Yarn Along: Irony

::the shawl::

I cast on the stitches for this shawl over a period of three very interrupted days last week.  It wasn't particularly challenging, just a lot of stitches and a lot of little people needing things right when I would sit down.  It's the same cotton yarn as the blanket.  I ordered this brick red color first, and then thought it was the wrong red for my sister-in-law.  After texting back and forth with my sister-in-law about it (Bless her!  She assured me that either would be just perfect.), I ordered the brighter red (for the blanket) and decided to use this brick red for a shawl.

It has been such a quick knit, despite the drawn out cast-on, and fairly simple.  I blew through the whole first season of Poldark while I knit the lace chart.  I'm just beginning the short rows, which I find a bit of a challenge.  I can't even count the number of times I've had to re-knit the short row sections of sock heels, and this has ever so many more stitches.  Fingers crossed!

::the book::

I'm taking a brief break from A Dance to the Music of Time to read one of my library holds: The Shallows.  Irony to put it in a blog post? Yes.

 My sister and I have been talking of late about social media and the distractions of the internet.  My husband and I were slow to connect and didn't pay for internet service until 2010, which happens to be the year this book was published; before 2010, my husband had access at work, and I trucked to the library for occasional emailing.  I've been treading a narrow path since we went digital, trying to use the internet as a tool, and keep it from using me!  Most days, I'm not very good at it.  I've found myself retreating from social media from time to time, just to stay focused on the important things right in front of me.  It's a slippery slope: checking a text turns into checking Instagram, a favorite blog, the timing of an expected shipment...twenty minutes later, I ask, "What am I doing again?"  It's humbling and frustrating, and I've no doubt many others have the same struggle.