Sophia, Skies and Unobtainable Targets!

I have still not broken my New Year's Resolution. I am not buying anymore yarn (well, not yet anyway). This arrived on Saturday, but before you declare me a big fat con-merchant, I did not buy it during this year. I joined the Posh Yarn Cashmere club and paid up last year. It is Sophia 4-ply, and is quite simply perfection in yarn. So soft, so wonderfully soft, I have not found anything else quite like it. It is a Queen amongst yarns. The Queen in fact.

This colourway is called Burns' Night and really makes me think of Scotland - tartan and cloudy skies, thistles and dark brooding skies, rainy clouds and big splashy puddles (can you tell that on my few visits to Scotland it rained a lot?). No Haggis thank-goodness!

In the e-mail that Dee sent out with the yarn, she very kindly did some of the leg-work regarding pattern suggestions. I felt it would be rude to ignore her recommendations so opted for this one. Now it looks quite small here on the photo, but the scarf is designed to just go round your neck and be held with a pin (how does that work I wonder, I have visions of stabbing myself through the carotid artery and bleeding to death all over my nice new cashmere scarf).


I have decided that this is also magic yarn. Not only is it beautiful to touch and stroke and fondle, but it changes colour. When I'm knitting it, it is dark and broody, all navy blue and purple, just like the above photo and nothing like the yarn in its unwound state.

But take it outside and lay it down, let it rest in the sunshine and glory in a relaxing winter chill, and just look what happens to it. It turns all soft and delicate and quite honestly makes me go all unnecessary. Shivers down the spine. Goosebumps and tingles. Stunning, absolutely bloody stunning. It is incredible yarn.

But leaving this all to one side for now (although it's sitting next to me, begging to be petted!) I didn't know that January was re-named 'Guilt-Free January'. Apparently you could cast on whatever you wanted. You didn't have to finish it, you could cast on as much as you want and not feel guilty. Why wasn't I told sooner?

I have, however, been given ample warning about 'Finish-it-off-February'. So I'm going to finish a few things off this month. Setting myself a target is not good really. I am unlikely to reach it. But I'll have a go.

1. Cast nothing new on (except second socks)
2. Finish Ruffle scarf
3. Complete this months Mystery Blanket squares
4. Complete 8 Golden Wedding blanket squares
5. Finish pink zig-zag anklets
6. Finish fishy socks (that means a whole second sock)
   
7. Finish retro rib socks (er, yet another whole second sock)
   
8. In desperation and boredom, knit a bit more of Soho or Carica

I shall try and blog nearly every day with progress reports. This list will just zip by. Oh the excitement of it all, I might even have 3 new pairs of socks by the end of the month! Even though mum has already laid claim to 2 pairs.

Now if I could just keep away from ravelry, I'd have an extra 2 or 3 hours in the day in which to knit!