Unraveled, Week 22/2026

It's Wednesday, so that means it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers! I've got a little knitting update and a pretty good-sized reading update today.

First, the knitting. Houston, we have a leg!

By some stroke of luck, I finished the first leg in exactly the right spot in the stripe pattern so that I didn't have to wind off any yarn when I picked up stitches for the second. I made note of how many rounds I needed to knit after the last decrease and for the ribbing, so the second leg should go even faster.

It's been an interesting week of reading, with some enjoyable audiobooks, a book club book, a long-awaited hold, and some titles on the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist.

First, Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, an older book (older than I am, even!), which I read for a book club. Mrs. Palfrey is an older widow who moves into the Claremont, a hotel but also a place where other older people live full time. She encounters some interesting personalities in the other residents, all but one of them women, and tries to figure out what to do with her time. One day she falls when out on her own and makes the acquaintance of a young man, a struggling writer named Ludo, who soon becomes a friend. This is a quiet novel, at times funny and at others sad, whose main focus is primarily the reckoning we all do with our own mortality at one point or another. I enjoyed it, but it didn't leave a very strong impression on me. I gave it 3 stars.

Next were two audiobooks, both novels by J. Ryan Stradal. I know many of you have already read and enjoyed his books, and I've been meaning to read them for a while. I was lucky to find copies available without a wait and listened to them back to back. Kitchens of the Great Midwest reads a bit like a series of interconnected short stories. There are characters who tie them all together, and Eva is at the center of them, starting when she is a baby and following her as she grows up into adulthood. Food is also at the center, as this is a book about food and cooking and the flavors and meals that are at the heart of our memories and formative moments. The audio was read by two actors (Michael Stuhlbarg and Amy Ryan), something I love because they really know how to perform a book instead of just reading the words.

The Lager Queen of Minnesota has the same comfortable Midwestern feel to it but leans more heavily on brewing than cooking. Women are the main characters here, two sisters who are long estranged and the granddaughter of one of them. There's a lot about brewing beer, which isn't exactly of interest to me because I don't drink it, but it's clear there was a lot of research done to write about it based upon the level of detail. What I enjoyed most was the stories of women persevering in spite of the odds against them, and the reader (also an actor!) did a marvelous job of creating distinct voices for each character, down to the accents.

I really enjoyed my time with both books and gave them both 4 stars.

The Wilderness was one of those books I was seeing everywhere for a while; it was nominated for the National Book Award last year and had a long hold list at my library, so I was waiting for it for quite a while. Based upon the first chapter, I thought I was going to love it ... and then I didn't. This is a book about a group of female friends over a period of time, but the story isn't told linearly, and that's what gave me so much trouble. I thought the writing was outstanding, but because the story jumped forward and backward in time in addition to jumping between characters, I had a really hard time keeping them and their stories straight. (I also found a couple of copyediting mistakes that should have been caught before publication, but I accept that that's not something most readers would even notice.) If I'd edited this book, I would have suggested a chronological timeline; I'm sure the author didn't do it this way on purpose, but why wasn't clear to me, and ultimately that's what made the book not work very well for me. I gave it 3.5 stars, rounded up.

The last two titles I read this week were the two on the Women's Prize shortlist I had not yet read:

The Mercy Step is set in the UK, starting in the early 1960s. Mercy is born to an immigrant Jamaican family with two older sisters already and two children left behind; there will be another sister and a brother who will later follow her. Though the family has a home, they are clearly struggling to improve their lives between the number of children in the household and the father's abusive behavior. Mercy is unlike any of her siblings, as she seems unnaturally intelligent and mature from the get go, though it's clear there are many things about the world she doesn't understand. Most of all, she wants someone to care for her and take care of her; most of the time she feels it's her job to take care of her mother. There are some hard things in this book (domestic abuse, sexual abuse, racism, etc.), but Mercy provides an interesting perspective. The audio is read by the author, and I appreciated hearing the Jamaican accent when the parents spoke. I gave it 3 stars.

