Unraveled, Week 42/2024

It is Wednesday, and though Kat is on vacation this week and not hosting a formal link-up, I can't let a week go by without an Unraveling post.

My sweater doesn't look all that different from how it did on Monday, though it's been getting attention each evening. Molly and I have finished watching all of Gilmore Girls, so we're taking a little break from series for the time being and watching romcoms in between episodes of The Great British Baking Show. It makes for good knitting time. I've also turned the heel and started the gusset on the second mother-in-law sock:

and I dug out the skein I wanted for the next pair of socks (the design idea I mentioned):

This is LolaBean Yarn Co. String Bean (75/15 superwash merino/nylon) in the colorway Troll-la, which might have been a special/limited edition. In any case, the pattern idea involves lace, so I didn't want self-striping or anything heavily variegated, so I hope this will work. I still need to sketch out a chart before I swatch, and I'm not even winding the yarn until I finish the current socks -- but I am keeping the skein out where I can see it as motivation.

I'm happy to report that the week has, thus far, been fairly calm, though the power went out unexpectedly for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon for no apparent reason, giving me some unexpected crafting time -- no power means no work email! I pulled a book from my Kindle library and plied the skein of mystery wool:

I ended up with approximately 159 yards of chain-plied fingering weight from 55 grams. It looks like it will work quite well for beards and various other gnome-related needs, plus now I have used up another random ball of wool.

There's been some excellent reading happening this week. I have finished two books and am getting close to the end of two more.

First was the next Read With Us selection, Intermezzo. At the last Zoom, the book was announced ahead of its publication, so I went into my Libby app and tagged the book "notify me" so that I'd get an alert when the library had it. I happened to see the notification pop up on my phone and immediately put the book on hold, making me third in line for it, so I didn't have to wait long (and I did think about delaying it, given that the discussion isn't happening until early next year, but thought I could always reread it if I need to). This is the story of two brothers, Peter and Ivan, who are a decade apart in age and in very different places in life, and when we meet them, their father has just died after a long illness. The story is told in shifting perspectives, and through following the thoughts and experiences of both brothers, we learn a lot about their history, how their relationship with one another has evolved, and how they are both dealing (or not) with their grief. This was only my second time reading a book by Sally Rooney, and I wasn't terribly impressed by the first one. I found this new novel to be a bit of a slow burn for me; I was kind of confused at first, particularly by Peter's sections, as his thoughts were more rambling and full of incomplete sentences. But once I got about halfway through, I had a better sense of my bearings in terms of the two brothers and their voices, such as they are. I can understand why some people have trouble with Rooney's writing (she doesn't use quotation marks around speech, for instance), but I think it's something you can adapt to. I really enjoyed this one, and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more after the discussion. I gave it 4 stars.

Next, I went on the hunt for audiobooks on NetGalley because I was caught up on podcasts and had a wait for the next audiobook I wanted to read from the library. I can't remember where I first heard about Quarterlife; I must've seen someone bookmark it and it showed up in my feed. But after spending the summer with A Suitable Boy, this seemed like an excellent pairing. Like "the brick," it's largely a story of young people searching for meaning and purpose in their lives, but instead of dealing with the echoes of Partition and colonialism, they are contending with the impacts of economic meltdowns and rising nationalism -- as well as the same issues associated with caste and religion that have not gone away. The narrative centers three 20-somethings: Naren, who has studied and worked in the United States and returned to India following news of changes in political power; Amanda, a white New Englander feeling a need to escape her life and contribute to the betterment of society; and Rohit, Naren's younger brother, a filmmaker exploring politics and his family history. There's a lot going on in this book, with many other characters and side stories introduced and a lot of discussion of politics, caste, and religion. I'm not sure if my difficulty in following was due to the sheer volume of information, my lack of familiarity with Indian politics, or that I was listening rather than reading with my eyes; it was likely a combination of all three. I'm sure that readers who could appreciate the details and the nuance got a lot more out of the novel than I did. Despite my confusion, however, I could appreciate the skill of the author in tackling so much and in getting inside the heads of such an array of characters. I gave it 3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for providing me with an advanced listener copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I'm nearing the end of another NetGalley ARC, Awake in the Floating City, and Louise Erdrich's newest novel, The Mighty Red. I expect I'll have a review of both by this time next week.

