Hygge might be a Danish concept and seem foreign to you, but it’s easier to incorporate into your daily life than you might think. Reading and hygge go together like milk and cookies or peanut butter and chocolate, and when you amplify your reading with a touch of hygge, bringing coziness into your reading, you’ll have an even better reading experience.
Reading is one of those things I would love to say I can accomplish anywhere: standing in line at the grocery store, getting an oil change, sitting next to my husband as he watches hockey, or maybe even while I’m cooking dinner.
However, in the past couple of years, I lost my focus when it came to reading. This meant that any time I could previously find myself reading — such as those listed above — wasn’t happening anymore.
It. Was. Tragic.
Now, two years later, I find myself gravitating toward reading again, and I have to set the right stage when I sit down with a book. Gone are the days when I could read a page here or there; I need to sit down for at least twenty minutes to actually get a good dose of reading in (hopefully more, but with kids, it can be hard!).
Setting the stage, for me, involves a little bit of coziness or hygge.
Years ago, I remember hygge being all the rage, but the concept has been around forever — especially for an introvert like myself.
hygge (noun): a cozy quality that makes a person feel content and comfortable
hygge (adverb): invoking or fostering a sense of coziness, contentment, and well-being
Merriam-Webster
Coziness and contentment — and maybe a coffee.
The Elements of Hygge That Make for a Hygge Reading Experience
A cozy place to read
A blanket or a cozy sweater
Proper lighting
A hot cup of something
A calm mind
A Cozy Place to Read
Reading next to my bookshelves, with my cat, is probably one of the most cozy hygge experiences ever.
Maybe it’s your bed, or the couch, or on your porch, but nothing is cozier than a place you don’t want to get up from. For me, this is either the couch in the front room of my house that overlooks the apple blossom tree and gets lots of light, or it’s the couch in my room on a stormy night, listening to the rainfall and smelling that succulent mix of rain and fresh-cut grass through my open window. For the latter, I get less light, but the rain adds that extra element of cozy.
What isn’t hygge is sitting in an uncomfortable chair, trying to read. For me, it’s like trying to have a meaningful conversation with people on an uncomfortable chair — it’s just not possible. Similar to wearing something too tight, too short, or just not comfortable, I move more, more focused on the discomfort rather than the conversation. Or, in this case, on my book.
A Blanket or Cozy Sweater
If you’re already finding it hard to sit and focus on your book, nothing makes it worse than feeling cold. Getting a nice wool sweater or blanket, throwing on a pair of fuzzy socks or cozy slippers, or even sitting next to a roaring fire wearing all of the above is the epitome of cozy.
Bonus points if you have a roaring fire, cozy blankets, AND an open window with a thunderstorm outside to accompany your book. I get chills just thinking about that!
As a knitter, I also love to wear hand-knit fingerless gloves while I read. They keep my hands toasty!
Proper Lighting
When I read a book, I love being completely immersed in the story. Do you know what sucks just a bit of that immersion out? Fluorescent lighting. Or, having to squint to read my book because it’s a wee bit too dark.
A nice, warm glow from a lamp, or a fire, is perfection. But sometimes we just don’t have access to a roaring fire, so sitting next to a window, or outside as the sun comes up or goes down, is also nice.
I also really like to read at night, in bed, by the light of my Himalayan salt lamp that sits by my bed. It’s not the brightest, but something about that orange glow just soothes me. And it’s the perfect amount of light at night. You might also find me reading until I just can’t see my book anymore while reading in the evenings. Don’t get me wrong, I love lamps, but I also love the organic feel of reading by sunlight and moonlight.
Just make sure to sit by a cozy lamp that you can turn on when it gets too dark so you don’t strain your eyes.
A Hot Cup of Something
A hot cup of tea and a horror book = perfection.
Of course, there’s a time and a place for a book and a beer. Think, reading on the porch on a summer afternoon as the sun warms you up … having a beer with that is its own type of cozy.
But, when you’re sitting cozy on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, with the window open and a cool breeze flowing through, a hot cup of tea or coffee is perfection. Something to warm your body.
