by Kat | Sep 26, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
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!
by Kat | Sep 19, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
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!
by Kat | Sep 13, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
**Sorry for this late posting, I thought I scheduled it to post, but apparently that did not work out… sigh. Entirely operator error… not at all a WordPress issue.**
It pains me to say this but September is just racing along, isn’t it? This week the temperature switch was flipped… sigh. I was hoping the humidity would depart first. I have little to show for my making this week but I do have a healthy start on a soprano and bass gnome.
Gnola just needs her music and she will be complete. Her twin brother, Gnolan, needs a bit more knitting time. That will leave me with just an alto gnome to knit and I will have my singing quartet! I also have a vision of a tall tree that they can sing around…which should get me to the next mystery gnome! I am not on the bandwagon for all the goodies but I do love the slower pace that the December mystery knit brings!
I “reactivated” my afternoon spinning reminder as well – and those few minutes have been productive! I have one bobbin done of the contrast for the heels and toes and one bobbin of singles for the yarn done… two bobbins to go! I want to get this done to have a handspun sock to knit on vacation next month! This is a “bird” color way from a club that Fibernymph Dye Works did a couple of years ago… some Blue Jay socks will be so fun!
The reading has had a good book and a not so good book. I had two finishes, one I enjoyed: Martin Walker’s The Patriarch with Chief Bruno Courreges. A great mystery, and as always, Bruno’s delectable cooking! The one that was no so good (at least for me) was The Librarianist… a disappointing read. This is a very character driven novel… which is great unless the characters are not so likable.
I am much more enjoying the characters in My Friends… and the writing is so much better than The Librarianist… so much better. I am just over halfway through and loving every bit of it. I also dove into The Bee Sting and am roughly a third of the way in. It is long but I am loving it thus far!
What about you… what is occupying your time this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Sep 6, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings dear Unravelers!
My knitting mojo is on the thin side this week. Soaring temperatures have put the kibosh on a lapful of wooly knitting… so there has been little progress on my Pressed Flowers wrap.
Instead I cast on a sock… which is barely begun so you can see it has not had much attention.
Another pair of Pressed Flower Socks!
Instead I have been stitching… appliqué pieces to their little squares and circles.
I have nearly 25 squares done now and I really don’t want to stop. The simple joy of needle, thread, and my thoughts are the perfect thing. One thing I loved about August was the intentional quiet and I have found myself eager for those quiet moments! It is amazing where your thoughts can go when there is intentional quiet!
My temperature circles are well past the halfway point… there is a whole lot of yellow and red. And one significant thing… in my neighborhood we have only had a handful of 90+ degree days (until this week that is! LOL) And we have not reached 100° F once! I am almost at the August mid-point… so I have some catch up to do!
The reading this week though… oh my! So good. I finished Michael Cunningham’s soon-to-be-published book, Day was so incredibly good! I did not rush through it… I savored every word. I also finished Brotherless Night… which was fantastic! I wanted to go slow, but I could not put it down! I cried a lot but it was so incredibly good! (and it was the perfect thing to read before discussing the Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. (and while I really liked Seven Moons, I loved Brotherless Night so much more!)
In my ears this week, I am back in Saint-Denis and loving it! And at night I am reading a book that Netgalley recommended to me… My Friends by Hisham Matar and it is so good.
And that is my making this week… what about you? What are you making or reading this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
by Kat | Aug 30, 2023 | General, Unraveled Wednesday
Greetings Unravelers!
We have arrived at the last Wednesday in August! No lies here… I am more than a little excited for September and my week of knitting reflects that.
I finished my Pressed Flower Socks and I love them! Kym asked last week about sock thickness… and yes, these are a bit thicker than normal hand knit socks. But they will work perfectly for me… I like to wear clogs in the winter and they work well in my Haflinger clogs!
I have not cast on another pair, but I will be – it was a great pattern to knit! Clear instructions and the best part is that you get the “look of color work” without the tension problems one might have with color work… they are mosaic knitting so you only are ever knitting with one color.
Instead of casting on another sock, I pulled out my Pressed Flowers wrap and have made some good progress (until I started adding in random flowers to transition into the “border pattern” that is…That has caused a bit of unraveling…sigh.) But I think I have it on track now and once I have the rhythm, it goes quickly!
I have also been fascinated by Emily Greene’s latest design – Archetype. I love how it looks and I am intrigued with the construction…it is knit flat, in pieces! I have not knit one of Emily’s patterns since Calmus and I think that this fall might be the time to try again. I might even have some yarn in a cart while I think about it. Stay tuned!
The reading this week was so good! I finished Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend… and wow. It was so incredibly good! (not easy, but so good!) I loved it and believe that when too many people are trying to ban books… this book is a necessary read! Let Us Descend comes out October 3rd if you want to get on the list for it! I leaned into the challenging reads this week with Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, by America. A life changing book… and a very eye-opening read.
I also enjoyed my romp in Saint-Denis with Bruno… and I highly recommend the series!
My current reads include the start of the next Bruno book (thank you so much Hoopla!) and a soon-to-be published novel by Michael Cunningham, Day: A Novel. Both very good!
So tell me… what are you trying to wrap up in these last days of August?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
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