What are you making and reading this week?

Back to Routine

Good morning, friends. It rarely happens, but I woke up this morning happy that it's Monday. It's not that I'm eager to get back to work and all that, but I really am feeling a need for a regular routine after an unusual weekend. More than anything, my body is craving normal meals and my normal amount of water consumption! I can't say that our Yom Kippur observance was good, really, because it's a very solemn holiday, but it was a meaningful one. Molly fasted for the first time and did fine without eating, though she felt faint after services and drank some water when we got home. And we had a lovely birthday brunch for my father yesterday, but it was a large meal in the middle of the day and thus messed up my appetite a bit -- probably not the best after a day of not eating. Today it is back to normal for me, with plenty of water and plenty of fruits and vegetables.

I did not do much knitting over the weekend because frankly there wasn't much time. When we got home from services Saturday afternoon, I was just too tired and took a nap instead! But I've made some progress on my sweater the past two evenings. I've completed the short rows (which I think I made only one tiny mistake on -- but I'm not tinking back to fix it) and have gotten through three increase sections.

I also worked a little on my current socks yesterday while listening to the end of an audiobook and am almost finished with the leg of sock number two:

I'm feeling an urge to finish up this second sock because I actually had an idea for a sock design last week and I'd like to swatch it, but I know if I do that and it works as I hope, I'll completely abandon these socks, so I'm forcing myself to stay focused until they're done. Really that shouldn't take too much time, so perhaps you'll see the swatch later in the week.

Today I'm hoping to get a run in before it rains again -- we had some surprise thunderstorms yesterday -- and to feel more like myself again. Thankfully my to-do list isn't too long and it's a work-from-home day, both of which will help me to recover from my weekend. Here's hoping your new week is similarly off to a calm start.

Starting Small

It's not much, but it's a start!

As I hoped, I was able to cast on for my Goldenfern (Ravelry link) on Wednesday evening. After much deliberation, I've decided to knit the next size up -- finished bust circumference of 40.75 in./101.5 cm -- and hope for the best. That sounds a bit like I just picked it at random, but really I did a number of calculations based on my gauge to verify that it would come more or less the right size. I'll be trying this on as I go to make sure that's the case. I expect this is going to be a long-term knit, and that's okay. Given how much time it took to spin the yarn, I don't mind taking my time and enjoying working with it. But it would be nice to be able to wear it this season, so I'm going to do my best not to let it sit and actually continue to work on it regularly.

The weekend ahead is looking pretty full but, fortunately, not with a lot of running around. Yom Kippur begins this evening at sundown, so we'll be having a big early dinner ahead of services and will be at synagogue this evening. (Side note: The evening service that begins the holiday features one of the most beautiful prayers in the liturgy, at least in my opinion. If you'd like to hear a bit, here is the video of the service from last year; Kol Nidre begins at about 16:00. And if you fast-forward a bit, you might see a familiar face holding the Torah.) Tomorrow we'll be back at services for the morning and will have a quiet afternoon before we break the fast. Then, on Sunday morning, we are having a brunch to celebrate my father's 75th birthday. I think after a solemn and contemplative day, it will be wonderful to have a reason to celebrate.

I hope you have a weekend full of whatever you need. See you back here on Monday!

Unraveled, Week 41/2024

Thank you all for putting up with my whining about my lost weekend in my last post and for your kind words. I'm happy to report that I'm feeling back to normal now -- even my arm, which was sore for several days after my shots, is better. With all of that bellyaching, I totally lost sight of the fact that Monday was October 7 and a very solemn day for Jews around the world. I don't want to bring you all down, but I'll note that I listened to a couple of podcasts on Monday that I felt helped me to understand the situation a bit better. This episode of This American Life tells the stories of some of the released hostages, and this episode of the Ezra Klein Show gave me a much better understanding of the political situation in Israel. If, like me, you get anxious when things seem out of control and feel better when you have more information, you might find them helpful.

Leaving the sadder events of the world behind, let's return to the fact that today is Wednesday, which means that it's time to join up with Kat and the Unravelers. Today I have finished handspun to share, thanks to a quiet work day on Monday.

