The smell of sheep is heady as I slide the yarn out of its sleeve. I’m reluctant as I put the first of 23 skeins on the swift for winding. It’s old yarn. Probably spun before I was born; back when Bear Brand Yarns, USA was still a going concern.

The labels are in good nick, which gives me another pang of guilt. It says, “Permanently Mothproofed” and “Knits in a Jiffy on Big Needles”. It calls the yarn Four Seasons and that it’s a “washable” color. Though the care instructions tell a different story. This yarn will likely felt if not washed carefully by hand.

The color is surprising—a lovely teal that you don’t often see in vintage yarns. Looking closely, it’s a consistent, solid color, mildly heathered only because it is 100% pure fleece wool. There’s none of the color variation you get with newer yarns or unrelenting fixed color of acrylic. It’s a color I gravitate to when purchasing new yarn and yet I’ve kept it “as is” for more than 25 years, since my grandmother stopped knitting like a treasured antique.

It is that—a treasure. But to leave it unused doesn’t feel right. And in this new year, I want to change that.

As I turn the winder, the smell of sheep brings back memories. I hear my grandmother telling me to be careful putting the hanks on back-to-back chairs for winding. She owned a winder, but not a swift, but she’s most often wind balls by hand because it was “too much trouble to get that contraption” out.

As the 23 small cakes build up (only 71 yards each) these skeins are in the phase of becoming. And that by caking them, they are that much closer to being something warm and loved, instead of languishing in a box, waiting to be used.

Now to choose a project. A blanket or a sweater? It’s a tough choice. Thoughts?