Unraveled Wednesday | 2.3.21

Unraveled Wednesday | 2.3.21

“A half finished shawl left on the coffee table isn’t a mess; it’s an object of art.”
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

There was a similar discussion in my house recently, this quote works for spinning as well… because that wheel in the living room? Why yes, it is an object of art! lol

But the making this week! I am 35 teeth in to my Handspun Hitchhiker and it remains my “evening with television” knit. But the rows are getting longer and so not as many teeth are completed each night. I am inching into the next color though, and I am still so in love with this knit!

My Heart Warmer Cowl is almost done…just the ribbing to go! And just in the nick of time – it should be done today – the weather people are warning us that Pittsburgh will have bitterly cold weather next week!

Finally, my *pseudo* glamor shots of my blocked Autumn Forest. I love everything about this, but most especially the yarn! It is Baa Ram Ewe’s Titus (a blend of Wensleydale, Alpaca, and BFL) there is a hint of a halo, it is soft and so drape-y, and it is so warm! A part of me wishes it was just a tiny bit longer… I probably should have stretched it out a bit in my blocking.

The reading this week, though! Two very different stories that I wanted so badly to love, but 3-star reads are not a bad thing, right?

The Night TigerThe Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to love this book. There is so much going on in this story – coming of age, class, folklore, first love, and a mystery within a mystery. I listened to the story – read by the author – which helped, I think. But really, I think this story just had too much going on – it was a distraction.

Leave the World BehindLeave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book left me feeling this: wait, what?

It gripped me from the beginning, kept me not wanting to put it down… but then, out of no where, it ended. Throughout the book there are such great hints as to what might have happened, but the ending left so many loose ends. I look forward to discussing this book… it really left me feeling very uncomfortable.


That is all for me today, if you wrote a post to share – please leave your link below and thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 1.27.21

Unraveled Wednesday | 1.27.21

…I never just knit; I knit and think, knit and listen, knit and watch. — Stephanie Pearl-McFee

Greetings Unravelers! Welcome to the final Wednesday in January. Was it me, or did this month just fly by?

I managed to have a finish this month though! Autumn Forest is off the needles, but in need of a soak and a bit of blocking. I did not get that done this week because I have been preoccupied with doing a bit of decluttering. I hope to have this blocked and ready for its big reveal next week! I am wondering about this though… I used one entire hank of Titus to knit half of this scarf but not an entire hank for the second half. I did not weigh the hanks before I wound them, but scarf and remaining ball weigh 200g-ish, so I am not sure what happened.

However, the joy of my life right now is my Handspun Hitchhiker! Oh my goodness, I am so in love! I am surprised at how evenly I spun this yarn. Really, quite surprised…that is not usually the case. One single will inevitably be a bit heavier than the other single and it really shows up in plying. There are spots where it is not perfect, but for the most part it really is wonderful! I have just gotten to my first gradient change and, wow… it eases in to the icy blue so wonderfully! Anyways, this has been my evening knitting while watching TV companion, and it shows!

(My daytime knitting project is my Heart Warmer and you can tell that I haven’t been sitting and knitting much. Sorry for the poor photos, it was one extremely grey day here – this is actually a pale blue grey yarn, but getting an accurate photo yesterday was almost impossible!)

This week’s reading finishes were very mixed.

The Guest ListThe Guest List by Lucy Foley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This story had so much promise, but just failed to deliver on almost every level. A cast of characters with no redeeming qualities whatsoever coupled with so-so writing and you have a snore of a novel. Yes there were some twists and turns, but they did not add anything to the story… in fact, sometimes they detracted. I had to force myself to finish this book. Sadly, I do not recommend.

The Midnight LibraryThe Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to begin with this brilliant little story! If you could pick a different life, what would you choose? And if that didn’t work, would you choose another? And what happens to the life you did not pick? This is a story that made me think about choice we make in our every day life… choice and the consequences. The Midnight Library is between life and death… and there are always new books to check out! I could not stop listening to this story and highly recommend!


Finally, there was something I watched this week that was wonderful! The Wipers Times and it is available on Amazon Prime, Hoopla, and my library has a DVD available as well. This is a story that I knew nothing about and I am now wanting to get a copy of The Wipers Times book to read. If you like history – this is a story of a regiment during WWI, as told by Captain Fred Roberts. It is witty, brilliant, and must see!

