Unravelled Wednesday and What are You Reading Monday

Unravelled Wednesday and What are You Reading Monday - ups and downs

I'm STILL knitting Populux for Bee. I started the second sleeve on Thursday and it looked too big. I didn't knit on it on Saturday during the day, and in the evening we were going past her place, so stopped by to try it on. She said it was fine, but I still think it might be too big. there was more confusion about the length, so right now i'm convinced it will have very wide, rather short sleeves. Hopefully I'm just in the stage of "knitting, it's so relaxing" and it will all come good in the end. Knitting garments for friends is STRESSFUL!

I'm reading a non-fiction NetGalley review book Signs and Symbols of the World, by D.R. McElroy. It's very odd, just a bunch of chapters covering a seemingly random selection of symbols - alchemy, the periodic table, emojis, Celitc symbols. it feels like the commentary is from Wikipedia, and the symbols have no political or critical context. For example, when the book talks about Scottish tartan they do no go into the English colonising history of the fabric. It's reductive, verging on wrong. I particularity like the way they keep talking about alchemy as if it could be successful (an "art not a science") rather than a completely misguided bit of scientific history. There does not seem to be an organising principle in the book either. All very odd.

In fiction I'm having better luck, reading Isabel Allende's The Japanese Lover. It's a gorgeous story about people (I was going to write "love story" which it is, but it's about so many different types of love.) Just beautiful. I started it because it was one of the books that has been on my Kindle longest, not for any great drive to read it, but it's delightful.

To read my all my book reviews, and to see everything I knit, you can find me on Ravelry as Sharondoubleknit and on GoodReads as Sharondblk.

I'm joining in with Kat from As Kat Knits for Unravelled Wednesday and Kat from the Bookdate for It's Monday, What Are You Reading. Thanks Kat and Kat for hosting these linkups.

Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises.

Linky Wednesday - the one with the drama

The drama about the Stephen West MKAL continues, and I can't be bothered with it. It's meant to be a fun, interesting, communal knit and and that's not what this year has turned in to. Stephen has done his best in a difficult situation, but I'm just not feeling it. Meanwhile, Israel is at war, and we (as a country) are going to vote "no" on a referendum that asks for basic consideration for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders. So yeah, lots of turmoil here. It's very tiring. I'm knitting a sock and considering what happens next. Luckily the reading was dramatic in a good way. I'm reading a NetGalley review copy of Last Summer at the Lake House and it's great. Super dramatic family drama about three sisters who loose their father unexpectedly and then find out that the family has secrets. I 've nearly finished it and I don't know what I'm going to read next. I've got a bit of a break between review books, so maybe Sta

Mussleburgh musings

I made a Mussleburgh hat earlier in the year, and even though I thought I was following the directions exactly it did not come out quite right. It was a little bit loose. My head is 51 cm, my gauge was 7 stitches, so according to the pattern I knit the right size. It's also a little bit shorter than I would like it. Too long for a beanie, too short for a good turn-up. I couldn't work out why. I still wore it, but it was not quite right. When I decided to knit one for Elise I knew I wanted to make it longer, and tighter. After I finished Elise's (with 24 fewer stitches) I realised something about mine: Now, this is a knit tube. I know how to knit tubes. When I make sleeves or socks, they don't balloon out in the middle. So I decided to reblock it. The instructions actually specifically say to fold it inside each other after blocking, but I probably folded it and dried it on my head, because that's how I block my hats. Not this time: Now it's longer and thinner

What I made, by Sharon

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