my first yarn along

I'm, finally, linking up with Ginny at Small Things for her weekly Yarn Along where she shares what she's reading and knitting.  I've wanted to do this for weeks and always seem to think about it on Thursday, which is a day late.  So, I'm writing this Tuesday night with hope that I'll post it sometime Wednesday so I can participate. :)

On the nightstand:
I tend to have several books in progress at any one time, and now is no different.  These days my kindle is serving up regular portions of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (reading through it for the first time ever) and The Open Adoption Experience (some required reading for our agency). However, what I want to share is an actual, physical book I bought a couple weeks ago and just started reading last night.  Color in Spinning by Deb Menz has been on my must-read list for quite some time.  I love color and in this book I'm learning so much about how to use and manipulate it to achieve the results I want in my dyeing and spinning. I so enjoy learning new things.  I can just feel my brain sucking in all the colorful knowledge. 

On the needles:
I am a member of the 12 Shawls in 2012 group on Ravelry.  In case the group title isn't descriptive enough, we're each attempting to knit 12 shawls this calendar year.  On Sunday, as we drove 1 1/2 hours to meet my dad and sister for Father's Day lunch, I cast on #7.  I'm knitting my first Shetland hap shawl, the smaller version of Quill in all white for use as a baby blanket.I'm already 1/3 of the way through the center square, and while I fully expect to feel a bit comatose from all the garter stitch by the time I start the outer border, for now I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  Mindless and simple enough for a travel project and going quite quickly...so far.