Hello Unravelers! I am back from my whirlwind trip to Michigan – the weather was practically perfect. Although there was a bit of rain on Saturday afternoon, but that did not hinder any plans we had! More about my weekend on Friday!
It felt like I did not knit at all while I was gone but somehow, I managed to knit the final inches needed to divide Tegna (must have been that Packer knitting I did on Sunday! LOL)!! I decided that dividing front and back while on a flight might not be the smartest move ever, so I waited. And then yesterday I attacked the mountain of dirty laundry but today my list is short, and I am eager to get this sweater done, so that dividing to begin shortly!
I finished Early Bloomer again. I need to give it a soak, block, and weave in ends – but this will get some good rotation this fall!
The Reindeer Parts were greatly appreciated… stay tuned for the “complete ensemble” for Halloween! We ate dinner outside on Friday, which was perfect because Genevieve spent a good bit of time practicing her Deer Prancing!
Getting pictures of Genevieve was a challenge, she was most uncooperative!
Her patience for pictures was wearing thin at this point!
The week did bring a good number of book finishes:
I brought Red at the Bone with me and I devoured it on the way to Traverse City. I loved it! It is brilliantly written, and I highly recommend this short but sweet novel – 5-stars.
Next in the “devoured” category – I finished my second Max Porter book: Lanny. I listened to this one and I enjoyed it very much – however, I did not think it was quite as good as Grief is a thing with feathers. It is short, but brilliant – I think Kym’s review mentions Lincoln on the Bardo and I agree with her that there are some similarities between the two books! 4-stars and if you have not read any Max Porter – fix that…. IMMEDIATELY!
I also listened to Leaving the Atocha Station. The writing was good, but I so despised the main character – Adam – that I just could not get past that. He is truly as self-centered, highly medicated ass. This only got 2-stars from me.
Finally, I finished Searching for Sunday and I really debated how to rate this book. I did not like it yet; I was not sure how to rate this book given that the author is deceased. In the end, I just determined that I will give it the one-star I felt it deserved. I found the book trite and very clichéd – over and over and over again.
Now, I am focused solely on finishing the first Read With Us book and eager to do so!
What are you reading this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
The blocking is finished, although I was quite unsure about exactly how to block Reagan. In the end, I just blocked the lace, leaving the sleeves, back, and neck unblocked. I used blocking wires and t-pins and I think that worked. I love how incredibly soft the Einband gets when you soak it – the yarn also blooms a bit. However, taking photos in a sweater in the sun in 90+ degree temps… oh boy. It is indeed warm! Despite the heat I love the sweater and it will be the perfect layer for fall and winter.
As you can see above, I have the body finished on Early Bloomer and have started on the sleeves. My plan is to divide the yarn I have left and knit until I am out. I think I can manage to get an elbow length sleeve. And, the fit is MUCH better with the modifications I did on the re-knit (you can see the mods here.) I don’t know if I will have it done to take with me, but at least it will get some wear this fall, and it is off the “mend” pile!
One of my tasks for today is figure out some “travel knitting” for my Michigan trip. I know I won’t knit much once I am there, but I have a lay-over in O’Hare both going and coming home. I think the smartest (and lightest) thing for me to take would to pull out my Tegna and perhaps I can get the body completed!
It takes incredible talent to sleep with your head up, just saying….
AND!!! Sherman’s surgery was successful and here he is sans histiocytoma… albeit a little groggy from the anesthesia but home and so happy! He had a great night and is thrilled to be back to normal today – normal as in he can eat again, because he hates to miss a meal! Ha!
Now, how about the reading this week?
The reading was varied this week, with the bad seemingly outweighing the good… but the good was just so incredible!
The first Bess Crawford Mystery – A Duty to the Dead. I just could not get into this book at all and I tried over the course of several days… and eventually, I gave up – life is too short to struggle with a book when there are so many other choices!
Second dud of the week – Gabriel Tallent’s My Absolute Darling. I only got a few chapters into this one and stopped. How this is rated so highly on Goodreads is beyond me – I do not recommend this book at all.
I finished Everything I Never Told You and I really wanted to like this one, and perhaps my rating is because I only read it at night before falling asleep,. However, this one fell flat for me. I never really got into the story at all and while I did finish it, it only got 2-stars.
I heard about On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century on TRMS last week and was surprised that it was available at the library. It is a short read but full of eye-opening and thought-provoking things. 3-stars.
