Unraveled, Week 9/2026

Good morning and happy soggy Wednesday! The rain came in overnight Monday and will be with us for a while, so I'm making good use of my raincoat. At least at this time of year, I'm less bothered by the fact that it's heavy and doesn't breathe. But enough about the weather -- time to join in with Kat and the Unravelers!

I appreciate all the thoughts and opinions on my sweater WIP. For now, I'm leaving it where it is, though I am leaning toward ripping it out and moving on to something else. If I really wanted the sweater, I would carry on and accept that it'd just take me a long time to knit it, but I looked at completed projects on Ravelry and am not sure I really would wear it anymore, and frankly I'd rather decide that now, when I've only invested a handful of evenings working on it, than after finishing the darn thing. Well, I guess I have made up my mind after all!

In the meantime, I cast on a new project, a hat to match this cowl. It's not much to look at yet, but it should grow and look more like a hat soon.

The rain isn't doing the colors any favors, but I'm using the leftovers from the cowl, just reversed. I changed up the colorwork just a bit to work with the smaller scale. I'm hoping that it works out because the main motif is a 10-stitch repeat, which limits the sizing a bit.

Thanks to that big project I was expecting turning into a no-show, I had a big reading week, with five finishes. Because of the volume, I'm going to stick with some shorter reviews this week.

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

3.5 stars

This novel is two stories in two timelines tied together by a house. Nellie is a 1950s housewife with an older husband who is demanding and unforgiving. Alice, in more or less present day, recently left her demanding job in publicity to try to write a novel and is feeling unmoored in her new suburban NYC house, where she is alone for much of the day while her husband works in the city and studies for his actuarial exams. When Alice finds a cookbook and old women's magazines in the house's basement, she gains insight into Nellie's life and begins to examine her own life and marriage. I enjoyed the dual timelines and the look at a woman's life -- including how little has changed over the decades -- but was somewhat dissatisfied with the ending, which seemed a little rushed and unfinished compared to the rest of the book.

What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown

4 stars

Jane has been raised in a remote cabin in Montana by her father following the death of her mother when she was just a toddler. He has homeschooled her, teaching her math, philosophy, and his negative views of the outside world. One day he brings a computer home so that Jane can help him publish his manifesto, and she discovers there is more to the world -- and that perhaps he hasn't been entirely truthful about their past. When he involves her in a violent act, she realizes that she needs to escape to find out the truth, only to land in Silicon Valley at the height of the explosion of the internet. She has to decide which version of reality is right for her and must grapple with whether to turn her father in when it means implicating herself as well.

Tilt by Emma Pattee

3 stars

Annie is 37 weeks pregnant and at IKEA to buy a crib when an earthquake hits and devastates Portland, Oregon, where she lives. Over the course of a day, she tries to make her way across the city to find her husband, along the way encountering the best and worst of human behavior, reflecting on her life and marriage, and remembering her mother. I thought it was an interesting way to make the reader think about how unprepared we are for a major disaster, both logistically and as a society that doesn't value helping others, but I didn't love Annie as a main character.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

3 stars

This is a thriller set during a wedding weekend on a remote Irish island. We know something bad has happened in the present and alternate between finding out what that is and flashing back to the days leading up to it, as told through the points of view of multiple characters: the bride, the best man, the bridesmaid, the plus-one. I knew going into this not to expect fine literature and really only chose to read it because I thought it would be entertaining while I was running. I figured out most of the twists ahead of time, so it wasn't all that suspenseful to me. Still, it kept my attention well enough, and I enjoyed cast of narrators.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

3 stars

This book has been sitting on my bedroom chair for months, and I finally read it after Jane talked about it last week. The format is unusual; rather than a traditional narrative or even short stories, it's made up of a series of brief scenes that are rather similar to the episodic nature of our memories of childhood and that give us glimpses into the life of Esperanza, a Latina girl growing up in a house (on Mango Street) in Chicago. I enjoyed these little snapshots of her life, but I did not find the book to be as engaging as I expected because it was so broken up.

I am currently reading an ARC and am excited to start a buddy read with Katie of The Odyssey tonight!

Also, not to bury the lede, but I've just published my new colorwork cowl pattern. You can find it on Ravelry and Payhip.

