To snow, or not?

It's winter...I hate winter. But I'm looking forward to spring.

I knit. I'm a bit of a project, ahem, lady-of-the-evening....that is, I enjoy knitting, and I don't really limit the number of projects at a time. I like the feel of a "new" yarn or "new" knitting experience and that coupled with a short attention span and a wide number of interests equals, well, not many finished projects but lots and lots and lots of started ones.

I knit like I listen to music--more by mood than type. I do get into these weird kicks with knitting, just like I do with music--what started out as a Dave Matthews "jag" has turned into a "rut" bordering on "obessesion" 3 months later--my mp3 player is starting to not play anymore in protest.

Anyway, I'm the opposite of Dave-Matthews-obsessed at the moment as far as knitting goes, and in the last week have knit on no less than 4 projects with at least 5 single socks waiting for a mate as well as half a sweater and 1/3 of a shawl underway. In my head are 2 pairs of legwarmers, a bag and a throw blanket, besides the pair of leg warmers I have cast on right now and the throw I'm in the midst of. I also have about 5% of another shawl started...and that is my problem right now. (Ok, the whole paragraph indicates a "problem," but let's focus for a minute.)

Last year I was gifted the most beautiful skein of yarn I've ever seen. It's from a very wonderful company called Schaefer Yarns, who produce small batches of very special hand-painted yarns, and I honestly have no more beautiful skein in my stash right now. (Alice's silk was right up there, but I couldn't let it sit and it became a scarf within the month.

The skein I got is to the left. The colorway is Lisa III, and on all of Ravelry I found only 2 skeins in exsistence--this one and one other.

At first I was thinking I'd turn it into socks, until I saw the sheer amount of it (over 1000 yards) and realized I could make 5 pairs with that yardage and have leftovers.

I decided that special yarn needed a special project. So my next thought was a shawl, because I can do back-and forth on a one piece object so much better than assembling a sweater--and I'm not dead sure what I would do with a sweater in any case. So I turned to my favorite writer, the Yarn Harlot, for inspiration.

A few years ago Stephanie made a beautiful shawl for a little baby referred to as "Snowdrop." The shawl was to be used as a beautiful nursery object with the goal of it becoming an heirloom piece. The Snowdrop Shawl, as it came to be known, was written up in chart form and given to the blogosphere as a freebie from Stephanie herself. This is a link to the pattern. Pretty pictures of finished versions can be seen here, here and here.

Evidently this CAN be knitted. It has been over and over. It's just me that has a block. After knitting and knitting and knitting, my version of snowdrop is only slightly more than what you see in the picture.

I've tried doing the pattern repeat, but I keep FUBARing it, cussing, ripping it back, messing it up again, more cussing...Currently I have decided to try to do it in a worsted weight for my lap afghan, but I cast that on last night and need to rip it back after only 1 1/2 repeats because a) I made too many repeats and it's too wide and will block even wider and b) in just those few rows I've already had to fake it no less than 8 times in order to line things up right--k2tog where I'm not supposed to, m1 in other rows, everything's cockamammy and I don't know what to do.

So with Snowdrop not bringing any light in my life or any sign of spring, short of giving this skein to another knitter to do a snowdrop for me--which would cost big bucks, I'm afraid, because I don't know anyone who loves me quite THAT much--it's going to probably have to become something else, or go back in the stash for a few more years. And patience has never been my strong suit.

So, suggestions are welcome, even from non-knitters, because this chick's had it. What do I make with this yarn? Do I perservere and become a better person through knitting, or do I exercise patience, or do I move on altogether with a new project? Any suggestions what I could do with about 1600 yards of laceweight, shoving in uncomfortable places aside? Please also keep in mind, that a) this fiber is a wool/nylon blend, so nothing summery and b) knitting with it is a bit like wrestling with dental floss, so anything terribly complicated may make me lose what little eyesight I have left.

Thanks for your input!