Unraveled Wednesday: 5/20/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with a completed Dream Hitchhiker, a bit more stitching on Justin's Hat 2.0, and even a new bonus project.

The Dream Hitchhiker yarn was a generous gift from a very special person, and I'm happy that I was able to knit it into something soft, warm, and enveloping. I will look forward to getting this out of my Armoire of Handknits ™ on the first chilly day of fall and wrapping its deliciousness around me. It was literally 100 degrees when I went outside to take some pictures, so I scurried back indoors for photos. This is the only modeled shot I'm taking until the temperatures are back in the 50 degree range. 

 

I'm very happy with the size of it (54 teeth) and I really like the three rows of yarnovers I did before casting off. This may be my favorite Hitchhiker so far. 

I've also started the raccoon on Justin's hat 2.0. I've only gotten the top half of his face done, but I am making forward progress. It's been really hot here for the past two days, but I have enjoyed sitting outside in the shade and stitching a bit until my hands get sticky.

On Sunday evening, Justin texted that he and Jess had a wedding cake tasting on Monday in the same town that Ryan lives in. It's not very often that all of us are in the same place at the same time, so John and I decided that we would also go to Ryan's on Monday afternoon so John could tend the garden and then we would all meet up and have dinner. That sounded like a fine plan to me, but I realized that I would be sitting at Ryan's for much of the afternoon without anything to knit! This was completely unacceptable to me, so I grabbed a couple of skeins of kitchen cotton, found my size 7 needle and cast on for a dishcloth. Dishcloths always used to be my emergency projects when we had the house in Elkton and I was away from my stash, and this one served the same purpose. I preordered some lovely rainbow yarn from Must Stash for a possible Christmas present for Ryan, so I may be working on dishcloths until it arrives in a few weeks.

I think I'll be moving my book reviews to Thursdays in the interest of having a little more blog fodder. I am really running out of things to post about but this way I can pretty much guarantee I'll be posting something on Wednesdays and Thursdays at least. 

What are you making on this sweltering hot day (it only supposed to be 98 here today) in May?

Bits and Pieces: May 2026

I've got a few things that I could post about but none of them are really enough for a whole post of their own. It's clearly time for a Bits and Pieces post. 

• I was driving by the river and saw this wonderful sight. I had to find a place to pull over and see if I could take a picture. Thankfully, I was successful. They're merganser ducks and I thought the 10 ducklings were adorable. I wonder how the one hitching a ride on mom's back got their position, but I bet all of the siblings will all be jockeying for that coveted place in future duckling parades. 

• I’m seriously considering this dress for Justin’s wedding in October. I’ve looked at what feels like hundreds of dresses everywhere from bridal salons to Goodwill and Marshalls, plus endless browsing on wedding-wear websites. I don’t want anything fussy: no ruffles, no bling, just a simple, comfortable, reasonably priced dress. Apparently, that’s a lot to ask for, but this one checks all the boxes. It even has pockets! The only drawback is that it’s made by a seamstress in Lithuania who sells through Etsy. You send her your measurements, and she custom makes the dress for you. She has excellent reviews and is currently running a 25% off sale that ends June 2. Since I haven’t found anything similar any closer than Lithuania, I’m thinking I should probably just take my measurements and place the order.

• Ryan made me a carrot cake for Mother’s Day, and after we all enjoyed some together, he sent me home with the leftovers. It’s been such a treat having a little slice of carrot cake after dinner this week, though sadly I finished the last piece on Thursday. There are no pictures because I was much more focused on eating it than photographing it. It was delicious, and probably tasted even better because Ryan made it for me.

• I've finished knitting the Dream Hitchhiker and it's blocking, but I'd like to get something else on the needles. I've thought about what I could make for Ryan for Christmas and I might knit a hat. I knit him a rainbow scarf by his request last year and I have yarn left over that would make a nice hat. Except ... someone stuffed it into my stash closet willy-nilly, so I'll have to do a somewhat thorough organization of the stash to find it. That might be a weekend project so I can do it right instead of just hunting for the yarn and then throwing everything back in.

 

 

• It’s such a pleasure to drive along the roads around here right now because the wild phlox is in bloom. I love seeing the flowers in their beautiful shades of purple, with a few that are almost white. I’ve cut some in previous years, but once brought indoors, the petals tend to drop quickly. I suppose that’s just nature’s way of reminding me to enjoy them while they’re blooming in their natural habitat.