Marching Forward

Happy March -- we've reached meteorological spring! We got a little taste of it on Saturday, when we hit the low 60s, but then the temperature dropped overnight and apparently we got a bit of snow, though none of it stuck. Although Ruthie was still up early both days over the weekend, I am feeling a bit better about things now that February is in the rear view mirror. I know there are longer, warmer days ahead, and that certainly helps my mood (the dark, cold days of winter always get to me). Perhaps as the days get longer, Ruthie will be interested in taking a walk before bed, which might work to tire her out more and help her sleep in. If anyone has any tips on getting her to sleep more, I'm all ears -- she seems to have forgotten that we're usually up at 6 a.m. most days and feels the need to bark to alert us that she's up!

Despite the early wake-ups (which I wisely counteracted by going to bed a little earlier), it was a very relaxing weekend. Saturday was just gorgeous. I went for a 6+-mile walk and took Ruthie for some nice walks, too, and I had the blinds up in our family room to let in all the sunshine. While she napped, I was able to join the Unraveling podcast community Zoom in the afternoon and chat with some online friends. Molly was working (she reported that it was incredibly busy; I guess a warm day means high demand for smoothies and acai bowls?) and then went to practice some driving with the Mister. We tried a new restaurant for dinner and us adults went to bed early (the Mister before 9, me before 10). Yesterday involved the usual Sunday chores and errands plus cookie baking for a school bake sale. And we had a lovely dinner with my side of the family.

After taking almost two months to knit the first sock of the pair, my second is flying -- I'm already onto the gusset:

The color is totally off here -- because it was so bright and sunny!

I also spent part of the weekend working on my Shakespeare in Love, but I'm torn about whether to continue.

I've done several rows of the cable pattern, and it took me longer to work those rows than it did to knit four inches of ribbing. there are three charts used in this piece, plus written directions for the sections on either end, and in general it's just a lot to keep track of. It's not that the stitches themselves are so difficult, just that working the pattern requires so much attention and mental energy. I'm not sure I have it in me. If I do decide to continue, this is going to end up being a very long-term project -- like it might take me all year. And right now I think I'd rather be knitting something that will actually get done in the nearer term. Any thoughts or advice? I'm willing to hear both sides of the argument.

It's shaping up to be another busy week, but at least we're in for a warmup -- we're supposed to get highs close to 70 by the end of the week! There will also be rain, but perhaps that will help to get rid of the last lingering piles of snow. Today will be dry, though, so I'll be going for a run and then prepping some hamantaschen dough to bake with Molly after school because of the holiday of Purim starts at sundown. And tonight it will be a mitzvah to have a glass of wine with dinner!

A Fitting End

Is it just me, or has this been a particularly crappy month? And I don't say that just because it involved a dog with diarrhea, though that's kind of a funny coincidence. In any case, I'm glad this month is ending and we're headed into March next month. March 1 is the start of meteorological spring, and while I know that the weather isn't going to flip over immediately, there's something about knowing that it'll be spring next month that makes things easier.

I'm also very happy that it's the end of the week because it's been a long one. That big work project I was expecting never arrived (surprise, surprise, they've missed their revised deadline yet again!), but we had two mornings with early snow, one of which caused a totally unnecessary school delay, and Ruthie's been waking us up with her barking at around 5 a.m., so I'm just exhausted. I don't anticipate being able to sleep in this weekend, but at least I can take a nap in the afternoons! And today is payday, which helps with the unexpected vet bills this month.

I've spent most of my knitting time this week working on socks and what do you know -- that leads to getting stuff done! I've got one finished sock:

I've already cast on the second sock and noted everything I did that departed from the pattern so I can repeat it, so the pair should be finished up soon provided I can stay focused.

I also officially finished up the second cowl sample, even weaving in All The Ends -- there were a lot of them, two for every stripe! It's been blocked and the pattern has been updated and is with my tech editor, so I'm hoping she'll be getting back to me so I can publish next week.

I noticed that I'd stretched this sample out a little when I washed it, so I'd tossed it into the dryer for about 10 minutes on Tuesday afternoon all by itself -- and on Wednesday morning, when the Mister went downstairs to grab his running gear, he discovered that the floor in front of the dryer was all wet and that it had somehow sprung a leak. That water was definitely not there on Monday, when I did two loads of laundry, nor was it there when I popped the cowl in, so I'm not saying that it was the cowl's fault, but I'm not NOT saying it. Personally, I think it's just Vera's bad luck rubbing off on me. The Mister scheduled a service call but couldn't get anyone to come until March 19, so in the meantime he fiddled around with what the internet told him might be the issue. However, he couldn't get the exhaust tube reconnected, so our handyman is going to stop by on Saturday to see if he can, and I'm hoping if he does, we'll be able to use the dryer again. In the meantime, I'll have to schlep laundry over to my parents' place to use their washer and dryer -- not ideal, but better than a laundromat. It's just one more thing that's gone wrong this month and yet another reason I'm ready for it to be over!

