yarn along: july 2019

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately (more about that in another post), but I'm still managing to find time to work on two knitting projects.  Both are gifts, so I'm just going to give the tiniest hint here.  I am really enjoying the yarn I chose, and I'm fairly certain I have enough.  It looks like the pearly mussel colorway is completely sold out!  The pattern is one that I've used before and really enjoyed.  In fact, I have two more lined up--for one of my children and myself.  The other gift is the same pair of socks I've been working on since April.  I knit a row here and there, when busy with something else.  I'm making progress, though!  One sock is complete and the other just needs a few more rows on the legs.

I've been doing quite a lot of reading, too.  This stack is missing a few books, but I can't remember which ones they are!  Parents and Children has been in my stack for months.  I've just got a few more chapters until I'm finished.  It's one of the books that accompanies me to the boys' swim practice every morning. While I wait for the boys I have an hour and a half of uninterrupted reading time, which is used to the fullest.   In my swim basket, too, are The Lost Arts of Modern Civilization and The Owl, the Raven, and the Dove.  Both were given to me by my homeschooling mentor, who enjoys passing on books every time she visits.  Having a book or two that requires more mental effort has stimulated my sleepy brain cells!  The Lost Arts has been a really quick read, and I find myself nodding along as I turn the pages.

There's some pleasure reading in that stack, too!  I started Swallows and Amazons several years ago, and set it aside; I just couldn't get into it. This summer, though, I devoured the first and ordered the next two!  I like Swallowdale even more than Swallows and Amazons.  I've read Anne of Green Gables so many times I've lost count, but I've not read the other books in the series nearly as often, except (maybe) for Rilla of Ingleside.  Z lent me her copy of Anne of Avonlea, and has promised to let me raid her bookshelves for the other volumes.  I'm looking forward to revisiting Prince Edward Island this summer, although it's only through the pages of a book. (Z has been bemoaning the L.M. Montgomery covers that were around in the '80s.  You know, the ones with the painting of the heroine, with the love interest in the background?  They're my favorite!  Such nostalgia!)

edited: I just remembered Quo Vadis is in that stack!  I have been listening to it on the Audible app for the second time--the first time I read it was as an Orhodox Christian seeker, while I was dating my future husband.  It meant so much more to me at that time, but revisiting has been full of delight, too.

Joining Ginny...