A Calm Mind
Lastly, to focus and get lost in your book, you need to have a calm mind. If your mind is racing with thoughts of what you need to accomplish the next day, or it’s thinking about a conversation you had earlier, you will not be able to focus on your book.
I struggle with this sometimes, especially at night. I’ll try to lie in bed and read my book, cozy with my heated blanket and the light from my Himilayan salt lamp … but my head won’t stop going over the long to-do list I have the next day. I then find myself reading sentences repeatedly, not really taking in what I’m reading.
How can you fix this? Write things down!
You could have a journal to write your thoughts in or write your to-do list down on a piece of paper or in your daily planner for the next day. Get those thoughts out! Don’t let them jumble up your brain.
You should also put your phone away in another room or turn it silent, so you’re not constantly reacting to a ping or alert. If you’re like me, the phone might be a distraction, so it’s best to keep it in another room. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
I hope these tips help you to amplify your reading with a touch of hygge. Reading is one of the coziest things you can do, and amplifying that experience with a few steps will make you enjoy it even more.
Would you like some book recommendations with your hygge? Check these out!
How do you make reading a cozy and enjoyable activity? Are you able to read anywhere you go? In the comments below, let others know how you amplify your reading with a touch of hygge. I’d love to know!
As parents, life is always throwing us curveballs. Just when we think we have everything under control, a new problem arises. One of those problems could be the success — or lack of success — when it comes to your child and their reading goals. Being an adult, you might think that reading should come naturally to your child. But reading, especially in the English language, can be a hard task to master. This post looks at different ways you can encourage your child to read more, as well as easy tips to foster a love of reading within your child — even when they’re feeling frustrated and want to throw their book across the room.
Here are 5 tips on how to raise a reader:
Have reading material available
Not all reading material comes in the form of a book. Of course, books are wonderful, and they should be available for your child to read, but children can also benefit from reading other things.
OwlKids in Canada is a magazine subscription geared toward young readers. Chirp magazine is for kids aged 3-6, Chickadee is for kids aged 6-9, and OWL is for kids aged 9-13. These magazines are fun because they have engaging stories for each age group, funny jokes, and games and puzzles in each issue.
National Geographic Kids is a magazine subscription geared towards kids aged 6-13. The issues have animal facts, animal records, animal stories, and lots of great animal pictures. This magazine is perfect for kids who love animals of all shapes and sizes!
Joke books are wonderful to have around. Jokes are short to read, and they get kids laughing and wanting more. If you subscribe to your local newspaper, there is also usually a comic strip section that your kids might enjoy.
Cooking can be a way to show your kids how words are used. Have your recipe out while you cook or bake together, and point out the different ingredients and instructions. As a bonus, you could also teach them a bit of math with your measuring cups and spoons.
Kids are also very curious and love to look at books when they’re on tabletops, in bathrooms, and on shelves. I usually have a pile of books on my bedside table, on the coffee table, and stacked high on the bookshelves. Even if the reading material is too advanced for your child, it can be fun for emergent readers to flip through a book, pointing out the words they know.
Penguin has a collection of Little Black Classics that have various works of fiction, including poetry. Sometimes your child just wants to hear your voice, and reading poetry or even a classic can show them other styles of writing. It is important to show your child that not all reading happens in books. There is plenty of other material that can help them read.
Let them see you reading
Maybe you don’t love to read or can’t tolerate it at all, but one way your child will feel encouraged to read is by seeing you reading.
I have a confession: I love playing video games. When my kids see me playing my video game, they want to play theirs. Why? Because I’m showing them that’s what they can do when they have free time.
And while taking a video game break isn’t a bad thing, you could also have quiet reading mornings with your kids. Take an hour, if you can, and sit and read. Encourage your kids to pick up their books and read, too. Then, talk about what you’re reading together.
My nightstand is where I usually have a pile of books I’m reading. My kids both know that when I go to bed, I’m reading a book until I fall asleep. This has led my oldest to have his own pile of books by his bed. It’s very rare that he doesn’t go to bed reading at night; in fact, he’s even now put a flashlight by his bed to read with after I tell him it’s time for lights out. (And I will always make sure that the flashlight has a full battery charge!)