I read my first Max Porter book – Grief is the Thing with Feathers. Oh.my.gosh! I loved every word of this powerful little book. And, can I just say that Crow should be part of everyone’s grief process!! 5-stars and I highly recommend!
I also listened to some very interesting things this week that were not books! First up, did you know that you can listen to the entire whistle-blower complaint here? You should! It is not long – I listened to it while on a walk.
Next, if you have not listened to any of the 1619 Project podcast go now and do so! It is eye-opening and moving and there are just four episodes.
Finally….have you heard about Bonny, Kym, and Carole’s new book club? The first book looks like an excellent choice! I picked up my copy from my library yesterday. I’d love for all of you to join us!
That is all I have to share today, as always if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
No update photo of Black Hole Lace this week, but yes… that is the last ball of Lopi!! Yes, I have made some progress – really significant progress because I just have roughly 3 inches more of the lace to knit and then I move on to the finishing bits of the sweater! Progress at last! Wooo!
In my heart of hearts, I want to order yarn and cast on Romi’s shawl next…BUT!! I am going to be patient and first pull out my Tegna to finish it up and then I have plans to knit a second Morinne Short and Sweet! I might work on these two things concurrently – Tegna is at the mindless knitting point and I think the second Morrine will go quickly now that I understand how the puzzle all comes together!
Then I will be ready for Romi’s shawl!
However, first I am staying the course with my Black Hole Lace knitting.
The reading this week was simply magnificent and I have three books to share with you!
First up: Louise Penny’s A Better Man. This is book fifteen in her Three Pines series and it was just brilliant. Armand and Jean-Guy are brilliant together and their moments brought tears to my eyes more than once. This was the best book of the series and I know I say that about each of Penny’s novels, but it is impossibly true! This one tugs at the heart strings and even introduces a new Three Pines resident, I hope! 5-stars and this is a series that I strongly recommend!
Next: Say, Say, Say. I am not sure where I saw this book, but I was surprised by a very short wait list at my library. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it, but I think it could have been so much better. Still, it is a lovely story about a 30-something unmarried woman and the couple she works for – she cares for the wife, who has a catastrophic brain injury. I think this story had amazing potential to really take off, but for me it really never did. Still, there were some wonderfully tender moments in the story. 3-stars.
Finally: The Summerlings. This book will easily be in the top five books I have read all year. It is wonderful, witty, and so charming. The writing is spectacular: “In our old neighborhood, steps and walks crumbled and mold grew on the walls. We didn’t worry about things like mold back then; we worried about polio and radioactivity.” This story takes place in Washington D.C. in the summer of 1959 – the cold war is on, the Nazi’s have been defeated, and life is simpler – or is it? Potato Chip Sandwiches, Watermatoes, and an epic spider invasion and this story is off and running. I really tried to slow down and savor this story, but I just could not put it down! 5-stars and I urge you to pick up this brilliant little story!
As you can see… I have one more book on my stack to go – Red at the Bone is up next, and I am eager to read it!
What about you? How is your autumn reading unfolding?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
I feel like I have fallen into the black hole of knitting….
It feels like I have been knitting lace forever yet I still have 7-ish inches to go. Grrrr!!!
So, yesterday I took a lace knitting sanity break and started Halloween Legging Swatching! After a few trials and errors, I found the stitch combination sweet spot and am now moving along nicely! I should have the leggings done in short order. Can I just say that knitting for a pint-sized 4-year-old is quick, gratifying, and fun?
Thankfully, reading is going better than lace knitting and I have finished books this week to prove it!
First up, I picked up another Henning Mankell book from Overdrive. The Shadow Girls is about refugees in Sweden and their compelling stories – all re-told by a failing writer who is so moved by their haunting tales that he encourages them to write their stories down, 4-stars and I highly recommend this book. Mankell’s writing is simply brilliant!
I followed this up with the audiobook, The Leavers – which is another refugee story, but this one is quite different…at times it is painful to listen to. The story is told from two different perspectives – a mother and her child. About mid-way though the book I really was wondering where the author was going with this story, but Lisa Ko manages to bring all those wandering lines together to a masterful ending. 4-stars and again, I highly recommend!
That is all I have for this week, but what about you? How is your making and reading this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
September Unraveling is going well… and with no unraveling to date! I have indeed finished Reagan’s sleeves and have begun the lace work, although the sweater looks like a great grey blob right now! As I write this, I am completed the first repeat of the pattern and am well into another repeat with approximately 12 inches more to go! I am really happy with this sweater and think that this will absolutely be a much better use of the yarn. The lace pattern seems like it will be easy to memorize and once I have gotten through another repeat, I hope that I will not have to look at the pattern for each row.
