Last August, I bought seven skeins of Carol Feller’s new yarn, Nua.  I didn’t have a project in mind, but was curious about the yarn, mostly because of its interesting composition: it is 60% merino wool, 20% yak, and 20% linen.  It is also sportweight, a weight which I really enjoy knitting with.  This is the shade called Unexpected Macaw:

The wool, yak, and linen fibres take up the dye differently, which gives an interesting richness to the yarn.  This particular shade reminds me of well-worn denim.  There is a very natural, rough kind of look to it, likely from the linen, but it is incredibly soft, which I imagine is from the yak fibre.

I have been keeping my eye out for a pattern to use with this yarn.  And then, last week, this one popped up in my pattern feed:

© Interweave / George Boe

This is the Sunbird Top by Quenna Lee, published by Interweave Press.  (A note to Ravellers: you can’t buy this pattern from Ravelry; you need to go to the Interweave site, set up an account and purchase a download. This means that you can’t store it in your Ravelry library.)  I thought it would be lovely in the Nua.  Here you can see the top back of the tee:

I was a bit worried about whether the knit-purl stitch pattern would show up in the Nua; it would certainly be crisper in a plump cotton yarn.  However, I find the resulting fabric very pretty and subtle.  The Nua feels lovely and I think it will result in a very breathable, soft fabric that feels great on the skin.  Here is my progress as of this morning:

For the first week of spring, it is feeling decidedly un-springlike here.  Having a sweet little tee on my needles is a good antidote and, hopefully, a precursor of beautiful weather to come.