Yarn-along: March 9th edition ...

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a single photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny, Small Things

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Here's my offering this week:  we're finishing up our read-aloud, Airman, which I highly recommend (especially for boys, but my now-11yod loves it, too) and then we'll move on to A Whole Nother Story, a book that sounds very much like the type of crazy story Howard Whitehouse writes (we read his triology this past fall).  For my reading, since we're starting our Lenten Journey today, I've got the classic, Abandonment to Divine Providence, Houselander's Way of the Cross and Fr. Barron's Conversion on tap.

My knitting for the past few days has been lots of swatches -- squares for the upcoming Olde Liberty Fiber Faire, swatching a new design I've got in my head:

... and I picked up a sampling of worsted weight yarns yesterday from Dog House Yarns in Culpeper.  I'm the morning speaker at Dog House Yarns' upcoming knitting retreat (out at Graves Mountain Lodge on April 9). I'll be speaking about substituting yarns, what different fibers do, and generally discussing "the ins and outs of using this for that"; the swatches I'll knit from the yarns shown below will help illustrate just what different fibers do!  I'll also be signing copies of my Great Yarns books and doing two break-out sessions in the afternoon ("short rows" and "tips and tricks").

Come join Ginny's yarn-along ... and go check out the links to all the lovely ladies who post about what they're reading and working on ... the fiber pictures will have you drooling!
 

Yarn Along: March 2nd edition

Well, since my two-week hiatus from the internet, I've missed a couple of yarn-alongs.  My last one was February 9th ... and I mentioned reading Sweater Quest as I'd heard good things about it.  Don't waste your time -- she's got great info about fair-isle knitting, but it's random and rude, the language is a bit much (she swears alot in her writing!) and she jumps on the "dissing Alice Starmore" bandwagon.  Carmen, you were right ... I guess I should listen to you more, huh?  I hate when books let me down.

At least I was able to post the design for Victoria's Tee that I'd been working on for numerous yarn-alongs during the hiatus!

 This week finds me working away at a Snow on the Mountains vest in cashmere (a commission project).  This raspberry cashmere is almost idential in color to the "Victoria's Tee" ... must be the new popular color. 

The kids and I are reading Eion Colfer's Airman ... now this is a great read!  Set in Ireland in the early 1900s, it's a bit of Man in the Iron Mask but with great early aviation tidbits.  All of us are really enjoying it.  I'm in the middle of Linking Your Beads: the Rosary's History, Mystery and Prayers which is really well-done.  I'm learning tons about the rosary -- something that wasn't taught in my years of Catholic-school education (since I was in school during the post-Vatican 2, enlightened period in San Francisco!).  I'm also working my way through St. Louis Marie deMontfort's Total Consecration so that I can do my consecration to Jesus thru Mary on my wedding anniversary: March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation!).

So how is your knitting and reading week going?  Check out Ginny's yarn-along post and add your own link.  Don't forget to check out all the lovely ladies doing the same ... it's great fun and you'll get great ideas for books to read (or read-aloud!).