This skein looked fairly messy until I twisted it up, likely due to the inconsistencies in the fiber. I spun this from roving -- and by that, I don't mean the term that's become a stand-in for "spinning fiber." True roving is a woolen or carded preparation, meaning that the fibers are all jumbled up and pointing every which way. Because of that arrangement, the fibers are not going to lie down neatly aligned when they're spun, so there's a lot of variation in the singles, even though I spun the roving with my usual short forward draw. I do like that this results in a more rustic look, though, that seems fitting to the blend of the fibers and the tweedy look the yarn has. The finished yarn is fingering to sport weight and about 380 yards of two ply. I did try different angles and lighting in an effort to capture the sparkly bits, but alas, they seem to be camera shy.

I have some more fiber from Margene in a very similar colorway that I was going to put on the wheel next, but I am planning to cast on a gnome soon and thought I should probably have some yarn on hand that could be used for a beard, so I pulled out a small bag of mystery white fiber (I suspect some leftovers from the Ross Farm when we were bagging it up several years ago for the the Rhinebeck booth) and spun about half of it yesterday afternoon:

If I had to guess, I'd say this is either Cheviot or Romney, mainly because I know that their offerings of white/cream wool are limited. But it's definitely very sheepy (and has a fair amount of VM) and a medium wool, not terribly soft but pleasant enough to work with. It'll be perfect for gnome beards, particularly as I don't expect to end up with a ton of yardage.

I still haven't started my handspun sweater, mainly because my brain hasn't felt totally up to following a pattern the past several days, so I've stuck to stockinette socks. Perhaps tonight's the night, though!

With the holiday and everything else going on last week, I did not have a ton of time to read, but when I did, I prioritized finishing up one book:

You may remember that I found an old hardback copy of September at that local church book sale in the summer, and Kat proposed a buddy read in the month of September (Carole later joined in the fun, too). This was a pure comfort read, set in a small Scottish town and following the lives of the members of several local families in the months leading up to a big party. The characters are all fully fleshed out and individual, and we learn more about them as the story unfolds -- their past loves, their heartbreaks, their regrets, their hopes and dreams. There's a bit of intrigue that seems a bit over the top and dramatic, but even that couldn't take away from the charm. I particularly liked how an immigrant family was portrayed; they play a very minor role in the story, but they are so lovingly treated by the locals and the author. My only real complaint is the (sometimes excessive) use of the phrase "as well" --  do they never say "also" in Scotland?! I gave it 4 stars.

I am currently reading the next Read With Us selection, Intermezzo, which I lucked out in getting very quickly from the library because I put it on hold within seconds of getting a notification alert that the library had it and ended up third on the wait list as a result. I am also reading Louise Erdrich's latest, The Mighty Red, which I had preordered from her bookstore earlier in the year, and I am listening to Quarterlife. I'm in my happy place now, with one book in each modality (digital, print, audio). I just hope the rest of the week provides me with the time to spend with all three!

What are you making and reading this week?

So Much for Plans

Oh friends, let me tell you about the weekend that was -- it was not the weekend it was supposed to be. Friday started out pretty good with a great run, better than I've had in a long time. I didn't set out to run a 10K without stopping, but as each mile passed and I still felt good, I just kept running.

Shortly after I got home and was cooling off, though, I started to get that telltale glimmer in my eye that tells me I'm about to get a migraine. I had actually had two auras the night before, one at dinner and one just before bed, but both resolved fairly quickly and never developed into a headache (I always get an aura before a migraine, but in a few instances I've had the visual disturbance without the headache). This time around, the pain did come, though it wasn't terrible and, strangely, it was reversed from my typical experience -- usually my vision goes on my right side and the pain is concentrated on the left side of my head, but this time the visual issues were on the left and the pain was on the right. All of that was strange and a bit unpleasant, but it didn't disturb my day too much. In the afternoon, as planned, Molly and I went to get our flu and COVID shots, both in the same arm, so I was anticipating soreness and also some aches and pains from the latter. Well. I slept horribly Friday night but then felt okay after some Tylenol and coffee in the morning. We had to go get some stuff at Costco, and then I went for a walk before lunch. And when I stood up to clear my dishes from lunch, I realized I was having trouble standing upright. I was lightheaded, every inch of me hurt, and I generally felt awful. I ended up in bed for at least an hour while I waited for my next dose of Tylenol to kick in so I could at least take a quick shower. And that was about all I could manage for the rest of the day. I didn't get to meet up with a friend who was in town for a couple of days, and I didn't get to my high school reunion (I feel bad about that because I was really looking forward to it, but I can always go next year). It was just a total crap day. You will appreciate how rotten I felt when I tell you that I couldn't really knit or even read -- I just had no energy.

