Unravelled Wednesday and WAYRN - the one with the rant about e-Arcs

In reading, I redownloaded The Rabbit Hutch, and now it works. which should be great, except I got 20 percent through it and realised i just can't. I don't know if it's a good book, but I didn't care about anything, and it jumps around between a lot of perspectives. And i know I'm meant to forgive formatting problems in Advanced Reader Copies, but I don't know why publishers send out e-Arcs where the formatting is messed up. i know I'm meant to be reviewing the content, but it's hard not to be distracted. All this to say, I've put it aside, as I read for pleasure and this is not.

While I was deciding whether to keep reading I started listening to The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni. It's through Kindle Unlimited, and the audio just appeared in my library. I couldn't quite get into it as an audio-book, but decided to see if I enjoy it more an an eye-read - and I do. It's got three timelines - the diary of an American marine in Vietnam, the same marine and an 18 yearold in 1979, and the 18yo all grown up in more current times. It sounds complicated, but it works well.

Then, continuing on the Kindle Unlimited / audio theme I decided to listen to Sarah Painter's Beneath the Water. I've read a bunch of her urban fantasy, and i think this is straight fiction, but I'm liking it. It's set in the Scottish highland, and I do have a great love of that area.

The knitting is still my brioche cardigan, but I feel like I'm making serious progress. I'm nearly halfway through the second sleeve, so you make see a finished cardigan before the end of next week.

And that's what I'm knitting and reading this week. 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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