A Little Work; More Yarn

When I got to work this morning, there was indeed an e-mail with the report I was waiting for, sent at 5 yesterday. However, there was also an e-mail sent by the writer's superior, at 8, telling us to hold off on editing "until it's in a more finalized state". So, another day of not-busy, and added concern about just how busy busy will be, when the report is finally handed over. They want this done before the end of the month, but that's getting awfully close, for a 150+ page report. With acknowledged template/formatting issues.

I'm getting a little nervous about this, to be honest. At this point, having largely edited the overseas reports, I'm familiar with how a lot of things shouldn't be done, but I don't feel I have a perfect command of the way the boss does want things to be done. The analysts here are feeling out their first reports, and in a sense so am I. Sigh.

In happier thoughts: yarn! I have mentioned before, many a time, that my favorite sock yarn ever (so far, anyway) is Socks That Rock Lightweight. I love working with it, it wears well, it comes in a million colors (not all of which appeal to me, but there are so many that's not a big problem), I get edgy when I'm out of it and excited when I can shop for it (Webs and Rhinebeck, essentially).

Ravelry, meanwhile, the website often described as "Facebook for knitters": I've used Ravelry as a way of keeping track of my stash since more or less the day I got a Rav account, but over time I've discovered more features that have led me down a lovely and slippery path.

• I can look up a yarn, such as STR-L, and see its characteristics, such as what it's made of, the colors it comes in, what other knitters think of it and what other knitters are doing with it.
• I can look at it in other people's stashes and projects, which is helpful for the "what does it really look like" as well as the "what does it really look like when knit up" factors.
• I can see if they've marked it "For sale or trade" and inquire if it is still available (and never hear back)(or at least that's what did happen). But then!
• I can subscribe (via Google Reader) to the "For sale or trade" listings for a yarn, meaning that whenever a Raveler lists the yarn that way, I promptly see it in my Reader.

Danger, danger! Was it one of the best days ever, when I discovered this, or was it a dangerous, dangerous day? That depends whether you are looking at it from the checkbook angle, or the happy-yarn-stash angle.

Since April, I have bought six skeins* of The Best Sock Yarn Ever in this way. Now, mind you, there have been hundreds** of skeins listed in that time, so my percentage is low. Some colors are too much for me at first glance. Others I'm not sure of, so I go to the yarn page and look at the projects done in that colorway. Even accounting for differences in cameras and monitors, most get ruled out that way. But there have been a few...and they make me so happy.
*Guess how many are blue! Go on, guess!
**There are over two million Ravelry users. It stands to reason that there's a lot going on there, and that there are plenty of people de-stashing even such excellent yarn as this, for one reason or another. 

Note that I would not buy it online if I was close to a major retail outlet for it. In fact, buying it in person would be so much easier! But Webs is two hours away and has a small selection, and Rhinebeck is once a year. So the online world comes to the rescue.

Yarn, yarn, yarn!

 How many of the six do you think are blue?