More Goodness

Back in October of last year, I ordered some very nice yarn to knit a sweater for Beatrix, hoping to have it finished in time for Christmas.  I knew I was cutting it close because the shop I ordered the yarn from dyes to order, and they were 8 weeks out.  Still, it would give me a week which should be enough time.  Well, the yarn didn’t arrive before Christmas, and Beatrix didn’t get a Christmas sweater.  Of course she didn’t know the difference.  A few weeks later I inquired after my yarn, wondering why it wasn’t ready yet. I got a message back saying that it would be dyed the following week, the shop had just been really inundated with orders and they were behind.  At that point I had already bought yarn and started something else for Beatrix, and chose to cancel the yarn order since it hadn’t been dyed yet.

Well, a few days ago I got a mysteriously soft package in the mail.  I hadn’t ordered any yarn, but it sure felt like it, and the sender was Three Irish Girls.  Opening it up, there lay three beautiful skeins of yarn, the same yarn I had ordered months ago.  With it was a card from one of the women at Three Irish Girls, apologizing for not being able to meet my needs and offering me the yarn at no cost to make up for it.  I was shocked at the generosity of the gift and very thankful indeed. 

There are two skeins of Lindon merino in Irish Sea, and one in a coordinating teal.  You can see all their colorways here.

And since Beatrix already got a sweater, now I get to decide something new to knit with this yarn…

A few other recent good things:

I made a last minute library run before we left town for audio books.  We listened to a good many on our road trip.  Our hands down favorite was Come on Seabiscuit read by Jim Weiss.

My mother gifted us with The Jesus Storybook Bible with audio cds and we are really loving listening to them.  The narrator and story style are both excellent.  I play them for Larkpur, but the older boys all migrate to the room to listen as well.

Seth and I both tested positive for gluten intolerance, Seth’s numbers were double mine, so as I suspected, he really needs to be gluten free.  Looks like we are in this for the long haul.  Since we’ve been home he has been eating gluten free and he is already so much calmer, it is amazing.  The cost of gluten free oats, also amazing unfortunately.  I now cook two pots because we cannot afford to feed the gf oats to seven people!  I recently got two new cookbooks to help us:  Gluten Free Baking Classics, and Make it Fast, Cook it Slow.  Both look amazing (and are well reviewed) so I look forward to trying some new recipes next week.

I finished reading Giants in the Earth and am so glad I read it even though I had to sit it down and sob for a few minutes when I finished it.  Most of us have read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books as an introduction to what pioneer life on the prairie was like.  And of course we all love those books because they are wonderful and they have a way of making even the worst of times sound cozy and quaint.  Giants in the Earth tells a similar story, only it deals so much more with the psychology of the characters and the toll that pioneer life took on those early pioneers (in this case Norwegian settlers) emotionally.  Based on what I read in this book, it was devastatingly difficult beyond the scope of my imagination.

So, anyway, my reading list keeps growing. 

In addition to the three I mentioned a few posts back, just before we left for our trip, I have added Willa Cather’s Oh Pioneers to the stack (thanks for the loan Lori!)  and am currently reading Rumer Godden’s Five for Sorrow Ten for Joy for my book club. 

Pioneers, ex prostitutes, and nuns, oh my!