Words and Wool

Keeping to a bare minimum of knitting has done wonders for my wrists. No pain and no wearing of the braces. However, the pain seems to return quickly if I pick up a large knitting project. Very thankful to report that this toddler hat went along fine and did not cause problems! I loved using the little linen bag with the amber weighted ties as a knitting project bag! The bag was a gift from a friend who recently travelled to Lithuania! For this hat I used the Sweet Pea Hat pattern I always use and just modified the top not to contain any pea pod!

I was very excited to finish my Jane Brocket inspired quilt last month!!! It's been many years in progress and now it's decorating the back of my couch. I love it! I used large stitches and Perle Cotton to quilt it.

I've been trying to spend more time on painting over the summer months and hope to continue this. I met up with my mom in Zionsville to "paint what we ate". 

Or "what we saw":

The next best thing to creating beautiful things is finding them for bargain prices at thrift stores. I had the chance to spend an hour or two one summer morning at my local Goodwill Outlet and came away with this stash for about $5.

Switching over to book conversations......after a lot of thought I decided to start a second blog focused solely on book reviews for books set in Scotland! So "Reading Scotland" is recently up and running and I look forward to posting lots of fun books and corresponding travel ideas over on that blog.

 Scottish books are not the only thing I read though, so I will continue to post my regular book reviews here. And so to catch up from the summer:


Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More by Erin Boyle is a beautiful lifestyle book focused on living simply, functionally, yet beautifully in whatever space you have. I loved the photos and the practical ideas.

 Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters by Timothy Keller. As always, Keller nails his topic, pointing out with painful clarity how easily we turn our love from the true God to "counterfeit gods" such as fame, relationships, money, or security and how we can return to the only God who can fill that gaping hole in our hearts.


Rising Strong by Brene Brown. Here is another author whose books can be counted on to be challenging and growth-promoting. Brown talks about vulnerability and the need to rise strong after failures.

Toast & Marmalade and Other Stories by Emma Bridgewater was a beautiful and inspiring book (I can't figure out where Amazon got this cover photo from because the cover of the book I read was far more beautiful). Inside the book, which is filled with gorgeous photography, Emma weaves her creative story of becoming a pottery artist and eventually founding and running the Emma Bridgewater Pottery company. Her pottery has become almost iconic in the UK and has spread around the world. Loved this book!

Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer told the incredible (and recently discovered) story of Irena Sendler who rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. It is amazing to me every time I read of the courage of those that worked in resistance movements across Europe during that war. What huge sacrifices and great risks these people took. It all sounds incredible when you read it, but the book also brings out the great heaviness that many of these people bore for the rest of their lives as they lived with the memories of those they could not save. To this day so many in Poland are still suffering from the effects of the war. Strangely enough this brought to mind the fact that my grandfather's own sufferings in the war, and the strained relationships that led to, effect my life everyday now too. Yes, war is a terrible thing. All that considered, this book really does tell an amazing story and I have another book waiting on my "to-read" shelf also about Irena Sendler. If you haven't heard of her, definitely consider reading her story.


The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose is such an enjoyable book if you love birds or nature. In this book Zickefoose shares her stories of personal interaction with bird species after bird species. I loved the beautiful watercolors and drawings that illustrated the pages. Her newest book is on my to-read list!

Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time by Jamie Martin is a book I actually bought as soon as I heard of it which is saying a lot considering I normally limit myself to books I can get from my library. Fortunately, this book was a great buy and I am using it in our homeschool this year. Martin has collected an amazing list of book recommendations for teaching your child about the world. The book is broken down by continent and contains recommendations for age 4-6, age 6-8, age 8-10, and age 10-12. Martin also tells their own family's story of being brought together from many countries as well as gives ideas on how you can incorporate world studies into your household.


Mother and Son: The Respect Effect by Emerson Eggerichs was a very helpful book for examining the parenting of my sons and what kinds of speech and actions best communicate love (er, respect) to them.

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller. This was a great book. Keller takes all the current arguments against belief in the God of the Bible and examines them through Scripture and logic . If you have friends who are stuck on certain arguments and can't seem to find a way beyond them you might want to check this book out and see if Keller's words could help you in understanding and communicating with your friend. This is a great book for using with teenagers as well.

The Mom Factor[ THE MOM FACTOR ] by Cloud, Henry (Author) Sep-15-98[ Paperback ] by Henry Cloud and John Townsend will definitely rank as one of the best books I've read this year. The authors examine the role mom plays in our growing to adulthood and how different mothering bents can positively or negatively affect that growth. The authors provide plenty of help on how to overcome the negative effects of childhood and grow into maturity at whatever age you may be. This book would be helpful for: those who grew up with difficult mothers, those having a difficult relationship with their mom presently, those wanting to understand their own bent as a mother and how it can/is affecting their children, those wanting to avoid pitfalls in their current parenting of their own children, those desiring reconciliation with their mother.

Phew! That's all for now!

For more ideas on knitting and reading visit Ginny's Yarn Along.

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