Yarn Along

This morning I was really excited to write this Yarn Along post, and then I looked at all my knitting-in-progress and realized a lot of it is Christmas knitting and I can't exactly blab about it on my blog.  So.  I looked at my Ravelry projects and realized that I have knitting ADD, with so many unfinished projects.  And then I looked at my queue and realized that it's worse than I thought.  If you're on Ravelry, please friend me so we can have knitting ADD together.  I could always use more knitting friends.  : )

Here's what I'm reading and what I want to cast on as soon as I get help from my husband winding the yarn into a ball:

That's Gift from the Sea and a hank of Knit Picks Stroll Handpainted in colorway Hayride that will soon become Multnomah, a little shawl that I can't wait to wear later this fall.

Gift from the Sea is so relevant and moving because it talks about the unique situation women find themselves in (as compared to men) and all the things that pull us away from our families -- and this was written back in the 1950s.  And she actually said "gadgets" -- did the author know about the iPhone before we did?

Author Anne Morrow Lindbergh also wrote about women's desire to do meaningful work, and by that she meant work that's appreciated by others.  Do our kids appreciate that we've washed and folded their laundry?  Do our husbands care that we've swept the kitchen floor every day this week (and why does it need sweeping so often?)?  Doubtful.  We do these things for our families, but also for ourselves, and in order to get the same satisfaction men might feel when they accomplish great things at work, Lindbergh suggests that women look for other, more outward ways to gain this kind of satisfaction. 

It struck a chord with me, and I agree.  Maybe that's why I started blogging and creating my own knitting patterns.  Even though I have a "real" job, I still feel a pull to do something creative, something just for me that gives me a type of satisfaction that I can't get from the other parts of my life, however much I love those parts and find them satisfying in their own ways.  Lindbergh was a mom and a writer and a pretty awesome woman.  I recommend this read and will soon start reading her other books.

As always, I'm knitting along with Ginny at Small Things. Hopefully by next week I'll have more knitting to share with you.  Until then, knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.  (Can you tell which pattern book I'm using right now?)  : )