It appears I have a case of knitting insanity as I contemplate my current knitting plans and deadlines. A sweater for big sister (my Winnie Cooper) for the birthday at the end of this month – not likely going to happen. A sweater for littlest sister for her birthday near the end of July – slightly more realistic. Knits, knits and more knits for babe due in August – these may have a chance seeing as they are teeny, fun and a break from the sweaters. And, since that hardly seems enough to keep me going through an already busy summer, I decided to join this KAL (anyone spot the inspiration for my knitting bag?) to knit a cardigan for myself.

Happily, while I’d love to see these deadlines met, they are very loose deadlines. At this point is still seems like a fun idea but if it stops being fun I’ll be shelving some of my knitting aspirations until a later date.

I’m most nervous about knitting for myself. I love cardigans and am always pulling on the cheap acrylic versions I have. Knitting one for myself is quite a thrilling proposition. I’ve bought the pattern and enough Cascade Eco+ for a sweater and then some. The pattern is going to need some tweaking as the wool is quite a bit heavier than the yarn the pattern suggests. Not sure I have the skills for that much tweaking but it will be a learning experience if nothing else…and I may be asking lots of advice in this space next week!

Just have to mention that I took this picture at 9:50pm. I love the long days we get at this time of year – they almost make up for our short winter days.

With all the knitting to be done (and a little touch of sewing fever) I haven’t done much reading this week. I’m still enjoying The Distant Hours – a few pages at a time. I also have a stack of library books that I’ve been perusing – The Tassajara Cookbook, Good to the Grain and Little Things to Sew. I don’t feel as though I’ve had nearly enough time with any of these titles but they’ll need to be returned before we leave on vacation later this week. Back on to the hold list I’ll go and maybe have a chance to offer my thoughts on their merits after more than a cursory glance.

I’m looking forward to wandering around the other yarn along posts – and in the meantime I’d better get knitting!

Hope you all find a chance to indulge in something you love today – be it knitting, reading or something entirely different. Thanks for stopping by!

I’m joining Ginny’s yarn along again today sharing two of my passions: knitting and reading.

I’ve been moving rather slower this past week with some extra pregnancy pains but unfortunately the extra rest has had me laying down – at not quite the right height for knitting or reading. Despite that I’ve been searching out chances to grab my knitting bag and current read for a few minutes. I’ve got quite the little station set up on the corner of the couch…knitting bags, a basket of skeins due for the yarn winder, my book, laptop and mason jar of red raspberry leaf iced tea.

I’m almost done the second arm on my elephant. He is looking quite sweet – I can’t wait to get those giant ears on! I’m hoping to get him finished off and in the mail before we leave for vacation next week. I’ve been slacking a bit and had abandoned him in favour of the current birthday sweater. The Wonder Years sweater, which thanks to Jen I’ve name Winnie Cooper, is well under way – I’m about to divide for the underarms. With the birthday only a few weeks away and a load of stockinette ahead I’m hoping I can get it finished in time. I suspect I’m going to need to spend a little time with a few teeny baby knits by way of relief from the same stitches.

Speaking of teeny baby knits, I whipped up a tiny baby hat over the weekend using some beautiful alpaca I received in a most thoughtful gift from Taryn. The alpaca was a dream to knit with and I love the delicate honeydew green. I have a teeny bit of the alpaca left which I’m hoping to pair with a creamy alpaca I have to make a pair of baby socks…I just have to get brave about converting a pattern to work for the bulky weight wool.

On the book front I’m still enjoying The Distant Hours – taking my sweet time and enjoying it rather more slowly than some of my last reads. I don’t think I enjoy it as much as I enjoyed The Forgotten Garden – it had a more magical feel than this current read – although there is plenty of book left to tweak my interest.

I’m looking to gather a few books to take along on vacation with us – anyone have any must read books to recommend? Keeping in mind that I’m a somewhat fragile pregnant lady so I need gentle reads…

I’m looking forward to seeing what else is on the go from other yarn alongers. If you’d like to take a peek, too, visit Ginny at Small Things.

Thanks for visiting!

I just grabbed the last of the evening light to capture this week’s picture for yarn along with Ginny. Sharing what I’ve been knitting and reading during the week is great motivation to keep me making time for these favourite hobbies.

I’ve been trading off on working on my elephant for the little boy who arrived a couple weeks ago. I finally got some bamboo needles which made a huge difference in my level of frustration. I also started on one of the sweaters I mentioned last week – the Wonder Years sweater for my daughter’s upcoming birthday. She chose the colours and spied me trying to work on it covertly this week – she feigned ignorance in her sweet way but I think she approved. I so enjoyed switching from the smaller work of the knitted toy to the sweater – and now I am ready to switch back to the elephant for another change of pace.

My most exciting knitting news, though, is the splurge I made this week. After the comments many of your offered last week I decided to treat myself to the Royal ball winder. I was happy to find it locally so I could get to winding right away. And I must admit, winding yarn cakes is sooo much fun. Everyone got in on it and all the kids had to have a few turns. I had been thinking about it for so long and now I have one just in time for the sweaters on my to-knit list.

I’ve still been reading The Distant Hours and although I haven’t made much progress I’m quite intrigued. I’ve also been peeking through Patchwork Style. I got brave and cut strips for a small person’s quilt and am looking at construction advice. There are so many great patterns in this book – I love patchwork.

