Unraveled, Week 28/2024

Wednesday again? Time to link up with Kat and the Unravelers and talk about what I'm making and reading (and rather quickly, because it's a very busy week at work in spite of the fact that it's only a three-day week for me).

My main focus continues to be the Little Plinth Tee, which is *almost* done!

The pooling isn't as dramatic in real life.

Although the stockinette roll isn't helping any here, you may be able to see that the fronts are done and the shoulder stitches are on waste yarn. I'm maybe halfway through the back at this point; once I've finished the back, the only things left to do are join the shoulder seams and do a quick edging on the neckline. There is a long-sleeved option for this sweater, but as I've sized it for springtime wearing, I went with the easy short sleeves.

I have also swatched for my next Rift tee, which I am planning to take with me to the retreat.

I made this swatch extra large to get a really good sense of gauge and used both US 8 (on the top) and US 9 (on the bottom) needles. It should say something about how often I use needles on the larger end of the spectrum that I had no fixed circulars in a US 9 and had to get out my old Knit Picks interchangeable set for that size. I don't use them very often anymore because the cables have a rather annoying tendency to pop out of the needle tips, but they were my only option. Fortunately, it looks like I'll be closer to gauge on a US 8, at least before blocking, and I don't expect the yarn (a cotton/linen blend) to change very much, but I'll know for sure as soon as the swatch is dry.

I got more reading done this past week, in large part thanks to audiobooks and the extra days off from work. I finished three books.

The first of the three was an ARC that I was invited to review (or maybe NetGalley sends those invitations to all its members?). Like Mother, Like Mother is a multigenerational story that appealed to me initially because I'm a daughter and the mother of a daughter and the family at the center of the story is, like mine, Jewish with roots in Detroit. I'll leave you to click over to the Goodreads synopsis rather than repeating it all here, and I'll add that it was intriguing and drew me in. But there were some strange things about the writing that detracted a bit from my enjoyment. The characters, though it's clear the author had very detailed ideas of them, feel rather one-dimensional and not particularly believable as actual people. There's a lot of dialogue, which makes the book feel more like a screenplay than a novel. There are also some oddities like questions ending in period rather than question marks (naturally, that sort of thing jumps out at me) and characters quoting something -- books? movies? -- that the other characters seem to get the reference to but that were lost on me as reader. It's definitely a book that made me think about big things like identity, parenting, and the stories we tell ourselves and whether or not they're truth, but as an editor, I felt it could have been better. I gave it 3 stars.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and Random House in return for an honest review. This book will be published October 29, 2024.

I was ready for a new audiobook a week ago, and I wanted something I knew I would like. I was delighted to find A Place to Hang the Moon available after both Mary and Katie had recommended it. This is middle-grades historical fiction set in WWII Britain. Siblings Anna, Edmund, and William, whose parents died when they were younger, have just lost their only living relative, their grandmother, who never seemed to care for them much and who made no arrangements for their guardianship following her death. Her solicitor decides to take advantage of the evacuation of children out of London to see if the children can find someone willing to take them in. There's a rather predictable plot from that point, but it doesn't detract from a lovely story of siblings looking out for one another above all in a fraught time. It reminded me a lot of The War That Saved My Life and its sequel, and it was a quick listen (especially because the reader was so slow, I had to increase the speed to 1.75x!). I will just point out that the cover of the audio shown here has an error -- Anna is the youngest sibling, though it appears she's the middle child in this illustration. Whoever did it missed out by not actually reading the book! I gave it 4 stars.

That one went so quickly that I needed another audiobook to get me through the weekend, and I decided to try something a little outside my comfort zone. A Darker Shade of Magic is fantasy, set in a world in which there are four different Londons -- White, Grey, Red, and (previously) Black -- all with different levels of magic in them. Only a few can travel between these worlds, and doing so can be dangerous -- as Kell, the main character, soon discovers when the rulers of one London try to take over another. I enjoyed the book, though I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it with my eyes; it was tricky to keep a lot of the fantasy elements straight simply by hearing them, and I think that might have been easier for me if they'd been seen. This is the first book in a trilogy, so if I decide to read the others, I'll be sure to read with my eyes. I gave it 4 stars.

I am still steadily working my way through A Suitable Boy, and after Bonny reviewed it recently, I requested and was approved for an ARC of Songs for the Brokenhearted, which I plan to start soon and take with me to read this weekend.

What are you making and reading this week?