Unraveled, Week 39/2022

Every week I think that Wednesday sneaks up on me, but this week it feels like it even more because I took Monday off. But here we are again, and it's time for the weekly link-up with Kat and the Unravelers.

As it is the last week (really, the last few days) of September, I've been in a finish-it-up mood. First, I finished some socks that I started way back at the very beginning of summer. I'll forever think of them as COVID socks, because I finished up the first one when I was stuck in the den while the Mister was isolating in our bedroom.

Pattern: Roaring Twenties Socks (Ravelry link) by Nicole Simmons
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Sunshine (100% superwash merino) in Peacock
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm), magic loop
Started/Completed: June 20/September 26

I knit only the first sock of the pair initially because it was a test knit and I only had to complete the one. And as you can tell from looking at the pattern, the stitch design is quite elaborate and requires a lot of attention, so when I finished that first sock, I needed a break. But I really did want the finished pair, so I set myself a goal of finishing them this month -- and really I completed them just in time for the start of hand-knit sock weather!

The yarn I used for these isn't one I'd normally use for socks, but it was a semisolid that I already had on hand that would work well for the test. I have a feeling these aren't going to be worn all that often because they're rather fancy, and I do have a fair amount left of the skein (I used just 66 g for both socks) should I need to do some darning in the future.

Another thing I finished up this weekend was the last of the big bag of HipStrings batts from this year's Tour de Fleece. You may remember that this is what they looked like all together:

When I originally laid them out like this, I noticed two general groupings of color families, and I put those together for the two bigger skeins that I spun earlier. But the two at the bottom -- the ones that look a little brown, a little red, a little purple -- didn't really fit so well, so I decided to spin them on their own. I spun both onto one bobbin, wound the singles off into a center-pull ball, and plied from both ends to create this little skein of about 150 yards of light fingering weight:

The camera unfortunately doesn't do a great job of capturing all the depth in the color, but perhaps if you click to make the photo larger, you'll be able to see some of it. Jill is extremely talented in putting together colors and fibers with such dimension to them -- my only complaint about this bag of batts is that I have no idea what was in them! I know there was wool and silk, and I suspect some flax as well, but I don't know any specifics. It doesn't really matter, in the end.

I've also been finishing up in my reading life. After only one book done last week, this week I've finished three.

Continuing in my Booker Prize short list reading, I finished The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, which may not yet be out in the United States (I ordered a hardback from Blackwell's -- I couldn't resist that beautiful cover!). This is a hard book to read in many respects. To begin with, the title character is dead when the book opens; the title refers to the seven days following his death in which he is trying to figure out how he died and whether his death can have some impact on the world he left behind. It's also a story that's set in Sri Lanka in 1989, a place that has been ravaged by civil war between multiple factions and that shows little sign of reaching a peaceful resolution. I really did not know much about this period in the country, so my ignorance added to my difficulty in making sense of the story at times. But I stuck with it, and it was worth it. In my opinion, there's a big payoff in the last 50 or so pages of the book, when everything finally seems to come together. I'm not quite done with my short list reading, but this would be my pick to win the prize. I gave it 4 stars.

The Trees was yet another Booker short list read. This is a biting satire in which white Southerners, all descendants of those who committed lynchings and all presented as stereotypical "rednecks," are found brutally murdered alongside the body of an unknown Black man who appears to have been dead a long time. The initial murders in Mississippi are soon being investigated by two Black special agents of the Mississippi Board of Investigation and, soon, a Black FBI agent. And soon the murders spread to other parts of the country, triggering an outrageous reaction from white Americans. It's clear that what's happening is a bit of retributive justice for the lynchings of Black Americans over the centuries, but there's a supernatural element at play as well. As satire, the book works quite well, and yes, it is way over the top. But my main complaint is that I think the author got so deep into writing what some might call a revenge fantasy that he never really explains some key aspects of what's happening, and I finished the book feeling a little unsatisfied. I can't say I enjoyed the book so much as appreciated it, though, and I ended up giving it 4 stars.

Finally, I was inspired by Kat to do a reread. I'd read Olive Kitteridge on paper back in 2020, and at the time, I thought it was a story just about her and was confused when I got to a new chapter and realized instead that it was a collection of short stories. After enjoying other Elizabeth Strout books on audio, I decided to listen to it this time, and I did enjoy it more on my second read. Whether it was the different format that improved the experience or just knowing what to expect I can't say for sure, but I did get the humor more this time, and I'm looking forward to listening to Olive, Again once I'm ready for a new audiobook. I upped my initial rating of 3 stars to 4 stars for my reread.

I'm currently reading the last book of the Booker Prize short list, Glory. I've only read a bit the last two evenings before bed and am finding it a bit slow, but I haven't even made it 50 pages in. I am committed to finishing it, though, especially because I bought a hard copy, but there are already things that are annoying me about it. I reserve the right to change my mind, of course. When I finish it, I will have read nine of the 13 books on the long list, and I have two more of them on hold at the library (and eventually I'd like to read the last two). I didn't set out to read the entire long list, but it looks like it will happen eventually! And I think it's worth noting that so far I have liked all but one of the books, so it's been well worth my time.

What are you making and reading this week?