Unraveled Wednesday – Week 34 of 2020

Wednesdays are my favorite blogging days because I get to link up with Kat at As Kat Knits, where a fantastic group of bloggers share their stitching and reading projects for the week! This week I’m sharing two finished books, a finished Summer Bingo Card, and my progress on my Spark cardigan.

Finished Reading This Week:

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I chose to reread The Bluest Eye because it ticked off a square on my SAH Summer Bingo Card – An author who died last year – but man, I am really enjoying ALL of the books I’ve picked to fill in this card! And I wouldn’t have reread this anytime soon if it weren’t for bingo, so I’m really thankful that I decided to play along!

The Bluest Eye is a gut punch. It is SO difficult to read, but it’s short (just over 200 pages), so I was able to center myself every time I felt like giving up. It’s also really difficult to review and talk about. I think this is one that’s going to sit with me for a long time.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants has been on my TBR for a long time. I listened to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s On Being interview at some point and was captivated by what she had to say. The audiobook is narrated by the author, which is a square on my bingo card, so I finally decided to take the plunge. Kimmerer is a botanist who has been collecting Indigenous wisdom her whole life. It was so interesting to see her two worlds, scientist and Indigenous woman, collide so often. But they also melted together beautifully.

I had two serendipitous experiences while listening to this:

1. After starting this book on audio, I listened to Jane Goodall’s interview with Krista Tippett. At first, I made the connection between two scientists, both interested in how the world works and finding ways to use science to explain the beauty of the world around them. But later in Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer mentions being at a ceremony with Jane Goodall!
2. Just before starting this book, I learned about Potemkin Villages thanks to this Washington Post article. And Kimmerer mentions Potemkin Villages in one of her essays. I would have had no idea what she was talking about without that Post article!

I love noticing these serendipitous moments. I think they make reading so much richer when all of the connections start falling into place!

And with these two finished books, I covered my SAH Book Bingo 2020 card! This year’s game started on April 1 and I finally decided to print out a card and play on 7/21, so I was a little late. But I got really lucky and was able to fill nearly half of squares based on what I randomly read since April. The books I read when I started focusing on filling the squares were some of my favorites of the last few months and I probably wouldn’t have picked them up if I didn’t have this game as motivation! I am totally planning to play again next year!

Knitting

I’m still working on my Spark cardigan. I’ve spent a lot of this week’s knitting time preparing for our first day of school so I don’t feel like I’ve given it a lot of attention, but I can see quite a bit of progress when I compare this picture with last week’s! I’ve started the decreases and will be able to join the sleeves to the body in about 7 rows. And I’m stoked that the dreaded sleeves are already knit!! I’m still loving this color combo and the knitting process. I thought the rows with alternating stitches would take forever, but I’ve found a rhythm and am feeling pretty comfortable with it.

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How about you? What projects have you been working on? And have you been reading any good books? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!