Clacking Needles, Turning Pages

March came in like a bawling lamb, as it is still cold but the sun shines a little each day. Actually, yesterday was quite sunny, and today promises a sun-filled sky. The nights are chilly though. After two hours of furance heating, my desk top is still just now reaching 68 degrees from starting at 64! But I can handle that if the sun shines!

Usually by now, my knitting needles are put away for winter. This year’s projects were numerous cowls made in several different yarns. A few were made in Lion Brand’s new yarn, Amazing, a variegated wool. I am not fond of using wool, but this one was quite nice, and I will have to admit very warm to wear this last cold winter! I plan to make more. In fact, I have a closet full of yarn, but I am not getting things done this year for some reason. Too much reading and writing instead…not enough hours in the day, even cold days!

I am wondering, are any readers involved in making prayer shawls or knitting for charities? There are so many good causes that take donations of knitted hats, shawls, cancer caps, baby blankets, gloves for soldiers in service, and hats for workers in fishing fleets. Please tell me about your knitted or crocheted projects for service organizations.

DH has made me several shawl pins which I love. Nice on winter shawls, they also work well on these open weave spring scarves. He has sold a few pins, although it is hard for me to part with any that are my favorites. He has made them in oak, cherry, walnut, and hedge taken from the family farm. This winter’s Lion Brand catalog showed a new design of shawl pin that I got him to try. With a matching “latch”, I think it turned out well.

But there will be no knitting today as it is Toter (Terrific Old Teachers Enjoy Reading) Book Club day. We will discuss Livability, a collection of short stories by Jon Raymond. It was a pleasant but not outstanding read. We will also begin the process of choosing next year’s book list. There are so many books, and we are always frustrated that we can only handle one title a month!