That's more like it!

Having a Muse for a boss doesn't make one's job easy. I can vouch for that.

Everything was running smoothly (actually, it still is) and I was very chuffed to be so on top of everything. My simple plan of doing something every day towards fully ticked off list turned out to be just the thing.

Last weekend Nick and I went on a bike ride that was designed to take us by a yarn shop, and that's where I spotted this: Jade Sapphire 4-ply hand-dyed Mongolian cashmere.

I bought two skeins and didn't think much of it (do I need to mention that it wasn't even on my list), except that it was without a doubt the softest yarn on Earth.

I woke up a couple of days later struck by the idea of fingerless evening gloves. I took another look at the yarn and I held it and let it 'speak to me'. And it surely did. It told me to find the finest possible set of double pointed needles in the house, which turned out to be 2mm and to start winding a ball.

By that point I was completely under its influence.

This is the terrible bit where I get to neglect my children by means of sitting them down on a sofa in the study (having first led them to think that watching 'Incredibles' is the very thing they most desire in the world. Oliver sound asleep) I run downstairs to pick up the needles and cast on the gauge test.

Pencils, sharpener, pad, calculator and measuring tape all come out of their various hiding places and sketching is in full swing. I plunge into my library of patterns. Forget all the fine foods in the fridge. Pasta for dinner again.

Two days later I cast on the first glove and get cracking. And you will never ever guess what happens?! One of the fine Oso Lanoso Monkey Sticks otherwise known as rosewood needles snaps under my gentle touch.

I promise, I handled them with utmost care and I now do realise that it was a very impractical idea to buy such fine needles in such delicate wood. It's about quarter past midnight. Can't speak to anyone as it's too late (unless they live in States but that's no use) to get the new set via fastest possible delivery method. Stomp off to bed myself. BTW, Luciana at Foreign Strand was most helpful, emphathised and promised a replacement set of my choice when I spoke to her next morning. Thank you Luciana - if you're reading this.

Loop comes to the rescue and furnishes a lovely set of 2mm bamboo needles. All on track again, as of yesterday.

Last night was very productive...

...and although I went to bed at precisely 1am I woke up fresh and full of energy this morning. I am really looking forward to the next session. I have a Master Plan, which should hopefully deliver two fingerless evening gloves for the ELDS exhibition. Support structure embodied as my husband is ever so life-saving!

This brings me back to the first paragraph. Living on the edge is what I seem to be about. Things get too cosy and I wake up with a vision and it will not let me go/I will not let it go (or both?). And my noticing is that I take these challenges on rather willingly. I am loving the experience and I do think that it helps me to surpass my own limitations.

The thing I love most about this project is that it is very much like climbing by its nature (for benefit of those of you who haven't known me 10 years ago, I used to climb). Mistakes are fatal. The yarn and the needles so fine, pattern so intricate - it requires constant focus and attention.

Goodbye easy peasy.