Yarn Along

Welcome to my Yarn Along post, linking up with Ginny over at Small Things.  I love her weekly Yarn Along, in which people write about their knitting and their reading, two of life's nicest things!  I haven't done a post in a while but I certainly have been trying to find time for my knitting and my reading!

As always, I have several books going at once.  The summer is even worse!  My husband keeps telling people that if we are killed, it will be my stack of books falling over on us.  He's probably right.  There just aren't enough hours in the day for books!

As I have mentioned before, one of my favourite online book clubs is the Red Couch club over at She Loves.  I have discovered so many wonderful books over there.  This month's book is I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai, the well known girl from Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban as retribution for her advocacy for schooling for girls.  I was a bit hesitant about this book because I often find that these kinds of memoirs aren't exactly fine examples of good writing.  This one has surprised me pleasantly.  It's not the best book I have ever read but it has held my attention.  More than even Malala, I am struck by her father's courage and believe in the rights of his daughter and other girls.

I'm also reading Things Hidden, Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr.  I kept seeing mentions of his book Falling Upwards and I decided that I would give him a try.  I don't exactly find his writing light and it is very helpful to have some background in psychology and Jung but I am finding that there are wonderful ideas about how to see scripture and to get the most from reading and rereading.

Finally, I have decided to go back and revisit some old favourites.  I have been finding the world very angry and tense and it makes me want to retreat back into a gentler and simpler time (which probably didn't really exist but I love the fantasy).  Miss Read has written two long series about village life in England - the Thrush Green series and the Fairacre series.  They are wonderful visits with recurring characters that have a lot in common with the people around us in daily life.  The problems are easy to understand and there is always hope.  There is also a focus on things like the changing seasons and the routines and cycles of life - just what I am needing right now.   Right now, I am 2/3rds of the way through Storm in the Village and it is exactly what I needed.

Before I show you my knitting, I couldn't resist the chance to show off my lovely new knitting bag.  As a teacher, I often get gifts that have a connection to the home culture of my students.  This lovely bag is from Pakistan and I love using it.  I love anything embroidered and the student who gave this to me was a lovely, sweet girl who blossomed over the last two years.  It's nice to keep something I love in something with such nice connections.

I am surprised at how much I love the colour of this yarn.  I'm not generally a big fan of yellow but the last time I visited my favourite LYS, there was a sale and there wasn't much left.  This lovely, soft yarn was one of the few colours left with enough to actually make something significant.  The sunshine-y colour and the softness of the yarn is such a pleasure to knit.  The pattern is called the Kinsley Chunky scarf and it's knitting up so quickly!  I don't work in bulky much so this is fun.  It will definitely need good blocking, though, to really get a true appreciation of it's pattern and shape.

Finally, in the many hours sitting at the soccer pitch with my kidlets, it's nice to have something on the needles that requires almost not thought.  I love these open star dishcloths and I want to build a stockpile for gift giving and for home use.  The cottons come in such lovely colours!