Yarn Along

Since my reading is much the same as it was two weeks ago and I just gushed about it yesterday, I thought I'd share Stephen's and Nick's summer reading lists today.

Stephen consulted reading lists from local prep schools to come up with his summer list. Most of his books are on Kindle. His current read, The Hobbit, is a well-worn favorite from our shelves. is reading:

The Yearling

The Hound of the Baskervilles

 Hood

Ender's Game

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

Nicky chose his books from volumes already on our shelves:

Stone Fox (this is my favorite book to give to a child who is just ready to spring into chapter books. It looks like "real" chapter book. And it is. But the print if farily large, the pages small, and the book easily read in an afternoon. A great confidence builder!)

The Year of Miss Agnes

The Great Brain

Niagara Falls or Does It? (written by Henry Winkler, who is dyslexic, with a kind heart towards dyslexic kids)

A Boy at War

Red Sails to Capri

The Case of  the Baker Street Irregulars

In my happy little knitting world, I'm still making very slow progress on my To Eyre shawl. I'm coming around the bend to the decreases in front, so maybe by the weekend it will be finished. I'm kind of bummed to see how small it is, but I'm thinking about adjusting the numbers and knitting it in denim for fall soccer games. (Actually, I'm waiting for a friend of mine to adjust the numbers and knit it bigger and then I'll just do what she did;-) This one is a pretty little capelet kind of wrap. Not quite sure what I'll wear with it? And I guess I need a shawl pin. Where does one purchase shawl pins?

Below, please smile with Karoline, who is ever so happy with her newly seamed Baby Surprise Jacket. I didn't seam it. Alas, working with cashmere so much seems to have sensitized me further to cashmere. This jacket makes me wheeze. When I took it out so that a friend could show me how to seam it, we both noticed that the same allergy that was present when we visited the yarn store was back with a vengeance. So, she seamed the whole thing for me. Still pondering buttons and gearing up to highly medicate and weave in all those ends. Karoline absolutely loves this sweater. Her appreciation makes it so worth it.

Go visit Ginny for more knitting and reading tales. I've settled into a Wednesday afternoon tradition: a big cup of tea and enough time to myself to click through a big bunch of the links at Ginny's. I am enriched by the yarns shared there.

Yarn Along: Mama's Passion, Purpose, and Sanity

About a month ago, I was standing in front of the yarn aisle in my local Michael's store. A woman nearby was enthusiastically explaining to a stranger that knitting has a chemical effect on the brain. "They've done studies, you know. When you knit, you get into a zone, and your body releases endorphins that calm you. Also, your brain organizes itself. It's the most amazing thing. And it's addicting." The man taking in all this information left with enough acrylic yarn to make a man-sized sweater.

I keep meaning to go research the claims. 

I didn't knit at all last week. Early this week, I picked up Mary Beth's project because I couldn't bear to hear her whine about ribbing one minute more. I like to do 1X1 ribbing. So I ribbed the better part of 18 rows, wheezing, because for some reason, the DK weight of Belle Organic bothers me much more than the Aran weight. And of course, Aran is being discontinued.

That has been a running theme the last couple of weeks. Seems like everything I've swatched and loved is being discontinued. I just don't get it. I'd link to the yarns, but what's the use? You'll love them, too and be sad with me?

Her ribbing finished, I wanted to knit something calming. Something I was sure wasn't going to cause an allergic reaction. Something that wouldn't stress me about size or fit. Something maybe for me. To wear for the next date night?

A few weeks ago, I ambitiously bought some Misti Alpaca Tonos Pima/Silk for a sweater for me. (There's no alapaca in it.) I think it says it's DK weight. I can't get DK gauge with it to save my life. I have been obsessing over this shawl pattern. It's just so lovely and simple and beautiful. Gentle, gentle ruffles. And gentle is the theme for June. I found that I could hold the pima/silk doubled and almost get gauge for the shawl. So I forged ahead. I made it all the way through the left front, just absolutely loving the genius of the pattern and the way the yarn was coming alive as it was knit into gentleness. 

I have found that the rhythm and the yarn and the experience of knitting is everything the Michael's saleswoman promised. Knitting this shawl restored my sanity with a passion:-)

This morning, I got up and listened to my current read while knitting. And I missed a K2tog. It's a wonderful book by Dr. Meg Meeker, who wrote such excellent books as Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters and Boys will be Boys. The book is everything the title promises: The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers: Reclaiming our Passion, Purpose, and Sanity.  She writes from the shared experience of motherhood with common sense and wisdom. I've been thinking (as I'm knitting) about this musing of Kate Wicker's. I know from where Kate writes. Been there, lived that. would have done some things differently had I known. Meg Meeker knows. This book is for Kate.

