Maybe this is a weird question, but I've been feeling really stuck lately when I look at my fiber stash. I want to spin things more intentionally, so that I can make projects with the yarn instead of having one-off skeins pile up, but I can never decide which braids should become which projects. At fiber festivals, I often buy breeds or blends I haven't spun before and grab a bunch of single braids in colors I like. And then I get home and have no idea how to spin it. Should these braids go together or those ones? Should this become a fingering weight yarn or a worsted weight yarn? Should it be a two or a three ply? Should I let the colors pop or have them be more muted? Should I let this braid stand on it's own or blend it with another one? I go in endless loops back and forth between looking at my stash and looking at my favorited patterns on ravelry, unable to make any sort of decisions, always worried I'll make the wrong choice and not be able to use that fiber for the perfect project. But it feels like what I enjoy knitting and what I enjoy spinning are on opposite ends of the spectrum. And I know having aphantasia doesn't help either (I can't picture the finished yarn let alone the finished project).
I tend to enjoy knitting things that are engaging (or else I might fall asleep)- cables and texture or lace or colorwork. Anything but endless stockinette stitch. But I prefer spinning things that are super colorful. I don't enjoy spinning solid colors, especially not a whole sweater's worth! ugh. But that's what I knit the most- garments. I don't have any need for hats or scarves or shawls or anything (I'm disabled and don't really leave the house...). So I end up with a bunch of one-off skeins that any sort of texture would get lost in and that aren't enough to make a garment out of. So I end up feeling lost. I have limited funds and it stresses me out that I feel like I don't spend wisely when I buy fiber. I can't always "just get more" if I spin a fiber the wrong way. (I know there isn't really a "wrong" way, but my brain gets so Stuck about it) I've had it happen multiple times where I spin up a braid and then find a good project I want to knit with it, but I don't have enough fiber. and can't get more of that colorway on that base.
Does anyone else feel similarly? How do you personally make decisions about your stash? Do you tend to purchase fiber with projects already in mind? Otherwise, how do you pair the fiber in your stash with a project you want to make? How do you get over the fear of spinning something the wrong way and not being able to use it for that project? Or the fear of finding the right project after and not having enough yardage? I'd love to hear how everyone else does this because I really want to get Unstuck and enjoy spinning again.
this is the current stash that I've gathered over the years- I laid it all out to help me think. I have some ideas, but I keep going back and forth. It feels like they're all such different breeds / fiber contents and/or colors. I can't seem to make any firm decisions about what I want any of these to be. (I hope this picture isn't too big, that it's ok to include it.) I really wanted to be better about this at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. I walked in hoping to find some braids to matching things I already had, or to buy enough of something for a whole project. And then I did not do that. The festival is really overwhelming...