Books in the Book Basket

We have a small basket that is perfect for holding books of all different shapes and sizes, (I just love baskets, the minute I see them in a thrift shop, I can't resist them!). I use them for my knitting projects etc... I thought I would share some of the titles we are reading at moment with you.

Here we go:

A Baobab is Big by Jacqui Taylor
Christmas in the Family by Isabel Marion (lovely)
African Animal Tales by Jay Heale
The Big Summer Activity Book by Anne and Peter Thomas
Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell
Bushveld Safari
The Sun Egg
An African Christmas Cloth
The Spiritual Tasks of the Homemaker (I'm reading this)
Health Through God's Pharmacy  by Maria Treben (I'm reading this, Amazing!!)

This last book is truly wonderful, I have been reading all about Swedish Bitters and it sounds like an amazing tonic, the case studies written in this book about the bitters are fantastic! Do any of you use Swedish Bitters, I would love to hear more about this amazing herbal mixture.

The sky at dusk...
Happy 1st of November to you:)

Handwork Wednesday and Books

I am really enjoying all the spinning that has been happening over here over the last few days because I am taking part in The Tour de Fleece. Today's is a superwash Merino Tencel roving I bought from Twiggi Knits on Etsy. I just love the colourway, to me it looks like 'mother of pearl'... I am going for a sock weight here with this particular spin and I have just finished the roving now, it is quite a few hundred yards long I'm sure, just need to skein it and then I can count.

We are still experiencing freezing weather, our rain that fell yesterday turned to ice last night.

These are our reading books for the week, I am reading George's Secret Key to the Universe to Caiden, Erin is reading The Borowers, Jenna is reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and I am reading through the South African Sky Guide for Erin's Astronomy block.



We have been doing yoga each morning before our main lesson work and we have really been enjoying this children's yoga book, Fly Like a Butterfly. There are stories with yoga poses throughout the book, lovely.

My Studio

Here it is... the studio... we have been working on it for the last few days. It is a cozy little spot, I love it!

Guss snuck in while I was spinning this afternoon to keep me company. Remember the Roman blind I was busy with a few months ago? Well there it is above the window, I still need to finish another one for the other window, it is twice the size so I guess I am a little daunted but I will set to work on it in a few days:)

Superwash roving that's been separated to spin...

 Here is the superwash on the Ashford...

And finally... drum roll... here are The Shelves! I must say, I really LOVE how they look. They were origionally coat racks but we have turned them upside down and repurposed them as shelves. The little blue and white sewing box on the shelf has been my sewing box since I was 8 years old, I have often thought about replacing it, but I am very fond of that little sewing box, so I am sure I will be using it for many years to come. I remember my mom bought it for me at a market one Sunday...
These shelves hold a few of my spinning, sewing and kintting books and a small amount of my fabric stash, but oh how I adore them! (Too much? No... I think I am gushing just the right amount) :)

Under the table you can see Kye's little wooden town and pirate ship, he often joins me in my studio and we have the most wonderful conversations:)

BFL Mohair on the Joy...

A close up of the books on my shelf at the moment...

The winner of the giveaway will be posted on the origional giveaway post later tonight:)

Thanks so much for having a wander through my studio with me...

Corners of My Home...

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful comments in the previous post about the knitted snail pattern, you are all so kind:) I really do love to hear your thoughts and I hope you enjoy knitting him:)

Today has been a really productive day:) This is my study and for quite a while now I have wanted to reorganise all of my books into categories. ( It really isn't fun looking for a book and you have no idea where it is on the shelves:)  Today was the day...  and early this morning, I started rearranging everything.

It feels so much better in this room now, all the knitting, dyeing and spinning books are together on their own shelves, the homeschooling books have their own shelves and so do the recipe and gardening books... etc...

This girls are at baseball with their dad playing their last game of the season, if they win today they will go through to the finals tomorrow, hold thumbs!

I am off to knit...

Have a lovely weekend everyone,

Warmly

Linda

7 Things I'm Loving....

Spinning...

Summer hail storms...

Beautiful Camel Silk, and Angora rovings from Juno Fibre Arts to feed the fibre cravings, do you get fibre cravings?

My new Mohair and Kid Mohair skeins have arrived for knitting unicorns...

This little book is such a gem for studying weather...

Fabulous book this...

These are the skeins Jen and I dyed naturally with our mulberries that have just ripened, I think we will make jam soon...

Happy Wednesday...

Our Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend, on Sunday we went to a food market at Uncle Tim's Cabin, which is just on the outskirts of Benoni, near the small farms. What a lovely centre, they sell antiques, secondhand books etc... Yesterday was a food market and we met our lovely neighbours there and had a grand morning together. We sat at a table under the trees, knitting, chatting and listening to live music... The children played and went exploring...

Cady and Aaron looking for fish...

Isn't that just the biggest cupcake...

Did I mention there were secondhand books for sale... Well I of course went straight to the knitting and needlecraft section of books and found some fantastic editions... I found an old Scouting Book too...

These books have such beautiful vintage patterns in them, tonight I am going to sit down and have a really good look.

I also found a beautiful old fairy tale book, I couldn't resist, it reminded me of ones I had when I was little...

One other thing... I have started to wear skirts again and dresses! I never really wear them, but now, I think I will and I think I rather like them. I have been out to the fabric shop and found the most amazing fabric, it is actually quilting fabric and I am going to make skirts for Jen and Erin. I also intend to make my first quilt... I will post pictures of my progress...

For everyone waiting for the wrist warmer pattern to be posted at Our Holistsc Life, Carle' will be posting it soon and I will let you all know as soon as it is on her blog :)