Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Book Review and Giveaway Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting by Lorna Miser! USA

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Faith, Hope, Love, Knitting by Lorna Miser, is a charming book that it’s almost an autobiographical knitting project book. Lorna invites us to join her on her self-discovery trip. When she was a little girl her desire to knit was born while looking over her grandmother’s shoulder and watching her while she knit.  She believes that her knitting skills are a gift from God and how she meets invaluable connections she’s made with people on her knitting journey. With these new friends she shares her stories and listens to theirs. Each project in the book in some way represents a person that she has become friends with and has encouraged her along the way.  Of course, her grandmother was her first knitting instructor. Her grandmother prided herself in knitting amazing lace doilies on very thin needles. Although her grandmother was a very shy person she would take her finished doilies two different appointments and events to show others. Most people would be in awe of her talent and she would sell or take orders for her gorgeous doilies. The first project in this book is of grandmother’s lace shawl.

 

Lorna’s mother was a very frugal knitter and a seamstress.  She never had a stash of materials or yarns laying around their house.  She only bought yarn and material when she knew what she was going to create and when she was finished with the project she would create something from scrapped of fibers and never cast them aside as worthless. For some reason, I was very touched by this due to the fact, like Lorna I have so many skeins of yarn that I am sure I will never use. During this recessionary time we should all take a lesson from Lorna’s mother.

 

This hard covered book holds 25 beautiful projects for us to knit and each one has a story of lasting friends that Lorna met along her knitting journey that influenced her life deeply. When I do book reviews sometimes it is very difficult to find out anything about the author, but in this case Lorna tells us a great deal about herself and when you have finish the book you will feel that she is one of your friends.

 

Through people she met Lorna eventually was the founder of Lorna’s Laces where you will find incredibly beautiful hand dyed eco-friendly yarns and learn more about this dedicated knitter.

 

This book is available on Amazon.com. 

This Giveaway will run from May, 20th through June 3th.  Just type “Enter Me”

 

 

Have you read?

Learning about Ghana for Kids

Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a small country in West Africa with a diverse population and ecosystem. It was the first colony in Sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence, in 1957. Let’s learn more about Ghana!

Ghana Basics

Ghana is located on the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean and is also bordered by Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Togo. 

It is 92,497 square miles or 239,567 square kilometers in area and has a population of more than 35 million, making it the second-most populous nation in West Africa. The capital and largest city is Accra. 

Akan is the largest ethnic group in the country, but there is no majority ethnic group. Many native languages are recognized by the government, and working languages include English, French, Hindi, Arabic and Ghanaian English as well as Ghanaian Pidgin English. 

More than 70 percent of Ghanaians are Christian.

The name Ghana comes from Wagadu, a West African empire active from the third to twelfth centuries. The word is thought to come from the title of their rulers, which translated to ruler of gold. 

The Portuguese were the original European colonizers in the 15th century, but eventually the British took control, and Ghana struggled for more than a century before gaining independence, after which time the country became active in the Pan-African movement and decolonization efforts throughout the continent. 

The country has a unitary presidential republican form of government, with a president, vice president and Parliament. 

Ghana is crossed by the Prime Meridian and is a few degrees north of the Equator, making it the country closest to the intersection of the Prime Meridian and the Equator (which is in the ocean). The country includes coastal plain, forests, savanna and mangrove ecosystems, and is home to Lake Volta, the third-largest reservoir by volume and the largest by surface area anywhere in the world.  

Ghana National Symbols

The Ghanaian flag consists of three horizontal stripes that are equal in width and are red, yellow and green from top to bottom. The yellow stripe has a five pointed black star in the center. It was adopted in 1957 after independence, and uses the Pan-African colors, which were originally used on the flag of the Ethiopian Empire. 

Red stands for the blood shed in the struggle for independence, while gold is for mineral resources and green for the forests. The black represents the emancipation of Africa against colonialism. 

The national anthem is “God Bless Our Homeland Ghana,” which was also adopted in 1957. The lyrics have been rewritten a few times, and playing of the national anthem is traditionally followed by reciting the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pledge_Of_Ghana. 

The Black Star of Africa as shown on the flag is also considered a national symbol. It represents the Black Star Line, a railway started by Marcus Garvey as part of the back to Africa movement. It was owned by Black people in contrast to the White Star Line, which was owned by whites. The Black Star is seen as a particular symbol of Ghana and is found on the country’s coat of arms, on Black Star Gate in Black Star Square in Accra and on the seat of state in Parliament, where the president sits.

The coat of arms also features two golden eagles with their wings raised, who are wearing black star medals on red, yellow and green ribbons. The shield between them shows a heraldic lion, a sword and staff, Osu Castle (the presidential palace on the Gulf of Guinea), a cacao tree and a gold mine. The motto “freedom and justice” is written on a ribbon beneath the shield. 

Eagles are also considered a national symbol, as are the African forest elephants. 

Ghana Learning for Kids

Check out this video tour of Accra to see some interesting places in the nation’s capital. It features Black Star Square, also known as Independence Square, which is one of the largest public squares in the world, with seating for 30,000 people. 

Learn more about Osu Castle, which was built by the Danish in 1659 and originally known as Christiansborg, or Christian’s Fortress, after the king of Denmark, Christian IV< who had died in 1648.

Learn more about African elephants and other animals of Ghana. You can also delve into the different ecosystems of the country (for example here’s a good page about mangroves).

I was looking for information about gold mining in Ghana and found this interesting post from NASA about how satellite data can be used to find illegal mining, which is a danger both to the people who do it and the environment.

Multicultural Kids Blog has some fun facts about Ghana, and you can grab more Ghana facts and worksheets from KidsKonnect. Global Explorers Club has a paid unit study about Ghana, and you can find more resources at Teacher Pay Teachers. Also check out this Ghana activity book available on Amazon, and this good list of children’s books about Ghana from Pragmatic Mom. 

There’s no official national dish of Ghana, but frontrunners include fufu and jollof rice. Fufu is traditionally made out of cassava or plantains, which might not be easy to find where you live, but here’s a good recipe from African Bites if you do have access to those ingredients. Jollof rice is made all over West Africa, and it includes chicken or lamb as well as rice, tomatoes, onion, garlic and chilies. This recipe from African Food Map says it is Ghanaian style.