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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.  

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Comments

  1. Jane24 June, 2021

    I loved The Japanese Lover. Your sweater looks pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Patricia in New Mexico28 June, 2021

    I so admire knitters - they are so talented! Your sweater looks lovely! I also enjoyed The Japanese Lover! Very good read - though I read it via audio.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RAnn28 June, 2021

    Pretty sweater!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melinda28 June, 2021

    I've never heard of THE JAPANESE LOVER, but I love Isabel Allende so I will definitely look into it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kathy Martin29 June, 2021

    Good luck with getting the fit right for the sweater. I don't knit but admire those who can. I found it tension-producing and frustrating when I tried to learn it years ago. Your nonfiction book does sound less than successful but Japanese Lover does sound good. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sharondoubleknit30 June, 2021

      We always joke that people think knitting is relaxing, but it's really not!

      Delete

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