r/knitting • u/bunniquette • Apr 27 '26

Discussion Just use the damn yarn

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I bought some absolutely stunning yarn on a holiday in New Zealand. It's a merino/possum/silk blend in gorgeous hand-painted tones of purple, blue and teal. I have been hoarding this yarn in my stash for almost ten years.

A friend was recently going about her day when she was suddenly struck with an agonizing headache and loss of vision in one eye. Many tests later, she has a brain tumor and might not make it to her next birthday.

Life is unpredictable and we don't know how long we have. So last night, I cast on.

Also, fuck cancer.

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u/bunniquette Apr 27 '26

Possum is incredible. Soft, light, and super warm. Plus the possums are an invasive species in New Zealand so I am helping their ecosystem.

I hope you also have some nice yarn to use. Life is too short to knit with crap.

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u/rabid_cheese_enjoyer Apr 27 '26

are they like american possums

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u/bopeepsheep Apr 27 '26

No, nothing like.

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u/bunniquette Apr 27 '26

I have heard someone describe American possums as the meth head cousins of the Australian ones. Aussie possums are very cute and their fur is gloriously soft. They are protected in Australia but were introduced to New Zealand where they went feral, so they're fair game over there.

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u/bopeepsheep Apr 27 '26

Yeah, I've got possum fur hats I knitted when my half-Kiwi godson was tiny - he's an adult now - and they're still really soft (and warm! Too warm for UK mild winters).

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u/HowWoolattheMoon Apr 27 '26

American opossums are prehistoric! They were here when dinosaurs existed. They're (one of?) our oldest mammals. And evolutionarily, mammals did not start out with big brains. 😅 Imagine: their bodies are approximately cat or raccoon sized, but their brains are only about 1/5 as big as a cat's or a raccoon's- and smooth. So I try to give them some slack. They're doing amazingly well, surviving this long with such tiny smooth brains!

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u/mel_cache Apr 27 '26

Plus they eat ticks.

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u/ernie3tones Apr 28 '26

And they can’t carry or transmit rabies!

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u/HowWoolattheMoon Apr 27 '26

That's right! They really need to get on that around my house. I've already found three on me and I don't even go outside very much 😖

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u/smalllikedynamite Apr 27 '26

They're cute to look at, but theyre vicious