~ 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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We’re already passed the middle of August — how the heck did that happen?

Here’s my yarn-along post this week (sorry, I missed last week as we were in “hell week” for Oklahoma and I barely had time to sit let alone knit!):

On my knitting needles: Last week, I found out a dear friend in Austria just had her first baby: TWINS! A beautiful girl named Johanna and a handsome boy named Maximillian. So I of course had to drop all knitting projects and make something for these adorable bundles of energy. The sweater/jacket above is a just-about-finished hoodie for Johanna. It’s got a wide skirt on the body (here’s a close-up of the lace hem — it will definitely need a bit of blocking to really show-off the hem), a yoked top with buttons to make easy to get on/off, and I’ve just started the hood. The benefit to knitting in the round — especially if you’re also doing the sleeves and yoke in the round, is that the only seaming to be done is at the underarms. Plans are to make Maximillian a “matching” hoodie by using the blue in the variegated, doing a straighter body shape, adding the matching yoke and then a hood in the blue. Stunning, eh? BTW, the yarn is Plymouth Galway … a 100% worsted-weight wool that is wonderful to knit. I should have both done by yarn-along next week!

On my reading table: for my personal reading I just finished the rather interesting/eye-opening Deconstructing Obama by Jack Cashill. I’ll be doing a full review of the book later today (here’s the post) — but suffice to say that everyone of voting age should read this book before pushing the ballot plunger in Nov 2012! The other book, which I just started last night, is all about the good, the true and the beautiful to be found in the family … and how families can live a faith-filled life in today’s world. The School of the Family: A Renaissance of Catholic Formation is a beautiful book by homeschooled (and now, homeschooling) mom, Chantal Howard, the sister-in-law to world-champion skier, Rebecca Dussault. The school of the family is a key term for Howard and her book reveals this truth from the first few pages!

Now on to the “boys” mentioned in the title of this post: as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m going to be leading a group of 7-11 year old boys in a Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Boys’ Club. We’ll be learning a variety of skills, talking about being boys, and generally enjoying being together. Topics for the club will include skills in sewing, camp-cooking, knots and knives, orienteering (pre-GPS), and nature studies. I’ve pulled books from Hambone’s shelves to help with planning out this club:
a 1965 Boy Scout handbook
The American Boy’s Handy Book
The Field and Forest Handy Book
The Little Book of Whittling
The Dangerous Book for Boys
Backyard Ballistics
The Big Book of Whittling and Woodcarving
and (not pictured but included in the planning) Tin Cups and Tinder.

These books all have skills and boy-stuff that is so fun and good for the kids … no electronics and automation … focus on the outdoors … working together to a good-end. Cool, huh? I’ll be doing this club “cold” (in that I’m making up the club’s activities as I go); please let me know if you’d be interested in hearing more about our activities as we go along.

So … won’t you join us on the yarn-along?