The only plans we have this weekend are a family dinner on Sunday to celebrate my birthday a little more than a week early (my father's going to be out of town on my actual birthday, and we thought a Sunday evening would allow us to be a little more leisurely). It's been many months since we had all of my side of the family together, so that was my request. I've also got some Zooms to attend, including one for our synagogue in which we will official get to vote to approve the unification of the two congregations! The name of the new entity we'll be forming will be Beit Kulanu, which translates to "a house for all of us." Isn't that just lovely? This process has been in the works for a long time, and I'm excited to see what's in store for the new congregation.

I'll leave you with yet another sign of spring. The snow in our backyard -- which was a pretty big pile because it's where we'd heaped a lot of it as we shoveled -- finally melted enough to uncover the hellebores, and when I poked around yesterday, this is what I found:

Yep, that's a bud! There may be more snow in next week's forecast, but spring is surely on the way, friends! I hope you can have a restful, enjoyable weekend. See you back here on Monday!

Unraveled, Week 8/2026

Happy final Wednesday in February! I don't know about you, but I'm happy to see this month come to an end -- I often say that January is my least-favorite month and February is a close second, but only because it has chocolate. While we haven't gotten the feet of snow that the Northeast has, we have gotten some more and some colder temperatures to boot, so I'm looking forward to the retreat of both of those things that March usually brings.

Today, as per usual, I'm joining with Kat and the Unravelers with an update on my making and reading. Rather than unraveling this week, I've done quite a lot of finishing. First, there's the hot pink hat:

I'm pretty tickled by the fact that this was knit with yarn that is technically bulky but it weighs only 37 g! It's gotten a bath and is now drying. I'm still toying with the idea of turning it into a pattern, but I think the sizing would be limited by the way I've worked the decreases.

I also finished my cowl and wound in all the ends on Monday night (thank goodness for my reading glasses!). It's likewise drying from its bath, but you'll see it soon. In the meantime, I've turned back to the socks that I started on January 1 and have long neglected.

I'm now through the gusset decreases and well into the foot, and I'm fairly confident I can finish this one and its mate relatively quickly. The only reason they've been on the needles so long is because I've barely worked on them. I knit on them on the plane home from Florida, during the weekend we traveled to Chicago in January, and maybe a bit when we've been home, but otherwise my attention has been on other things.

The improvement of the weather last week meant that I was able to get outside to exercise again, and that meant more time to listen to podcasts and audiobooks, so I've got three finishes this week.

I'd never heard of Mona's Eyes until we were in a Barnes & Noble in Florida and I picked it up off a big display to read the blurb. It sounded interesting, but I didn't want to buy a hardback book only to have to pack it to bring it home, so I waited and found the audiobook on Hoopla. The book tells the story of 10-year-old Mona, a Parisian girl who briefly goes blind. The doctors aren't sure what's wrong with her or whether she'll keep her sight, so she is to keep coming back for tests and also go see a psychiatrist to help her deal with the fact that she might be going blind. Her beloved grandfather, charged with the responsibility of taking her to the psychiatrist, resolves instead to take her to one of the museums each week to focus on a single work of art, thereby filling Mona's head with some of the beauty in the world. Each chapter thus focuses on that piece and its artist as well as the life lesson the grandfather believes it holds for Mona. I had mixed feelings about this book. I took AP art history in high school and minored in art history in college, so I loved the deep focus on works of art created across centuries. But I also felt that the plot itself was thin and a bit far fetched, really only there to serve as a way for the author to show off his extensive knowledge of art (his full-time profession is in academia). Audio probably wasn't the best way to read this book, either, given the highly visual medium being discussed, and I found myself googling some of the works of art that I was less familiar with (I've heard that there are images inside the dust jacket of the hardcover). Overall, I didn't regret reading it because it took me back to my days in class and in museums, but I wouldn't recommended it to someone who isn't an art history nerd like me. I gave it 3 stars.

My second audiobook of the week was Gilead, in preparation for next month's Read With Us Zoom. I'd previously read this book back in 2021 and didn't like it all that much at the time, finding it too "churchy" for my taste. For my reread, I though listening might be a good way to approach it from a different angle, and I did like it a bit better this time, perhaps because it felt less like reading a sermon and more like having a conversation. It's a quiet novel, in which John Ames, a minister in his 70s, has learned that his heart is giving out, so he writes a long letter to his 7-year-old son, who he knows he will not get to see become a man and to whom he wishes to leave some thoughts and reflections and hopes. I still found the book to be overly religious for my taste, but this time around I focused more on the fact that, at its core, this is a book about a man facing his own mortality and wishing he had more time with his son. That perspective shift made me like the book a bit more on the reread, bumping from 2 to 3 stars for me.

