Greetings, Unravelers!
This week’s making is back to Sleeve Island. Slowly, round by round, I am moving towards the cuff…of the first sleeve! lol
In voting news, we got an email that our ballots were mailed 8 days ago but we have yet to receive them. Mail at our house has become something of a running joke… as in we *rarely* get mail these days even though bills should arrive, etc. We get nothing most days. So I needed a distraction… enter Hunter Hammersen with the perfect distraction!
Look, everyone has their own coping mechanisms. I’m apparently dealing with the collapse of society and the triumph of evil with, checks notes, tiny knitted acorn caps.
Not really sorry either.
Now, go ask a friend if they need help registering to vote. pic.twitter.com/la0rF1rxxb
— Hunter (@HunterHammersen) September 28, 2020
I have started my acorn knitting and boy are they fun! I’d love a bowl full of these little beauties to adorn my table for the fall! (The pattern is here… sorry it is a Ravelry link, and Hunter is adding the knit acorn caps in a week or so)
The reading this week has been varied. I think The Yellow House suffered a bit from being sandwiched between Hamnet and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And I should be reading The Women of Brewster Place but I am struggling to get into the story. When I saw that 10 Minutes 38 seconds in This Strange World was available from my library, I jumped at the chance. I have only started but I have been pulled in and can’t wait to see where this book will take me.
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had high hopes for this book, and while it was good… I did not think it was great. And it is long, perhaps too long… and I like to read long books. At times, it felt like it needed a bit of editing.
This book is a mix between a memoir and the painful history of the New Orleans East (part of the 9th Ward, I believe). But, how do you tell a story without knowing all the parts? This book is Broom’s journey to discover the unsaid. The one thing that most fascinated me was how all the history revolved around the yellow shotgun house.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Simply said, I did not want this book to end. I wanted to stay with Francie and never leave. And this writing will be some of the best I have read all year. And A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is now easily the best book I have read this year (yes, it has unseated Apeirogon).
Settle in to Brooklyn in the early 1900’s with the Nolan family… a place of struggles but so full of love and hope. The struggles were at times almost unbearable, yet Kate Nolan never once gives up, and she does not let her despair drag her children down. Her desire for her children to have more opportunities than she did are her driving force. This is a story of resilience and believing that things will get better, which was just exactly what I need these days…
I highly recommend this book!
That is all I have for today, what about you? What is distracting you? I am dying to know!
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I have to say that your sleeves look intense. Those are some tiny stitches to make your way through! And those acorns? Adorable!
I haven’t read either of these books, but of course A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has been on my list for a LONG time. I think it will be the next book I put on my Overdrive holds list. Thanks for the kick in the pants ????
Adorable acorns sound like the perfect way to deal with the collapse of society and I can’t wait to get home to NJ to find some suitable yarn. I know what I’ll be knitting next week! And a book that unseats Apeirogon? I had to download it as soon as I saw your review. Thanks for an intriguing listen!
“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” was a favorite book of mine way back, decades ago, when I read it. I can’t remember how old I was, but the book stayed with me for so long. I should get it and re-read it. Those tiny acorns are adorable, but I’m thinking they might be too fiddly for moi!
If I had a bowl of acorns Holly would disperse them everywhere! We have not received any emails about our ballots…hmm. However, I am driving them to drop them off when we do get them. Love the scrumptious yellow yarn!!
Those tiny acorns! Squeee!
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that your ballots show up! Ours arrived yesterday, so they’re at least out in the system.
I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn many years ago and remember enjoying it at the time. I’m probably due for a re-read. I just finished up my latest Gamache yesterday (gosh, I love that series!) and got just a few pages into Breathe last night. It’s a short book, so if today is a quiet day at work, I should be able to get through it. The top of my knitting list is finishing a pair of socks — I have about four rounds of a toe left to go!
Those acorns are SO cute! How fiddly are they to knit?
🙂 what Carole said! I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for the first time last month (listened – and yes, the audio was SO GOOD!) I wish I’d had the experience as a teenager, but boy am I glad I finally discovered it!
I love the color of your sweater. And, wow, those acorns are adorable!! I think I might have to make some of those.
I’ve had ATGiB on my to read list-guess I’d better get to it! Love those acorns-I was so tempted to pick up a few while we were in Maine. I remember drawing smiley faces o them when I was a kid. I may have to give these a go.
I think it is time for me to reread A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I read it as a very young adult – maybe early college. I don’t remember much about it except that I enjoyed the reading. Winding up the garden season is distracting me. I picked a bunch of herbs that are drying on the counter. I also picked a boat load of cherry tomatoes. Maybe I’ll try roasting them and popping them in the freezer. I love the little acorns and sleeve island looks wonderful.