If You Are A Knitter

If you are a knitter, then conversations like this make total sense.

Me: Man, what a day. This dumb thing happened then that dumb thing happened then I got my feelings hurt and the bank wasted my time and then this other dumb thing happened and it was all just crappy.

My Friend:  I lost one of my beautiful lined Fiddlehead mittens.

Me: You win.

153 thoughts on “If You Are A Knitter

  1. