I finished the piece today. Emergence VIII. Three panels, total size, 54 x 54 inches. Though really I should say I finished weaving the piece. There is still a great deal of work to be done before it is hanging in the client's home.
At some point yesterday I realized I might run out of one of the colors in the spiral. This almost never happens to me with weaving anymore. Because it used to happen a lot and now I dye much more yarn than I think I will need for a piece (see photo at right: yarn for this very commission... I might have a problem come to think of it...). But I miscalculated a particularly wide spot in the spiral and there I was. Five inches from the end with an amount of yarn that looked suspiciously slim.
Refusing to panic, I looked around for another ball of the missing yarn.
Nada.
That was it. I had just plied that last amount with another color to make this ball.
So I dumped out the bag of "I don't need these any more" butterflies.
Again, nothing. No S5.
Refusing to consider needing to get out the dye pots this late in the game, I kept weaving. Certainly it would be enough.
Five inches to go
Four inches to go
Three inches to go
I tried weaving faster. Certainly if I could keep ahead of it there would be enough... but no. Three inches to go and I know I'm sunk. There is no way that is enough yarn. I couldn't bring myself to weave slower, though clearly that was the answer.
Forced to be creative, I looked at the cartoon and what color was in the spiral in the panel next to it. Did I have any of that color left?
I did. Just enough. Barely.
All the "I-don't-need-you-anymore" butterflies
The last bit of S5... sadly not enough.
A little skilled hatching and no one will ever know. In fact, I won't remember it myself in a year or two (maybe even a month or two)...
Done.
(Whew)