practice makes better

It’s spring! ‘Ish. Never mind yesterday’s snow and 33° on my homescreen this morning: Bright yellow bulbs are forging ahead, birdsong’s amping up, and I’m thinking — for the umpteenth spring in a row — how much I love pussy willows.

Let’s see what everyone’s up to on this first Unraveled… of the season. Thanks to Kat for hosting the party —

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part i {making}

I got my ducks birds in a row this week. They make me smile.

And I made a sock! In no time, really. (Super bulky yarn. That’ll do it.)

They’re not a ‘neat knit.’ Not even close. These Dreamz needles — which I have a lot of! — are slick, for better or worse. (‘Better’ for straight needles; ‘worse’ for DPNs.) After a few messy starts and taking the designer a bit too much at her word with ‘Cast on loosely,’ I changed my approach: Don’t worry how it looks, just join the yarn, work a few rounds, and see what you get!

It’s only for practice, after all.

Sloppy? Yes. Imperfect? No matter. My goal was Learn to make a functional sleeping sock.

And that’s what I’ve got.

*A* sleeping sock.

(Thursday evening looks quiet. There might be a pair by Friday!)

So far in my sox life:

→ Sock knitting is easier than it looks.

→ I thought bigger would be better… Super bulky yarn makes it faster, for sure. Stitches are easy to see. Plus, instant gratification with such a fast project. In some ways, though, smaller needles would be easier. Like when it comes to holding them all at once.

→ Socks are not a portable project for me — yet. I like the support of a flat surface.

→ Holes on the bottom of Sock 1! Note-to-self for Sock 2.

→ Like with the ribbing on a sweater, I’ll try going down a needle size for the cuff. (It’s kinda loose.)

→ Now I know what ‘turning the heel’ means!

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part ii {reading}

I was thrilled last year when I heard there’d be a Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, starting in 2024. So when the longlist came out last month, I checked out the first title available. The shortlist comes out a week from today; the winner’s announced on June 13. I hope to have read a handful by then.

photo credit: Yahoo!Life

I told you I paused my book last week because sounds of spring were in the air and my ears needed that. If you read Some People Need Killing by 39-year-old Filipina journalist Patricia Evangelista, you’ll know why(!).

This prize nominee is an on-the-ground perspective of thousands of extrajudicial killings during the Philippines’ six-year ‘war on drugs’ under the leadership of mayor, then president, Rodrigo Duterte. Evangelista — quite literally — risked her life, day after day, to document the darkest side of Duterte’s war over a half-dozen years. In addition to personal narratives of victims’ families, she covers the political evolution of the country, its take back from a dictatorship to its ‘fragile’ democratic institution under the nightmare regime of Duterte.

Duterte, now described as a violent autocrat, was elected in 2016 by a poor, scared, frustrated populace on the promise of I know what’s the problem and I will fix it for you. (I know. Sound familiar?)

A firm believer in retribution over rehabilitation, he empowered a band of blind sheep vigilantes to do the dirty work of murdering thousands of drug users, addicts, pushers, journalists, and activists: A recovering addicted couple was shot in front of their three young daughters after dinner in their own apartment. Mothers of boys caught using street drugs were shot in cold blood trying to protect their sons. A young man, drunk and setting off illegal fireworks during a celebration in his own yard, was murdered by an off-duty policeman (who was also the disgruntled neighbor.) That victim’s mother, a beloved schoolteacher and mother of 7, was shot and killed when she spoke up for her son.

The list goes on. And on.

The sanctioned murders come down to this: Is one life more human than another? Is one person more valuable than another? Does someone need killing because of addiction, a habit? Disadvantage? Hopelessness? For a misunderstanding, for experimenting, for speaking up?

I had to pace myself with this — but I’m glad I read it. While we our own mess in 2016, I was unaware of all that was going on elsewhere.

Have you read anything on the longlist you’d recommend?

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Thanks for joining me today. Off to say what you’re making and reading out there!