The Buffalo Yarn That Wants to be Something Special

A couple of years ago my husband was at an auction and came across an old case full of yarn. Being the wonderful man he is, he called me to find out if I was interested. I of course was, even before he read me the label. When he told me it was Buffalo Gold brand yarn, I literately yelped and caused a stir in my office. I jumped up out of my chair and you would have thought I was at an auction.
"Buy, Buy, Buy" I yelled.
I have only ever seen this yarn at my LYS once, and with a huge sign that said "DO NOT TOUCH". Okay, telling a knitter not to touch yarn was crazy! So of course, with help of my best friend who played blocker, I snuk a feel of this amazing fiber with a price tag of $99.99 for one little small 3 oz hank. It was haven. Maybe more because of the sign and the price tag, but it was something I had never felt before, the forbidden fiber.
So, as I am jumping around like a crazy person in my office yelling over the phone to my husband the doctor I work for came out of the room she was in and asked what the heck was wrong with me. When I explained the situation she laughed, explained to the patient that I am a knitter and then they laughed together and went on about there business and left me to my call.
To my shock my husband was at a silent auction. Meaning he had to write down an amount and turn it in, at midnight they would announce the winner of the lot. To my excitement, we had until later that night to turn in our bid. My boss let me off work early, my husband picked me up and let me go look at the yarn before we submitted our bid.
When I walked up to the trunk of yarn, you could almost hear the slow motion movie music in the back ground play with each small, slow step I took. When I opened the case, the magnitude of yarn packed inside was out of this world. These people had no idea what they had. To them it was just some yarn. To me, it was paradise. I had to keep my composer, not to alert anyone else as to what this find was. Knowing that just one hank of this yarn was retailed at almost one hundred dollars, and I guessed this old case had about 30 or more hanks.
Now came the time to place a bid. Do I go for what I can afford? Do I go for what it's worth? Or, do I go low and hope that nobody knows what is in this case. While my guts turned, I played all the scenarios out in my head. My husband was of no help. He just enjoyed watching me make a fool out of myself. I made up my mind, $99, that's it ninety-nine dollars. It seemed fair, affordable and all I would have to do is sell one hank to make back the money and I would only have to part with one of my treasures in order to keep the lot.
We placed the bid and drove home. This was better than Christmas, I waited up till midnight waiting on the results to be posted online, while visions of yarn danced in my head.
Midnight hit and the results posted. I WON!!!! I WON!!!! I literately jumped on the bed like a little kid! It was amazing! Dollar signs danced in my husbands head, while puffs of fiber played around in mine.
Fast forward to now. I have had the most difficult time finding a pattern or project deserving of this fine fiber. I made a pie shawl for my mother-in-law and a cardigan for myself. I sold enough to cover my purchase and used some to barter with friends. I still have several hanks left that sit in my yarn room waiting to be made into something fabulous.
About 4 months ago I took a couple hanks out and wound them into a ball. I decided I was going to make something for my husbands niece. I love her dearly and I want this project to be perfect. The color is a green tone with aqua blue that would look wonderful with her hair and eyes. This yarn is meant to be something for her. The only problem is, I've started 4 different projects with this yarn and frogged them because the pattern wasn't pretty enough. I have gone days with nothing on my needles, all because I want to make this yarn into something wonderful.
This weekend, I had a little bit of time to play while we took a trip to our lake house. I had the pattern printed from my last failed attempt. I liked the design, but I didn't think it was robust enough for what I wanted. I looked at it, I read it, I played with the yarn, the needles and then it hit me. If I changed a few things add a few more repeats, doubled the yarn and changed the needle size it would be what I was looking for.
After casting on and knitting a few rows I feel that it is perfect! Finally, this yarn has a project!