What to do with those special skeins?

Does your stash look a little bit like mine?

There is some workhorse wool bought on sale.

A lot of leftovers from tons of projects of all kinds – not enough to make something substantial with, but too much to just throw away.
Wait – is that even allowed? Can your actually throw away yarn? Anyway…

And then there are the gems.
The special skeins.
Bought on trips.
From small independent dyers.
To celebrate something.
Or to brighten up an awful day.
They were not cheap.
Not cheap at all!
In fact some of them were so expensive that it feels a bit intimidating to even wind them up.

Of course they deserve the perfect project – but what pattern will ever be good enough?

No question that they deserve the best of knitting skills – but will I ever be that good at knitting?

And they are so incredibly beautiful in their hanks of my shelf – how can I be anything but disappointed with the finished piece?

If you think something along these lines when you look at your stash – welcome to the club!

But what do you do with those special skeins?

As I see it, you have 3 options:

1. keep your gems as unicornlike treasures.
   Pet them and smile at them.
   Let their beauty light you up when you need it.
   Put them in a nice bowl and place them in a prominent place where you are sure to see it every single day.
   Make the decision that this is not yarn for knitting, this is yarn for decoration.
   No, the knitting police will not come after you if you do this.
   You have the power to choose what to do with your yarn.
   And honestly, don’t we all need just a little bit more beauty in our daily lives?
2. knit something.
   Go to ravelry (or wherever you like to go looking for patterns).
   Search for patterns that matches the yarn weight and amount you have. Pick one and knit it.
   Remind yourself that nothing knitted has to be permanent.
   You can change your mind at anytime.
   Unravel, pick another pattern, and start again – no one will ever have to know…
3. get to know them.
   Pick out one gem and wind it up into a ball that you actually knit from.
   Knit a bit with it.
   Get a feeling for the yarn and let your mind wander… what does this particular skein of yarn want to become?
   “Say WHAT?!?”
   I can hear you.
   But I promise you, I haven’t lost my mind (not more than usual anyway…)
   If you are not use to thinking about yarn is this way, I get that it sounds weird.
   But let me tell you, every successful project of mine began this way…

What do you choose?

Comment below.
And please, show me your gems on Instagram – tag me and use #myspecialskeins – I can wait to see what beauties live in your stash.