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I am back to reading the Newbery books.  I’d read 1922 – 1931 with the exception of just a couple over the summer.  Then school started and I didn’t have much time for reading anymore.

I have a new plan though.  I have printed out a pdf of all the award winners from the beginning to the present.  Instead of going through year by year though, this time I am going to pick and choose until I hopefully have them all read.  I also am looking for books that I can check out for my kindle from the library.  I still don’t have a ton of reading time, so I am not wanting to interlibrary loan too many right now.  I will feel too much pressure to get to them.   And I don’t want to feel pressure.  For that reason, if I start a book and it’s just not my kind of book or I really don’t like it, I can stop reading it.  I won’t march through just for the sake of reading it.  This happened to me several times in the books of the 1920s.  There were some beautiful and great books, but there were some really dry ones too that I just didn’t get into.  I said good-bye to those.

It’s very satisfying to check books off a list as I read them.  As I look at the list though, I am thinking using a highlighter might even be more satisfying.

I just started the 1998 Newbery Medal winner Out of the Dust.  It is written in free verse, and it’s just a beautifully written story about the Dust Bowl.  The story is very historically accurate (at least based on what I have read about the Dust Bowl).  It’s so interesting and so darn sad.  At first, I thought I’d like to read this with Davey, but about 1/3 into the book, I have changed my mind on that.  At least not until he gets a little older.  It’s really bleak, but this was quite a bleak time.

It’s amazing what I have learned and experienced so far reading these Newbery books, and I’ve only really just begun.

I haven’t had a chance to write in almost three months.  I started student teaching, and it’s been a busy time.  It’s been a really good busy time though.

Today I am sitting outside enjoying the fall afternoon.  Ellensburg is just incredible in the fall.  It’s my favorite season even though it does mean winter will be here soon, and that’s not my favorite.   So we’ve been getting outside as much as possible.

I’ve not been knitting or writing about knitting as much as I’d like either.  However, I did finish some really cool socks just in time for the fair in Septembe.  They were a request from my cousin and they were just a lot of fun to make.

The pattern is called Anelmaiset, and it’s so versatile.  I was able to make this from my yarn stash which admittedly has gotten a little big so I had some choices.  I used worsted weight yarn, and I had a great time trying to figure out what colors to use.  I really like colorwork, and these knit up pretty fast considering that they are knee socks!

I got to experience a new stitch which I think is just called “flowers in a row”.  I had to follow a video on youtube to do the stitch, and I had to watch it really closely.  It was a little tricky for me at first, but fun to learn a new stitch.   I think the video I referred to was: Flowers in a Row.  You can kinda see the stitch in this picture.  It’s the flowery section between the two sections of bright pink.

I wasn’t sure about the ribbon, but I am glad I made the spaces for a ribbon to be threaded through because I think this could be very helpful on a knee sock.  No one likes a saggy knee sock.

These would definitely be fun to make again, but for now I need to finish some really cool cabled Christmas stockings for a friend.  The 4th one is almost complete, and then I am looking forward to blogging about them.  So for now,  I will sit outside, and enjoy the day while I knit.