That Gorgeous Yarn Again

I have cast on that gorgeous Madelinetosh yarn from last week. I am knitting this shawl.

I cannot decide whether the garter stitch pattern is too simple for this lovely yarn. What do you think?

Currently reading (up to the last chapter), Saved by Ben Hewitt. 

Self-sufficiency and the reduction of the reliance on money and the system it relates to has always been something of importance to me. And I must admit to thinking there was not much different thinking on this subject out there. But this book really taught me a lot. If you are interested in reading in detail on monetary policy, you will love it! I was amazed at the actual mechanisms employed in the operation of monetary policy ie. that it is effectively 'inventing' money that doesn't really exist. 

I had always thought I was being frugal and thrifty by buying most of our goods on special or discounted in some way. But this book made me see that this isn't enough. We need to try not to participate in the 'unconscious economy' and change our transactions to the 'conscious economy'. For example, we need our transactions to be about relationships rather than money - barter, trade, giving.

After nearly finishing this book, we needed to go to the shopping mall to purchase new school shoes. And I saw it all with new eyes. Things that I would probably previously purchased to put away 'just in case' as they were on special, I saw for what they are - fear. Ben Hewitt explains that lots of our purchasing and financial activity is simply from fear - fear of disease, poverty, terrorism, loneliness and death, and that we are trying to dispel these fears, most of which are misplaced anyway. 

'This is going to sound painfully obvious, but here it is anyway. This is your life. This is your one life, and the incredibly, amazing beautiful thing about it is that you get to choose how to spend it.'

Another book that I read a long time ago that ties in with those quote and really impacted me was Your Money Or Your Life.

Reading this book was the first time it had clicked that everything you bought equated to an amount of time you had to work to make the money for the purchase. You would think this would be sensible and logical but until I actually read it in black and white, it just never entered my mind. And this seems to be the same for the majority of people. 

So as I am embarking on the Year of No Superfluous Spending, I was happy to find Saved at the library. It has given me a boost and a real goal to aim for - participation in the 'conscious economy'. 

And who has trouble knitting for 10 year old boys?! I thought I was on to a winner with this one, due to my son's obsession with cricket.

Finally, I thought, something I can knit for him. Says I, 'would you like a cricket vest like the Australian cricket team wear?' - expecting an enthusiastic yes. Reply, 'you can make me one if you like - I might wear it if it was cold enough'. Hmmm, not the resounding success I was expecting.
And I thought teenage girls were hard to knit for!

Linking with Small Things for Yarn Along.