~ 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 misty and 41 here in Virginia at 0600. A good time to talk about two of my favorite things: knitting and reading.

As you can see in the picture above, I opted to start a jacket with the Kudo rather than a shawl with the Poems Sock (see last week’s post). Truth be told, I actually started a shawl with the Poems … and ripped and restarted … and ripped and restarted. Then put it aside and wound the Kudo and started this jacket.

The jacket looks a bit odd, doesn’t it? That’s because I’m knitting it sideways … starting at the right front, working the shoulders … than BO for the underarm … than CO for the back … and so on around to the front again. It’s seamless (except for the shoulders) and I’ll do the just-past-elbow sleeves from the shoulder down in-the-round to avoid … yes, seams. I love the way the yarn is coming out. Kudo, a blend of cotton/rayon/silk, knits up nicely on 7s or 8s (I’m using 8s) and blocks beautifully. The eyelet edging I’m knitting as I go will give a lovely scalloped edge to the jacket. And the bonus of knitting on the side: for those of us who are short and dumpy … umm, I mean height-challenged and unskinny … vertical stripes are MUCH more flattering than horizontal!

So there are minuses and pluses to designing. The minuses included starting/frogging, starting/frogging. The pluses? Well, I can turn my knitting on its proverbial ear and make something that is flattering and gorgeous (while also a tad of a challenge). Love, love, love my “job”!

On to the books: still re-reading (and thoroughly enjoying) the doyenne of knitting differently, EZ’s Knitters Almanac. This is a classic packed with monthly projects and knitting philosophy and personal tidbits and pithy comments. If you ever needed license to turn your own knitting every-which-way, EZ is must reading material!

I’m also thoroughly enjoying Shadows on My Heart: The Civil War Diary of Lucy Rebecca Buck of Virginia. Living in the midst of Civil War battlefields … and loving history, especially personal narratives of life … it’s a natural that I’d be pulled toward reading the diaries of those left home while war rages around them. Lucy Buck spent her late-teen/early 20s years on a plantation in Front Royal, VA … an area that changed hands a dozen times during the War. Her diary is an excellent glimpse into the growing despair and ruin caused by this brother-fighting-brother conflict.

The family read-aloud, The Borrowed House, continues to keep us focused on yet another war: Hitler’s invasion of Holland during WWII. We’ve gotten to the part where Janna, the young protagonist, realizes that the State has lied to her and taught her things that just aren’t true … very exciting and a very good way for the kids to “live” life during WWII!

And our final book this week, On this Rock: The Popes and their times, getting us ready to say goodbye to Pope Benedict XVI as he retires tomorrow … and to say hello to his successor. We’ll be doing a unit study on the conclave and selection of a pope. Since mine were 2, 5 and 6 when Pope Benedict was elected (and I was in the midst of miscarrying my last pregnancy), we weren’t real focused on papal-selection. Now that they’re older (and I’m in great health), we can spend a bit of time studying just who the pope is, why and how he leads our Church, who we’ve had in the past and studying who we will have soon. The Chair of St. Peter will be vacant for the time of the conclave, but Christ’s Church will always be there … and the gates of Hell will NEVER prevail.

So what are you reading and knitting? Want to come play with us over at Ginny’s?