And for me. It was during the chapter on friendship that I totally messed up my knitting. I didn't notice the mistake until several rows later and I went back and tried to unknit. But those short rows and my inexperience were my unravelling. I'm going to have to take it all out and begin again. I remind myself that all was not lost in the process.  I did genuinely enjoy the knitting for knitting's sake.

Back to the book: this book is the handbook. It's the wise friend, the good idea, the common sense advice we all need at some point or many points in our mothering journeys. I plan to write more on it when I finish. For now, go buy this book. Actually buy two. Keep one and give one away to a mom you know. Any mom. We all need it. 

I did receive my hard copy as a review copy, but in the end, I bought it anyway, to listen to the audio version on Kindle. I will continue to listen and to knit, paying closer attention to both the book and the yarn the second time around.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Go visit Ginny for more knitting and readling tales. I've settled into a Wednesday afternoon tradition: a big cup of tea and enough time to myself to click through a big bunch of the links at Ginny's. I am enriched by the yarns shared there.

Yarn Along: Pretty Poppy Hug

My Baby Surprise Jacket is still stalled. Elizabeth isn't feeling well and I am absolutely terrible at all things spatial. Hence, I can't wrap my brain around what she's trying to tell me about picking up stitches. Stay tuned. The good thing is that we're both stubborn and we won't give up. I promise a new tutorial post soon and I know I still owe you a prize post. This is summer schedule boot camp week. I'm totally focused on making my kids do whatever I tell them as soon as I tell them establishing rhythm.

While I've been waiting for my brain to catch up with my fingers, I finished this sweater for Sarah. I spent hours--literally-- waiting for the ferry to go back and forth across the Potomac for soccer last weekend. Put the van in park, listened to a book on tape until I could bear it no more, and then listened to Scotty McCreery's "album" over and over again while I knit and knit and knit. About that book: I usually love Roald Dahl, but I could not bear to hear how the witches talked about children. It was making me physically ill. I never write negative reviews--usually I just say nothing if I have nothing good to say, but it brought tears to my eyes to have my kids hear this book. Maybe I'm overly sensitive. Or I just don't suspend disbelief enough to be unaffected by fantasy. Whatever, I'm not a fan.

I love the way this yarn behaved and I think the shirt is pretty poppy hug. The pattern runs small. I added eight extra stitches under the arms and it's still a bit snug, especially since I knit it for a layering piece for next fall and winter. Not much need for sweater hugs in Virginia in the summer. The heat index today was 105 degrees. I also tweaked it a bit at the bottom, finishing with a broken rib stitch. {Geez--I tweaked it. Sounds like curriculum;-)} Knitty gritty on Sarah's hug sweater on Ravelry.

I just sent Give them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus to my Kindle. Haven't yet begun to read. I will admit here and now that I bought this book because of its title and cover. It just looks like something I would really love.  And because it's on Kindle,  it won't add to my house clutter.

Speaking of house clutter, I'm after it with reckless abandon this week, truly eradicating it from my house. I'm on a tear. And then, maybe I can think my way clear to write again. I once read that the best way to teach children how to be good writers was to teach them how to clean out and organize their closets. There is something to that. If you can't organize and get rid of the clutter, you can't write logically or edit well. At least that's what I'm telling my children.

Mary Beth has saved enough babysitting money to buy herself a brand new MacBook. This accomplishment has me bursting with pride. She went a little camera crazy this afternoon in order to have lots of pictures with which to christen her very own iPhoto. So the pics of my baby in a pretty poppy hug come to you from Mary Beth's Mac.

Now, I'm off to haul away another bag or two of stuff. And grab a hug or two of the kid kind.

Do go visit Ginny. That new baby is scrumptious.

 

Not a Lot of Knitting, but a Whole Lot of Thinking

If it's Wednesday, we're talking about reading and knitting along with Ginny. Since last week, life has moved along at a very quick clip. The relentless activity, together with the fact that I'm stalled until I learn to pick up stitches has left my Baby Surprise Jacket mostly unchanged since I shared it with you Saturday.

Yesterday, in a mental health move, I did cast on for Girl's Cap Sleeved Shirt, like the one Carmen made Sarah. I love that shirt--it's a great layering piece and she wears it and wears it and wears it. So, I set about to make her another one, in a pinkish (of course)  Rowan Amy Butler Belle Organic Aran yarn. I have cast on twice now. I'm beginning to think that every time I start a new pattern, I will have to start more than three times to get it right. Pretty sure I'm going to pull this all out and start again.