 

And there you have my week of knitting, reading, and watching! As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 1.20.21

Unraveled Wednesday | 1.20.21

What we love to do we find time to do. — John L. Spalding

Welcome to Inauguration Day Unravelers!

This past week has been all about vacillating between wanting to watch the news and trying to avoid the news. I think I found a good balance and in the process did some yarn sorting and organizing. I also did some project sorting and organizing as well. I have some projects that the yarn was reclaimed and some projects that are sitting so I can think a bit more about reclaiming the yarn or finishing the project. And there are some projects that I asked myself why it was not done… one of those projects spent a bit of time with me when I watched the news and have made some significant progress to finishing!

This is the project (Rav Link) that has been in my hands the most this week. Before I picked it up, I was just about half way done with this scarf and today I have less than two sections to go!

I also finished the second braid of fiber and completed plying last week’s yarn. It turned out better than I hoped and although there are a couple of under-plied spots, I think it will be alright once it has had a nice soak! In fact, it will be hanging to dry soon and then, dare I hope, I will be casting on a Hitchhiker!!

The reading was good this week! I follow John Boyne on Twitter and some weeks ago he suggested The Thursday Murder Club and I am so glad he did!

The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up based on a recommendation by John Boyne and I am so glad I did! How fun would it be to have a Murder Club? Riotously fun, if you go by Osman’s version! I laughed, I loved the turns this story took, but I especially adored Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron… they were simply divine!

I highly recommend this witty book and I am eagerly awaiting the next installment!


As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below! Thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 1.13.21

Unraveled Wednesday | 1.13.21

“ I will continue to freak out my children by knitting in public. It’s good for them.”
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Thinking back, I do not think my kids ever freaked out over my knitting in public, but Steve on the other hand absolutely does! Ha! Fortunately, I have done no knitting in public this week (and Zoom knitting does not count!)

Speaking of this week…oy! Let’s talk about how freaky it is to “knit while watching an insurrection” at The Capital takes place. End results: one finished pair of socks, and started one cowl! (Justyna Lorkowski’s Heart Warmer) I also found treadling helped with the stress and I finished one braid of fiber!

Spinning might be the perfect thing to do while “stress watching” television! This is some of the oldest fiber I have. It is BFL from Spunky Eclectic and was a bit compacted from storage, but opening it up a bit made spinning it a dream. I can spin BFL so thin and I have some Hitchhiker plans for this beautiful gradient yarn… One braid to go and then some plying and I can’t wait to be knitting it!

The reading was so varied this week! And despite the chaos, I was able to finish two books. And they were two very different books!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRueThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a curious tale of a girl who makes a “deal with the devil” and so begins her journey over the centuries, until one day she meets someone different. The story jumps around a bit and it leaves some logical questions unanswered. The strangest conversations take place between her and the darkness. The moral of the story? Be careful what you wish for! (I think this would be a GREAT book for a book club to read and discuss!)

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)All Systems Red by Martha Wells
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A short introduction to The Murderbot Diaries. (Very short, it was only about 3 hours of listening!) However, in 3 hours my interest has been piqued! I look forward to the second installment! If you like futuristic novels, I think you will like this!

 


As always – if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below! Thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 1.6.21

Unraveled Wednesday | 1.6.21

“I recognize that knitting can improve my mood in trying circumstances” ― Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much

Today, of all days, is a day to keep your knitting at hand to help your mood for what certainly will be some trying circumstances. But, as Kamala said on Monday night, “We are going to be inaugurated. Period!” So keep her voice echoing in your head as you knit today!

A New Year and some new knitting perhaps? Did any of you cast on a new project to start the New Year? I did not cast on anything new but…

I did some spinning! First, after letting my singles rest a good long time, I plied my last skein of Prose from Hipstrings. It needed two “run through’s” to get enough twist, but it has had a nice bath and it poofed up beautifully! I love how all of this turned out. It is a little heavier than fingering weight and I think I have about 1100 yards of yarn, though I have not calculated the final yardage since washing, but I should have enough to do a cropped-ish sweater with 3/4 length sleeves.

AND!! I I spun up this beauty as well! It is a very interesting blend of fiber! I erroneously thought this was the same blend as Buoy, but I was wrong… however, I really like this yarn and I might have ordered some more of it. It would make a wonderfully cozy hat and a pair of mitts!

