Greetings Unravelers and Welcome September where I am waiting for the weather to flip the switch from heat and humidity to something a few degrees cooler and less moist!
**I apologize for the poor photo quality, but I tried multiple times on Tuesday to get “natural light” photos but all the spillover rain from Ida tossed a monkey wrench in that plan.**
Sometimes the “unraveling” means cutting off a waistband from a muslin I made this week to adjust the fit. It is my first Sew House 7 pattern and while the directions provided incredible detail for adjusting fit, the rise in the front is just too long…even with the adjustments I made. I can wear them with the band rolled over, but that really only works around the house, lol. So I am going to see if removing the waistband and removing just a bit of fabric from the front of the pants will make it a muslin I can wear out of the house! Plus, it will help me with the fit on the next pair of pants I make (and I do have plans for another pair!) I hope to have images to share once I have reworked the waist. Stay tuned!
One other fun thing happened in knitting this week. I got gauge for a sweater... with both commercial yarn (I am using Rauma Finull P2) and handspun! I am in shock… honestly. In. Shock! I started the sweater with the commercial yarn and that will tell me exactly how much yarn I will use to knit… so I can determine how long my sleeves will be on the handspun version! lol. This sweater if fairly flying off the needles… I have divided the sleeves already (and knit a couple of inches of the body post photograph!)
It was a banner week for reading this week! My best read… Isabel Allende’s soon to be published book, Violeta. I was fortunate to get and ARC from Netgalley and this book will absolutely be in the top five for best reads of the year! If your library has a copy on order… get on the list to read it! It is so good!
Atonement by Ian McEwan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sometimes I just need some Ian McEwan writing in my day… this book filled that void for me – perfectly. I have not seen the movie (but after reading this book, I am not sure I want to… nothing could beat this writing…this story…and how McEwan masterfully unravels it for us)
McEwan always makes me think, and Atonement sure did. Can you ever make up for things you did…knowingly or unknowingly? It is a question that I will ponder for a long time. If you think McEwan is hit or miss… this is a hit. I listened to the audible version and the narration was excellent.
I very much recommend this book!
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was a very hard read, but it is just so beautifully written. The stories are not easy to take in (and this book has triggers for rape, incest, domestic abuse/violence, prostitution, and drug use to name a few… )
The writing is what really drew me in… the stories are so compelling. I did feel that there are some superfluous characters that I did not find a connection to the stories… they could have been edited out. But it also made me think of life… we have superfluous people in our lives that do not know what is really going on in our lives… they just see the snapshot that we share.
Violeta by Isabel Allende
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Epic. Spectacular. Compelling. Allende at her best!
From the first pages, Violeta drew me in. The writing is captivating and the story is so engaging. I wanted to know ‘what’s next’ and had trouble putting it down!
This is a story of Violeta’s life… it is one very long and loving letter written to someone she deeply loves. The story includes Chilean history (which I knew very little about) and bookends the life of Violeta tucked between two pandemics. It is brilliant and I found that bit of irony so perfect and gave an incredible glimpse into the unique life Violeta lived. If you think a person cannot change, this book will show you that change is absolutely possible… you just have to want it with everything in your being.
I want to thank NetGalley, Ballantine, and Random House for this ARC and this is my unbiased review of this book.
I highly recommend it! Really… this is a must read book!
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you! I will be back on Friday!
I love the color for your latest sweater Kat! That sweater has caught my eye more than once on TWT web site. I just may have to jump in!! What a banner week for books. The newest from Allende looks excellent!
Beautiful beautiful knitting!! I finally finished a baby blanket and now trying to get lots done on a poncho.
Hurray for the gauge win!!!! 🙂 And I hope the “fix” on your waistband does the trick!
Congratulations on the fix for not rolling your waistband over and getting gauge! I’m glad to hear about Violeta. I’ve requested it on Netgalley, and will head over to my libraries to put it on hold. You’ve had a great making and reading week!
I am so excited for you that you got gauge with both yarns — you’re going to have two amazing sweaters that I predict will get a ton of wear (I hope sooner rather than later). I entered a Goodreads giveaway for Violeta but didn’t win, so I will have to wait until the library has it, but all the same I’m glad to hear your good review.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about the twist at the end of Atonement. I really loved the book — until I got to that twist, and then I was just angry at him for what felt like stringing me along. But I think as time has passed and I’ve thought more about it (and saw the movie), I’ve come to be a little less angry and instead admired why he did it.
I’m ready for less humidity, that’s for sure. I hope that waistband works out the way you want. And thanks for the head’s up on the new Allende!
What pretty colors in your knitting? I so admire you sewists who persist with muslins and fit issues. Fit is the issue in sewing for me. I can execute most instructions but fit is a bug-a boo. I just run out of patience and get discouraged. Your persistence is a good model. And really you aren’t the first to roll over a waistband – just saying. Violeta looks intriguing. Sometimes Allende is a hit for me and sometimes not.
That should have been pretty colors in your knitting! Oy – my fingers hit the wrong key.
Really like the colours of your new knit, both the commercial and the hand spun. They have a cooler weather look rather than a wintery one.
I see my library has the ‘one armed sister’ book so will order it when we get home. Lots of Allende there also so much to look forward to….when they reopen that is.
Your knitting is lovely – and a whole sweater in handspun? wow! thank you for the heads up on Violeta – there are SO many books coming out this fall it’s hard to keep up!