Yarnalong: Knitting baby socks & Beyond Sibling Rivalry

Joining Ginny today at Small Things blog for Yarnalong::

Knitting: teeny tiny baby socks, pattern from Zoe Mellor's 50 Baby Booties to Knit called Heel and Toe socks. The yarn is Paton's Astra I had left over from a quilt I tied.
Friends of ours had a baby 2 weeks ago and as we all know, all babies need knitted things and being a thrifty knitter I decided whatever I made had to come from the stash. I didn't think our friends would be overjoyed at being gifted a knitted baby thing they had to wash carefully so I figured I'd better go with some good acrylic yarn. I don't love acrylic yarn (at least not the stuff I've used in the past anyway) so I don't keep great quantities of it around except the odd ball to tie a quilt with so finding something suitable for a knitted baby thing was not easy. I found these 2 balls lurking at the bottom of my good yarn stash and knew they would come together nicely to make practical, easy to wash, warm baby socks. Besides, who doesn't love a pair of heel and toe socks?!

I remember when The Boy was a Small Boy we didn't have much money, it was the end of winter and he'd grown out of his winter boots but it was still too cold for rubber boots. I found a pair of hand-knitted little heel and toe socks at the farmer's market, bought them and used them inside his rubber boots until winter and the cold part of the spring was over. I love useful gifts and even if these won't be soft and squishy they'll be warm and cosy for those wee little baby feet.
Reading: Beyond Sibling Rivalry by Peter Goldenthal. Something's gotta give with all the fighting going on in this house!! I know part of this is end-of-summer boredom and anxiety about a new school year starting but I need all this arguing and one-up-manship and whatnot to stop already. I found this at our library and I'm hoping for great things. I think we need a parenting tune up and some new ideas. I've been researching ways to induce peace in this house for awhile and it is getting better (I think). I'm understanding my kids' needs better, slowly. For example my loud, sociable daughter is actually an introvert underneath and needs down time to get her energy back. She also doesn't handle any transition well. Period. So whenever we can we leave her behind for unnecessary car trips and it gives her and her Oma time together.
What about you? What are you knitting and reading? (and what do you do to induce peace in your house??)