Thanks to LONG audiobooks, I have gotten in some good knitting time this week! And voilà, I have a completed Ranunculus! It needs a wash, but I am wearing it today and it is perfect. Shorter sleeves FTW! I also started a new vest for Winston (No page yet, but the pattern is Avery 2.0 by ML Eagan). I did not get gauge, but I liked the fabric I got in my swatch, so I am knitting the smallest size (and will end up with a 12 month sized vest!)

I also began the process of cutting out mask pieces for some “assembly line sewing”

This week’s reading, oh my! I am feeling a sense of urgency about SAH Summer Bingo… I am 5 squares away from two coveralls. 5 squares. I have plotted out my course (Stuart Little, Wind in the Willows, Invisible Man, The Hobbit, and The Sweet Life In Paris) Fingers crossed that the library holds for Stuart Little and Wind in the Willows will come through before Labor Day…and if they do, then I think I can do it! All the others are either in progress or waiting in the wings!

My finishes this week were so, so, so good! And for as long as The House of the Spirits was, the others were short and deliciously sweet!

The House of the SpiritsThe House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book very much. The lyrical writing, the telling from two perspectives, and the story all combined to create an engrossing listen. The ending though… yes, this could absolutely be about what is happening today. (History does repeat itself, sadly.) The two narrators were wonderful! I recommend this book!

Counting DescentCounting Descent by Clint Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This debut book of poetry was absolutely perfect and listening to Clint read his poems made them even more so! There were so many poems I loved, but one that has stuck with me is “What the cicada said to the brown boy” and these words especially:

but every time you swarm they shoot
get you some wings, son
get you some wings

I highly recommend this little book!

Upstream: Selected EssaysUpstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With every Mary Oliver book, I love her more and more and this book is no exception! It is a short book, but it is so full of being aware. It reflects on “great thinkers” and her responsibility. She shares her love of nature, and the wonder of the world around us. I highlighted so many parts! So many incredible words, but these I have written in my journal:

For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.

I highly recommend this book!

Intimations: Six EssaysIntimations: Six Essays by Zadie Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How do I even begin to explain how deeply these essays moved me. How they made me think. How they made me cringe. How they made me angry.

6 timely, moving, and necessary essays to shake up your world. And, trust me… you need Zadie to shake it up.

Amid the great swath of indiscriminate death, some old American distinctions persist. Black and Latino people are now dying at twice the rate of white and Asian people. More poor people are dying than rich.

Untimely death has rarely been random in these United States. It has usually had a precise physiognomy, location and bottom line. For millions of Americans, it’s always been a war.

JUST BEFORE THE global shit hit the fan, we were in a long, involved cultural conversation about “privilege.”…privilege and suffering have a lot in common. They both manifest as bubbles, containing a person and distorting their vision. But it is possible to penetrate the bubble of privilege and even pop it—whereas the suffering bubble is impermeable….

If this book is not on your “must read” list, it should be. I highly recommend.


That is all I have to unravel for you all! As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below.


In a little bit of housekeeping, the last couple of weeks there have been some “spammy” posts linked. I am trying to monitor them and remove them when I see them. Last week there was also some issues with people leaving links, I am not sure why that is happening, but if you can’t leave a link via the link up, please leave your link in your comment. If the problems persist (i.e. the spammy posts, and the issues leaving links) I will look at the future of a link up. I just wanted to make you all aware of whats been going on. 

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