yarn along: september jumble

Something about the school year puts my thoughts and plans all in a jumble.  We're knee-deep into our third full week of school, and our co-op starts Thursday.  I like to layer my beginnings: first school, then co-op, then after school activities.  We have about a week to adjust to each one before the next starts.  Keeping track of things happening in the margins has challenged me. (But the important things have all their i's dotted and t's crossed!) Most of the reading I'm doing is preparation for lessons, but I'm still making time to read for my very own self.

I devoured the first four Mitford books then forced myself to stop getting them from the library!  I know I have a problem when people keep asking me for clean clothes and the kitchen table regularly has crumbs all over it.  I read Freckles, Anne of Windy Poplars, and Anne's House of Dreams this month, too.  My oldest son is reading Freckles this fall for school, so my own re-read was in order!  It was better than I remembered.   My mom attended a lecture by Leonard Sax, and sent me a copy of The Collapse of Parenting; I read that quickly, too.  Storm in the Village is my current "light" read.

I'm plodding through Small is Still Beautiful, which has challenged me to think more about my role in the economy, owning less, and being more intentional about the things we do purchase.  That very train of thought made me pause today before following through with that Zoodle maker purchase.

Projects are in a jumble, too, and they seem to be crawling along.  The Chauncey sweater gave me some real trouble after I finished the colorwork on the yoke.  I'm too tired to remember what all it involved--but I ripped out the short rows three times.  I blocked it on the needles to check the fit, and had to adjust the bust a bit.  It's going to be a light-weight layer, best for the fall and spring.  I'm still on the fence about the Tosh Merino Light.  It's lovely yarn, but I think it's going to pill something terrible, and the elbows won't last long.  There are several other sweaters I'd like to knit for myself, so I'm pushing to finish so I can move down my list.

Little M is going to get a new sweater this fall, too.  It's a favorite pattern, the third I've made.  The yarn is some of this, in the colorway blossom heather, which a friend gave me.  Little M loves pink!

I just cast on the second sock in a brightly striped pair out of the leftovers from a present I sent to my sister-in-law.  The yarn is Euro sock in the colorways random number generator and button jar blue.

Now, if the weather would get cooler, we could enjoy our new woolens!