The end of June was bittersweet. I got to spend a week alone with Kristin, but it was to help her move to Charlotte, NC for a new job.
She hired a moving company to transport her stuff and unload it to her new apartment. We spent the week unpacking boxes and organizing closets and shelves.
It wasn't all work though.
We took a break one day to drive 2 1/2 hours to Ashville, NC to explore Biltmore. It was my second time there, but Kristin's first. After we toured the house and walked through the gardens, we went over to Antler Village for lunch and wine. I came home with 6 bottles. Unfortunately one of my favorites wasn't for sale to the general public, only wine club members. I'll have to check their website to see if it pops up there. I was told that if there is any left it will be listed later this summer/fall.
We also went to nice seafood restaurant one evening. Kristin had a mule and I had a very lovely peach drink. It was similar to a margarita. I wished I had snapped a picture of what was in it because it was tasty. Something I'd like to try to recreate at home.
We also explored the city, mainly while running errands. One morning Kristin took me over to a place that she had seen when she was checking for apartments. It was a nice park with a pond and amphitheater. I suspect she will spend a lot of time there running around the lake or reading a book in the sunshine.
On my last full day we visited with Ed's brother and sister-in-law. They had just purchased a lake house about an hour south of Charlotte. Kristin and I spent the day with them on their boat and then joined in a cookout with one of the neighbors.
It was a good week and I'm very grateful to have spent that time with Kristin. I feel it brought us closer. There will be many more trips to Charlotte in the future. I'm just sad that she's moved away. I don't expect that she'll ever move back this way. She has already suggested that we move down there, but that isn't up for discussion. At least not yet. We can't move until Ed and I are retired. And with his parents still with us, we can't move away and leave them without family nearby.
This summer I have been enjoying watching all of the hummingbirds that are visiting the feeder I hung off of our deck. From what I can determine, there are at least 3 pairs. I'm basing this off of the direction the fly to/from the feeder.
We have 4 weddings to attend this year. The first one was in April. We attended the second one in July. The other 2 are coming up in the fall.
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We babysat our grandson for a week while Trisha and Craig visited friends in Germany. It was wonderful to have him, but exhausting! He has started crawling and likes to pull himself up on things. He's very vocal and tries to sing.
On the knitting front, I finished two projects and started another.
I finished the baby blanket for my nephew's second baby. The blanket still needs to be gifted though. I'm seeing my sister, who is grandma, tomorrow so I'll wrap it up and give to her to pass along.
I'm happy with how it turned out. I based this on the Purl Soho Half and Half Triangle Wrap. I used some very old stash yarn. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
I also finished the Suri Shirt. It turned out exactly as I had hoped. The fit is perfect. The color is perfect. The softness is perfect. It is perfect. This is going to get a lot of wear.
I followed the pattern as written except for the bind offs. I did the Italian bind off for the neck ribbing but did a regular bind off in pattern for the bottom and sleeve edges.
I'm now test knitting the Digory Tee by Knitty McPurly. I am using her Freetown Fingering in colorway Thistle. It is a single ply, non-superwash organic Merino. It is very soft and lovely. The pattern calls for 3 skeins in my size, so I'm using helical knitting with 2 skeins to knit the body.
The body is straight stockinette, which great for TV knitting. This is flying along. I'm about 2/3s of the way through the body. The pink stitch marker shows how much I did last night. I should have the body done up to the front/back separation by the end of the week.
I have a couple other projects on the needles, but no pictures to share yet. They are gifts for people. I'm sure they don't read this blog, but I'll wait to discuss them later.
Hoping another 6 weeks won't go by before I blog again. August looks to be busy, like every month anymore. See you next time!
