Unraveled Wednesday | Reading & Knitting | Week 28 in 2021

I’m joining Kat at As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday again this week. Today I’m sharing an update on my second Spark cardigan and two more finished books.

I’m thrilled to share that the sleeves are attached to my Spark Cardigan! And just like the last one, I was certain I’d done something terribly wrong somewhere and it wasn’t going to work… but it did! They’re smoothly attached and look so cozy. Left to do: finish up the yoke, steek it, and then knit up a delicious shawl collar. I don’t want to put any pressure on myself, but if I keep up this pace then it might be finished before the end of the month. We’ll see what happens!

Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly
“Sadly, today authority, not truth, makes law,” Father said.

This is the second book in the Lilac Girls series and centers on Eliza Ferriday, the mother of Caroline Ferriday in Lilac Girls. Set in 1914 in New York, Paris, and St. Petersburg, we get up close with the Romanovs before their assassinations and watch the Bolsheviks move in and drastically change life in Russia. Eliza, like her daughter Caroline, has a deep feeling of duty and a responsibility for helping others and does everything she can to help her innocent friends in St. Petersburg escape unharmed. I found the characters and storylines compelling and beautifully drawn and thought this was even better than the first in the series.

It was fun seeing how Lost Roses connected with Lilac Girls – the similar settings at different points in history, a closer look at characters only hinted at previously, a deeper understanding of the Ferriday family history. I’m on the waitlist for the next book in this series, Sunflower Sisters, which is set during the Civil War. I cannot wait!

---

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous
“Not until people start seeing typos eating out of their garbage cans at night will they regret hunting proofreaders almost to extinction.”

“Wherever there’s organic matter, a water source, and darkness, reality will grow. Get after it with vinegar, baking soda, and dynamite.”

This book was not at all what I expected. Sure, it’s sprinkled with Duchess Goldblatt’s pithy and hilarious tweets like the two I shared above, but the meat of this story is about the woman behind Duchess Goldblatt (DG). DG is the best thing about Twitter and was the sole reason I waited so long to leave it behind. I used to hunt for her recent tweets, read them and dissolve into giggles, and seek out my husband to share with him, who would then look at me like I had twelve heads.

But the woman behind DG? I had no idea she was experiencing so much heartache and upheaval. She was going through a messy divorce and custody battle and it was affecting her in unexpected ways. DG was her way to spread goodness and light into the world, despite believing that she was the exact opposite of that. Luckily, Lyle Lovett knew how to set her straight. (I realize this is a crazy little blurb if you’re unfamiliar with DG – sorry!)

I could talk about DG for hours and hours, so I’ll stop here. But this is a great memoir about finding your footing after your world gets turned upside down, reckoning with old demons, and realizing that you are worthy and can love the world despite believing otherwise.

---

I hope you’ve also had a great week of reading and/or stitching and I can’t wait to catch up with all of your blog posts today. I plan to be back on Friday with a few joys – take good care!