Read with them
Reading with your child is essential. When they’re little and can’t read on their own, of course, we, as parents, should be reading to our children. But what about when they can read?
Even as an adult, I don’t claim to know all the words in the books I read, so why, when my child can read through the entire Dog Man series on his own, would I expect that he could read through every book with no problem? Writing styles are different from book to book, and reading with my kids, having them read aloud, helps them to learn those hard or different words and get used to different writing styles.
But should our kids always read to us? Of course not. Have you ever listened to an audiobook? The way a narrator reads a book can be soothing, exciting, and sometimes even better than how you might read the book in your own head. Our kids love listening to us read aloud, whether they’re toddlers or big kids. It can be fun to have a chapter book going with your kids, reading a chapter out loud every night. You could also listen to an audiobook together or have an audiobook specifically for listening to in the car with your children. Having multiple ways of reading stories will teach your children that reading can be fun and absorbing in many ways.
Get a library card
Every year there are thousands of new books published. Did you know, “according to a study conducted by Google Books, there have been 129,864,880 books published since the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1440.”?
That’s a lot of books!
Of course, as wonderful as it would be to own enough books to last us through an apocalypse, or a snowy winter where we’re trapped in our house, it’s not always possible. I’m sure we’ve all had that dream where we’re locked in a library or bookstore, surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of books. And maybe you already do have enough books to last your lifetime, but there are new books coming out every week that sound fascinating, and it would break anyone’s pocketbook to buy them all.
That’s where your library comes in. The library is the best place to get books, either without paying a cent or maybe having to pay a small fee for your membership. Even with having to pay for your library card, the benefit is access to hundreds of thousands of books.
Here in Alberta, we have what is called the TRAC Consortium. If your local library is registered with ME Libraries, you can have access to all of the books within those libraries. That is nearly three million books! On top of that, if you have an e-reader, you can take advantage of Overdrive or Libby to download books straight to your device.
With a library, your children can have the wonderful experience of going and browsing through the shelves and finding new authors and books to read, or they can download books in an instant to their e-reader or device to read. If your child loves being read to, or maybe you’re going on a vacation, you can even download audiobooks through the library the whole family can enjoy.
Librarians are also a great resource for you and your family. If your child, for instance, loves reading Dav Pilkey or Aaron Blabey, your local librarian should be able to help you find books in similar genres or styles to try and enjoy.
Celebrate their successes
Learning to read is a lifelong adventure. When your child first starts to learn, they (and you) might be frustrated with the struggle, but once they start reading more and more and you see their progress, it truly is an amazing thing.
The best way you can celebrate your child’s success in learning to read is to continue encouraging them. Reading is reading, so whether they like reading chapter books, graphic novels, magazines, etc., you should always encourage them to keep reading.
Some fun ways you can continue to encourage and celebrate your child on their reading journey include:
Keep a list of the books they read. When they finish a certain amount of books, you can have a small prize they can choose from–maybe a new book, a bookmark, a flashlight to read with when it’s dark, or a trip to the library to get a new stack of books.
Let them choose the book–but find new authors they might enjoy. My oldest loves graphic novels and can reread them over and over again. I am always on the lookout for another graphic novel or a book that’s funny and adventurous — his favourite — to try with him. When it comes time to read together, he can read some of his books, but then I’ll read another book to see if he likes it. Better yet, you could find a whole new series for them to enjoy!
Embrace the Scholastic book fair. I understand that not everyone can buy something at the book fair, but if you can, let your child pick something new to read from it. While I can try and find books I know my kids will love, they also love looking at different authors and might come across something I didn’t see myself.
Don’t feel bad if they don’t want to read right now. Everyone goes through patches where they either don’t want to read or they want to read a lot. Being an avid reader myself, I had an entire year where I struggled to read just one book. If it’s something they love to do, they will come back to it. So, if they have a few days or a week where they’re just not into reading, that’s okay. Keep modelling your love of reading to them, and they’ll come back to it.
But what if my child doesn’t want to read? Or what if they’re struggling to read?
Learning to read is an exciting time in any child’s life. Once they start, it’s hard to get them to stop! Traffic signs, product labels, grocery lists, text messages … everything is fair game for kids once they get the reading bug.
