Being the adventurous spirit that I am, I embarked on a quest to find a copy of Rowan’s Knitting Book No. 24, which is currently out-of-print. I’ve searched online sources (including ebay), travelled to yarn shops all across the land, and scoured the shelves of used book stores…all to no avail. Finally, feeling close to defeat, I called my mother and asked her to look through her knitting library. She did so, but, of course, the elusive number 24 was missing from her collection. Being a new recruit to the quest, she didn’t feel as discouraged as I was feeling. She called one of the yarn shops she patronizes and they didn’t have it in stock. However, the owner, with whom my mother has become quite friendly, had two (2!) copies of the book in her personal collection and was willing to sell one to me. At that moment, the clouds parted and beams of light from heaven on high shown down on us all. Rejoicing was heard throughout the land.

Do I REALLY need the book? No, of course not, especially since I already have too many projects lined up…but since I set my heart on finding it, I couldn’t rest until it was in my grubby little hands. Well, I’m not actually resting yet, because the USPS still needs to deliver said book into said grubby hands…

Speaking of books, I just acquired a copy of Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s Handbook. It’s fabulous! It has answers to many of the questions I’ve been asking and that the only other reference book I have fails to answer. Specifically, I’m reading about different types of selvedges and finishing techniques. I also like the fact that the diagrams are illustrated rather than photographed. It’s much easier for me to see individual stitches and how the needles are being used to manipulate them than in photographed examples. I only wish I had this book BEFORE I started working on Elfin, since I think I could have done a couple of things better, but such is life…(and I’m not knitting the back for a third time!)

I don’t know how it is, but I feel more worn out from this three-day weekend than I usually do from a week of work. Maybe it’s running after the two-year old! Sam was a ball of fire, as usual. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a very graceful ball of fire…he ran headlong into the bookshelf in the hallway and ended up with a nasty bump/cut on his forehead. We’ve tried keeping a bandage on it because he is fascinated with his “owie” and won’t leave it alone, but he pulls them off pretty quickly. He looks like he’s been in combat.

Despite the wild toddler, I managed to knit most of the back of my Elfin cardie. Only a few more rows to go and I can move onto the front pieces:

The little wooly guardian is keeping an eye on things

I also managed to make it to a couple of yarn shops this weekend. I had read quite a few positive comments about a yarn store in West Seattle, so I drove all the way down there yesterday. The staff was friendly and there were quite a few nice yarns there, but they were a bit more pricey than my normal haunt and a lot of the merchandise was strewn all over the floor. I’m not sure if it’s always like that or if they were doing some rearranging, but it made it difficult to get a good look at everything…especially with said two-year old terror in tow!

So, I went back to my regular shop and bought some skeins of Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran to knit the pretty cropped aran in Book No. 2 (?). This yarn is officially designated as my birthday present from my mother. (She told me to pick out anything I wanted…is she nuts or what? LOL! ) Anyway, I’m not sure why I bought raspberry pink yarn. I’m not usually a pink person, but this just appealed to me I also used a coupon to buy some Noro Silk Garden yarn to make the scoop neck cardigan from Debbie Bliss’ first Noro book. No, I don’t have a fixation on Debbie Bliss, but I’ve had my eye on these patterns for awhile now.

I’m imposing a yarn diet on myself until well after baby Claire’s arrival. I think I have plenty to keep me going for a long, long time!

First things first, a great big CONGRATULATIONS to Lisa who has just proven that the sweater-boyfriend curse doesn’t always come true! In fact Paul’s so smitten with her (and with the stunning sweater she made for him) that he’s decided he wants to stick around for a long, long time. She can’t write about it on her blog since she’s not ready to break the good news to her family, but I can tell from her e-mail that she’s just ecstatic. Yay! I love happy stories like this

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

I had a really rough night last night due to a somersaulting baby and some downright painful Braxton-Hicks contractions. If they keep up, I’ll probably be calling my doctor, but I think what I really need to do is stay off my feet and keep drinking lots of water. It’d be nice to be able to implement my own remedy easily, but have you ever tried relaxing when you have a two-year old toddler who dumps his dinner on the beige carpet (spaghetti, of course) and thinks it’s funny to tackle his poor ailing mother who’s prostrate on the couch? If not, let me assure you that it’s practically impossible! Robert didn’t get home until late last night, so I couldn’t plead with him for help. *sigh*

You see? There’s no rest for the wicked.