Unraveled, Week 13/2024

Good morning, friends, and happy Wednesday! This is our last full day in Florida, and it's going to be a hot one -- high of 86ºF! I'm going to be sure to get some sunshine today because while the weather has improved at home while we've been away, there's gloom and rain in the forecast this weekend.

Today it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and to talk about what I've been making and reading in the past week. My focus has mainly been on two projects. First, my handspun Bereket (Ravelry link):

I have officially completed the textured stitch section and have worked most of the short-row shaping on the first half of the front. This section has been moving a lot faster, both because of the short rows and because I'm working in stockinette -- those bobble rows took me about an hour each! I've also used up my first skein of yarn and joined the second; I was worried I was going to be cutting it close because I have just tad more than the pattern calls for in my size, but I am feeling more confident now.

I also started a new pair of shortie socks for my sister-in-law, whose birthday was this past Sunday. I always knit her shortie socks because she has some rather large feet -- 9.5 inches long and 9.25 inches around!

I'm using Knit Picks Felici in the Lassi colorway, and I've got about half an inch left to knit before I start the toe. I expect I'll be able to wrap it up today, given that I have two work meetings today and a synagogue board meeting this evening. We'll be seeing my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephews this coming Sunday, so just maybe I can get the second sock cranked out so I can give her her birthday gift only a week late.

It's been another good week of reading, and I've finished two more books:

The Berry Pickers is one of those books that I've seen everywhere, and my mother had a copy here when we arrived. It's a very quick read -- I started it last Tuesday and had finished it by dinner on Wednesday -- but it's also enjoyable. The berry pickers of the title are an Indigenous family from Canada who travel to Maine each summer to pick blueberries. But one summer, the unthinkable happens and the family's youngest child, 4-year-old Ruthie, disappears without a trace. We learn about the repercussions of this tragedy from her brother, Joe, who is looking back on his life as he is dying of cancer. His chapters alternate with those of Norma, an only child from Maine who grows up in a home where she feels smothered by her mother's protectiveness and anxiety about her. Eventually these two stories converge, and I'll admit I knew exactly how from the outset. In spite of knowing exactly where the story was going, I enjoyed the journey. I gave it 4 stars.

Having just finished Julia Phillips's first novel, I was excited to see that her forthcoming novel, Bear, was still available from NetGalley (I know several of you have already read it). This is the story mainly of two sisters, Sam and Elena, who live on a small island off the coast of Washington state with their dying mother. They've just emerged from the lockdown days of COVID and are trapped menial jobs to pay the mounting bills -- Elena at the local country club and Sam at the snack bar on the local ferry. The plan is to keep it up until their mother dies, at which point they can sell the land their house sits on and leave the island to start a new life elsewhere. But that plan is thrown into complete disarray when a bear -- yes, an actual bear -- shows up at their door. The bear's arrival changes everything, including the relationship between the sisters, and leads to a surprising ending. This is a tense and slightly weird novel, but the writing is great. I gave it 4 stars.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Random House/Hogarth in return for an honest review. This book will be published June 25, 2024.

I had just started an ARC of Elif Shafak's new novel when I got a notification that my hold on Iron Flame was ready for me from the library, so that's been consuming me all this week. I've got about 300 pages left to go and am hoping that I can finish before we get home.

I'd love to hear what you are working on and reading this week!