Yarn Along

I stopped blogging at all regularly a couple of years ago.  Before that, one of my favourite things was the "Yarn Along" series at Small Things, the blog by Ginny S.  I love the premise and these weekly posts always helped me to remember how much I loved knitting and reading.  I get so bogged down in life and some of the things that I really enjoy slip by.  I started to yearn to blog again and to reconnect with my blog life a couple of weeks ago and so here I am and, of course, one of the first things I did was to stop by Small Things to see if the Yarn Along was still happening.  Much to my pleasure, here it was and here I am!  (And allow me to apologize, I see such lovely photos on other people's posts - sadly, right now, all I have is my phone.  I know, I bring the tone down but that happens with me...)

On my needles?  The Guernsey Wrap by Jared Flood.  I have made several of these, including one for myself and I love them.  They are simple to knit and cozy to wear but look very pretty in a traditional, British way.  I have a not-so-secret love of traditional knitting (harkening back to my lovely Irish Grandmother, I think, who was a gorgeous knitter) and this wrap fits the bill nicely.  I don't get much knitting time but since Dh and I drive into work together daily now, I get some knitting done in the car and sitting, freezing myself at the rink while my kids do their skating lessons.

On my bookshelf?  So many books!  It's always an avalanche!  I just finished Anne Perry's Monk series book The Sunless Sea.  It amazes me that she is able to push out so many books but that while they aren't as wonderful as they were in the past, they still are pretty darn good!  This one took me a while but it was really engaging.  Now, I am excited to begin Louise Penny's The Long Way Home.  I had so many people tell me that I would love Louise Penny and I really put off trying her books because I so rarely find that books live up to their billing when they are so highly recommended.  I was so surprised to discover how much I love her books and I think that she just might be my favourite mystery writer around these days.  I'm guessing this will take a while but I don't mind!

I also had some books come in that I ordered, which is always lovely.  The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner, the book for the next installment of the Bloom book club (at Dayspring incourage) and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, the book for the SheLoves Red Couch book club are both anxiously awaiting my opening them and diving in.  I just wish I had more reading time.  I am so addicted to online book clubs and these are two books that I think will be excellent reads!

Finally, I was also really excited to find a package in our mailbox today (is there anyone in the world who doesn't love getting things in the mail???)  The kids and I had read Babe:  A Marvelous Pig by Dick King Smith in January and we all loved it (Dh kept coming in and lying down with us because he wanted to know what would happen next).  I allowed myself one little indulgence in second-hand book buying and the kids and I picked our four titles to order for ourselves to try.  They had to come from England so we have been waiting not so patiently for their arrival. Pk can't wait to read The Invisible Dog so I think we will start with that one first!