Lace Shawls, Finding Happiness, and a Return to Oz

With school fast approaching, my crafting and reading time is shrinking. I also admit to a preference for cross stitch a few days a week that takes away from knitting, but variety is the spice of crafting!

In a few marathon sessions (and a lot of podcasts), I finished Grandma's Flower Garden shawl in the colorway "Pretty Little Zombies" by Lolodidit. Perfect yarn for this pattern! This is the second in a series of patterns by Clothesline designs inspired by the designer's grandparents. (The first is Grandpa's Veggie Garden.)

Summer's the only time I can read 2 books at once. I usually read nonfiction in the morning with my coffee and breakfast, then fiction in the afternoon, and mix it up in the evenings. Morning reading time disappears once school starts. I used to get up early to read, but the last few years, I've traded that time for sleep. I would like to continue my nonfiction reading though.

I'm almost finished with The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and Yellow Brick War by Danielle Paige.

I found Rubin's book at a used bookstore in Asbury Park after a wonderful brunch organized around American Girls by Nancy Jo Sales (discussed at length in this podcast). An odd choice to follow 7 - the author lives a comfortable life in NYC with her husband and 2 children, what's not to be happy? - but now that I'm almost finished, I'm really glad I took the chance and bought it. 7 is all about making big changes, Happiness is all about making mindful small changes. As someone not in a position for big change at the moment, the latter book made more sense for me. I even made a bulletin board in my classroom based on one of the ideas in the book! (Photo next blog post.)

Yellow Brick War is the third book in the Dorothy Must Die series, and if you are a Wizard of Oz fan, you will love it! It turns out Dorothy returned to Oz and became a fascist dictator. The Lion, the TinMan, and the Scarecrow are all evil too (beware that Tin Man), and it's up to Amy Gunn, awkward outcast from modern day Kansas and tornado survivor to kill Dorothy.

It's even more awesome than it sounds.

Today, I'm linking up with Nicole and Keep Calm Craft On.  On Wednesdays, I participate in the Yarn Along on Ginny Sheller's blog.  Please join us either by contributing a link to your fibery work in progress and current read and / or by checking out the posts to the link parties.  You may find your next book or project waiting for you!