Knitting Nightmares and A Hood Reborn

Kendra here, finally! I can't believe a month has gone by of silence from me. Except I kind of can considering I "pulled a Lindsey" and moved across the country back to California last week, so I present that as my excuse. Luckily I've been needing stress relief so I've at least managed to get a good amount of knitting done even if I haven't been here to talk about it!

 Estelle Cardigan in Progress

 Tiny Dino!

 Teeny Tiny Froggie!

 Tiny Penguin Buddies, with the help of my friend Dana

Orchid Thief Shawlette

I had a nightmare the other night related to knitting. I was back in New York and traveling home from the airport on the subway (with you, Jess, for some reason...) but somehow I got off the train and forgot my suitcase. My only concern about my departing suitcase was, "All of my hand knit lace shawls are in there!" Hilarious, right? I can't even put into words how great my sense of loss and panic was. Generally when I fly I make a point of not only putting my jewelry in my carryon bag, but also my knit shawls. Apparently those are the two things I am most worried about if the airline loses my luggage.

The sad part of all this is that I have actually lost my knitwear on the subway in a way very similar to this dream, except it was my Peaks Island Hood that was the tragic loss. Before this Whimsical Little Knit-Along started I had already knit this lovely hood. I wore it constantly to weather the NYC winter last year, until it was left behind on a subway car (on my birthday, no less!) and realized as the doors closed and the train pulled away. To add insult to injury, the yarn was an awesome llama yarn (Mirasol Miski) that my boyfriend had given me as a birthday present when we first started dating. I also referred to it as the magic yarn because he gave me 3 skeins, but I needed 2 more to finish the project. He had gotten the yarn at a store in California in 2008, but I was able to find the extra skeins in the same dyelot at a store in New York in early 2010. Sweet! Then it turned out I needed yet one more skein which was proving difficult to find, but I finally caught a break at Stitches East 2010 where again - same dyelot! Magical yarn I tell you! Until the finished hood ran away from me.

But now the Peaks Island Hood will rise from the ashes - and the magic of this yarn continues. Since all the yarn and hood-losing drama, the color (Coral) I had used was discontinued so replacing my hood exactly wasn't going to happen. I searched for it online and in every yarn store I came across since losing it last winter to no avail. Then this summer I was in Cape Cod with my boyfriend, driving through a small town when I spotted a yarn store! Knowing what that means, he parked so I could check it out - and to my amazement they not only carried Mirasol Miski, but had the Coral color and IT WAS ON SALE! Closing out the discontinued color :) My heart sang as I walked out with my six skeins in hand - the Llama Hood will be once more!

Since we got this knit-along going I've been anxious to knit the Peaks Island Hood again, especially after my travels this summer actually took me past Peaks Island in Maine.

I've convinced my fellow knitters to skip ahead so this past Friday was finally the day - time to cast on for the Peaks Island Hood! Although I'm not quite looking forward to returning to NYC in January in full-on winter mode, armed with this hood I'll be ready to take it on!