Unraveled Wednesday | 10.18.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 10.18.23

Greetings Unravelers from the midway point of our Erie trek!

I would like to think that I am making and reading up a storm but realistically that is not likely happening… or if it is, it is in very small doses. I have brought my Pressed Flower socks for company… as well as some wound skeins of Koigu KPPPM ready to be cast on… lol.

Steve is NOT a reader and he hates that I read on vacation so my reading time is limited to at night when I get into bed.

I am hoping that you all are making up for the void of making and reading in this post… please tell me what you are excited about this week! I will be back next week and will be delighted to catch up on what you all are up to!

As always, please share your post below and I will be back next week to tell you all about my trip!


Unraveled Wednesday | 10.11.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 10.11.23

Greetings Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!

For me, this is the Day Before Vacation and so I have a bit of housekeeping to share with you all. First, next week there will be an Unraveled post… it will be a bit different… i.e. I have it already written, so there won’t be much from me on the making or reading, but I know you all probably have been making and reading lots, so please share!

The only other post I have pre-planned is for Bonny’s Gathering on Poetry, which is the 19th.

Outside of those two posts, it will be radio silence here, but I will try and post some things on IG to share the glory that is autumn on Lake Erie!


My making this week had a bit of a detour! The call of The Gnome was strong and I went with the flow…

Gnatalie Queen Cole

Meet Gnatalie Queen Cole! She is the alto for my little gnome quartet… but she missed the part that the alto is not the diva… because she is all diva! She sort of reminds me of Charlie Brown’s curly haired girl…except more! Her dress has some sparkles and she loves how it gleams in the spotlight!

I followed this pattern for the her…but I knit 10 more rounds on the dress before I began the ruffle. Her hair is the beard from this gnome… again, I knit roughly 18 more “straight” rows before beginning the decreases. To get the best curls, I washed and “set” them before unraveling. I think she is just too fun! Now all they need is the tree to sing around!

The other detour was The Spinning of the Scrappy Sock fiber… oh my. I just could not stop! And once I had two full bobbins, I could barely wait for the second bobbin to rest before plying it up! It has had a bath and I am In. Love! Oh my… This is the most fun I have had in forever! It is thicker than my usual spin… it is roughly between DK and worsted weight! Two ply with all the glorious barber-poling one could imagine! And soft! Oh my… it is so soft! I am thinking this will be the perfect Honey Cowl. I have just over 400 yards, so I will have enough to cast on 180-ish stitches.

A riot of color!

Such delightful detours! But let’s get back on track and talk about my reading! It was a delightful week of reading! I finished Tracy K. Smith’s To Free the Captive which will be published November 7th. It is beautiful writing (as one would expect from a poet) and the story is a bit of Tracy’s history and it is told so beautifully. One phrase has stayed with me and will likely for a very long time… The Free and the Freed. Powerful phrasing!

I also have been racing through the second Marlow Murder Mystery… it is even better than the first! I should finish it up today. (and then my vacation reading will slow dramatically… although I just began reading Old God’s Time last night … so no thoughts yet!)

But what about you? What is occupying your time?

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


Unraveled Wednesday | 10.4.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 10.4.23

Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy First Wednesday in October!

While my body is firmly planted in October, my mind is drifting away to December and some holiday gift knitting ideas are swirling around. However, if I want to actually get any holiday knitting done, I better move quickly from the idea part… to the making part and quickly! LOL

Also swirling around is “vacation knitting” planning…things not to take mostly. I finished my Blue Jay yarn spin and I was planning on it becoming a lovely pair of handspun socks, but the Yardage Gods have other ideas because I am certain that there is not enough for socks! The yarn needs a bit of a spa-treatment… and pre-wash, I have just 225 yards (and I fear post wash it will poof up a bit and be less yardage than that. Sigh. I need to think about something that is small, easy to pick up and put down… stay tuned.

It looks Blue Jay-ish to me!

Meanwhile in my regular knitting, my second sock has passed the “challenging pattern” portion and the remainder of the pattern is committed to memory and it will go surprisingly fast! I expect that this sock will be done this week! Just in time for the return for chillier weather knitting…i.e. a lapful of pressed flowers wrap!

Sock Two underway!

But!! I was jonesing for a new spinning project so I pulled out a bag of Scrappy Sock Bundles from Wound Up Fiber Arts for an entirely random, spin thicker than my usual project! I got 3 “bundles” done in short order yesterday… it is so fun to see these bright vibrant colors as I spin them! And I have lots more fun to go! I have one more bag to spin as well and my plan will be to spin up each bag and ply them together for a totally crazy yarn!

