Unraveled Wednesday: 1/18/23

I'm happy to join Kat and fellow Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday, with lots of real unraveling. I started Cloud Cover (ravelry link) way back at the beginning of October. I was initially enthused, but after knitting the yoke, separating for the sleeves, and starting the left sleeve, it just languished in a pile by my knitting chair. Every time I thought about working on it I just thought, "Ugh!" I like the sweater but the pattern instructions got to be too much for me. I don't know enough about sweater construction to know what I could disregard (like leaving the needle in the yoke while I knit the sleeve on another circular) and the whole thing just got too cumbersome. 

This is what it looked like: 

And this is what it looks like now: 

So what's next? 

I found another sweater pattern that I like and swatched for it with size 5 and 6 needles, but my gauge is way off. It's DK weight yarn and the pattern suggests size 7 needles and a gauge of 4.5 stitches/inch. The fabric I'm getting even with 6s is too loose and holey for me, so I can't imagine what 7s would be like. I think I can use size 5 needles and knit the largest size in the pattern and math tells me that this would work. But, like I said, I don't have enough sweater-knitting experience to trust that this will really work in real life plus it's a bottom-up sweater. That's a lot of knitting to get to the top and find that gauge and math have lied to me. I think I'm just going to sit with this, knit on my Hitchhiker, and see what I arrive at. (Looking back, I was a lot happier with the gauge on Cloud Cover, so maybe I need to add re-starting it as an option?)

I read two books this week; one was disappointing but the send one was stellar. I started George and Lizzie with high expectations because it was authored by Nancy pearl, superstar librarian. But just because she can review and recommend books does not mean her talents extend to writing fiction. It read like YA and the timeline was almost incomprehensible, so I only gave it two stars. 

But Inciting Joy more than made up for it. Every year in January or February, I read a book that I'm sure will be among my top 10 books for that year. I'm fairly sure that Inciting Joy is that book for 2023. I tried to slow down and savor Ross Gay's essays, but I started listening as soon as I downloaded the book and didn't want to put it down. Like any other book of essays, there were some that I didn't connect with as much as others, but that is because I don't have a lot of interest in skateboarding or basketball. But I listened to "Through My Tears I Saw" three times because this reflection on what was healed while caring for his father is one of the best I've read. In the remainder of the essays, Mr. Gay asks us to pay attention to what brings us together (like eating good food, dancing, and gardening) rather than focusing on our differences. Several reviewers have said they're not fond of the author's digressions, but I loved them as his curiosity always leads to more compelling writing about how joy is deepened by grief, fear, and loss.

What are you making and reading this week?