There's been a lot going on this summer! We just finished a ton of renovations on the house just in time for us to probably move away! We're seriously considering leaving Richmond. We'll see what happens but top picks right now are somewhere out west or Raleigh, where we lived for 7 years. No offense to my Richmond readers as I think you all rock!, but after discussing this with a few non-natives, we've all decided that if you're not from Richmond, it takes a while to 'fit' into Richmond...Maybe that's true of a lot of cities; I know my hometown is very much like that. Raleigh and the Triangle area were really different in that regard. So....we're seriously considering going out west or back home to Raleigh. I'm looking at the doctoral program at UNC where I did my master's degree in IS. We're also checking out the jobs down there to see what opens up. If we do make a move it'll be next spring. I have a great house if anyone is interesting in buying next spring :)
On to other topics...knitting! I've completed the body of the KP&S wrap sweater in King Tut cotton. I'm giving up on the Caftan pullover I had planned to make with this yarn. There are just not enough hours in the day to seam up a sweater :). I'm pretty pleased with this so far. The only exception is that I think I need to pull out the cast-off edge as it's curling. I never seem to remember to use a smaller needle there. I guess that's the reason why it's curling? Does anyone know? I also made it a bit tighter than the pattern calls for. Hopefully it'll block out a bit.
I've also completed this trellis scarf from Interweave. It's an Ann Budd pattern that I thoroughly enjoyed! As Melanie at TYL noted, Budd's patterns are extremely clever. I made it a bit narrower than the pattern called for since I thought I would run out of yarn. Alas, I did have leftovers. It's difficult to see the beautiful colors of this Art Fibers yarn in this photo so I'll model it after it's blocked.
In addition to house projects this summer, Ben & I have also kept up with our kitchen garden. Yummies from the garden this year include fennel, heirloom peppers, herbs of all kinds (including chocolate mint which smells amazing), chardonnay grapes, beets, blue lake beans and tons of tomatoes and blackberries. The blackberry bushes are so prolific. If anyone wants a vine, let me know! You can basically put one vine in the ground and it'll multiply by next year.