Unraveled, Week 1/2024

It's the first Wednesday of the new year and I've started the count over again! Thanks to Kat for hosting our weekly link-ups. Now let's check in on the making ...

Vacation is truly over, so progress on my Birch Pullover has slowed. That was not helped by doing a poor job of picking up stitches in the underarm on my first attempt. Last night I ripped it out and started over again, and this attempt looks much better (though I'll still have to close up some holes when I weave in ends, as it always the case). You'll have to excuse the darkness of my photos today; we're in the midst of the typical January gloom here in Western Pennsylvania.

After two weeks away from wheel and fiber, I was of course anxious to start a new spinning project when we got back, so what is now the oldest Southern Cross Fibre shipment in my stash (from last June) is now on the wheel. The singles are very dark at the moment, so I'll share a photo of the fiber instead. This is Lake Tekapō on Bond wool. I've split it in two lengthwise and will be chain-plying the singles.

I expect less reading time this week (because I'll be reading copy for work), but I did manage to finish two more books before the end of the year, taking my total for 2023 to 130 books -- not too shabby!

If you follow Parnassus Books on social media, then you've likely heard a lot about Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch, who is their buyer. I wasn't rushing to read it, but when it was a Kindle daily deal a few weeks back, I thought I'd give it a try. And it ended up being a light palate cleanser after some harder books. This novel is set in the golden age of Hollywood, the late 1930s and early 1940s, when actors were under contract to studios and gossip could make or break a career. The narrator is an actress whose contract is just about to expire who finds herself in the middle of a scandal. I found this to be an entertaining book and an easy read; the editor in me found the frequent breaks to be annoying, especially when they weren't needed, but I suppose that was a stylistic choice. I gave it 3 stars.

I'd heard about The Frozen River on the What Should I Read Next Podcast, when Anne Bogel interviewed the author, and I was able to put it on hold right when my library got it. This is a work of historical fiction set in New England in the late 1700s and centers on Martha Ballard, a real-life midwife who left behind a record of her life in a daybook. Amid the daily activities of being a wife and mother and delivering babies, there is a rape, a murder, and a lot of intrigue. I found it to be a good read, though I would not necessarily recommend it as a truly accurate representation of the time. The author has (admittedly) taken some liberties and updated the dialogue for a more modern audience, though I appreciate that she has based it on some real people and real events. I think it does have some powerful things to say about the role and voices of women in society. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm currently listening to Winter Solstice, a book that many of you have read and that has long been on my TBR list; it feels appropriate now that I'm listening while running and walking in the cold and snow. I've also started Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, which I'd picked up at Barnes & Noble in Florida and then snagged in a Kindle deal. It's a fascinating book, but I haven't had too much time to get into it just yet (see earlier comment about work).

What are you making and reading this week?