Fortunately, I had an extra-long night of sleep Saturday night (in the guest/stash room, where I would be uninterrupted by snoring) and woke yesterday feeling human again. I was still a little wobbly yesterday, but I think that's likely due to migraine hangover -- my brain always feels a little sloshy for a day or two afterwards. I was able to go for my usual walk, at my usual pace, plus do laundry and go homecoming dress shopping with Molly and one of her school friends. And I felt well enough to finish up the second bobbin of singles for my next handspun skein:

This was a really fun spin. I got the fiber -- 4 oz. of CVM/alpaca/angora/sparkle roving -- as a hand-me-down from Margene, and though it was a woolen prep with some chunky bits in it here and there, it was much easier to spin a fairly smooth, fine single with it than the batts I spun last month. The colorway is Gandalf, and it is a lovely blue-gray with lots of silver sparkle that really isn't showing up in the photo. I plan to at least start plying it tomorrow; we'll see how busy the day gets and how much I get done.

I also measured my second sweater swatch over the weekend, and though it didn't give me any clear answers, I think I have a plan. Somehow I ended up with more stitches per inch in going up a needle size than I had before. I can only assume that my swatch with US 4's just didn't really capture my tension accurately. My gauge on US 5's ended up being 26 stitches and 34 rounds over 4 inches, whereas the pattern gauge is 23 stitches and 32 rounds. I'm not as concerned about my rounds per inch, but obviously my stitch gauge off enough that it would make a noticeable difference. I did a couple of quick calculations from stitch counts, though, and it looks like if I do the next size up from what I was planning, I should get about an inch of positive ease in the bust, which is pretty much perfect for me. So I'm going to give it a try, and if the worst thing that happens is that I have to rip out a sweater yoke, so be it. I spent enough time spinning the yarn that I'm going to make sure it becomes a sweater, one way or another.

On that note, I think it's time to get the day started. I hope this week is slightly less hectic for me and good for all of us!

Not Slowing Down

On the one hand, taking a Thursday off means that when you go back to work, there's only one day between you and the weekend, but on the other hand, taking a Thursday off leads to a lot of confusion about what day it is. I've checked several places, though, and have confirmed that it's Friday -- not that the coming weekend really means that things will slow down for me.

But let me back up a bit. We had a really nice Rosh Hashanah, though unfortunately my sister-in-law was sick and couldn't join us for dinner on Wednesday evening. When we walked to services yesterday morning, it was chilly and foggy, but the sun had come out by the time we left and warmed things up. I was able to enjoy the sunshine on a walk. We've all eaten too much good food over the past 36 hours, and there are leftovers in the fridge. Technically the holiday continues today, but we're all back to work and school.

I really have not done much crafting the past couple of days because I've been busy with work and holiday stuff. But I did knit a second swatch for my handspun sweater and am ready to block it.

Rather than doing the faux in-the-round method (where you slide the knitting back to the other end of the need and drape the yarn across the back), I decided to just cast on more stitches and knit an actual tube. I'll be dropping 10-12 stitches and letting them unravel so that I end up with the yarn across the back anyway, but I think I get a better representation of my true gauge this way. I'm going to be ripping out the whole thing afterwards anyway, so I don't care if it looks messy. I was worried that going up to a US 5/3.75 mm was going to result in fabric that was too loose, but I've been pleasantly surprised. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I'm close enough on gauge to make it work.