But this isn’t always the case. Reading can be exciting, but it can also be a struggle.
Reading. Is. Hard.
Why might your child not want to read?
They are embarrassed to read out loud.
They read some words wrong and decide reading might be too hard.
They have been told that they shouldn’t read certain books, so they lose interest.
They don’t have a designated reading time or a time of day devoted solely to reading.
They are embarrassed to read out loud.
In my opinion, the best way to get your child to read out loud is to read out loud yourself. Read funny books! Do the silly voices! Don’t just stick to serious books! Find all sorts of different book types and genres — read graphic novels out loud together, read joke books, read picture books. Show them that it’s fun to read out loud.
Another reason might be because of a speech impediment. My son was diagnosed with apraxia when he was 2.5 years old, and he struggled a lot with how to pronounce words clearly. When people don’t understand what you’re saying, you might not want to say things out loud. If this is the case, talk to your child’s teacher about how to help them with their reading. There are always solutions, and your child’s teacher is one of the best resources.
They decide reading is too hard.
Everyone makes mistakes when they read. Nobody knows all the words! Have you ever read a book where you pronounced a character’s name one way, and then you heard the author pronounce it the correct way and realized you were wrong all along? It happens all the time. You need to reassure your child when they mispronounce something that it’s completely normal and that they are still — and will always be — learning. Reading is a process, it doesn’t come naturally.
A good way to help your child would be to approach their teacher. Have a look at the books they’re learning to read and see how you can help. Their teacher is bound to have suggestions!
They have been told that they shouldn’t read certain books.
I am an adult reader, but I LOVE reading children’s books. I love reading young adult books. I love reading comics. There is no RIGHT book to read, and while books do have age recommendations, that doesn’t mean they can ONLY be read within that age range.
Here’s an example: I can honestly say that I don’t love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. I don’t like the main character, and I find that he never learns anything by the book’s end. But my 9-year-old LOVES these books. Just because I don’t love them, I’m not going to tell him that he can’t read them. These books get him reading! Same thing with the Dog Man series. They are highly entertaining, but some people might look at them and say that they’re comics and that kids should be reading chapter books.
Let me tell you this: No one should ever tell you what you SHOULD be reading. Giving you a book recommendation is one thing, but no one should say that you shouldn’t be reading certain books because you’re too young or too old, or that you should be reading classics, or the book isn’t serious enough, etc.
Reading is reading.
They don’t have a designated reading time.
I will admit: Sometimes, my children are on their devices way too much. However, when bedtime comes, we ALWAYS read. They know that bedtime is a time devoted to books and reading together. They also know that when they’re in bed, they can curl up with a book until it’s time for lights out (and they both have flashlights in their rooms, and I never go in and take those away if they try to keep reading.).
Even if you just put aside 15-20 minutes a day to say, “this is the time we’re going to read,” that is still 15-20 minutes a day of reading.
If your child brings home reading every day, try to get to it right after school if you can. Spend 10 minutes going through their reading with them and make it a routine. Some people might say there are only 24 hours in a day, but there ARE 24 hours in a day; hopefully, you can find at least 10 minutes in those hours to read. You could even designate a certain time of day when the entire family sits and reads silently together.
When encouraging your child to read more, the important thing to do is not stress about what they’re reading and how much, but take cues from what they enjoy reading to get them to read more. Try to teach them that having free time is such a privilege and that reading a book is a wonderful way to lose yourself in that time.
Related Posts From Around the Web
Maybe your child is reading too much? Here’s a great blog post by Alysa over at Everead on how to limit your child’s reading.
One of the things I love about crochet is how many stitches there are that create wonderful texture. Even something as simple as alternating single and double crochets, for example, can create something pleasing to the eye–something different from rows with only, say, single crochet. That’s not said to knock projects in single crochet because they can also be elegant and beautiful, but for me, personally, I LOVE texture.
Working in the third loop can be confusing to crocheters. Isn’t there only two loops? As in, the two you crochet through for more stitches? These loops ARE definitely important, but working in the third loop can create something completely different and add some texture to your project.
