Wednesday's Yarn Along

     I'm trying to focus this week more on knitting and especially reading.  Trying to get away from reading the Washington Post on my tablet.  I usually enjoy going over the news in the morning, a new habit since the Fire tablet came with the Post.  I grew up on the New York Times and that is great reading too and when studying history often it is a primary source.  But if you've read their articles, they are very exacting and lengthy, usually getting to a pithy point pages from the beginning.  Awesome if you want ALL the details, but.  The Washington Post is briefer and more succinct and interspersed, online at least, are plain fun reads.  So I have enjoyed this past couple of months reading and scanning overall what's up.   Not this weekend.  Horrified and also pained I found I kept reading and not letting up.  Meanwhile I had been reading a short story in Wild Stories: The Best of Men's Journal- 2003  called "Alone" by Philip Caputo which is about the author's hike through a vast wilderness as he contemplates about these horrible news articles he just read.  At the end of the trip it comes to him that without nature man gets worse.  So I stopped reading the news as best I could and I've been trying to just read and knit.  Sometimes I cannot do anything but pray and let go.  And Hope.

      This week's knit has been my two TGV (High Speed Knitting) by Susan Ashcroft Shawls in Noro Kirara (the multi-colored one), a DK weight and the purple one (which comes out more blue in the pictures) is  Merino Nylon Superwash, a fingering yarn.  Both are fun, but I'm especially enjoying the one with Noro and the different colors and sizes, it's a constant surprise.  Also the yarn is easier to use for me with a bit of carpal tunnel, sometimes I find the smaller the yarn the more challenging the knit. The fingering yarn for my purple TGV is fun, but I can only knit on it in spurts before my hands go numb.  The thought of getting anything done in that weight is daunting.  That's what holds me up on my sock.  I'll get back to it, maybe just adding a bit a day.  I really want to do socks for Christmas presents.  More on this week's knits- Tuesday's Eclectic Thoughts.  

 Friday Fantasy Knits- Dreaming of Shawlettes

     I found "Alone"  Philip Caputo's inspiring piece helped me this week.  The past two days blogs sum up my feelings the best- Musing Mondays and  Teaser Tuesday.  It encourages re-connecting with the rhythm of nature as filling a part of man that is missing.  "It seems that the more we despoil the land and divorce ourselves from the rhythms, cycles, and beauty of the natural world, the less civilized we become." (p 91) and: " I think we would all benefit if more of us spent more time watching geese instead of television; if more of us devoted time to absorbing the information wild creatures leave instead of filling our brains with the data-bubble on the Internet.  Woods and rivers can teach us lessons about patience and humility, about the interconnectedness of all living things, about discerning what is important and lasting and what is trivial and transient.  Thoreau said that in wilderness lies the salvation of mankind.  John Muir, in one of his essay's on the California Sierras, wrote that each alpine wildflower was 'a mirror reflecting the Creator.' " (p. 92)  I have the feeling that just reconnecting with nature, listening to the sounds of nature, looking at wildlife and the beauty of the outdoors (I have plenty being in Colorado and at the foot of a 14,114 ft mountain) would bring healing to the soul.  I'm looking forward to returning to the Adirondacks in a few weeks.  It's a good place to stop and rest.  To really listen to the birds and the wind in the trees, to really BE.

Today join me in sharing your current read and whatever you are knitting at this moment.  What gives you pause in the maddening rush of life?  What restores your balance?  Gives you peace?  For me knitting and reading is my ultimate escape.  Reading takes me away.  Puts pause to my life.  Stops my thoughts, and somehow helps to re-collect them and see life in a better, calmer way after I shelved whatever difficulty I might of been chewing on away while I read.  Yes, I shelve my thoughts and read my scattered books (instead of thinking on my scattered thoughts).  Knitting in it's magical rhythm soothes my soul.  Both together create a quiet harmony to my life.

Join us at Ginny's "Small Things" blog to share-

"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading and I love sharing my projects and current reads here.  I would love for you to join me every Wednesday to share a single photo of what you are knitting (or crocheting) and reading too! "  Share with Ginny at Small Things.

Finally Toes Up and Enjoying My Porch Reading and Knitting.