Finally, the big finish for the week: Anna Karenina. It took me a little more than a month to get through this one, but I read it slowly, averaging about 5% a day (I read it on Kindle), as a buddy read with Katie. We'd set out to read some big Russian classics together a couple of years ago but needed a break after War and Peace and Doctor Zhivago. This last tome was my favorite of the bunch. Anna is still a young woman, married to an older man and with a young son, when she falls in love with the dashing Count Vronsky, embarking on an affair that will bring her love but also a life outside the standards of society. In stark contrast is Kitty, a younger woman who also believes herself to be in love with Vronsky but who, when rejected by him, eventually finds true love with Levin, with whom she builds a partnership based in love and mutual respect. My belief is that the point of the book was for the reader to compare the two women and draw conclusions from how their lives turned out; naturally, as it was written by a man, my assumption is that the author wanted readers to choose to believe that Kitty is the virtuous example women should follow. But Anna, though she annoyed me, presents a worthwhile question to ponder: Why should a woman have to choose between being happy and being accepted? As was the case with the other Big Russian Books, I thought this one was a bit overbloated with side characters and side stories that didn't add anything to the main narrative, but they didn't stop me reading -- nor was I troubled by knowing Anna's fate from the get-go. I really enjoyed it, and I also enjoyed rewatching the 2012 movie now that I knew the full story. I gave it 4 stars.

What are you making and reading this week?

Finding My Calm

And just like that, it's Monday again. It was a mostly calm weekend, but Monday hits hard even so. I ended up skipping that party on Friday night because I was exhausted, and it ended up being a good decision because it was apparently packed and that would've made me anxious. Instead, I got into my pajamas, read for a few minutes, and went to bed early. Saturday I did a Costco run, went for a walk, and did some reading while trying to get Ruthie to nap (the other members of my family kept unhelpfully waking her up). Molly went to her dance and the Mister and I had a nice dinner out -- and then he went to pick her up and I again went to bed early. And Sunday morning Ruthie woke me up just a little earlier than usual (around 5:50), but she slept through the night without having to go out, and it was nice to have a leisurely start to the day.

We had some snow move through yesterday, though nothing like what the East Coast is getting. We had a dusting on the grass in the morning and some light snow on and off over the day, but most of it melted, aided by the sun coming out in the afternoon. After Ruthie got a much-needed bath, she settled down next to me for a bit and I worked on getting through the rest of the cowl:

My hot pink hat was finished up as well, though I didn't get a photo of it, and now I have a bunch of ends to weave in. My reading glasses will be getting a workout!

I'm expecting a big work project to come in this week, and we've got a session at Molly's school on Tuesday evening to talk about the second half of high school and the start of the college search process (gulp), so it's going to be a busy week. Here's hoping it goes quickly for all of us!

I'm Not Saying Anything

Last week I may have tempted fate by saying I was planning a quiet weekend and ended up with a sick dog. This week, whether it was related to that or she ate something, she had some pretty bad tummy trouble; at least this time around, when I heard her barking and crying at 12:30 a.m., I figured something was wrong and went downstairs to investigate. That ended up being one of two trips outside that night. Thankfully she did not need to go back to the vet and I was able to swing by to pick up some prescription food and a probiotic. Both of them have helped immensely, but two nights of interrupted sleep plus extra potty breaks have made for an exhausting week, so I'm happy to see the weekend arrive if only so I don't have to worry about work on top of everything else.

Aside from getting through the days without losing my mind, my main accomplishment over the last couple of days has been finishing up my Melt the ICE Hat (Ravelry link):

I used some HipStrings Buoy DK leftover from a sweater and, because I wanted the hat to be a little smaller, size US 3/3.25 mm needles. My only other modification was to add about an inch of stockinette above the ribbing before starting the decreases. Once I actually followed the pattern for said increases, rather than assuming I knew better, everything worked out fine. The hat is currently blocking, and I'm hoping that helps with that weird rippling you can see in the pre-blocking photo above.

I'm on the last repeat of colors in my cowl and finished up the ribbing of my hot pink hat yesterday, so things are moving right along. Maybe next week I'll get back to the sweater I cast on weeks ago!

