to finish a few while I’m stuck in this 10′ x 14′ box for the summer. And soon enough it will be autumn, and I’ll be free again.