Unraveled, Week 9/2025

Another Wednesday, another day to link up with Kat and the Unravelers!

I'm still flying along on my vest, though things have slowed a bit now that I have reached the ribbing at the bottom of the body. I'm working with just one strand of yarn now, but even without having to switch and occasionally untangle, 1x1 rib is always going to be slower than stockinette.

I took this photo yesterday, when we had rain, a few glimpses of sun, and then some very dark clouds for most of the day, so the lighting leaves a lot to be desired, but I think this is sufficient to show my progress. For anyone who might be worried about such things, I'll reassure you that I tried the vest on over the weekend and confirmed that it fits with the desired positive ease, so now it's just a matter of dealing with all the ribbing that remains (it's at the neckline and armholes as well at the bottom). It seems very likely that this will be an FO quite soon, so expect some modeled photos before too long!

Reading has continued to be slow and deliberate, which isn't entirely a bad thing! I have two finishes this week.

I mentioned last week that I had managed to snag Blue Light Hours from the library right after it was made available and that it was a short audiobook. Even while working and parenting and cooking and doing all the other things life demands, I started it one day and finished it the next. This book tells the story of a Brazilian mother and daughter (we never learn their names) who are separated when the daughter gets a scholarship to a college in Vermont and isn't able to travel home easily, so their relationship becomes contained to their conversations on Skype. While the daughter learns how to navigate life in a new country, forms friendships with other international students, and makes her way through her classes, the mother worries about the dangers that seem to be all around her daughter and struggles with poor health. There are changes in both their lives, but the constant for them is their Skype calls and the hours they spend hearing about what is happening in their respective days. Their relationship grows and changes as time passes, as the daughter moves further into adulthood, and as both women come to the realization that they have to become their own caretakers. It's a quiet but beautiful novel that I really enjoyed. I gave it 4 stars.

I suspect that given the current political climate in the United States, many of us are struggling with trying to understand this country. In an effort to increase my understanding -- an ongoing effort, to be sure -- I read South to America, in which Imani Perry takes us on a virtual trip to cities throughout the American South (and beyond) to examine how the legacy of slavery and endurance of racism have shaped this country since before its founding. Her focus on so many locations and so many different facets of culture -- music, food, architecture, language, art, clothing -- shows that "the South" is not one entity that can easily be defined, just as Black/African American people are not a monolith. There is so much in this book, a lot of it that was unfamiliar to me, and led to a lot of searching online; it could easily form the basis of a course in U.S. history. I have a feeling this is one I will come back to in the future. I gave it 4 stars.

I'm still slowly working my way through The Secret History; I knew it would take me a while, so I started it early enough that I'd have time to finish before the Zoom discussion. I've also been listening to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, which is a reread for me, but it's been a while and I wanted to revisit it ahead of reading a modern retelling.

What are you making and reading this week?