So, enough about knitting. I have been reading this week, in odd moments here and there. Several weeks ago , when TLC book tours contacted me to ask about The Jesus Prayer, they mentioned that The Council of Dads would also be on tour. In a moment of recklessness, I abandoned my twenty-year tradition of never reading books that even make reference to cancer. (Yes, I even abandoned The Penderwicks a few pages in because the mother--named Elizabeth--died of cancer. My children have read it on their own.) Lately, I am recognizing that I can't run from this disease and I can't deny that it is part of who I am. Better then, to learn about living with cancer and after cancer from wise people who have traveled that journey. And who write phenomenally well.

This book is a page turner. It's the exceptionally well-written story of Bruce Feiler, young man, husband, and father of three-year-old twin girls, who is diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. When face with the possibility that he might not live to raise his daughters, Feiler chose six men who--through their friendship-- had helped shape him and asked them to be there for his daughters in the future. Throughout the book, Feiler intersperses the story of each man's strength and gifts with his own observations on life and with a record of his treatment. It's a truly extraordinary read.

I'm amazed at Feiler's depth and at the articulate men he has befriended. These are men who truly talk--the relationships are deep and strong and meaningful. True, Feiler had cancer. And true, the idea for a council of dads was conceived as a protection and provision should he die prematurely, but at its heart, this book is about living, not dying. It's about living intentionally. Frequently, Feiler refers to his year of chemotherapy and surgery and rehab and misery as "The Lost Year." That year was anything but lost. Indeed, it was lived full of meaning and full of love. He grabbed the gift and the grace that comes with the diagnosis and he lived that gift with grace for all it was worth.

The book stands as an instruction manual for life, a legacy for his daughters. As much as those men in the council will be there for Feiler's girls, Feiler himself will be there, too, in his own written voice, sharing with them the extraordinary insight afforded him by his year with cancer. A life-threatening illness sharpens one's perspective and lends an air of urgency and discrimination to what gets done and what gets said. With the gift of that insight, Feiler is uniquely able to guide other people in establishing their own councils, not necessarily because their lives are threatened, but because life itself is precious and all too often we take it for granted when instead we should live it with a purposeful sense of meaning and mission.

Bruce Feiler isn't dead. He's a survivor. As such, he has left a legacy to all of us who have lived "The Lost Year." He invites us by his example to reflect on the meaning of that year and to honor the struggle it was by always, always living the second chance life with purpose, and always, always investing wholeheartedly in relationships that give life meaning. Personally, he challenges me not to run from the history that is cancer, but to see that in its horror, there is clarity; there is the invitation to live fully.

{comments open}

Yarn Along: Praying As We Go

Hi there! I'm still knitting along with lots of friends, stitching a Baby Surprise Jacket.

Surprise! It's too big for my "baby." Looks like Karoline will wear this jacket before Sarah Annie does.  That's just fine with me; I was sort of sad that when Sarah outgrew it, it would be relegated to the giveaways or to my hope chest. Now, two little girls will wear it (unless Karoline wears it out). Still investigating exactly what this means in terms of adapting the pattern. And trying not to hyperventilate.

I'm reading Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer, by Norris Chumley. This has been a bit of a serendipitous read. Before the book arrived, I was looking to settle into a rhythm of knitting and praying when I am away from my audio Bible. A little digression: when I was being treated for cancer, I discovered that I had just enough time while they zapped me with radiation to pray three Hail Marys, followed by imploring St. Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, to pray with me that I would be able to conceive, carry, bear, and raise healthy, happy, holy children. My third child born after those treatments, and first daughter, was named Mary Elizabeth. Ever since, I've keyed prayers to certain activities. For instance, I had different repetitious extamporaneous prayers for each of my labors.

My girls have all repeated the words, "in, around, through, off" as they've learned to knit--words that match the actions, marking motion with meaning. I have discovered that in exactly the time it takes me to knit a stitch, I can pray the ancient Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,have mercy on me, a sinner." It fits just perfectly. It's rhythmic and contemplative and meaningful.There is an inner peace to be found in the rhythm of the prayers and the needles.

Chumley's book is a bit of a documentary in print, taking the reader to visits hermits and monks and nuns who share how the prayer is lived in their lives. The rich layers of the ancient prayer are revealed to the reader as they draw us into the practice of simple, simple prayer. Chumley writes, "The point is to try to maintain connection with God at all times, remembering that God is here with us at every moment. The practice of prayer and meditation helps us do that, uniting the inner core of our being, our soul, with God and with all the scattered parts of us."

Knitting and prayer. So simple.

Be sure to stop by and visit Ginny and see what other folks are knitting and reading.