The reading this week… delightful. Though The Garden of Evening Mists took me a bit to settle in with… once I did, my goodness, what beautiful writing. I don’t know how this book never crossed my radar in years past. I also finished Henry Hoke’s Open Throat… a short story. I don’t think Hoke reaches Clair Keegan’s mastery of a short story, but it was a curious tale (or tail?) and made me think.

Thanks to Netgalley, I started reading Tracy K. Smith’s new book, To Free the Captives. This will be published Nov. 7th and I am about a third of the way in… and loving it. It is part history, part reminiscing, and all the beautiful writing you would expect from a poet.

My daytime listen is a new mystery series I stumbled upon via Pinterest of all places. Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet… the series is about a retired MI-5 agent, Max Tudor, who has begun a new life as a vicar in a quiet village. Yes, retired MI-5 agent becomes a vicar… and someone is murdered! So far, I am enjoying it… and there are a number of books in the series!

What about you? Are you a Soctoberist this month? Or is something else calling to you?

As always, if you wrote a post to share leave your link below and thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 9.27.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 9.27.23

Greetings dear Unravelers and Happy Last Wednesday of September!

I got my COVID/flu jab yesterday and this morning I am definitely feeling it this morning. I am happy to say that I have overcome last week’s pattern hurdle with sock one and finished it! Sock two was started yesterday afternoon!

I am also happy that there have been a handful of days that made a lapful of woolly knitting a delight so I have added several repeats to my Pressed Flowers Wrap… the end is getting closer!

I should have gotten some sewing done this month, but thanks to Sherman it did not happen… sigh. But I am happy to say that he is almost 100% again… his hearing has returned, he has had no more “spells” and so it seems likely that it was some sort of middle/inner ear infection. He still has a few days of steroids but he is pretty much back to his normal silly self! I will put sewing on my list again for late October and cross my fingers! Ha!

It has been week of reading highs and lows. I finished what will absolutely be one of the best books I have read all year (My Friends by Hisham Matar) as well as a very good book (The Bee Sting by Paul Murray which was not as good as Matar’s book but ymmv). I also bailed on a book… (Small Mercies… I think this was just the wrong time for this book for me.)

Since finishing those books I have had trouble settling in with another book. I started listening to Mrs. Dalloway and have no thoughts yet about it. At night I started The Garden of Evening Mists… no thoughts on that one either. Good Book Hangover is real, folks. Yesterday, Amazon had a “deal” on a couple of Claire Keegan short stories collections, so I picked them up and hope that a short story or two will cure my hangover! Fingers crossed!

There you have my week… what about you? What are you making and reading this week?

As always, if you wrote a post to share leave your link below and thank you!


Unraveled Wednesday | 9.20.23

Unraveled Wednesday | 9.20.23

Greetings Unravelers and Happy Wednesday!

I have a trio of wee gnomes in my gnome choir! I will get the alto started soon, rounding out my quartet! Ha!

But my bass is finished.. meet Gnolan! He is Gnola’s twin and they have been singing in harmony for eons! Or at least since their cast on! Ha! (if you are wondering which pattern I used, it is this one!)

But for all the joy of Gnome Finishes… I did have a bit of unraveling this week. Sigh. I discovered an error that once I noticed it, I could not stop seeing it. Tinking back 6-ish inches was not happening so I ripped it back to the end of the ribbing and began again. A word of warning… that first chart is not one that is easy to memorize, lol. (or my feeble brain just can’t get it!) But I am now on to the second *memorized* chart and the knitting moves so much quicker. I should be back to my rip back point soon!

Mistake-free knitting… thus far!

I also have my painting place *all ready to go*… now I just need to … well… pick up a paintbrush and begin!

It has been another slow reading week. I have just one finish… Invisible Women which Bonny put on my radar recently. I would challenge men listen to this…really. Listen and learn.

I have also been reading poems from Naomi Shihab Nye and Lucille Clifton… so so good! These ladies have been perking up my afternoon time considerably!

I am roughly halfway through The Bee Sting and almost finished with my nighttime read, My Friends. I have been savoring My Friends… the writing is so beautiful. The story is moving. And I am learning something about Libya and the Libyan people and while the story is based on characters that lived in Benghazi, I have much been thinking about Derna. A timely read, to be sure!

Whew… for not much making or reading, this was a rather wordy post! What about you? What are you focused on this week?

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


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