Progress, a book and a little give away

My TDF KAL sweater is cruising along, um after a little un-knitting that is. I'm loving the simple comraderie of being a yellow jersey. Just coasting down those hills with my sweater flapping behind me...weeee.

I am in the lace pattern of the "skirt" of the February Ladies Sweater - and I think I can "read" it now and save myself future mistakes. I am loving this sweater. I am already thinking about buttons - this might be a bit premature. Or not. *giggle*



It's hard to get a flattering picture of my little yarn blob...all of the stitches snuggled on the needles, but the picture gives a general idea. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy in Lagoon - I love it.



After a run of "meh" books I stumbled upon The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle. A boy who is horribly sexually abused by his wealthy, highly sucessful parents - I know, ugh. But the real story is how a woman and her children reach out to this boy as they are flailing around in grief, trying to figure out how to be a family themselves. Instead of burying their heads they embrace this horribly damaged child. I just loved the dynamics of this family, and I would like Sarah (the lead mom) to be my neighbor when the chips are down. I work in corrections, so I think that the sexual abuse angle was interesting to me simply as I see offenders in real life and this book did a terrific job of profiling the behavior. Sex Offenders are often amazingly "well adjusted", and have been the most pro-social criminals I have encountered. They are cunning and use an incredible amount of patience picking out their victims, carefully grooming them - it breaks my heart. I could so go into "too much information" here as I want to crusade against these folks - just know you can never provide your child too much information about protective behavior.

*insert deep breath here*

a little sweet sweater, a little scary pervert-warnings - it's time to get back to some sugar...purplicious sugar.

I just had my 2nd blogiversary and I love to give something away to celebrate with my blogging friends. My latest, favorite find is Mama Blue. Wow, I am so excited by her yarn, the depth of her colorways, the base yarns. I just swapped for a couple of skeins of her Troika Sport - and want to share one with you, I present yummy Trifle. It could make a lovely pair of Rainy Day socks.



I also have found and loved The Plucky Knitter this year - I want to share a little bulky love with you. One skein of Bulky in Shropshire - to make your own Chickadee Cowl perhaps? Like mine.



If you will just drop me a comment, I will pick a couple of winners, let's say I'll do some random generating next Sunday (7-27) by noon. And, as always, thank you for reading, this blog has somehow become "my happy place".