I started Kingfisher just before bed and didn't think I'd care for it based on the little I read before I put it down for the night, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it as I read more. The narrator of the book (whose name we never learn) is in a long-term relationship with a man when he meets and becomes obsessed with an older poet who is teaching at the university where he works. Meanwhile, his mother, who is homophobic and has always treated him badly, is dying. His life becomes further and further enmeshed with the poet's when she has a recurrence of the cancer she beat years ago, and his emotions get more and more complicated as he reflects on the loss of both his parents. It's a hard book to describe, but what I liked about it was how it depicted the love of friends, of found family, and how they can be there for you at your very worst. This is a debut novel, and I don't think it should win the prize, but I was impressed by it. I gave it 3.5 stars, rounded up.

What are you making and reading this week?

Welcome, June

If there was a complete opposite to last weekend's rain and cooler-than-normal temperatures, this weekend was it: warm sun, blue skies, low humidity, and a light breeze. I enjoyed all of my walks and soaked up as much vitamin D as I could.

My day off on Friday was mostly enjoyable (the only thing I didn't like about it was a bit of acid reflux that interfered with my run in the morning). Our girls' shopping trip was fun and successful. Molly's friend insisted that we go into Ross, where I'd never shopped before, and I found a really cute Tommy Hilfiger sleeveless dress that fit me like a glove and cost me $19.99 -- and I wore it to dinner that night! 

The terrible mirror selfie I texted to Molly for her opinion

I picked up a few other little things (a couple of toys for Ruthie that she'll tear apart in half an hour, a few sewing supplies for a little project I had planned), and the girls tried on a bunch of clothes and bought a few items. And then the three of us had a nice dinner out. Saturday was nice and quiet. Molly worked, I walked and then read and knit while Ruthie napped, and then we had a simple dinner at home. After dinner, Molly drove us to a nearby ice cream place. That was my first time in the car with her driving and also the first time sitting in the back seat of my own car, I think! Yesterday was another low-key day for me, though I baked some cookies in the afternoon and then we had my in-laws over for dinner.

Today I think will finally feel like summer to Molly, and I'm looking forward to not having to rush to pick her up at 3 o'clock. I'm sure there'll be work waiting for me when I log in to my email, but somehow having one less thing to do every day makes me feel more relaxed. And I'm having fun working on baby pants, which may very well get finished this week:

I've finished the entire body/bum section, including grafting the crotch, and am cruising down the first leg. I'm already thinking of how to improve upon this first pair and need to find some more babies to knit for because I can see how knitting one pair of these quickly leads to knitting more.

Other than the usual work schedule, there's nothing planned for this week. The Mister has work dinners three evenings this week, so there will be a lot of girls' nights, and the weather forecast is beautiful all week, so I'll be spending lots of time outside and enjoying it. Did you know that June 1 is the first day of meteorological summer? Feels to me like a good way to start the week!

The End of Another Year

Yes, it's not even the last day of May, but today is the end of Molly's sophomore year of high school. She'll be in school for all of about two hours this morning for closing exercises, and then I'll be picking her and her friend up so they can hang out for the rest of the day. I'm taking the day off from work anyway, so after lunch and Ruthie's midday walk, we are headed to a local shopping center. The girls will be the ones doing the shopping, for the most part, and I'll just be the chauffeur, but I certainly don't mind spending a nice late spring afternoon out of the house.

I haven't done all that much crafting this week, but I did cast on a new project:

It doesn't look like much (mostly because I had to rip out and restart), but this is the beginning of a pair of baby pants for the friends expecting a baby later this year. It's a clever design that has a hemmed waistband with holes for a drawstring. Gauge is given for the main fabric, but the pattern calls for a US 1/2.25 mm needle to be used for the waistband, so that's what a started with. I'd knit a couple of inches before I realized that it was going to be way too small, so I ripped it out and started again with a US 2/2.75 mm needle. Now it's approximately one Ruthie wide and much closer to the finished measurement it should be. I'm using Fibernymph Dye Works yarn, the last skein left unknit from the Lepidoptera Club from a couple of years back -- the colorway is Swallowtails. I've been saving it for something special, and I think this is a worthy use.

We've got a fairly calm weekend ahead, and for once the weather is going to be perfect (sunny and in the mid- to upper 70s). Tonight we're going out for a nice dinner to celebrate a successful end to the school year. Tomorrow I expect Molly will be working, as Sunday she has to be back at school for graduation to perform with the glee club. I'm hoping to get a little extra sleep, take a couple of good long walks by myself, and figure out what larger project I want to start next.

