Unraveled, Week 23/2023

Isn't that a nice correlation of the week and the year? I'm not sure why, but I'm always a bit pleased when numbers match up like that. Anyway, happy Wednesday, friends -- or, as it's now known in our house, the first day of summer vacation! Mo officially wrapped up seventh grade yesterday and spent the day out with friends having far too much fun (they had lunch out AND got manicures AND got ice cream). Meanwhile, I was working at home, or trying to when the internet went out for a bit, and then tripped over a dying squirrel when I came back from my walk. Yes, you read that right: A dying squirrel was lying on the ground just inside our back gate, and I didn't see it as I was coming through the gate as I was stopping my walking/running app and tripped right over it. I'm honestly not sure who was more frightened! I called animal control to come take him away, just in case he was ill with something he could have passed on to me, and that was not the kind of excitement I was looking for yesterday!

Today I won't have to worry about getting Mo to and from school, but I do have to go into the office later this morning for an all-hands staff meeting with the new big boss, so my schedule's a bit topsy-turvy. I went for my run right after I got up this morning, so I had breakfast late (and was still drinking my coffee at 9 when I had my daily team meeting), and I'm only now getting around to posting now before I have to leave to go to the office.At least once I'm home, I'll have company and won't have to go anywhere.

But enough about what's happening here -- it's Wednesday, so it's time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers with an update on my making and reading. I have made a lot of progress on my Shoulder Season thanks to being pretty monogamous this week!

I spent much of yesterday working on the tubular bind-off on the body, a very long process but so very worth it. All that remains to be done on this sweater is the collar (in progress right now) and the ribbing at the sleeves. They also have tubular bind-offs but with fewer stitches. I'm fairly confident this will be an FO by the end of the week.

I know it looks very cropped now, but with all the garter stitch on the back and the alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette on the front, this is a very stretchy garment and I expect to be able to block it out longer.

I have finished two more books this week and officially finished my Women's Prize shortlist reading.

In my continued exploration of Ann Patchett's backlist, I listened to State of Wonder, which was unusually suited to last week's heat wave here because it's set mostly in the Amazon jungle. I really enjoyed this book, in spite of the implausibility of some of the plot points and the tidy resolution, because the writing is just beautiful. I'm still thinking about how Patchett describes a storm as making it seem like the ground was boiling as the giant raindrops hit the dirt. My main complaint about this book was that the reader kept pronouncing the main character's name as Morena ("more-RAY-nuh"), so I was shocked to discover her name is actually Marina. (She also pronounced Eurydice as if it was Italian -- "your-RID-ih-chee.") I gave it 4 stars.

My final book for the shortlist was Pod, which is truly unlike any book I've ever read in that all the characters are sea creatures -- dolphins, whales, and several types of fish. I found it a little off-putting that these creatures are sometimes referred to as people, and I really didn't feel pulled into the book until the very end, but I am not sorry I read it. I did feel that more of the terms could have been explained (this book would have benefited from a glossary!), but overall I think it made a compelling case for acting to combat climate change in devastating portrait it painted of what global warming is doing to our oceans. I gave it 3 stars.


I'm still reading Doctor Zhivago, which I'm about halfway through, and I've started the final book I'll read from the Women's Prize longlist, Wandering Souls, which I wanted to read even though it didn't make the shortlist because it got such glowing reviews from friends who have read it.

What are you making and reading this week?