Greetings, Gentle Unravelers!
I have much been thinking about all of you this week and how, for me, these posts… your posts… really feel like a weekly knitting group. We share what we are making and what we are reading and more… and I love that feeling!
This week my making was sort of all over the place. I dug out an appropriate handbag to bring to Jury Duty and found tucked away inside an old project… you know from the days when I actually went places during the week and would have the occasion to sit and knit? Yeah, well I found a half completed Rikke hat inspired by Bonny… long forgotten in a bag that had been put away. Thankfully I had someplace to go recently (despite having to give up my needles) once I saw the hat, I could not leave it uncompleted. Once I returned the needle, it was quickly finished! It just needs a bit of a spa treatment and will be ready for cooler weather!
I have 3-ish inches to go on my sweater back… and then I do some shaping of shoulders and binding off the neckline. So I am making some headway! However, there is still a long way to go to completion!
I also knit two more pop squares for the blanket. It is my new thing to do when I am really wanting to cast on something new. It is working well on keeping that urge corralled! LOL
This might have been the finest reading week of the entire summer! Three incredible books… and all so very different.
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Once again, I am drawn into a story simply by the characters in this sort of Stockholm Syndrome tale.
It is loosely based on the Japanese Embassy crisis in Peru that happened in 1996-ish.
Stepping outside of all that reality, Patchett reimagines what might happen within the walls of the lavish home. The lines blur between hostage and hostage taker in a fascinating story that profoundly beautiful. The characters are so very believable. I could not put it down!
I highly recommend!
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An incredibly beautiful memoir to Zauner’s mother… it is tender, profound, and yes, painful at times. The writing is really wonderful… intimate. Perhaps more so since I listened to the author read it to me.
The story is delightful… and so very real. I cried frequently. But can we talk about all the food for a moment? I have this burning desire to spend several weeks eating Korean food… breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It struck me that this story could not. be told without the food… and that simple fact is what makes it so very relatable. Food is the thing that binds us all together… sharing a meal, sharing conversation, sharing the joy of life… and sometimes death.
I highly recommend this book!
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The struggle was real to get settled into this book. I tried multiple times to find the rhythm and almost gave up. But then a bit of “forced reading”… aka Jury Duty … and I eased past those first 100 pages and then the story carried me along.
The writing style is really so beautiful… different, challenging, perfect. The story of two orphaned sisters, Caro and Grace, and how their lives are inter-twined with those around them… for good and for less than good. There is enduring love, loss, good choices, bad choices, heartache, and more in this really epic story.
The last 75 pages… oh my.
If you are looking for a book that will make you think… read this book. This book is so full of so many tidbits that if you are not reading carefully, you will just gloss over and miss out on the brilliance that Hazard brings to this story!
And there you have my Knit Group update! What about you all… what do you all have to share this week?
As always, if you wrote a post to share please leave your link below and thank you!
What a great week for making and reading you’ve had Kat! All your knitting looks lovely and there is enough variety there to keep you going! And it looks like your reading really excelled this week. Transit of Venus is on my TBR list. I’m plugging away on Fletch’s 2nd sock and (gasp!) I started an audio book!
What a great week you had! (I hope it was great in many ways besides knitting and reading.) I had forgotten about all the Rikkes I knit that year, and I’m glad you finished yours. And while it wasn’t much fun to report for jury duty, you read ToV! Your reaction has been just like Kym and Debbie’s, further convincing me I need to give it a try again. Thanks for hosting this lovely weekly knitting group!
Gosh you have achieved a lot. Bel Canto is on one of my TBR lists. I do have several dotted about in notebooks.Sometimes books do take ages to grab you, I wonder why that happens? Have another Good week.
I similarly feel like this weekly link-up is an online knitting group and look forward to it every week!
Bel Canto was my first Ann Patchett and I remember being totally immersed in it — I even remember where I was when I was reading it (sitting in the glider on the porch of the house I grew up in). I really need to get my hands on a copy of Transit of Venus. It’s been on my radar for a bit, but after both you and Kym have given it such glowing reviews, it’s gotten bumped up my TBR.
I love the idea of the unraveled group as a knitting club! And Bel Canto – oh, that book is so wonderful!
I agree about Bel Canto. What a beautiful story! Music is magical, and it brought those characters together.
I’ve been absent for a few weeks, but I love this knitting group!!
🙂
Bel Canto is one of my very favorite books. I actually picked up another of Patchett’s books today at a used book store, called Taft–I thought I had read all her books but this one slipped by!
Thank you for creating this little knitting circle. I enjoy it every week. Well – almost every week. Your making looks very nice. I am enjoying seeing the little blanket pieces off and on. Ann Patchett is one of my favorite writers. Bel Canto is a beautiful story. The other two books are on my TBR list.
I am SO glad you stuck with TOV, Kat. It’s such a gem . . . but you have to get past that really challenging first 50-75 pages. And you have to read very carefully if you want to put that ending together. (So satisfying.) I read Bel Canto when it first came out (I think it must’ve been my first Ann Patchett), and I just loved it. I re-read it last spring, and it didn’t have quite the same magic for me, but I think that was just because I remembered what happened . . . which really does take some of the “magic” away.
Yay for finishing up a long lost hat! That must have felt wonderful. And you’re getting closer on your sweater!
You had a wonderful week of reading. I still haven’t read any fiction by Ann Patchett – thank you for this nudge! I must figure out how to get Transit of Venus — it’s not at my library nor available on Libby for me. Hmm….
how exciting to find a project that was forgotten, it’s like a present from the past you to the present you for the future you. Lovely projects in the photos!