So effing close

It's 8:45 pm. At 4:00 pm this afternoon, I ran out of light grey with 1.5 repeats and a cuff left on sleeve #2. Bugger.
Thankfully I had some singles left from the last spin, so I quickly plied, weighed the teensy amount of yarn, soaked it, threw on some dye and hoped for the best.

It's now dry and ready to go. Here's hoping its enough!

ETA 9 March 2012: I gave up at 11:45 last night and went to bed, but...I've got half a repeat and 20 rows of corrugated ribbing to go. This puppy will be done (at least knitting-wise, I make no promises re weaving in 400 bazillion ends or blocking) for the birthday on Saturday. Hooray!

Exactly

I don't know if it's because the days are getting longer, or the trees are starting to bud out, or because I'm feeling vindicated in my work and fibery pursuits for the first time in a long time, but this recently discovered song (courtesy of Brenda Dayne at Cast-On) is summing up how I'm feeling almost perfectly.

Or exactly, if you prefer...

The conscious realization of being happy is too rare to ignore.

While the cat's away

Yesterday Himself left for a week-long chair building course in Dorset (his Christmas present). I am planning on using this time* to finish the goddamned blankity-blank fracking River Run pullover that I've been working on for more then a year. Because it's his birthday present (please God don't let him pick now to start reading my blog. Kthxbai!) and his birthday is Saturday.

This sweater, while gorgeous beyond all belief, is making me pull my hair out. Because it's taking FOREVER. Nine colors, a 20-something row repeat, and diminishing amounts of handspun, handyed yarn are combining to give me an ulcer. Last night I finished sleeve #1 and promptly celebrated by sticking it in the corner and finishing off the third edge of the sock yarn blanket(now at this stage). The sleeve was five full repeats in total. I am hoping to get one repeat done per night (hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!) this week and am considering sacrificing one of my children to the All-Powerful Handspinning Gods so that I don't run out of yarn. Because not only will my "schedule" not allow for spinning and dyeing any more, I'm also running out of fiber.

Oy. Thank goodness it's pretty!

* This assumes that the yarn for my sooper sekrit deadline knitting doesn't arrive in the next few days. If it does, Himself will be receiving a sweater with the needles still attached. I'm pretty sure he'll live.

PS - I've finally moved and updated my pattern pages (up there underneath the header) and added the newest pattern - the Southwark Collection (an ebook of my four London-inspired accessories). I've got two more patterns to release this week, so check back for those.

FF: Just in time for spring

Last week I finished up and photographed an absolutely lovely pattern - the Matanuska Eternity Scarf, created by one of my fellow Hello Yarn Fiber Club Members, Melinda Peiserich. It rocks!

It's a very simple pattern with slipped stitches, which is perfect for breaking up the stripey nature of most handspun yarn. I used 3-ply Finn in "Buckland", which was the club fiber from November 2008 (!). I loved spinning this yarn and was saving it for something really special - I had two skeins of 3-ply and one of 2-ply, so I used up all the 3-ply on this piece, a total of 472 yds.

More details:
Needles: US 6.0/4 mm
Start/finish: 3 February - 21 February (it's quick too!)

I love the colors in this yarn knitted up even more then I loved them in fiber/yarn form.

I'm particularly taken with the Bright! Chartreuse! Green! that shows up next to the richer red/brown/pink combination. I was a bit concerned that the Finn would be a bit scratchy around my neck, but it is getting softer and softer as it gets worn.

Sadly, the days for wearing it are probably numbered, as this interloper

is now wide open. Welcome to spring!

A bit lost in translation

Having spent part of February wandering around northern India in a completely overwhelmed daze (the colors! the textures! the smells!), I spent part of the weekend trying to transfer some of that inspiration to fiber.

My first source of inspiration is the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur - a towering edifice of pink sandstone with cream accents, all silhouetted against a brilliant blue sky. Something like this.

The Hawa Mahal in Jaipur

This was the women's palace, and all the carved stone screens were to enable them to look out at the world without being seen. What's really funny is that the building is now flat up against a busy street filled with small shops and carts selling fruit and veg. It's not quite as isolated and majestically quiet as the pictures seem to imply!

I spent a lot of time playing around with oranges and pinks, and I think I've finally got the balance right. We'll see how things go tomorrow.