New Year. New Things

And other new of news.

On New Years Day, as is my preferred tradition, I bought something new. Or, somethings new. Somethings that I've been wanting for quite a while.

Wait for it...

That's what you think it is. A new vacuum. It's lighter, more powerful, quieter, and has a hose with several attachments. Now I can vacuum the floor, the floor behind/under furniture, the furniture itself, and (squee!!) the drapes.

And...

 A full size crockpot. With high and low settings. And a timer. It holds a whole chicken and then some. I've already cooked in it, and plan to make more things this weekend. Partly because it's awesome, partly because I don't have the cabinet space for it yet, I need to do some purging and reorganizing.

Also, before the previous year ended I did some housekeeping in anticipation of more housekeeping to come. I reorganized my closet:

 No more stuff piled all over the floor, just a nice, sleek wire mesh organizational system. I also took out a bunch of clothes that I never wear/don't like/don't fit into.

I reorganized the pantry:

That included moving the shelves to be up against the wall, and getting rid of the ## of bags with 2-3 chips leftover, or boxes of cereal with only crumbs in the bottom.

Also in the pantry (which is also the coat closet and storage closet, with the pantry part between the two spaces) I cleaned up the pile-o-junk that I put there when I moved in.

I think I'm going to put some shelves above the totes so that I have even more storage, rather than just a bunch of random empty space.

There was also an influx of new storage containers, a cutlery tray, and my 2013 calendar.

Finally, here's my newest spun yarn. I finished it on New Year's Eve. 71 yards of aran(ish) weight yarn. Fiber includes alpaca, BFL, borderleicster locks, sari silk, locally grown wool (not local to here, local to somewhere else), and lots of angelina sparkles.

Next time I'll have exciting knitting related news. Stay tuned.