A couple of things too good not to share

Gail has "unvented" a method for joining two knitted pieces with applied I-Cord that is very cool. She has a nice clear tutorial on her blog. I am filled with admiration and knitterly awe.(Being a responsible sort, Gail mentions that after figuring this out she found that Meg Swansen has also demonstrated the technique. I say good on both of them for for sheer knitting cleverness.)

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A poster in a Ravelry forum linked to the Antique Pattern Library where a group of very dedicated folks are scanning and archiving old needlework books (out of copyright and out of print). There are some books with old knitting, and a lot with crochet and tatting. The ones that had me riveted for a couple of hours were the embroidery patterns. I was especially excited to find a series of DMC publications edited by Therese de Dillmont. I remember seeing books from this line for sale years ago; have felt mild regret ever since for not picking them up. The quality of the color plates is amazing. I was most taken with some terrific Eastern European designs, many reminding me of the patterns on Turkish socks. (NOTE: it appears that to open the files you must have Adobe Reader version 9.)