Unraveled, Week 8/2022

It's already Wednesday again? And it's the last Wednesday in February? Egads! Time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and to talk about making and reading.

Thankfully there has not been any unraveling here, but there has been a lot of knitting. I've been pretty monogamous with my Shifty and have added quite a lot to the body (a good 3 inches past where I placed a progress keeper on Sunday to mark where I started adding length to the body past where the pattern told me to start the ribbing). Yesterday I realized that I didn't have that much of the body left and if I wanted to use the last two colors I'd spun, I should probably add them in now.

I know this looks a bit washed out; it's still quite overcast here after it rained for most of the day yesterday. Here is a closeup of the bottom so you can actually see the color changes:

At first I was a bit annoyed that the background change was so abrupt, but I suppose that's the nature of working with handspun, and with this pattern, there's really not an easy way to blend in the change. I can live with it, and to be honest, I had a similar line when I switched to the second background color, so at least there's some consistency there. I've got about 34 rounds to knit before I start the hem ribbing, so depending on how busy I am today, it's not out of the question that I may get to the ribbing before the day is done.

Reading has been good this week, if not quite as prolific as last week. I've finished two books, both of them good reads.

I'd put What Storm, What Thunder on hold at the library following Mary's recommendation, and it's on the long list for the Aspen Words Literary Prize (the short list will be announced Friday; I've already read six of the books on the long list and have two others on my TBR list, so I'm interested to see what makes the cut). This book tells the story of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti from the point of view of people of various ages and social positions, giving a full picture of the total impact of the tragedy. I found it a bit slow to start but more and more compelling as I got deeper into it, and it broke my heart several times. My only complaint is that I could have used a Kreyol glossary (I made do with Google). I gave it 4 stars.

I've been wanting to read Know My Name since it came out and really wanted to listen to the author read it, so I've had it tagged "to read" on my Libby app and was waiting for a time when there was no wait. I finally had that opportunity last week and did not want to stop listening, even though at times I felt I had to because it was so emotionally overwhelming. Chances are you've heard about Chanel Miller's story, even if you only knew her as Emily Doe from her now-viral victim impact statement. Her full memoir is just as powerful as that piece and gives the full picture of just how much her assault impacted her life -- and just how poorly she was treated by the system. I'd recommend everyone read this book (though with the caveat that it does describe in graphic detail a sexual assault and its aftermath). I gave it 5 stars.

Currently I'm reading Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution, which I requested from NetGalley following Kat's recommendation, and still occasionally dipping into Braiding Sweetgrass. After a flurry of library holds, I'm enjoying a bit of calm and am hoping to tackle some of the books on my physical TBR stack.

What are you working on and reading this week?