Feel free to share any interesting things happening in your world, especially if they’re bringing you happiness. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Unraveled Wednesday: 5/13/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with the Dream Hitchhiker, which is finally nearing completion. It’s been a busy week, so I haven’t had much time to knit, but I’ve finished all the teeth and completed one row of yarnovers. I’m experimenting with another row or two to see how I like the look. If I’m happy with them, I’ll cast off, block it, and tuck it away until fall. If not, it should be easy enough to rip back the yarnovers. Either way, I expect and hope to be finished by next week.

After that, it’ll be time to focus on the duplicate stitching for Justin’s hat. I may also need to think about casting on another project so I have something to actually knit, though at the moment I have no idea what that might be.

I did finish a book this week and it was a good one. The Book of Birds is nothing short of a marvel, part field guide, part poem, part work of art, and wholly a celebration of the fragile, astonishing lives that share our skies.

Robert Macfarlane’s words are wonderful, lyrical, precise, and full of reverence for the natural world. He doesn’t simply describe birds; he invites us into relationship with them, asking not just what they are, but who they are. Each entry feels alive with movement, sound, and story, expanding beyond observation into something more intimate and essential.

But the real magic happens when Jackie Morris’ illustrations join those words on the page. Her artwork is breathtaking, delicate yet vivid, grounded in close attention but infused with a kind of quiet enchantment. Together, text and image create an experience that feels almost sacred, as though you are being asked to slow down, look closer, and remember what wonder feels like.

As a reader in the U.S., I haven’t encountered many of these particular species in real life, but that didn’t diminish the experience, in fact, it deepened it. I welcomed the chance to learn about birds beyond my immediate landscape, to see the shared threads of fragility, resilience, and beauty that connect them all. The book subtly reminds us that conservation is not local, it’s global, and it begins with attention and care.

I was lucky enough to read an ARC, but this is absolutely a book I will be buying and returning to again and again. It’s not just something to read once; it’s something to pore over, to revisit, to treasure. A future classic, and a powerful reminder that we will not save what we do not love.

Thank you to Edelweiss and W.W. Norton & Co. for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on June 9, 2026. 

What are you making and reading on this Wednesday in mid-May? 

Friday Letters: The Obama Edition

Today I'm taking my virtual fountain pen in hand to write a few Friday letters. Stephen Colbert's Late Show is ending on May 21, and I will miss him, a lot. Barack Obama (another person I miss quite a bit) recently invited Colbert to his Presidential Center in Chicago, and Tuesday’s episode felt like a gift: two well-spoken, thoughtful, funny, humble men in conversation. It moved me to tears more than once, so it seemed only fitting to write them both a few Friday letters.

 

====== 

 

Dear Obama,

Your Presidential Center is both amazing and inspiring, just like you. I didn't previously have any plans to visit Chicago, but I think this is a trip I need to make someday. The five-foot high letters, from your 2015 Selma Anniversary speech, wrapping around the outside of the building, provided the first opportunity for me to shed a few tears. 

“You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We The People.’ ‘We Shall Overcome.’ ‘Yes We Can.’ That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.”

Thank you for these words of hope,

Bonny, who is cautiously hopeful

======

Hey Obama, 

It's just me again. I want to applaud you for the diversity and variety of everything you've included on the 19 acre campus of your Presidential Center. The Museum, Forum, Home Court, branch of the Chicago Public Library, John Lewis Plaza, Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit and Vegetable Garden, a playground, the Great Lawn which includes a sledding hill, and so much more makes this a place that I could easily envision spending a week or more. There is truly something for everyone.

I think you may be right in predicting that Michelle's dresses will be very popular, but Bo and Sunny are pretty appealing, too. I wonder if yours is the only Presidential Library to include dogs' water bowls and chew toys?

I would love to see your Nobel prize as well,

Bonny, an admirer of you and much of your stuff

 

====== 

 

Dear Stephen and Obama,

I want to thank you for your recent show, tour of the Obama Presidential Center, and being yourselves. The questions, answers, humor, discussion about aliens, and wastepaper basketball were just what I needed. I have a feeling that shiny gold trophy you presented to Obama might become highly coveted, so I hope it’s being kept under close watch.

Thank you for everything you've both given us,

Bonny, an ardent admirer

======

Wishing you all a wonderful and hopeful weekend.  

Unraveled Wednesday: 5/6/26

I’m happy to join Kat and the Unravelers today with a slow start on some duplicate stitch animals and a close to completed Dream Hitchhiker.

