Unraveled, Week 5/2022

In the words of America's weatherman, happy Super Twos-day -- it's 2/2/22! I don't think it surprised anyone that Punxsutawney Phil has predicted another six weeks of winter, particularly with the giant storm that's headed across the country right now. We're supposed to get rain starting tonight, changing to sleet and freezing rain and eventually snow tomorrow. Please, if you would, send some positive travel thoughts the Mister's way? He's headed back home tonight from a work trip, and I'd really like him to get in before the weather turns.

As it's Wednesday, that means it's time for a weekly link-up with Kat and the Unravelers and a chance to talk making and reading.

I am almost finished with the first sleeve of my sweater and have done some sock knitting, but yesterday I decided that I really wanted to focus on finishing up my long-languishing combo spin. It took most of the day and there was some splicing and perhaps even some swearing at the end -- and ultimately some singles left that I just didn't want to deal with anymore -- but I ended the day with three full bobbins of plied yarn:

The one on the far left is the last one I filled, and you can see that the end nearest the WooLee Winder gear was threatening to overflow. I have no idea why the bobbins fill unevenly like that; some have suggested that it's due to the angle of the yarn guide or due to gravity (because my wheel is at a tilt), but it seems to be a fairly common issue. Today I hope to find the time to wind this yarn into skeins and wash it and finally declare this project finished.

I've finished two books in the past week, one of them right before going to bed last night.

I'd been waiting patiently on the library hold list for a long time for Ruth Ozeki's most recent book, The Book of Form and Emptiness, after loving my first experience with her writing last year. This was equally entertaining in terms of sheer wonder at her craft. The story is told in alternating chapters, some of which are told by Benny, the teenager at the center of the story, and most of which are told by a book -- yes, inanimate objects have sentience in this world! The story of Benny is a sad one, but it's beautifully told, and I think what I most appreciated about this book is that it brought a really new and respectful perspective to the idea that some people hear voices, suggesting that what has been labeled a symptom of mental illness might not be the case. I gave this book 4 stars.

My just-before-bed finish was Hell of a Book, this year's National Book Award winner for fiction. I think the overall purpose of this book is an important one -- focusing on how the lives of Black men and boys are so negatively impacted by racism and racist violence -- but I have to admit that I spent much of the time feeling completely confused as to what's going on. Part of that is, I think, intentional. The narrator, the author of a book by the same name as this book, tells us repeatedly that he has "a condition" in which his imagination is so overactive that he sees and hears things that aren't real. I really expected to find clarity at some point, but I never really felt like I got it. I think, though, that this ambiguity would make this an excellent book for a group discussion. I gave it 3 stars.

Up next? Well, I have three titles from NetGalley in my Kindle library, and Braiding Sweetgrass is still sitting patiently on my nightstand.

What are you making and reading this week?