It's a Minnie Adventure

Knitting The silk I was planning to use for my March knitting project, Minnie from Rowan 39 arrived recently. It's lovely, but not what I wanted, and I don't think that the gauge, the colour or the yardage are right for this project. I think I will save it for the Lotus Blossom shawl, which is written for this yarn, and for which I already have the pattern. Rather than messing around with yarns any more, I decided to use what the Minnie pattern specifies, which is Rowan handknit cotton. Looking at the colours on the Rowan website, there are a lot of 'baby' colours, which don't really appeal to me, some real 'brights', which I like but I don't think suit this style, and my usual fallbacks: cream, beige, ecru, taupe (amusingly spelled 'tope' by Rowan), khaki and chocolate. I love the creamy colour used in the magazine itself, but would like to break out of my cream/green/brown neutrals rut. I visited all two of our Cambridge yarn stores to look at these colours in person; my suspicions were confirmed. Colours are pastel-nasty or not suited to this lovely style. However, diligent searcing in the second shop, unearthed one single, solitary ball of colour 312, which is a soft, dusty rose colour; 'brick pink' if you will. A lovely store assistant informed me that they almost certainly didn't have any more in stock if there was only one on the shelf, and that ordering the yarn would take a long time as Rowan impose a minimum order on retailers, so they don't order from them very often. I thanked her for her honesty and said I'd probably order direct from Rowan myself, thanks. But I cannot find colour 312 on the website. There is no link to it. I hack the url to find colour 312, and there it is. 'Rosy'. But unlinked. A quick research mission reveals it is discontinued. Thank heavens for eBay. Specifically, Jannette's rare yarns, where I managed to buy two unopened packs of the stuff. UPDATE: Now that's service!! My yarn arrived in record time; it was waiting for me on Thursday night when I got home. I'd highly, highly recommend this seller. Thankyou so much!