Thanks for stopping by! For more yarn along posts visit here.

Another Wednesday, another yarn along…and perhaps a little disappointment that I haven’t been the most diligent knitter.

I’m still working away on my little green elephant. I have to admit I haven’t picked this guy up quite often enough this past week. My first excuse was the metal needles that were turning my left hand into a claw but then I got totally hooked by my last read and my knitting was abandoned for a few days.

Now I’m ready to start on his legs while dreaming of the next little people sweaters on my list. I suggested this and this to my oldest daughter who promptly rejected both but decided she loves the stripes in this sweater. I have Cascade 220 in a darker blue for her sweater. I’m also dreaming of little cardigans for my nearly four-year-old yellow-loving princess – perhaps this Elsie cardigan or finally a tiny tea leaves? Is it coincidence that both of these cardigans are shown in yellow?

I love to make unrealistic knitting goals for myself…Two sweaters for the two birthdays in the next two months…while my head is already swimming with yummy newborn knits? Er…This pregnancy has been demanding more resting time so I guess I should get busy on that knitting resting.

As for the read that tore me away from knitting this week…The Forgotten Garden. I loved it! I am a mystery lover but I’m also a huge wimp so I rarely venture into anything more modern than my classic favourites, The Woman in White and The Moonstone but this book was perfect for me. It pulled me in, I was intrigued and entertained and I could still sleep afterwards! Now I’ve started on to another book by the same author, Kate Morton, The Distant Hours. I’m not sure what to expect from this one but I’m hopeful it will be another great read. I’ve also started The Friday Night Knitting Club. I’m trying to pace myself with both of these – if I get to absorbed in a book I can’t seem to do anything until I’ve finished it (ahem, The Forgotten Garden).

I also wanted to show the books that the kids have been choosing for bedtime reading lately. As I mentioned in this previous post, we love the Rupert Annuals. The older girls adore these stories, as do I, so we’re keeping our eyes peeled during our thrifting trips for other copies. Liam has been choosing, Mr. Meddle’s Muddles, an Enid Blyton book I hadn’t seen before. The stories are so charming – sort of reminiscent of Amelia Bedelia. The older girls don’t always share Liam’s choice of book but they gravitate around when this one comes out.

Thanks for all the input on last week’s post. I was impressed to hear of the many varied preferences in knitting needles. This week I’m on the hunt for a ball winder. I have wool for my upcoming projects but winding centre-pull balls on a wooden spoon is getting old fast – I’m losing so much knitting time! I’m curious how other knitter’s deal with their skeins. Can any of you suggest a ball winder that you think is fantastic?

I’m holding my breath to see if Ginny will be posting her yarn along this week…wondering if her babe has arrived yet! Either way I’m always happy to share the knitting and book joy we’ve been getting into – and see what others have been getting into as well.

Happy Wednesday!

Joining with Ginny for another week’s yarn along!

With all the excitement of our book sale finds there has been more time spent reading than knitting over the last few days. Even so, I’ve been making some progress on the elephant I’m knitting for a friend’s babe with this wool along with a newborn hat in this beautiful sock yarn (my specific colour has been discontinued). Both projects required the same size needle so I got a head start on the hat before making a special trip out for a circular needle to use instead. Oh boy, how I prefer bamboo needles to metal…my fingers, shoulders and head all sighed when I traded the metal dpns(double pointed needles) out for the bamboo circular. I’m thinking there will be a second trip out to replace the metal dpns with bamboo before I get too much further on the elephant. My fingers, hands and wrists get rather sore from the extra work of holding on to metal needles. I have mostly bamboo already but not in this small size.

I am most excited to share about our reading this week. I’ve been enjoying The Forgotten Garden on loan from a sweet friend (whose books are all in pristine condition giving me just a little stress at bringing some of them into this house with many curious hands…). I haven’t gotten far but I’m intrigued and enjoying the pace. I have heard warnings that it gets rather slower towards the middle but, to be honest, my favourite books are slow-paced classics so I don’t know if I’ll mind.

The other books shown are book sale finds that had been whisked away to little beds before I managed to snap pics for my previous post. I found a copy of one of the Rupert Annuals for a little friend across the country – the Rupert loving children of this home are making sure we’ve read through it before sending it off. Have you seen these books before? They are so great – we’re very happy this little friend’s mama introduced us to them!

I also found an unabridged, lap-size copy of Swiss Family Robinson. The copy is one in a series (!!) of classics (I missed out on nabbing the copy of Robin Hood). It is illustrated with encyclopaedic-type entries in the margins relevant to the story – info on whelks, mutton and beaver rats for example, along with vocabulary definitions. I love it!

And the last set of books which have seen near constant attention over the last few days are the BOB books I also picked up. Liam has been scream reading them at every opportunity. I’m not sure why his out-loud reading comes out quite so loud but his confidence sure has been boosted to discover he can read “real” books. I love watching children learn to read and enjoy reading! So, so wonderful!

Since I like to leave you with a question I’m curious after my rant about the metal needles what type of needles other knitters prefer to use. Are you firmly attached your bamboo, metal or plastic needles? Or do you use an assortment of different types?

Thanks for coming by! As always it will be nice to wander around other yarn along posts for some knitty and reading inspiration.