Unraveled Wednesday 2/7/24

Yeah yeah yean, it’s been forever since I wrote a post… And one day I will finish writing the final installment in my Drowsy Costuming series…. 🤣 But, I’m in one of my reading streaks and it hit me this morning that today was Wednesday, so I thought I’d pop in with a quick Unraveled Wednesday post! As always, thanks to Kat for hosting!

Knitting wise, I’ve got some exciting things happening! The biggest of which is that I finished the Maema sweater!

• Maema by Megan Nodecker (Pip & Pin)
• Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Sock in the colorway “Pine”, 4 skeins used

I really love how this turned out! It’s cozy but also light, and I think it will be great for spring and fall as a transitional piece. I’m wearing it today in the office and it’s perfect for this sunny day, which tends to make it a little warmer in my office. I heavily modified the sleeves on this pattern, the cardigan is designed to have wide, 3/4 length sleeves. But in the bust size I chose, the sleeves would have been uncomfortably wide, and I wanted full length sleeves, so I ended up using the same decrease pattern from my Hinagiku sweater. I stopped the raglan increases on the sleeves only when I got to the point that picking up stitches for the underarms as described in the pattern got me to the same # of stitches. I also went a little longer on the sleeves than I did for Hinagiku, adding several more rows of straight stockinette before the cuff. The sleeves are, if anything, just a tad too long but I like that better than always feeling like I need to pull them down. I also modified the cuffs, bottom band, and front band by not doing twisted rib. On the cuffs I just didn’t look at the pattern, and then on the bottom band and front band I just couldn’t be bothered to do twisted rib flat. It’s a great sweater that’s a ton of fun to knit! Here’s Nori supervising the drying process.

I also have finished two pairs of socks recently, which I will show off once I have a chance to take some photos. I of course have already started another pair, because one of these pairs was my work sock. Since starting my new job in September, I spend a lot of time waiting for Excel or Access to chug through data. Having a project that I can quickly pick up and put down while I wait, even if it’s only for a few stitches, has been really nice!

My next big project is actually my Rhinebeck sweater! As usual, we get our yarn early because between not wanting to knit in the summer, having kids, and just general life, usually at least one of the four of us needs all that time. I’m trying to focus a bit more on embroidery this year, so I wanted to start early as well. I will be making The Sinister Catdigan by Marna Gilligan. We decided to go with Cascade 220, and our common color this year is Burgundy, though I think we’re all doing some sort of colorwork. I chose Peach Dust, a light orangy pink for the contrast yoke, Doeskin Heather for the cats, and black to outline the cats. I think it will look really great and I’m excited to try steeking for the first time! I’m hoping to swatch for this at some point this weekend, and I’m going to swatch in the round and do a mini steek practice as well.

Now let’s get into reading! I have kind of a lot to share!

	The Magician’s Daughter by H.G. Parry was the perfect book to get me out of my reading rut. It was a nice little fantasy, with a compelling world and characters, that didn’t make me think too much.
	I actually started Billy Porter’s memior, Unprotected, this fall when I was in Philadelphia, then took a long break and finally finished it this week. It was a great mix of storytelling, mental health, theater and music industry insights, and just very compelling to read.
	I REALLY enjoyed this duology from Kylie Lee Baker consisting of The Keeper of Night and The Empress of Time. There was power, drama, a little bit of romance, and a really complex character narrating. It felt like it told a complete story without ending too quickly and it was just really good. I read The Empress of Time in about a day because I couldn’t put it down. It’s a bit gory but otherwise I highly recommend it.
	I think I decided I needed to start an audio book so I could listen while I was cross stitching/ embroidering, and I had The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker in my Audible library for a while. I had started this who knows when, but started over recently and I’m enjoying it. It’s a really interesting premise with a huge world, and I’m looking forward to when all these characters start to intertwine. It’s just a little hard to find time time to listen to this, I often worry I’ll get distracted and miss things if I’m just sitting at home, and my commute to work is only 10 minutes so I haven’t made a ton of progress here.
	After reading The Keeper of the Night duology, in which several yokai appear, I remembered I had this book I picked up at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, so I started it last night. I already came across a legend that appeared in the novel, so that was cool! It’s an interesting reference book about a topic I don’t know a lot about, but I’ll probably read it pretty slowly.
	And then of course I need a digital book to also read at lunch or at coffee shops so I can craft and read at the same time. I mean I probably don’t need to be reading three books at once but uh.. now I am. I literally started The Night and It’s Moon by Piper CJ at lunch today so I don’t have too much to say about it, but it’s apparently about love and friendship with a fantasy twist so that seems right up my alley.

I hope everyone has a great week! Are you reading anything fun?