Yarn Along: Expectations

I'm happy to be able to link up again today, as I've made some real progress on the sweater!  I started shaping the arm holes on Monday, and I'm now working on shaping the upper back.  I have about 2" to knit before I start shaping the neck line.  I'm a little nervous about the neckline, as the instructions are to add another ball of yarn and work from both sides, and I'm not precisely sure what the author means by it.  I've made plenty of sweaters before, and this one is a new instruction to me!  If anyone has suggestions, or tips, I'm all ears. So far, though, I'm pretty happy with the way the sweater is shaping up.

Last week, I devoured Jonathan Last's book What to Expect When No One is Expecting.  It is a fascinating demographic analysis of falling fertility rates the world over, and what the implications are for the future.  It isn't particularly pretty, but I think anyone who has taken a good look at any First World entitlement system can figure that one out.  What surprised me was his analysis of how modern society has structured itself to promote lower fertility and in some cases, be hostile to family formation.  Many are small things (like car seat laws) that in and of themselves are good and worthy things, or perhaps don't seem related to family formation, but taken as a whole, really hurt the family structure.  (If for example, you have five children under 6, you will have to upgrade to a significantly larger vehicle because of car seat laws, whereas in the 1970s, families were routinely cramming five children into modest size vehicles.  Are the children safer?  Yes.  But families are smaller and it is worth examining why and considering what can be done to change things to make family formation easier.  Last's final chapter goes into more detail about this. In the final analysis, I was left wanting more!  I loved the book, and I keep referencing it in various conversations.  I love demographics and this sort of monograph is right up my alley.  It is short and extremely readable.  

 

My fancy stitch marker--I have a bunch of them somewhere, but I didn't want to go digging for them, and this worked fine, as I just need it to mark where I stopped binding off.

I'm half-way through The House at Tyneford, which is a nice little novel set in late 1930s Britain.  It is kind of Upstairs-Downstairs-esque, but has some WWII drama mixed in.  I think any Downtown Abbey fans would probably find it a cracking good read.  

I'm still working my way through The Scent of Holiness (I'm reserving the final chapter or two for the end of this Holy Week), and hope to start on Every Day Saints later this week as well (good Holy Week reading, says I).  I have Rod Dreher's new book on my reading list for after Pascha, but my husband has first crack at it since it is in his nightstand stack.