I hope that after last weekend's washout in so many parts of the country, you are getting some sunshine, too, and you can find time to slow down and enjoy this last weekend in May!

Unraveled, Week 21/2026

It's already Wednesday -- another good thing about a short week after a long weekend! Time to join up with Kat and the Unravelers.

As promised, I have a big reveal today. Tada!

Pattern: Speculoos Sweater (Ravelry link) by Elenor Mortensen, size M (approx. 41 in./104 cm bust), giving me approximately 5 in. of positive ease
Yarn: handspun Rambouillet in Thunderstruck (MC), approximately 1,058 yds. used, and handspun mystery wool (CC) in Pebbles, approximately 211 yds. used, both from Southern Cross Fibre
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm (for colorwork), US 4/3.5 mm (for stockinette), and US 2.5/3.0 mm (for ribbing)
Started/Completed: March 12/May 23
Mods: none

I'd had the four skeins of handspun set aside to be knit into a sweater for a couple of years and had intended them for at least two other patterns before I saw and fell in love with this one. And I cast on almost right away once I'd bought it and wound the yarn.

The sweater is knit top down, starting with the contrast color and some short-row shaping to raise the back neck. The neckline itself is very minimal -- knit a round and purl around. Time will tell if it has enough structure for me.

The only thing about this sweater that I don't completely love is that the mystery wool I used for the contrast did not bloom as much as the Rambouillet I used for the main color, so the colorwork didn't even out as much as I would have liked when I blocked it and the yoke still looks a little textured. It doesn't affect the visibility of the pattern, especially not from far away, but it's just not as finished as I would like.

I followed the pattern exactly as written and didn't have any issues with it, though it was clear to me through some of the phrasing/wording that the designer isn't a native speaker of English. It's not that anything was confusing per se, it's just that instructions were worded a bit differently than how I'd do it. It's obvious that all the measurements and grading were done in metric to begin with because the equivalent imperial measurement are a bit ... odd (like "work to 2.3 inches"). It might trip up a newer sweater knitter; for me, it was just a curiosity.

I also finished my brother's socks over the weekend, though they're nothing really exciting -- except for the fact that I finished both and didn't run out of yarn! I'm fortunate that Lisa's skeins are frequently a smidge over 100 g; this pair took 98 g.

These will need to be blocked and then will be put away either for his birthday (in July) or Chanukah.

Meanwhile, in reading, I finished another five books:

I'm not entirely sure why, but at some point I bought How to Lose Your Mother when it was a Kindle deal, so I thought I might as well read it. I've never read Erica Jong's Fear of Flying or any of her books, but I was certainly aware of it and that it was a bit of a cultural phenomenon. And I'd heard of Molly Jong-Fast as a political commentator, but I didn't know much about her personal life. This memoir chronicles her experience as Erica Jong's daughter and specifically a year in her life in which she had to move both her mother (suffering from dementia) and her stepfather (suffering from Parkinson's and dementia) into assisted living while also dealing with her husband's cancer diagnosis and treatment. Through all this, she reflects on what it was like to grow up with a famous mother, on getting sober in her late teens, and on her complicated relationship with her mother. It was an interesting read, perhaps one I never would have gotten to if I hadn't taken a chance on a bargain. It made me thankful to have a much less complicated relationship with my own mother. I gave it 3 stars.

American Han came up in one of my Sunday Zooms and sounded intriguing, so I put it on hold. It's told from the point of view of a 20-something Korean American woman reflecting on her difficult childhood with an older brother and immigrant parents. The blurb calls it "deeply serious and absurdly funny"; I found it to be just plain sad because no one in this family seems to be happy with their lives and they're all horrible to each other. I did finish it, so I can't say I hated it, but I didn't much care for it. I gave it 2 stars.

A much more enjoyable listen was History of the Rain. Ruthie is a college student who has fallen ill with a mysterious disorder that confines her to her bed, so she passes her days by writing the story of her family, especially her father, who gave her his vast library of books. Interspersed are anecdotes about her childhood and the charming characters in her Irish town. It's at points funny, heartbreaking, and poignant. I think I might have enjoyed it even more were it not for some of the odd choices of the narrator, such as pausing at unusual moments and pronouncing words oddly; I also had trouble following the plot at times because I was listening. But, overall, it was delightful. 4 stars.