I'm hoping to catch up on some sleep this weekend, but it's going to be a busy one. Molly and I are going to get our flu shots and COVID boosters this afternoon after I pick her up at school, so I'm anticipating feeling crummy tonight and tomorrow. Then, tomorrow evening, the Mister and I are going to a reception for my 25th high school reunion. Finally, on Sunday, Molly and I have plans to meet up with one of her classmates and her mother to go homecoming dress shopping (they're going to the dance together). And of course there will be the usual chores and laundry, and I'm planning to do a Costco run (we need TP and paper towels, so I'm really hoping people in my area haven't bought them out over concerns related to the dock workers strike). If I do feel really crummy and need to curl up under a blanket, then at least I will have good reading material: I got a notification this morning that my (signed) preordered copy of Louise Erdrich's newest novel will be delivered today!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, with at least some time to slow down. See you back here on Monday!

Unraveled, Week 40/2024

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Can you believe it's October? I'm not sure where this year has gone, but the end of it is quickly approaching. Before we get there, it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers for our weekly check-in.

I am very happy to have another FO to share today, though it's not one that's terribly exciting -- just another ribbed hat for the charity pile:

I used a free pattern (Ravelry link) that I knit once before a number of years ago, though the first time I made it in solid gray yarn and it was a much more boring project. This one was made using some of the leftovers from the recent baby blanket (which, by the way, was received over the weekend and was a big hit). It's a cotton/acrylic blend, which isn't as warm as wool, but I hope that deep doubled brim will help. The only modification I made to the pattern was to do one more round of decreases as the top; the pattern tells you do decrease to 16 stitches and then pull the tail through all of them, but I decreased to eight. It looks just fine -- probably better, in fact, because the hole closed up much more easily than if I'd had twice the number of stitches to work with.

Something else I finished this week, but which I can't show you because it's already been frogged, was a swatch for my handspun sweater. I used the US 4/3.5 mm needles recommended in the pattern but was way off in gauge. The pattern calls for 23 stitches over 4 inches, and I got 25.5 stitches. So now I'll be trying again with a US 5/3.75 mm needle and hoping that I not only get closer to gauge but also have a fabric that's not too loose. If it is, I'll have to do some calculations to see if I can go up a size and use the US 4's to get the right fit. Stay tuned.

I finished two quick books in the past week, both quite enjoyable.

I was a psychology major in college, and my favorite things to learn about were the case histories of patients whose unusual symptoms and circumstances revealed fascinating things about the workings of the mind and the brain. So when I was invited to review The Strange Case of Jane O. on NetGalley and read the description, I was immediately hooked. This novel tells the story of a woman with a perfect memory who begins to experience strange symptoms -- hallucinations, blackouts lasting hours to days -- and as a result starts to doubt her memories. It's told in alternating sections in the form of case notes of the psychiatrist treating her and of her own letters to her young son, which she writes for him to read at some point in the future and which reveal her struggle to understand what is real and what is not. But the reader soon realizes that neither narrator is completely reliable, Jane because of her symptoms and her doctor because of his past efforts to research phenomena that can't necessarily be proved through science. The result is a fascinating, propulsive story that will leave anyone questioning their memory and whether someone with a seemingly perfect memory can remember things that never happened. I gave it 4 stars. Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. This book will be published February 25, 2025.

The last title I had yet to read from the Booker Prize shortlist was Stone Yard Devotional, which wasn't available to me through my library, but luckily Margene was kind enough to send me her copy as long as I promised to send it back when I was done. This is a quiet novel, with an unnamed middle-aged female narrator who, frustrated and burnt out by her life, returns to her rural Australian hometown and comes to live with a small community of nuns. Though the book clearly takes place during the COVID pandemic (references are made to travel restricts and masks), it's never directly named. Instead, the narrator focuses on the tasks in front of her: cooking for the sisters, dealing with a plague of mice brought on by drought, and addressing her memories of her youth and her grief at losing both her parents. Despite the fact that there are some Big Issues that arise for the narrator, there isn't really a lot of drama, and they're dealt with quite beautifully. I really enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars. And I have already sent it back to Margene, just in case you're wondering!

I'm still trying to finish up September -- in October -- and have a little more than 100 pages left, and I'm contemplating which of the two other Booker Prize longlist titles on my Kindle shelf I want to read next.