Sometimes I have to choose.

Reading has always been part of who I am. The public library was a frequent stop in the weeks and months and years that made up my childhood. I can remember my mother chatting away with the ladies at the circulation desk, the epic card catalogs in oak drawers with brass pulls and the reddish orange industrial carpet that was as rough as burlap. The children’s section at that time was tucked back beyond the non fiction section in the grayer corner of the building. Once I started school and the new Primary school in my town was open, the school library was a respite from all day in school. Centrally located and accessible from all hallways and each of the “special” classrooms. It was the highlight of each school day to be able to leave the classroom and travel through the halls to that days Special. ”Specials” were Music, Art, P.E. And Library. Those short class periods where we were away from our desks or tables and ushered into a different world were the highlight of school for me. I loved each special, but could never get enough of the library. The introduction to using the school library was wonderful. We had our own library cards, could select our own books and were frequently read to by the head librarian. The books that were chosen were wonderful accents to what we were learning in the classroom, it was so exciting!! Like the garnish on the school day. Those “garnishes” on the lessons of the classroom taught me how to dive deeper into my passions, to seek out those topics that could serve to teach me even more.

Recently I picked up a copy of Grand Shetland Adventure by Gudrun Johnson and Mary Jane Mucklestone… I was able to get Gudrun to sign my new copy and pose for a pic at the recent Wayland Farm Fiber Market!

Diving deeper into reading about Knitting has recently helped me clean up my sleep routine. Creating discipline about sleep has been hard, and trying to clean out the noise of the surround world that ends up in our social media feeds has been frustrating. Putting my phone away, and tucking in with a book about knitting has given me so much space to think. What do I want to know more about? What do I want to be knitting? What do I want to be designing? What gives me a spark of excitement? These questions have all been front of mind as I distill where I want to be and what I want to do with my knitting. Taking a more scholarly approach to learning about regional knitting styles and identifying how those carry into the modern practice of knitting is illuminating for me on this quest for personal development.

What about you? I would love to hear what you have been reading, or what you have been knitting!