Words and Wool

Here is a picture of my Sunday afternoon reading stack. However, I got so engrossed in A Million Little Ways that I didn't get to many of the others!

Progress continues on my crochet afghan. I can't wait to see it on my bed! I have about 10 more circles to crochet around and then I'll have to put in all the ends (ugh!), block the squares and then sew them all together and crochet a border. Still plenty of work ahead......

Mostly I've been sewing flowers for my next order. They remind me of Valentine's Day and as usual, make me so happy! 

Between Christmas and New Year's I completely overhauled my craft area in my clothes closet. I took down every bit of fabric from the shelves, sorted through, threw out, donated, and refolded. This picture only shows a portion of what I did, but it shows my favorite part -- you can tell that my passion in recent years has turned toward wool, tweed, and tartans. Oh I love this stuff!

As for books, I finished several this week including two that are now on my "must buy" list.

Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales by Marta McDowell is a piece of art in itself! I love the size, the information, the sketches and paintings of Beatrix's and the photos of her garden then and now. There is biographical info on Beatrix and the gardens she encountered in her early life and then the book launches into a seasonal review of her garden at Hill Top. How I wished I had this book before our visit to Hill Top last fall. Oh well, next time, right? ;)


Million Little Ways, A: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily Freeman. It is hard to describe briefly how good this book is and how much it touched so many cords in my soul. Her premise is that each of us is uniquely created to bring glory to God through the passions and talents he gives to us. Her definition of art is broad -- she defines art as the way we live. She calls all of us artists. She asks us to look deep into our hearts and really consider what things we do that really make us feel alive, what stops us from making the art we long to create, and what to do when you are in a period of waiting for art to happen. I took pages and pages of notes and will definitely be reading this book again and hopefully adding it to my own shelf.


The Perfect Meal: In Search of the Lost Tastes of France by John Baxter was a fun read about food in France. Surprisingly, this book was relatively clean and I enjoyed it even more because of that! Baxter goes in search of different recipes and meals that are quintessential French. A fun book for a foodie!


Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys by Stephen James and David Thomas is SUCH a great book on raising boys! Wow!!! I would call this a manual. I also took pages and pages of notes on this book and it probably would be a good idea for me to own this one. Not only do they talk about boys in general but they address the specific strengths and weaknesses of each age group and how to deal with them. There are lots of extra helps in the back too. I highly recommend this book if you have boys! So far, it is the best "boy book" I've read.

And now, for more ideas on books and knitting, visit Ginny's Yarn A Long.

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