Socks! Books! Yarn!

Hey, you know what happened to me yesterday?
I finished some socks!
Two of ’em! At the same time! How cool is THAT?

Pretty darn cool, is how cool.
The geeky bit:
Yarn: Wollmeise‘s* worsted weight, in Granatapfel. One skein (I just kept knitting till I ran out).
Needles: Destiny rosewood circulars, 40″ long, 4mm.
Construction: Toe up magic loop, following these instructions, but taking the numbers from Ann Budd’s toe-up sock recipe in the Spring 2007 Interweave Knits.
Now it’s just as well that I’ve finished the socks, because I have some more deadline knitting coming up. Any day now the postie will be bringing me a scrap of shot taffeta from my dear friend Cara’s wedding dress, and then I get to hie me to yarn shops in search of some matching mohair, and then I get to make her a shrug. And ideally, I also get to make myself a shrug, because my bridesmaid’s dress isn’t any warmer than the bride’s (although, weirdly, it’s far more frou-frou). I think my recent impulse-buy Goldiehair will be perfect for my own shrug/wrap; but for Cara, what?
Distressingly, I think I know what. I think the Silk Rhapsody I’m using for my moebius will be a perfect match for her dress. Oh dear. I do think I spotted some more in the same colourway in Stash, so I’ll have to cross fingers it’s still there. But how much do I need? Follow my logic here, please, tell me if I’m making sense:
The Crystal Palace yarn called for in the pattern is roughly the same yardage as the Artyarns, but is an awful lot finer. So one is supposed to use double strands; the pattern says to use one strand of print and one solid together, except for the trim, which will be two strands of print.
So. Ignoring the trim (I have other plans entirely), we can estimate that two fine strands x 240m are the same as one strand of chunkier yarn x 240m, when knit at the same gauge. Do you think? So I could just ignore the print yarn and buy as many balls of Silk Rhapsody as I’m supposed to buy of solid-colour Kid Merino – viz, two.
Right?
If you think I’m sailing a little close to the wind, bear in mind I do already have one skein in use on my moebius, and should worst come to worst I could cannibalise that. (Sob.) But still – your thoughts please?
Well. Moving on. I have had some serious postal treats this week. First came my thrillingly naughty looking nostepinde.**

Which is further proof of the dangers of Ravelry. Not Just A Timesucker, its powers of enabling are… beyond imagination. I mean, I have a swift and ball winder. They work all right, even if they are ugly. They’re certainly more efficient than hand winding. But they’re not maple and walnut, are they?*
I think I need a lot more practice on this thing. The instructions I read (and which I pretty much completely failed to follow, I now notice) mention that the writer developed proficiency in a mere half-hour, after five or six balls. Well. It’s probably fair to assume that her balls weren’t 525m long.

Knitters, if you’re minded to try this newfangled nostewotsit, I strongly recommend checking your yardage before your wrist falls off.****
So that was Monday, and today? Today I got some books.

More Ravelry-assisted enabling to blame here, at least partly. On a discussion about magazines and where to get ’em, someone linked to this magnificent shop, P&M Woolcraft. Not being a spinning/dyeing type person, I expect much of their delightfulness is going right past me, but the books! Oh, the books. What a selection. And magazines! And subscriptions! The prospect of being able to enjoy subscriptions to certain US publications that really don’t know how to handle their subscribers… well. It’s a treat. And you know what? I’ve had No Sheep for You and Favorite Socks on preorder from a major bookstore chain for months. Months. They haven’t been able to tell me what was happening, so when I saw these titles at P&M I popped them right in the basket. The very next day, would you believe, the bookstore emailed me to say that they couldn’t fulfil the order and were cancelling my purchase. Saved me the trouble of doing it myself!
So this morning the books arrived, and it was cold and grey outside and I must admit… I dived right under the duvet and devoured them, every one. What a treat. And no calories, either.
PS. I see my title promises yarn, as well as socks and books. Yeah, I’ve gotten a little of that too. *blush* I have no self-restraint. But I’m also all photographed out right now. Next time, okay?
_____
* Actually, if you don’t already know the Wollmeise, you really shouldn’t click on that link. It exerts some sort of hypnotic power. Every time I see that bouncing wool, I get an overpowering urge to go look at the pretty colours (again), and then I really want to buy more yarn… like I need that. (Soon, my pretties. Soon.)
** It’s not just me, is it? Have I really inherited my mother’s filthy mind?
*** From Hello Yarn. Friendly, helpful, and very speedy.
**** I also recommend encouraging your bridal friends to choose their dress based on what matches the yarn you already have in stash and that gives spectacularly good yardage, rather than the rather pricey and hard-to-get stuff, come to think of it. But that’s another issue.