~ 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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Well, welcome to April! A month from now, we’ll be heading to Florida to see daughter Kotch graduate from Ave Maria University … seems like just a year ago we were driving carpool for her senior year at Seton!

We’re on Spring Break this week — which means dh is home and we’re doing house-projects (including making a room out of the screened-in porch so I have a place for, as dh puts it, “all your knitting stuff”!) and playing a bit. We prefer to do “staycations” over the week so we can get to (mostly) daily Mass since as Catholics we see the whole week as EASTER – a day so momentous in human history that it fills seven days.

But none of this has stopped me from knitting … as you can see I finished the Poems Sock shawl; I’ve decided to call it Flight Formation (the simple lace pattern looks like a bird in flight). This pattern will be included in the goodie bag for the DHY knitting workshop; and then I’ll post the pattern for sale on Ravelry after that date (4/20/13). It’s a simple pattern with unique construction … in a glorious colorway!

I’m also just about finished with the shawl I’m making in the Wolle’s Yarn Creations … I showed you a teaser last week. This one is a half-circle shawl and I’m just finishing up the garter edge. This is a tad more intricate — with four different lace patterns integrated into the overall colorway of dusty pink-to-darkgreen (a colorway that the Wolle’s owner calls “Magnolia”).

As far as the book-strewing teaser in the title of this yarn-along …
I have found a treasure-trove for my family. Seems that Dorling-Kindersley (a publisher whose books I almost always really, really like — I’ve recently mentioned their Classic Knits and they also have a Crafts book out … fabulous!) has joined with the Smithsonian to create some image-dense, informative books that are the best I’ve seen. The Natural History one (which somehow leaped into my Amazon cart and arrived yesterday!) is perfect for leaving on the coffee table … and having the kids learn all kinds of cool facts about … well …natural history! From plants to penguins … monkeys to moths … it’s all in here and they are having such fun with it! Pure strewing at it’s finest — btw, “strewing” is an unschoolers term for leaving learning materials out and standing back, allowing your kids to immerse themselves at will.

The other absolutely fabulous strewing book … for inspiration for me! … is the DK/Smithsonian book on Fashion. This book, subtitled the “definitive history” is all it’s cracked up to be! Starting with Ancient Egypt and bringing the reader into the 21st century, this book has great, detailed images and detailed text that covers the Western world’s desire to clothe and ornament our bodies. This is a great reference and fascinating history of fashion. Another book I just picked up from the library — one to read not just poke into and strew — is by Tim Gunn and titled Tim Gunn’s Fashion Bible which is a fascinating (and humorously well-written book) about why we wear what we wear and why we should or shouldn’t. A perfect complement to my delving into the world of fashion classics for knit-wear design!

So what’s on your needles and reading table … won’t you come play over at Ginny’s?