I have no idea how it is May already, but it’s time for another Yarn Along, where I join Ginny from Small Things and other knitters and crocheters, and share what we’re reading an creating this month. Join the Yarn Along by clicking below!
If you’re joining me for the first time, welcome! I’m Kat and I blog about knitting, and post my own patterns on my blog and on Ravelry . Check out some of my popular posts, like the Wiser Baby Sun Hat and the story about how I hand-knitted my own wedding dress (There are four posts about my wedding dress – the link is to the first one).
What I’m Reading
The Five Love Languages
For this month, I’m reading a long-overdue book aloud with my husband. The book is called The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts. If you haven’t heard of it, especially if you’re married, I’m surprised. It’s a bit of a classic among relationship books.
My husband’s sister got us this book the Christmas before we got married, so about two and a half years ago! She and her husband had read it together and said it was revolutionary in their already happy marriage. My husband and I read it to each other on and off, maybe a chapter here or there. But by the time we were about a third of the way through, we’d lost steam and forgot about it. Still, neither of us put it away because we still wanted to read it. Fast forward to now, and we’ve decided to have another go. The basic premise is that we all communicate using five different love languages (e.g. spending quality time, giving gifts). For each person, one language is stronger than others. As couples, it is important to know each other’s love language in order to make our spouse feel loved. We are a few chapters in and it is great to have the five love languages as a thinking point when trying to take care of our marriage. There is work involved in being married, even when it’s a happy one. Love is an action, not a feeling.
Finding Sanctuary
The other book I’m reading is called Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life. It is actually the third time I’ve read this book. I first read it as part of a youth group with some friends and their church, three years ago. The author, Christopher Jamison, is a monk and was the Abbot of a Benedictine monastery when he wrote it. My husband and I had the honour of meeting Christopher Jamison in Poland at World Youth Day in 2016. We told him how valuable studying this book was for us.
It isn’t a Christian or religious book specifically, but of course that is the lens through which the author views the world. Its aim is explained in the title: It’s about how to find sanctuary, in your life, through things like silence and simplicity. As a young mum, I often feel run off my feet and lacking in any spiritual oomph. This book I have found is a good way to bring me back down to some serenity when things seem so hectic as my daughter enters her toddler years and I have yet more housework to do. So out it comes again, for a third read-through. Hopefully I can re-learn how to find some sanctuary!
What I’m Knitting
Very excitingly, my husband has two sisters who are expecting babies right now. One of the bubs is due in July, and the other is due in October. Knitting for babies is one of the highlights in my knitting life. As I wrote in my post about knitting for charity, sometimes I knit for babies I don’t even know because I want to make some baby stuff.
I’m working on an original design for the October baby: a pram blanket with a moss stitch border and a stitch pattern which I designed myself, involving bobbles and twisted stitches. As you can see, I’m still only up to the moss stitch edging, but it is really exciting to be making this and if I like the finished product enough, there will be a pattern coming your way!
Peace,
Kat
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