Unraveled Wednesday 9/3/25

I'm joining Kat and the Unravelers with the start of another pair of socks and some rainbow scarf swatching. 

I cast on for another pair of shortie socks for Jess in inverse colors and I've knit the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up the gusset stitches, and decreased all the gusset stitches. Now it's just plain round and round knitting on the foot until the toe and I'll have a finished sock. 

I finally just asked Ryan what he thought about the previous rainbow scarf swatch and it's a good thing I did. 

 He was okay with the colors but didn't like the idea of a double-sided scarf. I was knitting a tube mainly so I didn't have to worry about the scarf curling but he would prefer a single thickness.  

I decided to see what the stripes and colors looked like in a cartridge belt rib as it makes a squishy, double-sided, non-curling scarf. I'm not personally thrilled with it but I'll ask Ryan what he thinks when I see him later this week. If he's not impressed with this attempt, I may try a simple stockinette with a seed stitch selvedges on both sides. I will probably also ask him to draw exactly what he had in mind so then I can try to make that happen. I ordered some yarn in saturated rainbow colors that I may end up using. That will work for wider, more distinctive stripes which I think is what he may have in mind and I won't be constrained by the self-striping yarn. 

While I was fiddling around with rainbows this week, I finished three books, two ARCs and one dependable Chief Bruno. 

Emily R. Austin has a gift for writing characters who feel both flawed and endearing, and Is This A Cry for Help? is no exception. Darcy, a librarian returning to work after a mental breakdown, is the kind of narrator who draws you in with her mix of vulnerability, wry humor, and hard-earned resilience. I appreciated how Austin balances the personal—Darcy’s grief over an ex, her loving but imperfect marriage, her struggles with guilt and mental health—with the broader, very timely issue of book-banning and the fight for intellectual freedom.

The novel does a lovely job of highlighting the quiet power of libraries as community spaces, while also showing how messy and complicated personal healing can be. Darcy’s relationships, especially with her wife and her colleagues, felt authentic and sometimes a little raw in the best way.

That said, the pacing meandered for me at times, and a few sections dipped into repetition, but overall the warmth of Austin’s writing carried me through. I closed the book feeling hopeful, grateful for the messy humanity on display, and reminded of why libraries (and stories like this one) matter so much.

If you enjoyed Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, you’ll find the same darkly funny, tender voice here—tempered with even more growth and heart.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on January 13, 2026.  

==== 

Good Intentions had a strong setup: grief, sisterhood, and the unsettling pull between strangers who meet in a hospital waiting room. The writing was immersive at times, and the premise promised a layered exploration of loss and obsession.

But for me, the execution didn’t quite deliver. Cady’s spiral felt more repetitive than tense, and instead of building suspense, it often circled the same ground. Her delusional fixation could have been compelling, but I found myself more frustrated than intrigued. By the time the predictable twist showed up in the last chapter, I was mostly just ready to finish so I could look away.

There is an interesting voice here, and Walz does create an atmosphere that captures the messiness of grief, obsession, and mental health. It just didn’t grip me as much as I’d hoped. Two and a half stars rounded up because it does have an intriguing cover. 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. It will be published on February 3, 2026. 

==== 

This third entry in the Bruno, Chief of Police series continues to build on everything that makes the books so enjoyable—lush descriptions of the Dordogne, the blending of food, wine, and community life, and the balance between small-town policing and wider political intrigues.

The mystery this time centers around truffles, smuggling, and old intelligence connections, and while the premise occasionally veers into the unlikely, Walker keeps it engaging with his evocative sense of place and careful pacing. The story broadens St. Denis’s horizons, weaving in international ties and darker undercurrents, yet never losing the warmth of Bruno’s kitchen or his devotion to his neighbors.

What stands out most, though, is Bruno himself. Even in just three books, he’s evolving from the contented small-town policeman of the first novel into a character with increasing depth and responsibility. His personal relationships and his sense of justice are becoming more nuanced, and Walker shows how Bruno adapts as his cases grow more complicated. That growth makes him a compelling anchor for the series.

A little heavier on politics and intrigue than the earlier installments, Black Diamond still offers the perfect mix of mystery, atmosphere, and character development. Fans of Bruno will find plenty here to savor. 

What are you making and reading this week?

 

Let Them Eat Bread!

I was thrilled to receive a small Pullman pan (9"x4"x4") for my birthday. (Thanks, Jill!) Since my kitchen turns into an oven of its own during the summer, I hadn’t had the chance to actually use it yet, not wanting to add more heat by turning on the oven.

But we’ve been having a stretch of cool nights and warm (but thankfully not humid) days lately, so it felt like the perfect time to finally bake some bread and test out my new pan. At first, I thought about just scaling down the recipe I usually make for my 13" Pullman, but in the end I decided to give the King Arthur recipe a try.

Everything went smoothly—mixing, kneading, the first rise—until I let it go a little too long on the second rise. I had to punch it down a bit to get the lid on, which I’m pretty sure kept it from getting that nice oven spring. Even so, the bread is delicious, and it makes excellent toast. 

 

I actually think this smaller pan might be more practical since there are just two of us. Next I'll be trying a few other white bread recipes, and then a cinnamon swirl loaf, and after that maybe some oatmeal bread. From the looks of it, this pan should be perfect for just about any yeasted recipe that calls for three cups of flour—so I’ll be happily testing that theory in the months ahead.

 

 

Hope your week is off to a good start, ideally with something tasty on your table too!