Spring doings and my Fair Isle!!!

Today felt like spring around here- very nice- except when the hawk swooped (I believe the official term is "stooped") onto a flicker and killed it - right in front of me.
I know, he needs to eat-- but I love flickers.
I do have some photos but not sure how much any of you care to see that sort of non-knitting focus.  Bird world and all...
OK, just a couple.  Feel free to skip over them to get to the thrilling knitting content!



The good news is, my knitting has been on a roll.  On. A. Roll. 

I ordered the yarn for my Designed-by-Me Fair Isle sweater, from Janine Bajus, last night.
I call the sweater Alaska, for the stunningly gorgeous photo of an area of Alaska that inspired my color choices.  If I knew where it is I might show you.

Wait, here it is:

Alaska inspiration photo

I know, seriously girl, it is ripped in two pieces??
I'm sorry... It was in a magazine...   but aren't the colors totally gorgeous?

Most of the Spindrift colors I am using

For a while I was swatching with mini skeins but finally just sucked it up and started buying the full balls.  There are, I think, 210 colors of Shetland Spindrift. Pretty sure I now own at least 55 of those colors in full sized balls. Maybe more. Just for the planning stages of this one sweater.  

My perfectionism was definitely an issue.

This is *some* of my swatches:

Sorry- it is nighttime here, not the best lighting. They all look rather dark and sombre on my computer screen: not accurate. Oh well.

So anyway-- that sounds pretty low key-- "I ordered the yarn for my fair isle... "

It doesn't take into count the sheer volume of swatching I did, or drafting and testing a myriad of motif ideas, pondering my color values, putting it in time out... There was a lot of time-out time.

I looked at swatches, pondered sweater shapes, totally re-drew a new motif (multiple times) and, of course, threw it in a corner in total exasperation.  

For reference, I started this project when Irene trashed the area where I live, leaving me stranded in Berkeley (OK, not a hardship) where I had taken Janine's Fair Isle class with my dear friend Debbie.  August 2011.

I know. That is a long time.  

But, finally--

I have started knitting the bottom of the body of my sweater-- this doesn't look like much but so be it:

 

 I have started.  I am so excited.  Knitting is all I want to do right now.

Plus there is this:

Two friends of mine, a married couple, are having a baby girl this week-- I know this because if she is not born of her own accord by Wednesday, her mom is scheduled to be induced.
Very exciting.
But for some reason I forgot that an April due date meant the baby would be born in April.
Which it is now.
So of course I am frantically knitting up a little pale pink Koigu dress.  If I have enough yarn- I think I will- I want to make her a little hat, too.  Seriously, I have had months to knit for this little lamb and I am just getting started 3 days before her (probable) birth?  Procrastination, you are my nemesis.