Time Shelter won the 2023 Booker International Prize, and the premise sounded intriguing: The narrator (who may or may not be the author) came across a man named Gaustine was had come up with a unique idea for a clinic for those suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia: It would be set up in such a way that it would exactly resemble a time period from the past, one in which the patients believed they were living, so that they would cease being confused and instead be happy that the world outside matched the one in their head. This concept becomes hugely successful, but then nations start holding referendums on returning to a different time as well and things get strange. I really enjoyed the first third or so of this book, but then it started becoming somewhat of a slog. If you enjoy books that are a little weird, that make you think about time, and that make you question what's real in the world of the book, you might enjoy this. I gave it 3 stars.

Finally, a novella that I read in two relatively brief sittings on Monday: The narrator in The English Understand Wool is a 17-year-old raised by her French mother to avoid being in bad taste at all costs. She is given the best of everything, traveling with her mother to Scotland to obtain tweed fabric and then to London to have it made into suits by a tailor there, but if she wanted something in linen, that would need to be obtained in Ireland and be sewn by a Thai seamstress in Paris. One day her entire life is turned upside-down when she learns that everything she thought she knew about her family was a lie, and what follows is how she proceeds with her life with the training she's been given. It's a weird little story, very well written and very odd. I gave it 3 stars.

What are you making and reading this week?

Long Weekending

It's Monday, but it's also kind of a second Sunday because it's a federal holiday and we're all home. Today we're hoping the weather finally cooperates, because the last two days have been largely overcast and wet. The rain is good for the grass seed we've had planted and the plants I just put in my raised beds last week, but it makes for some pretty miserable walks (I have a really good raincoat, but what makes it good at keeping me dry also makes it really hot, so I either have to be dry and sweaty or cooler and wet).

In spite of the weather, we had a relaxing couple of days. Molly didn't work at all this weekend, so she was able to get in a couple of hours of driving practice. We also went out for a couple of nice dinners, and Ruthie and I got some good afternoon snuggles in (she napped while I read and knit). Yesterday I made some rather involved but delicious and enormous cookies:

Today I plan to go for my usual run, Molly and the Mister will probably go out driving again, and we're all headed to a big cookout with my parents, my in-laws, and my brother and his family for dinner. Then Tuesday it'll be back to the usual schedule, but at least it'll be a short week. It's Molly's last week of school, and Friday she's really only there for a couple of hours. I'm taking that day off, and in the afternoon, she and her friend and I are going to go do a little retail therapy to celebrate the end of school.

I will have a big update on Wednesday, but here's a little preview!

Not Quite Summer Yet

We had a taste of summer to start the week, but for Memorial Day weekend, traditionally the start of summer, it's gotten cooler again and an awful lot of rain is in the forecast. We don't have any cookouts planned, so it's all the same to me, but I feel bad for all the people who are opening the pools and the local amusement parks this weekend -- I don't think they're going to get much business!

My holiday weekend will start at 2 this afternoon, when my office closes early. I'll be curled up with a napping puppy at that point, most likely, so that just means closing my laptop. And there's not much planned for the weekend, other than going to a dinner with the extended family on Monday. Molly will likely work over the weekend, we've got to do a Target run to stock up on some stuff, and we'll try to get her some driving practice. Because of the expected rain, I'm hoping to plant some flower seeds in the front (I'm going to be tossing a bunch of stuff in the ground and seeing what comes up), but mostly I'm planning to use the weekend to rest, read, and knit.

Speaking of knitting, here's where things stand with my WIPs (at least as of last night):

All that's left on the sweater is the cuff on the second sleeve, and the heel has been turned on the second sock of the pair. These aren't going to be WIPs for much longer!

I may also spend some time this weekend digging in the stash and browsing patterns because yesterday I found out that a friend who has been dealing with fertility issues for several years is expecting a baby this fall -- knit all the baby things! She and her husband are currently living in Sweden because of his job, so that baby will need some warm woolies, and I'm happy to supply some of them.

I hope you all have a wonderful, restful long weekend!

Unraveled, Week 20/2026

Happy Wednesday, friends! As per usual, I'm joining up with Kat and the Unravelers to talk about what I've been making and reading in the past week.

