~ 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 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 at small things

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Good morning! It’s a rainy 54 right now (0723) with a high forecast of 66. I do believe we’re finally getting some fall weather! This is the kind of day where I just want to cuddle my kids on the couch and read … knit … bake treats … and enjoy being inside. One of the great things about homeschooling is you can take advantage of days like today … and do just what we love to do.

We just started a quick read-aloud: The Castle in the Attic … which is a fun read (altho my kids think the 10 yo boy in the story is a bit of a brat … we’ll see). Seems William is gifted a castle and Sir Simon, an inch-high knight … who takes William on an adventure he’ll never forget. Perfect book to read today!

I’m always on the look-out for better ways to market my hand-knit design work … so when I saw the two Pinterest books, I was immediately intrigued. Teach Yourself Visually: Pinterest is a great resource for learning all the bells and whistles and fun you can have on Pinterest. It talks about navigating Pinterest, maximizing your “pins” and boards to ensure you tell the story you want, and really making Pinterest a valuable online resource .. whether you want to promote a business or just remember something you’ve seen online! The second book, The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business, is wonderful — packed with great ideas and tips focused on making your business presence known among the millions of others out there. Pinterest, I’m learning, is so much more than an automated bulletin board system; the site is growing by leaps and bounds and, used properly, should really help get my designs “out there”.

Since it is getting chilly, I’ve gotten out one of my favorite books for quick knits … but with a bit of style! Ultimate Mittens by Robin Hansen is just a fun book to look thru — she has every type of mitten, glove, fingerless mitt with great directions on how to make them … and how to make them your own. She talks about felting and colorwork and textures and thrummed mittens. Thrummed mittens are my goal for this winter — where you take bits of roving and incorporate them into the design of the mitten (while adding an extra layer of insulation to the inside! Cool, huh?

As far as what’s on my needles right now: a cloud of cashmere coziness! I’m making a circle shawl (or lapblanket) in 3-ply, 100% cashmere in natural white. It is gorgeous and so amazing to knit. I’m just about done … which is good as I’m getting ready to enter the NaKniSweMo, a Ravelry competition akin to the NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month), where you have to knit 50,000 stitches on a sweater (or other garment). This is actually easier than it sounds as most sweaters for adults, done in worsted or lighter, are going to have at least that many stitches. My idea is to make a hooded, pullover cable-knitted sweater. Fun, right?

Since last week’s Yarn-along, I was able to finish a set of cashmere beaded necklaces to bring to the workshop I moderated this past weekend. The workshop was all about wrap shapings, but I did also want to show the ladies what could be made with just a bit of cashmere (each necklace takes approx 20yds … so you could make TEN with one skein).

. We’ll be making these at the Spring Cashmere workshop (March 21-22), which will be aimed at new or tentative knitters to show them the wonderful fiberiness of knitting with cashmere!

Here’s a picture, from the “classroom” at Spring Gate last Saturday morning … frost on the ground and the 2yo bucks grazing the hill just as the sun was coming up over the hilltop:

Oh, and if y’all could send happy thoughts my way … I just sent off a design/article proposal to a magazine where I’d love to be published. I’d really love to see my idea in print so any prayers you could send up would be most appreciated …

Hugs and prayers and fibery-goodness to one and all ….