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Finally some progress to report! I’ve really only been working on the 2 sweaters recently. I have a road trip coming up and my shark socks will be perfect for that trip, so those are on the back burner for right now. She Makes Waves (aka the mermaid sweater) ( Ravelry link ) is swimming right along! I decided to add a pattern band to the bottom of the sweater before the ribbing. There’s about an inch to go before I get to that point. I’m really happy with it so far. The fabric is so soft! And I like this pattern too. Tonnach ( Ravelry link ) is coming along well too – It’s a little more fiddly than SMW, so progress is a little slower. I do like how it is turning out, though! How about you? What are you working on and how is it going?

Finally checking back in with a partial agriculture report! Most of the veggies are flourishing – we’ve had a good mix of sun and rain, and also a mix of hot days and cooler nights, which tomatoes apparently LOVE. The plant in the front of the picture is my cucumber, which is producing like there’s no tomorrow. The big bushy plant at the back of the box is a sprouted potato I found under a shelf in the kitchen and planted just to see what would happen. The box toward the back is empire of the tomato – it is completely filled with thick, dense, tomato vegetation. Closer up pictures below. The cages we got for the tomatoes and frame we got for the cucumber are all kind of big, and initially I though we had way overbought. As it turns out, no. Maybe a little bigger would have been good. But I can’t complain. We are getting lots of really good veggies this year. This is today’s haul. Those cucumbers are as big as my forearm! I found I have to pick the big tomatoes a little green ...

Warning – photo heavy post! Last night DH and I went to experience a fabulous art event – The Nature of Light . It was held at the Paine, which is an art museum in an estate with a beautiful mansion and grounds. I have posted about events there before as they often have interesting shows. Anyway. The Nature of Light is a sort of multimedia event. at the heart of it are hollow metal statues with openwork patterns. Light is used in and around the statues and the environment along with music to create an immersive experience. The statue and light displays and music were inside the museum as well as all over the grounds. Inside the statues of various sizes and light cast interesting shadows and patterns in their rooms. Outside the statues were only part of the display. There was one area where we walked on a path through the woods and all of the trees has tiny moving light swirling around – it was like being in a forest full of fairies or fireflies. In another area lighted m...

I’ve been making some good progress on my sweaters this week, not as much on the shark socks. My Tonnach cardigan is moving right along! I have a few more pattern repeats before It gets divided for the sleeves. And She Makes Waves is swimming along too! The sleeve stitches are separated out, so now it’s just plain stockinette for the torso until I get to the waistband. I’m planning on doing a little bit of pattern there too, just for fun. In other news, my garden is starting to produce a lot of veggies, and we are making a little progress on our downstairs update. Hopefully I will get it together enough to post about both these things soon! How are your project – crafty or not – going?

Finally a knitting post here on my knitting blog! I have three projects on the needles right now, which is maybe one more than I should. But here we are. First, shark sock progress! The intarsia and seaming on both socks is done, and I am knitting from the intarsia part up to the tops first, then doing the feet. Alissa is also making these socks and hers are super cute! Next, the She Makes Waves mermaid summer sweater, which Alissa and I are also KAL this summer! The yarn for this is Cascade’s Anchor Bay, a wool/cotton mix that I am particularly enjoying knitting. And finally, Tonnach, which is for a KAL that Kate Davies is doing this summer. I was able to pull all the yarn for this out of stash, which is really the main reason I am doing it. The colors are a little outside what I would normally wear, but I really like the way they are coming together! So that’s my projects for the next month or so. What are you working on, and how is it going?

This was a much better month for reading – mostly because I embraced my Summer Reading Brain and just read some fluff Almost, but not entirely cozy mysteries last month. I did read the new Rivers of London book – Stone and Sky. As expected, it is awesome In addition to solving the crimes at hand, we learned a bit more about our characters and the world. 10/10, no notes. The only other non-cozy I read last month was an interesting book about knitting during WW 1. I may well review that separately, so will just say here that it was pretty interesting, and a topic you don’t see covered often. What are you reading lately? Does Summer Reading Brain strike you as well? Do tell!