snap pea for my sweet pea

It's official. I absolutely loved knitting this cardigan. (Ravelry notes here). The yarn (Quince and Co.'s Lark in snap pea) is a dream--light but durable, stretchy but strong. We'll see how it holds up to the wear and tear of a wiggly preschooler. The pattern was just the thing I needed--so simple and fluid, with only one set of needles, no seems to sew, no little extra steps to slow things down. Just knitting. It only took me a week, which for this pokey knitter is quite quick indeed. Thus, it was finished in time to be a real birthday sweater for my little sweet pea. (Though it turned out to be big enough that it might fit her better on her next birthday!) No pictures of the model today, though, as she always takes a while to warm up to a new article of clothing. She has allowed me to help her try it on (twice!), and she kept it on for nearly a whole minute, which is quite a success. I attribute that to the cupcake buttons, a sweet little find at the fabulous Stash. I was privileged to visit this beautiful shop while I was in town for the Oregon Small Farms Conference over the weekend, and it was such a treat to meet its gracious owner Sonia, whom I had previously only known via blogland.

The bookshelf hasn't changed much in the last few weeks--still happily working my way through Middlemarch. The farm conference got me thinking about a few permaculture-themed books I'd like to look at-- Gaia's Garden, The Woodland Way,  and Farmers of Forty Centuries. And I'd like to revisit the work of Masanobu Fukuoka and Wendell Berry. My husband also inspired me to check out Paul Stamets' Mycelium Running:How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, after listening to this podcast.

What are you knitting and reading this week?
Linking up with Ginny at Small Things for yarn along...