Inspired by a New Book

I got home late after a dinner last night, and found this in my mailbox.

With the additional benefit of this:

This is the book, and it's translation from the Icelandic, of Three-cornered and Long Shawls by Sigridur Halldorsdottir (I'm leaving out a bunch of letter accents in the name). I've been hesitant to order this for a while, but now I am so glad to have taken the plunge. This is the first collection of lace patterns that I have ever looked at and immediately thought, "I want to make every single one." Every single one - and this from the woman who generally is feeling good if there are two designs in a given publication that inspire me, either to make or to use as a springboard.

The translation looks good so far, and the charts, while using a symbol system that is different from the system that is often used in American and English books, seem to be pretty straightforward. I am definitely going to be casting on one of these after my Lenten "no new projects" fast has ended.

The one quirk, and it's a very small one, is that the photos and models are a little strange. Not "I-can't-see-the-knitted-thing-that-this-is-supposed-to-be-an-illustration-of-clearly" strange, but intensely-staring-into-the-camera strange, or wearing-a-weird-beatnik-era-black-leotard-under-the-shawl strange. I can deal with this, though, and it will not diminish my fascination with the shawl patterns.

What a satisfying thing it is to buy a book, sight unseen, and be so totally happy with it.