Skein Overboard!

I'm in deep knitter's distress today. I'm trying to believe it's not so, but I seem to have lost one skein of the Cashmerino. I only had inches of yarn to spare, so if I can't find it, the Comfy Winter [Mock]Turtleneck sweater is a goner.

I packed a bag this morning for my occasional lunchtime knitting group. Since the bulky knitting goes so quickly, I cleverly grabbed an extra skein to toss into the bag. What great planning! What forethought! How I wish now that I hadn't done it!

I had some chores and a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I rushed around, took care of everything, and arrived at work just in time to adjourn to the knitting session. Imagine my dismay when I pulled everything out of the bag, and the extra skein wasn't there. :(

I got through the rest of the day thinking it had probably just fallen out in the car. It wasn't in the car. Then, I thought, I must have put it down somewhere in the morning and not actually put it into the bag. When I got home, I turned the house upside down. Resisting my normal urge to get flustered and upset when I've lost something, I admonished myself, "Don't Panic." I remained calm and thought of all kinds of interesting places I could have set down that skein and forgotten it. I got quite creative about it. Nothing panned out.

By this time Don't Panic was wearing pretty thin. I had exhausted every possibility I could think of in the house and general vicinity. Finally, I thought, perhaps it fell out of the bag when I was juggling things around in the car trunk between appointments, and perhaps it managed to skitter over the edge and out on the ground, and perhaps I was too distracted and rushed to notice while it rolled away. It was probably lying on the ground in the parking lot somewhere! I figured I would probably fret and keep myself awake all night if I didn't go and find it.

Is this beginning to sound crazy? Yes, I got back in the car late in the evening and drove back to the doctor's office. I shimmied the car all around that parking lot to sweep the headlights on high beam over every inch. I'm surprised nobody called security. But I struck out. Then it hit me! The most obvious thing is that it must have fallen out and rolled under my desk at work. I drove back to work, scanning that parking lot as well with a suspicious eye, and then went back into the office to have a good search. I'm surprised the security guard didn't call for back-up.

Now, usually when I lose something, world's-most-patient-husband just rolls his eyes, checks one or two places and immediately finds it, saying that I must not have looked. But he's out of town at the moment and not here to rescue me from my plight. When he returns tomorrow, I'm doubtful that even he can pull off his rabbit-from-the-hat magic trick this time. I've really looked.

So what happens if some stranger finds a lonely skein of yarn on the ground with no owner's identifying marks ? Does he think, "oh this is something that someone will surely miss. I'd better find the nearest lost-and-found and turn it in"? Or is it more like, "hey, I know someone who knits; she'll like this!" Perhaps we should have tiny little luggage tags, and identifying micro-chips so our pet yarn can always find its way home. OK, I'm kidding -- I'm really not that crazy!

One thing is for sure. Having that skein go missing has taken the wind right out of my sails for now for doing any more knitting on this sweater. I'll wait a couple of days to see if it turns up. If not, I'll be ripping out, and designing a nine-skein sweater. I suppose that's not so bad. There are worse things than a form-fitting pullover with a deep scoop neck.

But I'd really rather find it!