I'm terrified of my gorgeous handspun yarn.

I have only been spinning for about 8 months. But, I have started to indulge in luxury fibers. I moved from only spinning merino wool, to blending wool with silk, alpaca, yak, and bamboo fibers. They are gorgeous, but I am afraid to knit with them. They are so pretty and soft, and I don't know what project to use them for, and if its a new pattern, I'm afraid of it not turning out the way I want, if I am using my handspun.

For those of you that do not knit, I know, who cares? But for those knitters out there, I think they can understand. You buys some beautiful yarn, and want it for that 'special project.' The fear I have with handspun, its that its one of a kind. At least with commercial yarn, you can buy it again, but handspun is unique to each skein.

Everyone at the knit shop, says bite the bullet, and just do it. So, I'm going to jump in, and use my blended wool, alpaca, silk blend (pictured above) for a shawl/shrug. Wish me luck, knitter please.

These are the original fibers. The dark grey is 80/20 alpaca/silk, the light grey is 80/20 merino (wool)/silk, and the cranberry is 100% merino wool. I am spinning them together by 'striping' them- simply pulling strands of each and essentually spinning the three strands together. This is rather than blending them together with the drum carder. I am them plying the singles together, to create the yarn pictured above.