A great birthday present

So my birthday was a couple of weekends ago, and it was really nice. I'm not one for huge birthday celebrations at all, and in fact, when IM asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I was stumped. I don't need more stuff in any way shape or form, even the wooly kind. So I said I wanted a nice day with him and the girls, and chocolate cake.

I got all of that - I slept in, went for a nice bike ride, then took the girls to Richmond Park to ogle the deer and build forts while IM went for a run and met us there. We were going to have a picnic dinner originally, but didn't get ourselves organized in time, so we came back for a lovely dinner at home, which I did not cook at all, followed by chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles that the three of them made.

Then this comment appeared on the blog. And I thought "Yippee!" About a week earlier I had been slouching around the Rav forums and found a thread about a blog contest. SaRi had a copy of a new sock book, that she has a pattern in, to give away, so she was having a contest. The contest closed on my birthday, so I entered, hoping for the best. And I won! Strangely enough, SaRi used to live in the same part of London that I current inhabit, and she was coming to town for IKnit Weekender, so we made plans to meet up and have a coffee and a book handover.

We met at a coffee shop on Tottenham Court Road, and proceeded to spend a lovely half hour looking at the book and the gorgeous yarns she'd been acquiring. It was before the Weekender had started, so I didn't get to hear about any of those events, but from her posts it looks like it was a huge amount of fun.

On to the book. It's lovely, but there are two particular reasons why I'm very excited about it. The spiral bound spine, so it will lie nice and flat when opened,

and the sheer number of patterns inside.

30 patterns in 176 pages, including an introduction, some directions for handy things like different cast-ons and bind offs, and some gorgeous photographs. With this addition to my library, I think I have now reached a state heretofore unknown to man:

Sock Patterns Amassed Beyond Life Expectancy* (SPABLE). And I can't think of a better state to be in. Thank you Sabine!

* That's not to say that I won't get more mind you. Cat Bordhi's new book is now available for pre-order...