Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Dementia'
Unraveling: What I Learned about Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater by Peggy Orenstein
9 reviews
aldole's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
streberkatze's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
This memoir strue just the right balance between entertaining and toughy-provoking for me. I loved how the author interweaves her sweater-from-scratch journey with the exploration of bigger life issues. It never seemed forced. Highly recommend the audiobook version, narrated by the author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic and Dementia
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal cruelty, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, and Fatphobia
bookwyrmknits's review
informative
lighthearted
reflective
3.75
I enjoyed this book: it was a good look at both how a sweater is made from start to finish, and one of the ways we as a society handled the COVID pandemic. I already knew a lot of the parts that go into making a sweater, so there wasn't a lot of new information for me, but there was certainly more depth to some of the info. For instance, while I know the theory of sheep shearing—I was already familiar with how we've bred sheep so that they NEED to be shorn, I know about wool felting, I know that a lot of work goes into preparing a fleece for spinning—Orenstein went into a lot more depth than what I knew since I have never shorn a sheep myself. (I also do not want to process a fleece or dye my own yarn, though I do both spin and knit and have already learned the "YES, do body shaping on your sweater!" lesson.)
There were parts that I didn't like as much, and they mostly revolved around the way the author disparages herself frequently when talking about her efforts to shear, spin, dye, etc. It bugged me that she seemed to linger on how bad a job she'd done at some things that she learned specifically for this book. As an example: for the sweater that this book revolves around she uses the fleece she sheared off a sheep on her FIRST DAY OF DOING IT EVER. Of course it's not going to be a perfect (or maybe even particularly "good") job! You can't expect to learn skills that fast. And that kind of attitude comes up in this book a lot, starting with the title: "... Making the World's Ugliest Sweater."
Also, I will admit to being disappointed that there were no photos in this book, not even of the completed—and supposedly "ugliest"—sweater.
There were parts that I didn't like as much, and they mostly revolved around the way the author disparages herself frequently when talking about her efforts to shear, spin, dye, etc. It bugged me that she seemed to linger on how bad a job she'd done at some things that she learned specifically for this book. As an example: for the sweater that this book revolves around she uses the fleece she sheared off a sheep on her FIRST DAY OF DOING IT EVER. Of course it's not going to be a perfect (or maybe even particularly "good") job! You can't expect to learn skills that fast. And that kind of attitude comes up in this book a lot, starting with the title: "... Making the World's Ugliest Sweater."
Also, I will admit to being disappointed that there were no photos in this book, not even of the completed—and supposedly "ugliest"—sweater.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Body shaming
kristinj1's review
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
This was a really cool story, and I appreciated hearing someone else's perspective of living through the pandemic. However, there were a lot of emotional triggers in this one for me! The worry about raising a child, that child growing up and going away to college, being an empty nester and relying on your relationship with your partner, eventually growing old with your partner and what comes from that, the aging of your own parents, the existential crisis of climate change, so many things. I have to remind myself that she wrote this in the first half of the pandemic, when things felt very, very different than they do now. But maybe that's the way things actually are? Maybe the way things are in this stage of the pandemic is just allowing us to ignore and cover up the truth of how hard the world is.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Eating disorder, Grief, and Dementia
brynpemery's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
monalyisha's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
During the pandemic, Orenstein kept busy learning to make a sweater from scratch: from shearing the sheep, to spinning and dyeing the yarn, ending with designing and knitting the pattern. I was expecting the tale to be slightly stressful due to the time during which it was written; I wasn’t expecting the story to focus so much on climate change. I’m glad it did, despite the resulting heaviness.
Californian wildfires rage, sheep go unshorn, microfibers are shed; the writer and her readers worry, worry, worry. Still, there’s resourcefulness, hope, and connection. There’s also grief - as Peggy mourns the recent death of her mother (who taught her to knit) and comes to terms with her father’s worsening dementia. I was impressed by the balance of light topics and dark.
My favorite section was entitled “I Would Dye 4 U.” Not only did it cause me to get into a seriously nostalgic musical groove (Question: how long has it been since YOU’VE listened to “When Doves Cry”? Answer: too long) — but it convinced me to bump up some books about color closer to the top of my TBR.
I’d never read Orenstein before. I’m impressed by her. I think she’s a sharp, thorough, and clever writer. I also get the feeling that she’s a pretty cool mom, partner, and friend.
Californian wildfires rage, sheep go unshorn, microfibers are shed; the writer and her readers worry, worry, worry. Still, there’s resourcefulness, hope, and connection. There’s also grief - as Peggy mourns the recent death of her mother (who taught her to knit) and comes to terms with her father’s worsening dementia. I was impressed by the balance of light topics and dark.
My favorite section was entitled “I Would Dye 4 U.” Not only did it cause me to get into a seriously nostalgic musical groove (Question: how long has it been since YOU’VE listened to “When Doves Cry”? Answer: too long) — but it convinced me to bump up some books about color closer to the top of my TBR.
I’d never read Orenstein before. I’m impressed by her. I think she’s a sharp, thorough, and clever writer. I also get the feeling that she’s a pretty cool mom, partner, and friend.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Dementia, Death of parent, and Grief
library_goth's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A powerful memoir about the fibers that weave us together. Peggy Orenstein perfectly encapsulates the anxiety and chaos of climate change, 2020, aging, loss, and everything in between, all through an informative lens of fiber arts, their history, and how our clothes are made.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia
Moderate: Eating disorder and Death of parent
Minor: Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Fire/Fire injury
asolis's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
In one layer, this memoir tracks the author's extreme quarantine-era project, described in the title. Along the way, she includes fascinating research about the history of textile and dyes, the garment industry and the environment, feminist and labor movements, and more. And on top of that, she layers many reflections prompted by what 2020 slung at us. Somehow, it all fits comfortably into this relatively short book, in an often humorous and relatable style. You don't have to know or care about knitting to be fascinated by this book!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death of parent, and Chronic illness
Minor: Racism, Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Infertility, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexism, and Slavery
alixcallender's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.75
If fiber craft occupies a big bright corner of your heart (like it does mine), pick up a copy of this book. Peggy Orenstein’s perspective as a curious and determined amateur tackling the process of sheep-to-sweater knitting is equally delightful, emotional, thoughtful, and funny.
She intersects her own experience of shearing, cleaning, carding, spinning, dyeing, designing, AND knitting this sweater with the history of wool textiles, “women’s work,” the evolutionary relationship of sheep and humans, the ecological plight of modern fast fashion, and so much more - all while unpacking the unpredictable vagaries of motherhood, aging (as a woman), losing your parents, climate change, and lockdown.
I absolutely adored this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Animal cruelty, and Sexism
Minor: Racism and Eating disorder
More...