Unraveled, Week 21/2023

Did anyone else wake up this morning and think, "Is it really only Wednesday?" It feels like it's been a very long week already, probably in part due to the four-hour Zoom workshop I attended to for work yesterday. It wasn't too bad because I could knit my way through it, but it did mean a lot of sitting around and it messed up my usual schedule (I usually go for my walk or run in the morning and couldn't go until after lunch yesterday). Anyway, it is Wednesday, which means it's time to check in with Kat and the Unravelers!

I'll start off by sharing my latest skein of handspun, which I actually got done over the weekend but decided to save for today because of all the other stuff on Monday. I'm absolutely delighted with this one!

This was the oldest Southern Cross Fibre club shipment in my stash -- One Fish, Two Fish on South African Superfine from January 2019. I spun it as a two-ply fractal, meaning I split the top in half lengthwise and then split one half into four narrow strips, then spun all the pieces in the same order. That means the colors repeat in the same way in both plies but at different rates. This really allows for great barber poling:

After washing, it's approximately 305 yards of sport weight. I had so much fun with this that I might repeat it with my next skein. I'll also note that this is the 11th skein of SCF fiber I've spun this year, so I am on track to achieve my original goal of 12 before we're even halfway through 2023. Seems like I need to double down on this goal!

I snuck in a quick handspun project over the last few days, but it requires a good blocking before I share it, so you'll have to wait until Friday to see that. But having finished up that and the baby sweater (which I mailed on Monday and which was already delivered yesterday!), I've pulled out my Shoulder Season again.

I still have quite a bit of garter stitch to do on the back before I move on to the next step, so that's at least some easy knitting to do while in meetings or watching TV or reading.

Reading has been pretty steady and enjoyable this past week!

Margaret Renkl's newest collection of essays, The Comfort of Crows, took me back to the early days of the pandemic, when amid all the uncertainty of life I found comfort in nature and in its ability to continue to grow and change even as the world seemed to be falling apart. In reflecting on the plants and animals in her backyard over the course of a year and the change of the seasons, Renkl reminds us that while it's hard to stop nature, our impacts are changing it and that we have a responsibility to do right by our fellow creatures. Her writing is calming and comforting, even as it raises the alarm of climate change. Highly recommend!

I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley in return for an honest review. I gave it 4 stars.

I also listened to another title from Ann Patchett's backlist, The Magician's Assistant. This is a quiet book in the sense that it's very much focused on people and relationships rather than on things that happen. Sabine, the widow of the magician for whom she served as assistant for 20 years, suddenly finds that there is a lot about her late husband that she never knew. As she journeys to Nebraska to find out more about the person she thought she knew better than anyone, she learns more about herself, about families, and about secrets. It's a very well-written character study, and I really enjoyed it. I gave it 4 stars as well.

 

I'm currently reading The Bean Trees (I have about 20 pages left to read) and an ARC from NetGalley, The Centre.

What are you making and reading this week?