Lifestyle Contradictions: Knitting & Thug Life

Due to unforeseen adventures in home ownership, this month's podcast is delayed until next week. However, I do have a brief update on what I'm knitting and reading this week.

Knitting

I've started a new cowl design using yarn from a new indie dyer, KFrankFiberArts, who is Kate of the Kitchen Stitching podcast. Kate kindly sent me a hank of her superwash merino silk sock yarn to use for this pattern in her colorway Linger. I wanted to create a cowl that works well in spring and early summer, and this yarn is the perfect weight! 

I've incorporated a simple cable pattern that reminds me of small tea roses in a loose cowl that'll keep out the last of the spring chill or enthusiastic air conditioning. Tentatively titled "Lingering over Tea", I hope to publish this for Mother's Day and have it ready for test knitters by Easter.

As you can see from the picture above, I'm also back to cross stitching. This design was in the Spring 2016 issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework Magazine. I can't resist a pattern with sheep - they will appear on those hills. I still have to concentrate much more on stitching than I do on knitting so I don't have as much time to stitch, but when I do, I enjoy it so much! I learned when I was a child and forgot how relaxing and rewarding this hobby can be.

Reading

I just started a young adult novel that seems to be everywhere. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas gets its name from the first part of the words that make up the acronym Thug Life. Urban Dictionary explains Thug Life this way:

A word evolved by the late Tupac Shakur. Commonly mistaken for a Criminal. Thug Life is the opposite of someone having all he needs to succeed. Thug life is when you have nothing, and succeed, when you have overcome all obstacles to reach your aim.

I'm about a third of the way in to the book. The main character, Starr, witnesses the police shooting of her childhood friend Khalid. Complicating the issue (and that's a complicated issue), is the fact that Starr attends a predominantly white private school but lives in Garden Heights, a predominantly black neighborhood. She is living the definition of thug life as are her family members.

Add that to the fact that this is the second childhood friend Starr's see die, and you have a very difficult but important read. In just the part I've read, characters keep referring to people becoming hashtags and losing their privacy and individuality in their role as victim. I'm sure we've all read those hashtags; how chilling to read a story that humanizes those victims and the people who love them. You can't scroll by or change the channel while reading this book.

A student of mine just finished this, and when I told her I'd picked it up from the libary this week, she told me I had to read it "right now". While I have yet to finish the book, I have a feeling I'm going to be back telling all of you to go read this "right now" too!

Every Tuesday, I join Nicole at the Keep Calm Craft On link party. Please join us 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!