Yarnalong: Blueberries & Tweed

Joining Ginny today at Small Things blog for Yarnalong:

Reading: I'm still working my way through The Heart of Christianity and just finished the chapter on "thin places", the places where you feel God the most. What a perfect way to describe it. My thin places are out in my canoe alone, hymns that I love to sing and of course, when I'm sitting and knitting.
When I need a break from the above book I read The Blueberry Years by Jim Minick. Jim and his wife Sarah share their story of operating a blueberry farm in Virginia. I'm only a chapter or two in and it seems like a good, easy read. I have a soft spot for books about homesteaders of any kind. I imagine their lives to be satisfying and simple where their worries boil down to the basics of food, water, shelter. Can you tell I'm feeling overwhelmed by life? I'd like to not be worried about how much time my kids spend in front of the tv or whether they fit in at school when I don't order them pizza for lunch every Tuesday or buy them the same lunchbag/winter boots/backpack/fill-in-the-blank that all the other kids have. I choose not to do these things from a place of thriftiness and also to teach them they don't need all this stuff to be whole. But I do remember what it feels like to be the odd man out and what a relief it is to have (fill in the blank) just like everyone else. This parenting thing is full of the pushing and pulling of wants and needs, ideals and morals isn't it? Definitely overwhelming sometimes.

Knitting: tweedy blue owl mittens. I started the thumb last night while listening to the Em-ster read her french home reading. I do love the feel of this yarn and even the bits of hay and whatnot I'm finding as I go along. It reminds me that a real creature grew this wool.
The wool is Berroco Blackstone Tweed, no colour name, just a number. The pattern is my usual 2 needle mitten pattern.