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?