But what is the third loop? The third loop is something you’ll see when working in half-double crochet. When you work a half-double crochet (by yarning over, inserting your hook into the stitch, pulling up a loop, yarning over again, and pulling through all 3 loops on the hook) you are creating TWO sets of loops: the set on the top that you would normally work through, and a set below, created by the yarn over, that creates an additional loop on either side of your project. This loop, located right below your main top loops, is the third loop.
The third loop will ALWAYS be worked on the side of your piece you are currently working on. Here is a row of half-double crochets with the third loop marked:
And here is a row of single crochets being worked through the third loop:
As you can see, the top loops that create the v-stitchc aren’t being worked through at all, ONLY the loop BELOW those top two — that is the third loop. For this particular pattern shown in the photos, in the photo above, the round is currently on the wrong side. This pushes those top v-stitches towards the front of the work.
If you had been told to work a row of single crochets, not being asked to work through the third loop, these are the loops you’d be working through:
If you worked through both loops, you wouldn’t see a big difference when you turn to the opposite side. Below, however, is what the right side will look like after the third loop was worked through on the previous round:
As you can see, it creates a nice, textured ridge on the right side of the work. If you had worked a row of half-double crochets on the WRONG SIDE, and then worked through the third loop on the RIGHT SIDE, this ridge would appear on the wrong side of the work so you always want to pay attention that you are on the correct side of your work.
(This is when a lobster-claw progress keeper comes in handy! Even advanced crocheters will use one to mark the front of their work.)
So, if you want a lovely ridge on the right side of your work from working through the third loop, you will want to first work your row of half-double crochets on the right side:
And then, work in the third loop on the wrong side, when you flip your work to continue your next row. Here’s what your right side looks like after two rounds of working through the back loop:
Note: This tutorial is based on working a piece flat and working with single crochets in the third loop. There are plenty of patterns that use the third loop in many different ways, but this is how I’m showing it. If I use another way in a pattern, I will link a turtorial to this post.
Unless it is noted by the designer, you will be working into the third loop on the side that particular round is on. As the loop does show up on the front AND back of your work, this can be a little confusing. For this tutorial, I am showing you working in the third loop on the working side. That is, you will always SEE the third loop on the same side – wrong or right – you’re working on.
Do you like working through the third loop? I’ll admit, it never used to be a technique I’d go to, but I’m loving it more and more lately. If you have any questions, or if you feel like any of my information is inaccurate, please let me know in the comments below!
At this point last year, I remember knitting and crocheting was my LIFE. Every spare minute I had was spent working on one of the many, MANY projects I had on the go and nothing else. Knitting actually hit me hard in 2021 and I found myself not able to think of any other hobby at all. In fact, prior to the pandemic hitting in 2020, I had been a huge reader and was reading multiple books every week, not month but week, and then I lost all motivation for that so when I got the urge to knit and crochet ALLTHETHINGS, I grasped onto it and didn’t let go.
The Lost In Time shawl by Johanna Lindahl
In 2021, I started up a bit of a side hustle, Hygge Dreamer, a few months before Christmas. My kids were both in school full time and since I was a stay at home mom, that left a lot of time to do things. However, I’m fairly certain I burnt myself out with making headwraps, snowflakes, dishcloths, and many other beautiful items for people that when the new year hit, I thought I’d take a break. I didn’t think that break would last months.
Recently, I just started picking up my knitting and crochet again and wanted to share what helped me get back to my hooks and needles and creating again. So here are five ways to get you back into creating again, if you’ve found yourself falling slowly into a slump.
1. Reorganize your yarn .
When I started up Hygge Dreamer, I had a LOT going on. I had my desk and two tables set up in my office, with yarn everywhere. I didn’t really know what I had but knew it was somewhere in the piles and bins all around me.
One great thing about a new year is that it makes me want to clean everything in my house and once I had done that, my yarn area looked extremely cluttered and busy. I ended up pulling EVERYTHING off of my shelves, out of my cabinets and drawers and putting it all in piles. Let’s just say that it got really, really bad before it got better.
It was a really great way to see what yarns I had on hand and to remind me of some yarns I had forgotten about. As I put it all away (in a much less chaotic way), I put a few different skeins on my desk that I was in love with. It was kind of like shopping my own stash!