I also have been knitting a few rounds on my socks, as you can see, and I might be done but after I completed the heel I just started knitting the leg… sans the pattern. Sigh. I was about 20 rows in when I realized it, but rather than rip it all out I tried something new. I just unraveled the 4 stitches on each side and reknit with the pattern this time! Yes, I shocked myself! Yes, it was a bit fiddly, but I did it!!

Remember that Twitter Sock KAL I did with Kate Atherley last year? Well, she has released the pattern (you no longer have to thread the tweets together to knit!) It is a great sock construction, a different toe (no grafting!) and they are so comfy!

Now, how about a little reading? I have managed to finish ONE book to start the new year (although I am close on a couple of others…) It was a lovely book to start the year with!

History of the RainHistory of the Rain by Niall Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“We tell stories. We tell stories to pass the time, to leave the world for a while, or go more deeply into it. We tell stories to heal the pain of living.”

This book. Oh my goodness. The writing. The words. They gathered my hands and drew me gently in to the most wonderous story! I laughed, I cried… a lot, and just did not want it to end. I want to be Ruth Swain! I want to have Niall Williams gift of writing! I want to live in a place where…It started raining here in the sixteenth century and hasn’t stopped.

But more than anything, this:
I am plain Ruth Swain. See me, nineteen, narrow face, MacCarroll eyes, thin lips, dull hazelnut hair, gleamy Swain skin, pale untannable oddment, bony, book-lover, reader of so many nineteen-century novels before the age of fifteen that I became too clever by half, sufferer of Smart Girl Syndrome, possessor of opinions and good marks, student of pure English, Fresher, Trinity College Dublin, the poet’s daughter.

If this brilliant book is not on your must read list, put it there immediately. But better than that, get it, open it and start reading!


As always – if you wrote a post you’d like to share, please leave your link below and thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 12.30.20

Unraveled Wednesday | 12.30.20

Greetings, Unravelers!

We have finally arrived at the last Wednesday of the longest year ever. No updates with this post, but rather reviews… The best of 2020 in making and reading.

This was the Year of Making (although not all of it has been captured on Ravelry, thanks to them being tone deaf about people having issues with their site) However, I checked and on Ravelry, I had completed 12 things (no Rav Links) this year, starting with a sweater that is a true favorite… Amy Christoffer’s Felix Cardigan. I wear it often… and have the yarn to make another one. Perhaps it can be a “start out 2021” sweater!

However, it was a year of socks for me… I knit more socks than I ever have in my knitting life with a whopping 6 pairs of adult size socks (and one Winston size pair, but those barely count, lol) And in fact, the final project I completed in 2020 were a pair of Socks for Steve. As you can see above, I don’t think I will get sock 2 completed before the midnight tomorrow so that brings my grand total for things knit this year was a whopping 22 projects! I guess Pandemic Knitting should be a thing!

On the sewing front, I was a lot less productive… only 4 projects completed this year. Sigh. My goal is to do a bit more sewing in 2021.

Now, on to the reading, which was so good this year. Although, I read less books than last year… by a significant amount. However, I think the reading I did this year has included so many books that have stayed with me. Books that I am still thinking about! Those, my friends, are signs of good books!

Of the 107 books I read this year, I classified 39 of them as 5-star reads! There were 45 4-star reads, just 14 3-star reads, 6 2-star, and 1 book got a 1-star rating. There were 3 books this year that were just not for me. I have looked at the 7 books that rated below 3-stars, and in hind sight I should have moved into the “did not finish” category. In essence, how I rate books… 3-stars means I finished it and it was okay. 4-stars, I liked it…lots, but I did not love it. And 5-stars is a book that I love, can’t stop thinking about, and want everyone to read it so I can talk to them about it!

I listened to 50 audiobooks this year. It is a format I love and it makes me happy that listening to a book is an option at my library because 99% of my reading for the year was made possible by my library! 2020 was a year that I wanted to read one book of “new to me” poetry every month. I did slightly better than that with 14 books of poetry!

The poetry was truly moving for me this year and 4 of those 14 books have really stayed with me. I think about them often, they introduced me to a new voice and each introduced a new way to look at things:

My best books of 2020:

I highly recommend any of these books to you, if you have not read them already!

Finally, though I have been debating on the continuance of Unraveled Wednesday, I am happy to share that Unraveled Wednesday’s will continue in 2021 – at least for a while! I am truly thankful for all of you each week… your posts inspire me, increase my reading list, as well as my make list!

As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and Happy New Year!


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