I am *this*close* to finishing my Rose pants, and they would be done already but I could not find elastic for the waistband anywhere.in.this.house! I know I bought elastic but who knows where I put it…so I need to head to JoAnn’s to pick up some more. (Which means I am guaranteed to find that missing elastic no later than Friday! LOL)
The reads this week were varied and so interesting!
I wanted to re-read The Handmaid’s Tale before The Testaments was released and I did! Last time I listened to Claire Danes read it, this time I read it. It is curious that different things stood out to me in the re-reading of the story. I enjoyed it more than the first time and found that sometimes a re-read is the best thing ever!
I also listened to Madeline Albright’s Fascism: A Warning. Wow. Brilliant! Simply brilliant. I wrote a more detailed review here, but I highly recommend this book!
I found myself with a bit of a gap in my library wait list, so I did some digging to see what was available and found two fascinating books by random chance!
First, I found Paul Auster’s Report from the Interior, read by the him. This book was unexpected, brilliant, I felt some crazy connections and *being of a certain age* I loved it. I need more Paul Auster books in my queue, so I have plugged a few more titles of his!
Next in my searching I found Mitz, The Marmoset of Bloomsbury by Sigrid Nunez – I had read The Friend by the same author and thought the concept of this very short book was worth a try. It is a small slice of the life of Leonard and Virginia Woolf and their marmoset, Mitz. Funny, sad, quite interesting, and not at all a bad way to spend a few hours.
That’s all I have for this week – what about you? What are you making and reading this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave you link below and thank you!
Let me just say that knitting something for 34-ish inches in stockinette can be quite boring…except when you have 5 seasons of DCI Banks to binge. And, that is partially how I got those 34-ish inches knit quickly! I have now moved on to the sleeves, which I am knitting at.the.same.time and it is moving along nicely. Thus far, I am really loving the start of Reagan!
Pie wrapped in wax-paper freezes beautifully and one little square is the most lovely afternoon treat!
But!! It has not been all knitting, all the time around here! Impending autumn, cooler weather, and an abundance of amazing fruits at the local market are just the thing to get me back into the kitchen! I have been feverishly baking to fill the freezer with some goodies. Sunday, I made an Apple Slab Pie, which turned out stunningly and I highly recommend the recipe. And I also made my tried and oh-so-delicious Bottom Crust Plum Pie from Martha Stewart’s Pies and Tarts cookbook. On Monday, I made a batch of Pati’s Salsa Verde and Tuesday I made a double batch of Bourbon Peach Hand Pies (with this pie crust). The freezer is on its way to being replenished, and I still have some apples that I am thinking about what to do with. Perhaps something with puff pastry… hmmm.
Peach Hand Pies… all ready for the oven!
Now, on to the reads!
I managed to finish A Bridge of Clay, Suite Françoise, and The Crossing Places.
I had been on the wait list at the library for A Bridge of Clay for a very long time, and then I saw it was going to be available right about the time that I started War and Peace – so I moved myself back in the queue and I am so glad I did that. This book was one that I did not need to rush though. The story is all about the Dunbar family – and really the Dunbar brothers, especially Clay. I laughed, I cried and cried some more. It was truly an amazing story – and I listened to the audio version, that Markus Zusak read. I highly recommend – 4 stars.
Suite Françoise appeared on my radar thanks again to Carole. I was in luck that it was available at the library. It was a book that I savored – reading a little bit every night. It is a story about the WWII occupation of France. I want to say the story is wonderful, but that might lead you to believe that war occupation is idyllic – which is hardly the case. The writing is wonderful and it kept me wondering what might happen next and how it would unfold. The characters are beautifully developed and the story weaves perfectly between them all. But, for me the most amazing part of this story was the ‘back story’ on the writer – this novel was published 64 years after her death in Auschwitz…and I also highly recommend this book as well – 4 stars. (The movie version is available on Netflix that I might settle in with this week to knit those sleeves!)
Finally – one of you Unraveler’s mentioned The Ruth Galloway Mysteries and I pleasantly raced through The Crossing Places. I enjoyed it and loved how the author lead me along with Ruth as she figured out “who did it” and I have queued up a few more of the mysteries in this series! 4-stars for this first novel!
As always, if you wrote a post to share this week, please leave your link below and thank you!