I started the duplicate stitching with the deer and it went fairly well. I did discover that despite making a list and checking it twice, I had not ordered the black (or asphalt heather as Knitpicks calls it) used for eyes, nose, and outlining the ears. It should get here sometime this week, so then I'll use it to stitch the deer details.  

I started stitching the raccoon but it turned out I was mistakenly reading the badger chart. What you see above is me removing the badger stitches, being really careful not to clip any brown hat stitches. 

I accomplished that successfully and what you see above is the result of me  checking and rechecking multiple times and doing the first three stitches for the raccoon. I've stopped here, and will recheck several more times before I stitch any more on the raccoon.

But I've been using the time that I'm not duplicate stitching to knit on the Dream Hitchhiker. We've had quite a few cool days, so I welcome the warmth of it on my lap. It looks much the same, just a lot more teeth. I've got 54 teeth which is probably plenty. I've been debating how I want to finish it - bind off after the yo row, do a couple more plain garter stitch rows, or maybe even do those plain garter stitch rows in another color. I've got some of the same yarn in a light gray, but I can't decide if that would look weird or not. If you have any thoughts about the finish, I'd love to hear them. 

I'm reading an ARC, rereading Good People, and relistening to The Things We Never Say but haven't finished anything, so no book reviews this week.   

What are you making and reading this first Wednesday in May? 

Read With Us: Good People

 

If you’re in the mood for a novel that lingers and is quite discussable, I think our next Read With Us pick is worth your time.

Good People by Patmeena Sabit is the kind of story that invites you to look closer: at relationships, at choices, and at the stories we tell ourselves about being “good.” It opens in an unassuming way, but don’t be fooled; there’s an undercurrent here that builds into something deeply thought-provoking.

What makes this a great book for Read With Us? It’s layered without being inaccessible, emotional without being overdone, and full of those moments that make you pause and think, “What would I do in that situation?” The characters feel real, flawed, complicated, and impossible to fully judge, which means our discussion is bound to be lively.

Expect:

• Moral gray areas that spark debate
• Subtle tension that builds as you read
• Characters you may or may not agree with, but won’t forget

I'll keep this one spoiler-free for now, but come ready to unpack motivations, question assumptions, and maybe even challenge your own definition of what it means to be a “good person.”

Part of why this book is so good is that Patmeena Sabit is an Afghan American writer whose work is shaped by her own cross-cultural experience. Born in Kabul shortly after the Soviet invasion, she and her family fled to Pakistan as refugees before eventually settling in the United States, where she grew up in Virginia; she now lives in Toronto. Good People draws on themes of immigration, identity, and community, reflecting the complex intersections of cultures that have influenced her life and writing. 

The hardcover and audiobook versions have manageable hold queues at my libraries, so I hope that is also the case for you. I started listening to the audiobook, but decided that I also needed to read it with my eyes, so I bought the Kindle version for $13.99.  

Kym, Carole, and I will be talking about the book, giving additional information (but not too much!), and doing promotional posts throughout April and May. Discussion day for Good People is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 7:00 pm Eastern time, so mark your calendars. We'll ask questions on our blogs that day and then host the always educational and illuminating Zoom discussion.

I do hope you'll Read With Us, and I really hope you'll also Discuss With Us!

A Fun Form of Poetry

Poetry Month has looked a bit different on our blogs this year, but I’m still glad we’ve respected authors and their copyrights by not sharing full poems without permission. As National Poetry Month comes to a close, I wanted to share a poetic form that felt fun and new to me.

I recently attended a poetry workshop at the library focused on newer forms. While many were unfamiliar and arguably interesting, quite a few felt too odd for my taste. When something becomes barely readable, like the form that relied on diagrammed sentences, it starts to defeat the purpose of poetry. I was especially lost with “Substitute 7,” where every noun is replaced with one that appears seven entries later in the dictionary. But I digress.

Leila Chatti first introduced the idea of Cootie Catcher poetry in the February 2022 issue of Poetry magazine. In that piece, she includes a link to a printable version so you can fold your own Cootie Catcher and create your own poems. The following link adds some more details: Art Prompt Poem and the video below offers a good explanation:

I made one myself and filled it with random words and phrases pulled from the archives of my older blog posts, which was a fun exercise in its own right. I’m not sure the resulting poems are especially “poetic,” but I did enjoy the creative process.

 

Nostalgia

Moment of serendipity

Tinkered with over time

 

Patience

Her brain is completely scrambled

Presume to be hopeful 

I hope you read some kind of poetry you enjoy, or maybe even something that challenges you, today and every day!