It's been a while

I realized yesterday that it's been a while since I posted on this blog. I'd better get in gear! Some knitting has been happening. Right now I'm working on a pair of socks using this pattern. It's super easy to remember. I have this thing for cables right now. I was going to knit a cabled pullover vest for one of the men in my family, but after asking around, I found out no one would ever wear except when I was around. At least they didn't let me go ahead and knit it out of politeness, I guess. So I'm going to make myself a pink one.

We went to South Carolina to visit my family. I visited The Peace of Yarn in Matthews, NC. I picked up some Rowan Big Wool to make my vest, four skeins of Fortissima Socka, and one skein of Austermann Step with jojoba oil. I've been wanting to try Austermann Step for about a year. From what I've seen, I like how the stripes come out wide. If anyone knows of any other sock yarn that comes out in wide stripes, please let me know.

While visiting my family whom I hadn't seen since Thanksgiving, I realized how bad my dad's eyesight is getting. He was diagnosed with macular degeneration a few years ago and his sight has become bad lately. He is now completely blind in one eye and can only see 25% of what healthy eye sees in the other. He has stopped driving. I had to help him down steps and read a wall menu at a fast food restaurant for him. I can't put into words how I feel about this. Simply, it makes me cry.

The kids, Katie (my sister), and I went to Carowinds and had an awesome time. It wasn't crowded at all. The lines weren't long. The weather was great. We rode a lot of water rides and after riding the Nickelodeon Flying Super Saturator, we were completely drenched. We saw the parade with all the Nick characters, too. It was fun.

We're off to Buckeye Lake tomorrow for their fireworks show. Have a good 4th, everyone.