Yarn Along

I'm yarning along again with Ginny this week. Come and join the fun...
I continue working on this shrug. I've now completed three rounds of lace with one more left to go. After the lace comes 4-5 inches of ribbing and then another 8 or so inches of jersey so I have a long way to go yet! One month left until my self-imposed deadline! I hope I make it. I just need to not get too distracted by other projects. I may need to take a break from the lace this week though to keep things fresh.

I had to take a break from HeLa this week because the book I requested from the library came in and it was only a one week loan. I figured they would just get it interlibrary loan but they actually bought it for the library. I finished it this afternoon. The book is Deadly Choices: How the Anti-vaccine Movement Threatens Us All by Dr Paul Offit. I am going to preface this by saying that I do believe in vaccination and I have vaccinated my children. I have seen too many kids get sick and die of preventable diseases (as a nurse and as a Peace Corps volunteer) that I just can't believe otherwise. That said I believe that it is my duty as a parent to know and learn as much as possible about the choices that I make for my children. So I like to research things like vaccination. I was expecting Dr Offit's book to be more of a scientific text but it is really a history book about the anti-vaccine movement- how it began and evolved over time. I found the tone pretty heavy handed at times- Dr Offit is quite obviously not anti-vaccine and doesn't have much use for those who are! There was a lot of very interesting information in this book and it is scientifically based with plenty of references to keep me reading for a long time! His facts about herd immunity and the rates of immunization are pretty chilling I must say. Unfortunetly I feel like this book is mostly preaching to the choir as opposed to helping encourage people who fear or are worried about vaccinating to do so. I wanted him to use fact and reason and scientific evidence to convince me that it is absolutely the right choice to vaccinate my children and while there is plenty of that in his book there is also plenty of bashing on anti-vaccine advocates. While some of his points are valid and it is frustrating to see misinformation being spread by people in power I found that the overall tone of the book was negative to the point of distraction. I was more focused on cringing at the next swing of the insult bat that I couldn't really pay attention to the science that was underlying his points. All in all, if you ignore the negative tone, this is a really fascinating history lesson.

In the mail today I received the newest Yarn Harlot book- All Wound Up. I am so looking forward to reading it. I have already read the introduction and was laughing out loud by page 5. She begins with discussing the common question of "how do have time to knit?" I have heard that question so many times recently and have thought a lot about it so it was pretty amusing to realize that I am not the only knitter who is bombarded by questioning when knitting in public. It's still amazing to me that people don't even know the difference between knitting and crochet- I mean one needle vs two.... how hard is that! When people ask me how I have time to knit, my standard reply is that I make time because knitting is my therapy. I have a really hard time sitting still so when I have a meeting or on my lunch break (when I get one) or am watching tv in the evening with the hubby or am sitting waiting I always have some knitting with me. Keeping my hands busy keeps me much more focused and patient- something I definitely struggle with. I love to sew but I also love the fact that knitting is so portable. I can knit anywhere! Besides there is something just soothing about knitting and purling- so simple and easy- and look at the beautiful things you can make. My creative side likes to shine sometimes. So while I should finish reading HeLa, I will probably read through the Yarn Harlot and torture my wonderful hubby with read alouds and generally have fun reading about knitting instead!