This weekend we've got a birthday party to go to tonight, Molly has her school semiformal tomorrow (the Mister and I are having a date night while she's there), and I think we're having dinner with the Mister's side of the family on Sunday. Other than that, I'm planning a Costco run, some walks as the weather allows, and naps with Ruthie. I'm hoping to finish reading Anna Karenina this weekend, too -- I have less than 10% left! I'm hoping for only the usual amount of excitement. Fingers crossed!

Unraveled, Week 7/2026

It's Wednesday, which means it's my day to join with Kat and the Unravelers -- and this week I do have some unraveling to report, a rarity for me!

When you last saw it on Monday, my Melt the ICE hat was at the decreases. I took it to Molly's dentist appointment so I could work on it in the waiting room, and then I pulled it out again in the afternoon while Ruthie snoozed. I was getting pretty close to the end when I paused and actually looked at my knitting (I was reading at the same time, so that was holding most of my attention), only to realize that something was very off. It was only last week that I had trouble counting to two, and it seems I also had some trouble dividing my stitches in half when I set up this hat for magic loop. I had 12 stitches on one half and 20+ on the other, so somewhere along the way I'd miscounted. Fortunately the yarn I'm using is very sticky and is being knit at a firm gauge, so I pulled it off the needles and unraveled back to the start of the decreases (that took a bit of time, as I'm alternating skeins and had to pause every now and then to untangle). I got the stitches back on the needle and this time actually followed the pattern to place some markers and do my decreases in the correct spot -- yes, I'd thought I knew better, and didn't it come back to bit me in the end? I'm back on track and nearly to where I was when I discovered the problem, so I should have a finished hat in another day or so.

In the meantime, I had brought yarn and needles downstairs to have on hand anticipating that I was going to finish the hat, and when I realized I'd screwed it up, I put it aside and cast on for a new project:

This is some Knit Picks Wonderfluff that I bought several years back when it was on sale and I was trying to get to free shipping. It's a bulky weight, but because it's made of a nylon tube into which merino and baby alpaca is blown, it's very light. The fuzziness makes it a little trickier to knit with than a smooth yarn, but the softness makes up for it. I'm knitting up another version of this hat that I improvised with some scraps last month and contemplating writing up a pattern -- I figured I should make a version in a single yarn to see if it works out and then make a decision.

The cowl is still on the needles but doesn't look much different. I'm trying to focus on it to get it done this week, if at all possible, so I can make the necessary revisions to the pattern and get it back to my tech editor.

As I continue to chip away at Anna Karenina at a rate of about 5% per day, on average, I've been able to listen to a couple of audiobooks this week.

There are often books I read because friends who are readers I respect read and recommend them. That was why I picked up The Wordy Shipmates, a work of nonfiction focused on the Puritans who settled in New England in the early days of the American colonies and left behind quite a bit of writing in the form of journals, essays, pamphlets, sermons, and even novels. The author, a historian, takes a close look at their thoughts, so many of which formed the basis of many of the ideals of the new nation, and unflinchingly points out the hypocrisy in the fact that they fled England allegedly to seek religious freedom yet became intolerant of those who acted against their interpretations. I enjoyed the book, though perhaps didn't listen at the right time (this was when Ruthie was under the weather), so I had a hard time following and staying focused at time. I did find it to be well written and funny, but I probably didn't get as much out of it as I could have had it read it at a different time. I also enjoyed the audio narration; it's mostly read by the author, but a number of actors play the roles of Puritans whose writings are quoted. I gave it 3 stars.

Though from the title you might think that Homeschooled is primarily about homeschooling, and indeed it's a central part of the narrative, really it's a narrative about a son and his relationship with his mother. When Stefan Block was 9, his mother decided that the public school system in Plano, Texas, was no good for him and that it would be better if she homeschooled him -- despite having no background in education or instruction. In many ways, though, this effort seemed to be a way to keep her youngest child close and a reaction to his getting older. The author struggled to reconcile the great freedom he gained at home with his loneliness from being separated from his peers and constantly worried whether he'd ever be able to get back to school -- and if doing so would alienate him forever from his mother. Though this memoir wasn't as hard to read as others I've read that deal with similar themes, I found it sad to learn how much Block missed out on due to his mother's unfounded beliefs about the education system and unwillingness to accept that her child would eventually grow up and leave her. But the memoir is well done, with moments of humor to offset the sad moments, and well narrated by the author. I gave it 4 stars.

To round out this post, I though I'd share an early sign of spring spotted in my neighborhood (even though there's now in the forecast for this weekend):

Spring may not be here yet, but it's definitely on its way!