It doesn’t just seem like it. I really have been getting a lot of books lately. It’s been wonderful! About a one and a half weeks ago I got an old stitch dictionary from Mon Tricot, 1030 stitches. Won it on eBay. It’s a little beaten. It’s a little shopworn. It’s spine has dinks, its cover and pages are bent and torn, the paper is getting a little dark around the edges. But come on. It was printed in 1963, and it’s obviously seen some use. Some love. This slim volume is older than a lot of people I know. But you know what? For all the things that are wrong with this poor old dear, it’s pages are all still firmly attached, the text and photos legible.

This is the English translation of the original French book. And it’s wonderful. It starts with the basics, casting on, binding off, knitting, purling, you know the stuff. It works you into various types of increases and decreases, corners, selvages. Then it gets to the meat of the matter. The knitting stitch patterns. There are a lot of real gems in here: lace, textures, cables, color work, even a handful of crochet stitches. It’s love.

Denise (sadly blogless), I looked it up since we weren’t positive. You were correct. “Mon tricot” means “my knitting.”

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a copy of Evelyn A. Clark’s Knitting Lace Triangles for quite a while now. Quite a while. So when I sold the last batch of printed patterns to The Loopy Ewe—yes, she has them. No they’re not on her site yet. Soon, I’m sure—I treated myself, and bought it. Finally. It was shipped the next day, and since Washington is just up the coast from here it arrived in no time.

I haven’t had time yet to do much more than thumb through it, but oh! I’m definitely looking forward to spending some quality time with this book.

Clara Parkes reviewed Knitting Lace Triangles a while back. When I was searching for a site where I could buy the book, I stumbled across her review. There are only a handful of places where the book can be purchased. I personally recommend that you get it from Knitty Noddy. Evelyn herself signed the receipt. Oh, and though it wasn’t immediately apparent, part way through the checkout process I was able to specify media mail shipping, so was able to pay a little less to get the book here. I always appreciate that.

ETA: While Evelyn definitely owns Knitty Noddy, and Evelyn wrote the book, it turns out they’re not the same person. They just share their first name.

Speaking of books… I finished Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy last night. Wow. I wondered a few times, especially near the beginning of the trilogy, about reading a story where three of the protagonists were named Saeton, Daemon a.k.a. the Sadist, and Lucivar. Yes, they were the good guys. See? It was kind of odd at first. But the story was good, the writing wonderful. I was sunk. I couldn’t put it down. Especially after finishing the first book, Daughter of the Blood. I was glad, too. I really enjoyed the story. The final book could have been a trifle longer. I’m not sure what she would have added, but if it were longer I wouldn’t be done yet, wouldn’t be suffering from reader’s remorse. You know, the kind that sets in after you’ve rapidly consumed a fabulous story only to find that its… done. Over. There is no more to read. Yes, Anne has added to this world. The latest book, Tangled Webs, was released in March. It’s not the same, though. Especially since I don’t have that book, so can’t immediately dive back into that world. Drat.

On another note, have you signed up for Summer of Socks 2008 yet? If not, and you want to, you’d best get on it. Sign-ups close on May 15. Sock knitting commences on June 21, so you’ve plenty of time to plan your summer sock projects.

I finally got smart and started a Google group/announcement list. Sign up if you want to get email from me when patterns are released. This is an announcement-only list. Your inbox won’t be filled with chatter because of joining this list. You’ll only receive notes from me, and only when I have a new pattern out, or some related announcement.