It's been an interesting start to the week. The Mister left early on Monday (like shortly after 6 a.m.) to head to Indianapolis via Chicago. His first flight got off fine, but then there was a ground stop in Chicago (due to bad weather), then the plane needed to be inspected, and then they needed to bring in a new plane. The connecting flight didn't take off until something like 9:30 p.m. Central. Oy. He said even though he spent most of the day in an airport, it was still preferable to flying because at least he could be productive. I would have been miserable. Back at home, we had summer-like weather (humid and near 90ºF), on top of which the filming going on in our neighborhood meant that when Ruthie and I were coming back from our first walk, we had to wait for them to call cut on a shot before we could even walk to our street and I had to get really creative with my route on my run. On the plus side, the very first time I walked by the area, I spotted Jeremy Renner:

Not the greatest shot, but the best I could do at a distance

Molly, Ruthie, and I have been enjoying having a girls-only house. It means I have to do a little more around the house, like cleaning up the dinner dishes and taking out the garbage, but it's certainly a loss less work than it used to be now that Molly is pretty self-sufficient. That's allowed me to get in some time on my sweater, too, and I am closing in on the end of the second sleeve:

I finished the last of the decreases Monday night, so now I just have to knit straight until I reach a particular length and can do the cuff. Assuming my counting of rounds was correct (which it very well may not be, because my eyesight isn't what it used to be and dark yarn makes it hard to count in any case), I think I have about 50 rounds or so remaining. I'm fairly confident that I'll finish this week. I'm less confident that I have enough yarn, but I'm feeling a little better on that front.

It's been another stellar week of reading, as least as far as numbers are concerned. I finished six books this past week, though again I'll add the caveat that they were all relatively short.

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (digital)

4 stars

I had a pretty long wait for this book at the library, and I can understand why: The books in this series are just plain fun. What's not to enjoy about a group of retirees in their 70s solving murders that the police haven't managed to solve? This one involves a former KGB agent, a man known as the Viking who specializes in laundering money using crypto currency, and a police chief who dabbles in writing crime fiction. Easy to read, funny, heartwarming, and generally a good romp.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (audio)

4 stars

Somehow I was able to catch when my library added Strout's newest release and borrow it without having to put it on hold. Though this book has no Lucy Barton, no Olive Kitteridge, and no Maine in it, it still has everything that so many people love about her books -- the stories of real people, with all their faults. It focuses on high school history teacher Artie Dam, who learns a shocking secret and starts to reevaluate everything, but who also holds space for his friends and students.

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden (digital)

4 stars

In the middle of pandemic lockdown, Burden's husband of two decades announced that he'd been having an affair and he was leaving her. In their following interactions, she felt that this man was so unlike the man she'd fallen in love and had three children with that she began to doubt everything. This memoir was her way of processing this sudden change and her efforts to build a new life in the wake of her divorce. Burden is up front about her great privilege (read: she had a lot of money) that enabled her to maintain her life as a stay-at-home mom, but she also draws a lot of attention to how often men get a pass and women are blamed when this type of split happens.

On the Calculation of Volume IV by Solvej Balle, translated by Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell (on paper)

4 stars

When I started this series, I did not know how someone could make the story of a woman stuck in the same day last for seven volumes, and I continue to be impressed. In this volume, Tara has found a fairly large group of others who are stuck in November 18, and they've formed a community in an abandoned house they've found in Germany where they all live together, regularly having meetings where they discuss their situation from every point of view. As in previous volumes, this one ends with a bit of a cliffhanger -- and now I have to wait for the next one!

No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) by Kate Bowler (audio)

4 stars

This is another memoir about Kate Bowler's cancer diagnosis and treatment, much like Everything Happens for a Reason, but this one feels more personal and less about her professional interests. I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it as much if I'd read with my eyes; mainly I just love listening to Kate Bowler be Kate Bowler!

The Measure by Nikki Erlick (audio)

3 stars

The premise is this: On the same day, all around the world, all adults 22 and older receive a box. On it is a plaque telling them that the box contains the measure of their life, and inside is a string whose length corresponds to the length of their life. The book follows a series of individuals, connected in various ways, who make choices about their lives based upon whether or not they choose to look at their strings and what they do if they do look. It's an interesting concept, but I thought the book was a little longer than it needed to be and wrapped up a little too neatly.

Currently reading: How to Lose Your Mother (digital), Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (on paper), and American Han (audio)