I can keep a resolution for the first week, anyway.

I said I would design this year, and here is a small, up-close type shot of my first project:


I am about 1/5th of the way done, and I've only spent three nights (less than four hours' worth of knitting) on it. That puts me at less than 20 hours to blocking! Yay!

If you can't tell, that's my Great American ultra fine Merino and silk blend, there. It has a nice shine, and it's started pooling in rather attractive ways. I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out so far, but we'll see what is to be seen when I get done.

I had to run back to my LYS on New Year's Eve for a fourth skein of this yarn (or, at the most, two), just to make sure I had enough yarn to finish the type of project in which I have engaged. I made it through the door, just by the skin of my teeth--pretty literally--as she had decided to close even earlier than she typically does. I dug frantically through the Great American yarn cubby, searching for more of this yarn. I got a seriously sinking feeling when I couldn't initially see it, but by pulling every last skein of yarn out of the cubby (no, I'm not obsessive at all), I managed to find not one, not two, but three skeins of this color, all in the correct dye lot. I couldn't orphan one of the poor skeins, naturally, so I had to take them all. Now I've got far, far too much of this yarn for this one project. Never fear, I'm sure I can find something to do with it, 'cause I'm crafty like that.

After this project, I will have to begin designing with my Araucania (for reference):


I've got it all caked up, just waiting to go. Not sure what to do with a yarn so exceptional--particularly considering how heavy it is for the size. It's got the heft of cotton, but the shine and slink of silk, so there are some really good options and, just as unfortunately as that was fortunate, a lot of really bad ones. I saw it originally done up as a scarf, but it's pretty hefty yarn so I imagine it couldn't be a very substantial one. I'm also not sure how warm this yarn would be (the model was in lace), so it's going to be a major crapshoot all around and no mistake when I get creative with this stuff.

But that is a problem for a future day, some 20 hours in the future, while my mohair silk project is drying on the blocking pads....