2. Search designs on Ravelry or Pinterest.
I started crocheting way back in 2011 and I don’t believe I even knew what Ravelry was. Or Pinterest, for that matter. All of my projects came from books I got from the library which was way less overwhelming than what’s available now.
While books are still a great way to find patterns, one of my favourite ways to get inspired again is to look at the top patterns on Ravelry. The filters make it easy to narrow down what I might add to my to-make list since there’s no way I’ll get back into the game by knitting a sweater or blanket. Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of great patterns for these, but my attention span is small when I’m trying to start back up so anything using a smaller amount of yardage works better than a project that uses up many, many skeins.
Pinterest is also a great way to find inspiration. My favourite kinds of projects to get into when I just want to make something are smaller items like dishcloths or hats or even little stuffed toys for my kids. Put into the Pinterest search bar “Knit toy pattern” and I guarantee you’ll be swarmed with endless possibilities.
Scandinavian Christmas Gnome by Nerissa Muijs
3. Have a look through your current wips.
Did you know that there are people out there who work on one project, finish it, and then move on to the next? I am not one of those people. In fact, when I was cleaning my office, I found numerous – as in, at least a dozen, maybe two dozen – project bags with random projects, some of which I had completely forgotten about.
Now, this can be a good thing or a bad thing; good because it might remind you of a project you had loved once and want to finish (like the beautiful golden fingerless mitts I had started for myself), and bad because you might want to finish it but have no idea a) what sized hook or needles you were using, or b) whereabouts in the pattern you were (like the beautiful teal shawl I was knitting where I left off somewhere in the middle of a lace pattern with HUNDREDS of stitches on my needles).
If the amount of projects you find has you feeling overwhelmed, this is probably a good time to ask yourself a few questions such as:
Can I find out where I was in the pattern or what hook/needle size I was using?
Is this project something I love enough to take the time to figure out the answers to the previous question?
Should I keep the project and continue or frog it and use the yarn for something else?
Sometimes the best thing to do is use the yarn for something else – and maybe when you decide to frog one project, you’ll have inspiration for using the yarn in another.
4. Go shopping!
Okay, okay, this one might be a little tricky since obviously you don’t feel like creating, so why get MORE materials that you’re not going to use, but hear me out. Sometimes just wandering through the yarn store is inspiration enough to get your hands itching to make something; all those beautiful yarns, different kinds of fibres, seeing other people excited about creating – all things that remind you of the reason you love your craft!
Maybe you’ve told yourself that there is absolutely NO WAY you’re going to a yarn store when you have tons of beautiful yarn already at your disposal; in that case, shop your stash! This goes hand in hand when reorganizing your yarn; when you go digging through it you might find a gem of a skein that you forgot you had and find that you just have to make something with it.
Geometric Mandala Hot Pad by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk
5. Lastly, do something else.
We’ve all been there, sitting in the same room as our yarn and projects, feeling them stare us down just wanting to be knit and crocheted, but we just don’t feel it. We pick up our project – our socks, our sweaters, our blankets – and knit or crochet a few stitches and the feeling, that feeling of love and joy, just doesn’t come. If that’s the case, maybe that’s your body and mind telling you to take a longer break. The needles and hooks and yarn will all be there when you’re ready to come back and they will welcome you with open arms. When you’re fresh and rejuvinated from your break and finally feel that urge to create, you’ll want to create EVERYTHING and it will be like you never left the craft.
Sometimes as much as you want to get back to creating, the best thing to do is to just do something else and not force it. Maybe try a different fibre art like macrame, or embroidery, or punch needle. Just don’t give up hope. When I lost my attention span for reading, I didn’t throw away all my books and feel like a failure; instead, I let the months go by and read a tiny bit here and there and now I make sure I read every night. Lately I’ve found myself wanting to read more in my spare time and I embrace that. If you feel the love for a certain craft or hobby, that love never really goes away, sometimes it’s just waiting, hibernating like a bear in the winter ready to burst forth in the spring with new life.
I hope these tips help you as much as they helped me! I might not be pulling out my needles and hooks at every spare minute in my day but I feel myself easing back into my craft again and that’s perfectly okay with me.
