Tale of a tail.

I've been working on a sweater for a while (not my mom's sweater, different one).  It's bamboo.  Now, don't get me wrong, I do like bamboo.  But bamboo is not a very forgiving material.  Also, you can't spit splice bamboo.  I, being ever leery of anything to do with sewing, was delighted when I learned how to spit splice.  It meant an end to those loathsome ends.  But, you cannot spit splice bamboo, and I wanted to work with bamboo.

I was on the very last bit of my project.  I had 2/3 of a ball of yarn remaining.  One sleeve took 1/3 of a ball.  I left a nice long tail for weaving in.  I started the next sleeve.  I was pretty sure I'd have enough, and if I had to do the cuff with a new ball, I'd be annoyed but accepting.  As I worked along, the ball didn't seem to shrink.  I began to get excited.  Maybe I could do the whole sleeve with just this little 1/3 ball.  Maybe I could enjoy having a whole extra untouched ball of yarn.  Maybe...maybe...

And then I got to the last 8 rows.  The never-shrinking ball of yarn began to shrink.  And as it begain to shrink, it begain to shrink really quickly.  I knew I'd make it to the last row, but I was nervous about the bind off.  Very nervous.  So just before the last row, I tied a little knot halfway down the remaining length of yarn.  I figured if I could make it through the row before hitting the knot, I'd be able to make it through the bind off. 

I just *barely* made it with an inch to spare.  So I went ahead with the bind off.  But as I began to reach the last few stitches, the remaining yarn was too short to hold.  I was nervous.  I held my breath....

I made it!!!!  With just 4" remaining.