Unraveled, Week 10/2024

We've had a beautiful start to this first full week of March, with decidedly lamb-like weather (sunny and in the low 70s!). I'm worried we'll get another taste of winter this weekend, but for now I'm enjoying seeing things bloom and green up.

It's Wednesday, which means it's time to check in with Kat and the Unravelers. This week, my primary project has been Mo's neon striped socks, which are nearing completion:

It's nearly impossible to work on these and not feel cheered by the bright colors, and I'm almost hoping she outgrows these quickly so I can inherit them!

I also wound some handspun to start swatching for what I hope will be my next sweater (Ravelry link):

This is woolen-spun Rambouillet from half a fleece that I bought at my second, I think, Maryland Sheep and Wool and sent off to a mill to be processed. I hope this photo gives you a sense of how soft and sproingy it is. I have *just enough* yardage for the smallest size of the sweater, so keep your fingers crossed that I can get gauge!

While reading has been good this past week, I've only finished two books that were relatively short -- but it's about quality over quantity, right?

I purchased a Kindle copy of Rough Sleepers recently when it was a daily deal and wanted to read it now because Tracy Kidder is this month's speaker in the series I'm subscribed to. Even though it deals with difficult subject matter, it was an easy read, which I suppose speaks to the skill of the writer. This book is largely about Jim O'Connell, a Boston physician who has dedicated his career to helping the unhoused. But in giving the complete picture, this book also shows how easy it can be to become unhoused and how difficult it can be to get out of it. The so-called "rough sleepers" referred to in the title are those who more often than not are sleeping on the streets in all weather, often for years or decades, and who faced unimaginable obstacles health and housing. While it brings a strong sense of humanity to the individuals who are profiled, it also shines a light on the bureaucracies and systems that stand in the way of housing all people. If you enjoyed Poverty, by America, this would be an excellent next read. I gave it 4 stars.

I can't remember where I heard about Plunder, but I picked it to read next on audio because it was the first book in my Libby "to read" list that was available without a wait. It's very difficult to describe this book. It's a memoir, certainly, about the author's efforts to reclaim property in Poland that belonged to his grandfather's family, nearly all of whom were murdered in the Holocaust, but it's also about treasure hunting, about myth versus memory, and about the occasional absurdity in the process (such as the author's struggles to have his great-grandparents declared dead without any definitive evidence that they were killed, even though they'd be something like 140 years old if they were still living). I was grateful that I listened to this book, both for the pronunciation of Polish and because it's kind of meandering; some reviewers have noted that editing was sorely needed. That said, I saw some distinct parallels between the author's detailed history of those who search for buried Nazi treasure and his own search for information on his grandfather's family and their former home. There's a lot of complicated thought about what we believe and why, whether it's related to the myth of a gold train that the Nazis hid in a mined mountain or the story of how a distant relative escaped from a concentration camp near the end of the war. This is a book that will make you think hard and might leave you feeling things are unresolved, but I found it to be really well done. I gave it 4 stars as well.

I am currently reading A Little Life, which I have been meaning to read for a long time and which I am completely savoring, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is my mostly mindless bedtime reading.

Finally, at Carole's request, here is a selfie with my much-improved smile:

This isn't final -- what I have now is just a temporary, but I'll go back at the beginning of April for the permanent veneer, which should be a better match and look more like the original tooth. I'm obviously feeling much better about things now, though!