It's Yarn Along again. Time to see what knitters are knitting and reading all around the interwebs. It's a great way to find new knitting blogs and get people to find yours too!! Click here to read all of our old yarn along posts. We've been doing this a while and you can see our progress on our knitting for almost the past year!

As mentioned earlier in the week I haven't done of knitting lately. There's too much spring cleaning to do. I did however sneak in some reknitting of the Shakespeare Cardigan sleeve. A row counter definitely helps. I don't know why I ever try to knit without one. Part of the problem is that I have to hide the row counter from my kids. They think it's a toy so then the row count is never correct. I'm getting better at writing these things down somewhere.

Plus the weather is nice again and I don't have so many excuses to stay inside to knit. I end up going to the park a lot more and having to watch the kids it's hard to get any knitting done. Soon the youngest will be big enough to play all over the park and I won't have to worry about him falling down or falling off the play structures. Probably by mid summer I might be able to do some sock knitting at the park.

As for reading a couple of months ago I scoured my local antiques shop for old books and came across this little catalog of craftsman house plans. I live in a town full of craftsman houses and it's interesting to be able to point to one and say "oh wow that's pattern #44!". It satisfies the part of me that longs to own a house. As much as I like that era of houses I don't like how dark those houses are. I prefer large windows full of light. Still, you can't argue with the cuteness of a bungalow.

What are you knitting and reading?

It's Yarn Along again. Time to see what knitters are knitting and reading all around the interwebs. It's a great way to find new knitting blogs and get people to find yours too!! Click here to read all of our old yarn along posts. We've been doing this a while and you can see our progress on our knitting for almost the past year!

My son loves to touch my knitting and say "softy!" This usually happens when I'm trying to take photos of my knitting. This time I thought I would include his cute little hand, even if it makes taking photos a little more difficult. But you can see, I've picked up the Shakespeare Cardigan again and I'm hoping beyond hope that I have enough yarn to finish this thing. I'm definitely keeping my fingers and toes crossed because I'm loving how it's turning out.

As for reading I loved Trevor Blakes Three Simple Steps so much when I borrowed it from the library that I purchased it for my phone so that I have it with me wherever I go. It's a great book that helps me remember that I choose whether negativity enters my life. Just thinking of this book brings me to a calmer, more centered place open to the possibilities in life instead of the hindrances. I'm not so obsessed with self help books, but there have been a few that have helped me see unrealistic expectations within myself and have propelled a greater understanding of the world and anyone can benefit from that. I don't like a lot of psychobabble bullarkey. The books I've liked have been straightforward, full of personal stories that provide good examples of choosing happiness. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff was a big thing for me in my late teens and it taught me that I didn't need drama in my life and that you can choose to avoid it.

So that's what I'm knitting and reading this week. What about you? What books bring you through difficult times? Do you have any favorite self-help books?

It's Yarn Along again. Time to see what knitters are knitting and reading all around the interwebs. It's a great way to find new knitting blogs and get people to find yours too!! Click here to read all of our old yarn along posts. We've been doing this a while and you can see our progress on our knitting for almost the past year!

This week I've been working on the Christmas socks, reading the new Knit Picks catalog that came in the mail yesterday and reading All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee again.
This magical thing happened this week whereby my youngest son decided that he was going to sleep on his own in his crib so for the first time in nearly two years I'm able to have some quiet time in bed by myself to read a book before going to sleep. I had forgotten how much this time recalibrated my sanity, how it allows me to reconnect with the part of my self that isn't always a mom. It's wonderful to have that back. It was gone for so long that I had forgotten that I had even lost it. What a relief.

So there hasn't been that much knitting this week, so far anyway. It's been all about the canning. You know, my hobby from

my hobbies.

Yesterday I had all the time in the world at my disposal. I could have knitted copious amounts. I could have turned the heel on a sock, or knit halfway through a sleeve or finish the lace pattern on the Dahlia, but no. My desperate urge yesterday was to clean. I organized our bedroom closet, tried to tidy up the kid's room, hung some art in their room, culled my magazine stash, and did a ton of laundry. There was not a whole lot of knitting. There was however a lot of canning and reading in the evening.

I've been on a marmalade kick. This is strange because before now I didn't even like marmalade, but I loved the sunny colors of the finished product so much that I had to try making it. I've done three batches with three different kinds of oranges. I think I finally have the hang of it now with the third batch. The first batch was navel oranges, the second blood oranges and the third cara cara oranges. I have one more batch of blood oranges soaking in the fridge. I might be tempted to do another cara cara orange marmalade. It's my favorite so far, my previous efforts being so loose and syrupy.

 Hope you are all having a productive week. What other hobbies do you have besides knitting? Let me know in the comments and I'll come visit your blog and say hi.

It's Yarn Along again. Time to see what knitters are knitting and reading all around the interwebs. It's a great way to find new knitting blogs and get people to find yours too!!

I'm recovering from all of that seaming on the mitered cross blanket so it's been nothing but sock knitting for the last couple of days, however I have just pulled the Dahlia Cardigan out of ye olde knitting bag so I'm hoping I can finish a few round of that this week. As for the sock, it's some color of Colinette Jitterbug. It's all purples and blues and a little shot of green. I'm very happy with how it's coming out and motoring away towards th heelo. I'm not sure exactly how long the recipient's feet are. However, I just usually knit a little longer than my own feet. There's something increadibly comfortable about oversized hand knitted socks.

As for reading I'm approaching another cooking phase and trying to find a new recipe to inspire me. I have all this leftover pulled pork so I'm thinking maybe I should make some enchiladas... or maybe some sort of meat filled pastry. I'm more than a little obsessed with anything that Martha Stewart publishes and everyday FOOD is one of my all time favorite food magazines and Fresh Flavor Fast has many of the best recipes from the magazine.

What are you knitting and reading this week?