Enfin le printemps! 

Except that here in Hong Kong spring is not a respite from howling gales and freezing temperatures. For me it’s been the end of nights without needing air conditioning and the dread of the incipient heat and humidity. 

The March section of my blanket has been disproportionately orange and pink, albeit with brief periods of cloudy yellow respite but all of that is now at an end, with temperatures in the last few days reaching 30 deg. The following excerpt from the Hong Kong Observatory site appears to confirm that 2020 was one of the hottest years on record 

In Hong Kong, with eleven out of the twelve months warmer than usual, 2020 was the second warmest year since records began in 1884 with an annual mean temperature of 24.4 degrees, 1.1 degrees above the 1981-2010 normal^[1]. The annual mean maximum temperature of 27.2 degrees and annual mean minimum temperature of 22.5 degrees were respectively the highest and second highest on record. In particular, the mean temperature, the mean maximum temperature and the mean minimum temperature for summer (June to August) respectively reached 29.6 degrees, 32.6 degrees and 27.7 degrees, all ranking the highest on record. The highest temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory in the year was 35.3 degrees on 23 July, one of the twelfth highest on record. There were 50 Hot Nights^[2] and 47 Very Hot Days^[3] in Hong Kong in 2020, both ranking the highest on record.

The lowest temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory in the year was 8.1 degrees on 31 December. The number of Cold Days^[4] in the year was 11 days, which is 6.1 days less than the 1981-2010 normal.

And now I have finally cast off the final row and just have to sew in all the ends. If I’d knitted this blanket properly without any shortcuts, that would have meant 1460 ends to tie in but I cheated and carried over the knit yarns to purl rows and sometimes for 3 or four rows up the sides, so it’s far fewer than that for me. I do have to work out what to do with the knots in the middle of the blanket, though. Yes, I know I should have tried to finish yarn balls at the end of the rows but I was weak, OK?

When I started this blanket last April I really thought that the travel restrictions that had just been imposed here would be only temporary, that this blanket would have far more white stripes for flights taken; blues for the Japanese ski trip that we’d postponed; more greens and blues for the trip home at Christmas; maybe some more reds or even purple for weekend jaunts to the Phillipines or Vietnam or a longer trip to see James in Canada. In the end it’s  turned out largely semitropical orange and pink, a Covid19 blanket reflection that we are stuck until the HK government eases the 21 day hotel room quarantine that has been in force here since the autumn. One solitary patch of variable, temperate greens and yellows illustrates the one visit home I’ve made in almost 18 months. Still, I’ve been spared the burden of carrying this monster back in a suitcase so it’s an ill wind.

Everyone tells me I’m lucky to have been here, and largely protected from that dreadful virus and everyone is right about that. But there is no place like home and this still isn’t home to me. 

The blanket was a bit of daily discipline in the routine of looking up the anticipated temperatures for the day and correcting the previous day’s before interpreting the data in the colourful yarn. I have now deleted the two weather apps I used, both of which had shortcomings. I wish I had incorporated some way of depicting the weather conditions too, not that it would have made much of a difference really because it’s been so dry here. I think it’s rained only on one day since October and I’m longing for rain. We are supposed to be going into a wetter season now but I can’t remember what that feels like.

Would I do this again? Well, it was an interesting exercise but I probably won’t have room for all the blankets I’m already making. Where do you put these things? It’s hardly very sophisticated to festoon a place with homespun and cosy handknits. In the meantime, that’s it from this project. Stats and pics will be posted ⬆️ up there when I’ve completely finished it.

Thanks for coming with me on this ride. X