Unraveled Wednesday, Week 41/2022

Fall color has arrived here in my neck of the woods, and we've been blessed with some perfect fall weather and gorgeous blue skies to show off the changing leaves. We're supposed to have some storms moving through tonight and tomorrow, and I'm hoping that I don't see all these leaves on the ground afterwards.

It's Wednesday today, which means it's time for my weekly check in with Kat and the Unravelers. I started off the week with a small finished object, the hat to go with the baby sweater:

The pattern for this is From Where You Were Plucked, which I've also made to go with the Newborn Vertebrae the last two times I knit it. I used just a bit less than 100 yards and followed the pattern as written -- and as written, you actually knit something that looks like this:

I think it's an indication of Rainbow's increasing maturity that she giggled when she saw this -- and perhaps it's an indication of my continued immaturity that I still giggle at it! Fortunately when that long tube is tied into a knot, it becomes incredibly cute.

After I finished the hat, I started another one that will likely be a charity hat but will also be my entry for this month's challenge for the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party. Entries have to use at least three colors, so I'm using some scraps of Fibernymph Dye Works Traveler (sport weight) to knit a top-down hat with some colorwork.

I have finished the crown increases, so pretty soon I'll be adding in the first contrast color.

Reading has been a bit slower this past week, and my finishes have been all on audio!

First, I finally got Nightcrawling from my library holds after a fairly long wait. I put it on hold back when the Booker long list was first released, so that gives you an idea. I will say that I enjoyed this book, in the sense that I was impressed by the writing, but it covers a lot of difficult topics and will be hard for many readers, so read the summary before you pick it up if you are concerned it may upset you. This debut novel -- begun when the author was 17! -- addresses what can happen when a young person loses their entire support system and the heartbreaking choices they have to make when faced with the very real needs of feeding and housing themself. I thought the narrator did an excellent job of capturing the emotion of the main character, and though I read some reviews that criticized the writing, I thought it was impressive for such a young writer. I gave it 4 stars overall, though I did find it hard to listen to at times. This is not an especially pleasurable read, but I felt it was one that was important to finish.

The other book I finished this past week was Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, which I'd been listening to via the Craftlit podcast for about six months. I won't say this was my favorite Twain and I found it rather slow (though listening to only two or three chapters at a time will certainly exacerbate that), but it was an interesting and informative read. I gave it 3 stars.

I am currently reading Booth, which was another book I put on hold at the library way back when and finally got on Sunday. I've been hoping to devote a good chunk of time to it, but that time hasn't yet materialized, so I'm only about 120 pages in. I also still have Braiding Sweetgrass on my nightstand, and I'm determined to finish the last 100-ish pages I have left before I allow myself to start The Marriage Portrait!

How about you -- what are you making and reading this week?