SQUUUUEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

So, last February I went to Stitches West. I was sparkly eyed, and super overwhelmed; it was a Santa Clara Convention Center full of yarn. I found multiple beautiful Holy Grails of yarn including this:



Yum. It's called Valkyrie, by Blue Moon Fiber Arts; the whole line of colors is called Raven.



So, I went home, and rejoiced.
And then, I was all like, what the hell am I gonna make with this? It deserves perfection...it deserves poetic justice. Oh yeah. I'll go there.
So I searched, and searched...and found the perfect pattern for this yarn, you would have thunk it was made for it:



Huh. Look at this gorgeous piece of work...oh...what?

This sock was designed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee specifically for Blue Moon Fiber Arts specifically for this line of fiber. Could you come any closer to poetic justice? Oh, sure you could... read the Yarn Harlot's description of where her inspiration when presented with this yarn came from:

"The minute that Tina told me she was painting Raven yarn, all I could think of was the famous poem by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Raven.” This sock has as many elements of that poem as struck me as reasonable… the wings of the raven, the gothic-inspired peaks of the “chamber door,” the colours reminiscent of the “purple curtain,” and the raven himself. Naturally, there could be no other name for this feminine, gothic-inspired lace sock, than the name of the tragically lost love herself… Lenore."

A quote from the Yarn Harlot herself.

Dude.

It's called Lenore.

sigh

I saw the sock pattern about 2 months after I bought the yarn. It was the perfect pattern for the yarn...but it wasn't available for sale until "late 2008." WTF does that mean? (Blue Moon Fiber Arts said around early fall 2008.)
That's, like, six months, at least. Suck.
Finally, in November of 2008, I found it. I ordered it.

And then I got bummed - I've been waiting forever for this pattern; finally, it was out, it was for sale, and it could be mine. But they would mail it to me.

MAIL?!?

Like....MAIL?!?!?!?

Those who know me should know that I never use bold & italics together. That is how serious this was.

Really, I was super irritated - why not just email me the pdf? Let me download it? Or something? Don't you know how long I have been waiting for this pattern?

Somehow I managed to survive long enough to witness the arrival of The Pattern.
IT came today.
It was TOTALLY worth it.
Behold:



How beautiful is that?



It came in its own sheet protector, perfect for slipping right into my binder. It's printed on nice, thick paper, double bound in full color. It's more than I could ever have wished for. Except for maybe the proper size needles to knit it on... But they shoud be forthcoming, as a well timed gift... go figure.

SQUEEEE!!!!!