Greetings Unravelers!

The sewing is going well! Uniform top #1 is done! I do need to make some alterations to the pattern when I make another one, but I think they will be easy alterations. I love how clear and concise the instructions are! I did do some modifications – I did flat felled seams, and made a slight adjustment to the tunic pieces in how they are hemmed. There will be more of this top in my future!

The knitting grows on my Lucinda sweater, as you can see in the above photo!

Things I discovered: I much prefer knitting with 100% wool yarn. I am finding it hard to keep an even tension with the silk-wool combination of this yarn. There are some spots where my stitches are quite different (read looser!) but I am not unraveling to fix them. I also had to do some “pre-planning” about weaving in ends. Silk-wool does not full together, so spit splicing was not an option. Also, this sweater is knit wrong-side-out…so weaving in ends on the purl side (or the right side) is not an option either. My solution? I am knitting about 6-8 stitches with the old ball and the new ball held together. I will leave a bit of a tail on the inside, and I think this will work. I can’t see the areas held double when I look at the fabric, so I hope I am good!

Now, let’s do a bit of a reading review, shall we? All in all, it was a very good month. I finished 16 books! Yikes! That was not planned, but rather I had a “it poured” moment from the library with holds that came through. I don’t think May will end with that volume of books read, but we shall see – and the end of the month brings Summer Book Bingo! Out of the 16, there were 4 books I gave 5-star reviews to, 8 books got 4-star reviews and I’d say that makes a darn good month of reading!

My finishes:

Home Fires by Kamila Shamsie. I liked this book very much and gave it 4-stars. There is so much to think about in this book and Kamila does a great job of sharing the story of Muslim immigrants. I highly recommend.

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian was, imo, horrid. At 1-star, and I found it to be a colossal waste of reading time. You can read my review here, but be warned, it has spoilers. A blog friend felt bad about my review and suggested I try another Bohjalian novel (she suggested The Double Bind). Surprisingly there is a long wait list at the library, and the reviews are very mixed on it on Goodreads, so I am having a bit of a debate about reading this with myself.

Bring Me Back is B.A. Paris’ latest novel and I received a copy from NetGalley for review. I was disappointed in this, her third novel, and I gave it just 2-stars and I do not recommend. You can read my review here, and again – it contains spoilers.

On a brighter note, I also finished Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News, which I loved! 4-stars and I highly recommend this short but lovely novel!

And, finally I listened to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. This year is the 60th anniversary of the book and somehow, I had managed to avoid reading this until now. I loved it, it is brilliantly written. If you have not read this, I recommend listening to it. It is short, but riveting!

I have 2 long audiobooks that will close out the Library Waiting List Bonanza: Amor Towles Rules of Civility and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. I am over half way through listening to The Rules of Civility and so far, so very good!

I am reading another Net Galley book: Ohio a novel, by Stephen Markley. I have just begun reading it and don’t really have a feel for it yet.

And, finally, I started Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff and David Corn as well. This is due back to the library next week, so I need to get going on it!

There you have it… my entirely Unraveled Wednesday!

What was good in your April and what are you hoping May holds for you?

If you are joining along, please leave your link and thank you!

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