dye lots in the light of day

Of course the new skein didn't magically transform overnight to come from the same dye lot as the originals. But in the morning sunlight they look the same. They look the same, they look the same, they look the same, you know I'll be chanting this to myself all the way to work and then still call The Loopy Ewe the minute I get to my desk.

(Answer to a question nobody asked: If I were a lot of you, I'm sure it would occur to me to ask why I didn't knit a row or two with the new yarn and see if the difference is obvious, before making a decision. The answer is that once I've wound up the skein I can't return it for a refund, so if I'm not going to use it, I don't want to touch it, and if I begin using it, I'm committed to it -- or, I could still use something else, but I'd own this yarn for keeps, is my point.)

YOU GUYS.

The Loopy Ewe has the dye lot I need! And says there is no way they can overnight it to me, because they are Beyond Slammed and cannot spare anyone to make a special trip to the post office to send it.

AUGH.

I could have it sent to my brother's, where it might arrive Saturday (... still in time to send the finished object out on Saturday so it could arrive on Monday? maybe), or it might arrive on MOnday, which would be too late.

This is actually all my fault; if I had not let the thing idle for so long I'd have got to this point many days sooner and had plenty of time to have TLE send me one more skein. The possibility of getting the same dye lot is so close and yet it seems impossible. I'm freaking out here. Someone help me.

in which i am becalmed

After several phone calls with yarn shops in the DC and Boston metro areas, trying to find any way at all to have this thing finished both (a) on time and (b) with the same dye lot all the way through, I have found peace with the idea (advanced by ellen_fremedon -- public thanks, Ellen! -- who made other good points too, by the way) that waiting for the right dye lot to finish the thing properly is not at all the same as the normal way knitted gifts are never finished on time; and, in consultation with my brother, have agreed that of the two criteria above, (b) is more important, because on time is just one day, but dye lots are forever.

The other dye lot really is very close. In natural light it does look the same. But my first impression was that it didn't look the same at all, and I'm afraid enough that it would be jarring enough (or different enough, if I tinked back and alternated rows for a bit to blend it in) that I'd always see it, and in any case I'd always be looking for it, and I'd always wish I'd held out. I'm going to give TLE a call and try to wheedle them into expediting, possibly with having FedEx come and get it from them, but at this point the worst-case scenario has the finished object arriving at my parents' house on Wednesday rather than on Monday. I can live with that.

Bet you all wish you could have seen me hyperventilating, though. :-) I bet it was pretty entertaining.