First off, I have the summer sweater that I've been working on.

This is the first garment that I've knitted. Well, truth be told, the first garment I started knitting was Mariah. I love Mariah. I began with the back of her, thinking that sleeves were just too much to tackle to start with. Mariah's sleeves have this awesome cable running up them, and since I'd never cabled before, I figured I'd start with something simple. I started off cabling using a cable needle, but quickly decided that wasn't for me. So I learned to cable without a cable needle. All was going VERY well for me. I almost finished the cabled rows, when I noticed that somehow, something was off. I can't tink back to that row. Too far down, and I'm not really sure I want to spend the time tinking cables. I was doing so well, using a lifeline, up until that point, but then I got a little too confident in my cabling abilities. Here is a picture of the cable that I turned wrong.

Its hard to see, and it really isn't that bad, but I don't like it, so I'm frogging Mariah at some point. I've learned one thing. NEVER GET COCKY WITH CABLES. It just doesn't work. So I've thrown Mariah to the wayside, and I'm working on the summer sweater

The back is complete, and it looks like I'm halfway through the front. A few more stockinette inches, and I'll start decreasing for the armholes. I'm definitely going to have to do something about the way the bind off decreases look. They really aren't pretty. I think I'm going to pick up along the edges and put a little ribbing on them to give them some flair. And I'm switching the collar from the pattern which by the way is from the Spring/Summer issue of Family Circle Easy Knitting. It calls for a full blown turtle neck. I'm making it a mock turtle. There should be no turtle necks in the summer. Unless, of course, you're in high school with an over zealous boyfriend. But even then, that's just tacky.

The second thing to share is the stash enhancement. It isn't the best thing in the world, but it does make me smile.

Lion Brand Cotton Ease. If I like the summer sweater, I can make another. Otherwise, I'm making a bucket hat. Or, if I'm really nice, I'll make something for the neices.

The last thing is the hat I'm working on. My family and I are going to Myrtle Beach in July, and I wanted something to protect me from the sun. So I'm making this hat.

I don't know if it's too "old lady" for me or not, but we'll see once its done. If it is, I'll just give it to my mom, who is starting to look great in "old lady" hats

Not a whole lot of knitting being done on the home front this weekend. However, I did get a lot of quality time with the parents. It was so great having them here!

Friday night, I picked them up from the airport and we went to Hotel Washington for dinner. The food… eh… it was alright. The parents liked theirs, but I wasn’t thrilled with my dinner. However, the view… the view makes it worth the trip. And it was the perfect night to be sitting outside, on the roof of a building one block from the White House. What a terrific night for it.

Saturday morning, we woke up and went to Arlington National Cemetery. After Arlington, we headed into the city and looked at the World War II Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. Both are astounding. I think the Korean War Memorial is my favorite. Its haunting how the carvings in the wall come out to get you when you look at it just right. We then rode out to Old Town, and sadly, didn’t get to visit Knit Happens. We were all hungry and opted for food over yarn. OK, so my parents opted for food over yarn. I’d never make such a crazy decision! Since neither of them are knitters, I didn’t want to bore them with fiber petting, though I’m sure a little bit of that would have turned them to the dark side.

The next day, we headed out to the mall. I told him we could go wherever he wanted and get him anything he wanted. He wanted a dress shirt. A PINK dress shirt, no less. So I bought my dad a pink shirt… I feel weird about that for some reason. But he can pull it off. He got a spiffy lookin’ tie too. After that, we just tooled around town, and then it was off to the airport. I came home and practically passed out on the couch, but not until after watching The 4400. It was an exhausting, wonderful weekend.

I have officially had this web site for over four months, and I haven't had the energy motivation inspiration to even begin putting it together. Last night, however, the inspiration fell upon me. I attended a Meetup with a group of awesome knitting bloggers. Vibegrrl (a.k.a. Lara) has the blog on which I discovered said Meetup. And at the meetup was Snargle Sarah and Paula, who might have an alias, but I haven't discovered it yet. Another Laura was there, as was another Sarah, though I didn't catch if either were bloggers.

More info about me, my knitting, and random things I heart to come later. Right now, its past midnight, and Mom and Dad are making the journey to DC this weekend. I'm psyched to see them, but I still have to rendezvous with the vaccuum before they get here.

Amy out.