Unraveled, Week 28/2023

Happy hump day, friends! I did not sleep especially well last night, but my boss is out today, which means it's likely to be quiet at work (and if I need to take a little cat nap, I totally can).

It's Wednesday, which means it's time for my weekly link-up with Kat and the Unravelers. As you would expect, there has been more spinning!

I finished plying and skeining this most recent spin yesterday, and I am utterly in love with how it turned out! This is Tokyo on organic merino from Southern Cross Fibre (you can see what the original fiber looked like here, because I was so excited to spin it that I neglected to take a photo of the fiber before I tore into it). I did a traditional three ply and simply split the fiber into three pieces widthwise, with no color management at all. I was trying to spin fairly fine singles, and I knew I'd likely end up with a light fingering weight when I plied, but I expected that the merino would floof up a bit when I washed it. You can imagine my shock when I measured the skein and did some calculations this morning and discovered that I have approximately 523 yards of yarn in this skein!

While this was soaking last night, I did a little bit of knitting on my Mas Vida shawl, but it doesn't look much different from the last time you saw it. I've got a board Zoom meeting tonight, so the current pair of socks will get a little attention.

After finishing only one book for last week's post, I've got four finishes for this week!

This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is Ann Patchett's first essay collection, published a decade ago. It felt a bit different from her more recent collection in that it is a compilation of essays and articles that were first published elsewhere. Being a little older, it didn't hit me quite the way These Precious Days did as a whole, but it's still quite good and a really great way to learn more about one of my favorite writers. There's an essay about her aging grandmother that really touched me and a couple of pieces related to a challenge to one of her books that felt timely. And finishing this book means I've now read everything she's written to date, so I'm ready for her next book to come out next month. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm sure I'm one of the last people to read Lessons in Chemistry -- though perhaps not, given how long the wait was to get a copy from the library. It's a book that's been much talked about, and I've heard mixed reviews, so I figured I needed to read it for myself. Having done so, I understand the buzz. Is it fine literature? No. Is the writing wonderful? Not especially. Is it entertaining and satisfying? Absolutely. I found the story and characters to be completely unrealistic and caricature-ish, but it was a fun and fluffy break from some of my serious reads. The most realistic parts of this book are the endless misogyny and sexism that the female characters face, and sadly it's clear that not much has changed since the 1950s. I gave it 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

Over the weekend, I listened to the 16th book in the Maisie Dobbs series, The Consequences of Fear. This installment takes place in the fall of 1941 and finds Maisie getting further involved in Britain's secret espionage operations. As she is balancing her government work and her personal work as an investigator, she is also dealing with changes in her personal life and facing some big decisions. This book was just as enjoyable as the previous ones, and I can't believe I have only one book left in the series! I expect I'll be ready to listen to it by tomorrow, when I should be caught up on podcasts and ready for a new audiobook. I gave this one 4 stars.

The one dud of the week was Portrait of an Unknown Lady, which I picked up on a whim from the sale rack at my local independent bookstore. I didn't really know what to expect when I started it, other than that it had to do with the art world. I really enjoyed the first 40-50 pages, but from there I got really confused about what the book was supposed to be about and where the plot was going. I think it didn't help that I know nothing about the Argentinian/South America art world, either, because all the artist names that are dropped throughout the book were completely unknown to me. I can appreciate that the format of the book was a little unconventional, but I can't say I really enjoyed the whole thing. I gave it 2 stars.


Today I'm hoping to finish up The Garden of Evening Mists, which I have been loving the past couple of days. I also just got Yellowface from the library this morning, so that's up next! I've got to pick out what to spin next so I have something to keep me company while I do all this reading!

What are you making and reading this week?