"We are all wanderers on this earth...our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams." ~ Gypsy proverb

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Yarn Along ~ A Time and a Place

Please don't forget to enter my giveaway !!  Drawing will be next Tuesday, March 1st as a way to welcome spring and invite renewal!!

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Joining Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along:
"~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ... ~"

Not much has changed since last week, other than my growing "boyfriend hat" and my mounting obsession with growing our own food.  I am still reading through Reader's Digest Back to Basics, savoring graciously all the wonderful how-to's it shares.  Timely, though unplanned, I also started listening to Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle this week.  What a wonderful yet tormenting education I am getting on our current food and farming culture.  This book does inspire and give me hope :).  Delightfully, I have also found her Vegetannual on her website.



It's such a great reminder that there is a time and a place for everything, that every plant is a miracle, and that there is purpose to when everything blooms and flourishes (not unlike our soul-full selves).  I can personally attest to how removed from this I had become as a suburban, city girl with our convenient grocery stores (this, too, is changing--more on that later).  Change is such a good thing, a natural thing, as spring reminds me every year...

Happy yarning, reading, and garden planning everyone!!

26 comments:

  1. Oh, I like the boyfriend hat! I have been looking for a hat for my husband. We too are beginning to dream about spring gardens. I girl can only take so much winter!!

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  2. I have read and love the book, but have never been to the website. We grow most of our own food. I like not having to depend on someone else to supply our food. Now if I could just find a cow to milk in this state!
    Warmly,
    Tracey

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  3. I love that vetegannual. What a great illustration of the bounty of the garden.
    The hat looks cozy too!

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  4. Back to Basics is one of my favorite books. We've had gardens for the past 33 years and last year was the first without one and never again! We love growing our own veggies and the entire process makes me so appreciative of the work we put into it.
    I love the yarn for the hat.

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  5. Hoping to re-read that book again soon--hadn't seen the Vegetannual before--love it! Great color for the hat!

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  6. I love Animal Vegetable Miracle, it really speaks to how you can really live locally. Thanks for visiting our space! We love comments too.

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  7. I am going to make that hat!! Love it!

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  8. I hope you do well with your gardening this year.

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  9. Cassie over at the Vegan Fox will be doing a seed swap in March...

    Your hat looks awesome!

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  10. I love Back to Basics! Keep your needles clicking!

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  11. You are conquering that hat!! It looks so great - I may have to add one of those to an empty wip bag...
    So glad you are enjoying the book! I have to do some laundry today so I can fold and listen - I still haven't made it through!

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  12. What a neat way of "seeing" the seasonality of veggies. I took that book out from the library but I never did finish it. You're inspiring me to give it another go.

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  13. The "boyfriend hat" is coming on beautifully, can't wait to see it finished!
    I'm starting to plan our garden now too. I really can't wait for some warm sunshine so I can get outside and get stuck in :)

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  14. Love the hat and growing your own food. :) We have a big garden but haven't managed to provide more than summer goodness. We can the fruit from our trees...but last year our garden was a dismal failure (not sure why). It's time to plan isn't it!? : )

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  15. That Reader's Digest Back to Basics brings back memories for me! My husband and I used to peruse that eagerly when we were still town dwellers in the desert (Tucson, AZ). Gave us the longing for a farm, which we now have...

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  16. spring is coming!!!!..or not... it's supposed to get even colder here :P

    thanks for the inspiration! that might be the right pattern for my first knitted hat :)

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  17. The hat is great! And the reading you're doing is very interesting. I like that diagram you posted about how everything has a season for growth. Very good to think about, especially in our culture that demands everything now!

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  18. Awesome poster! Wish they had one for the tropics though. It's all backwards here, the community garden in Key West is only open Oct - May!

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  19. wow, looks like some great stuff going on there. I am still crocheting Aiyana's blanket, it's very slow going, mostly because I keep forgetting/not bothering/ doing other stuff in the evenings, but slowly slowly and probably in time for next winter (!) we'll get there.

    I always try to buy in season and rotate our menus, but I'm not much of a gardener - I just really don't fancy it - I guess at the moment with the house, the children and my own life and writing, I just don't feel that drawn to doing more work, and M is not remotely interested. We used to be part of a local co-op who grew everything they sold just down the road and it was all organic, and I loved getting our groceries from them, but sadly they went out of business during the recession. Our village is starting a community farm though, so I am hopeful that we can get involved with that and get some connection to our food without actually committing to growing our own. I'll keep following your progress though, maybe you'll convert me!

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  20. I think you should totally grow your own food MJ.. Once you embrace something, you master it so well. Even if you relocate, you will have the time to have one good, successful harvest. All the trial and error will help you to get better and better as the seasons pass. It's so fun and therapeutic. Do it!! Dare Ya!!

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  21. I've been meaning to ask you... How do you find the time to get in so much reading? I SO miss curling up to a good book. By the time Kai-cun is in bed, I'm so tired... How do you do it?

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  22. LOL! You crack me up :). Lately I've been listening to Audiobooks--love them! Other books I carry with me everywhere or leave them open on a table so I can sneak a page or two if I actually get to sit!

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  23. the boyfriend hat is on my to-make list. yours looks great!

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  24. i love the books... haven't been finding much knitting time lately but i miss it so i find that i end up vicariously living through blog friends who knit lol. i am probably the biggest kingsolver fan on the planet, and consider her animal vegetable miracle no less than a life changing read. :) it was for me and has been for quite a few others i know. and i adore the vegetannual!!! thanks for stopping by, btw. :)

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  25. Hi MJ :) I can't wait to read the animal vegetable mircale. It's on my requested list at the library but I'm still waiting :) I've been planning my garden to and trying to increase the amount that we're growing this year so that I can put up more in the pantry and freezer. I'm going to have to check out the vegetannual. That sounds very neat :) Glad you liked the snake I just knit to :) Happy knitting on your hat!

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  26. Oh, yes, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle was a life-changing book for me!

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“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
~ George Bernard Shaw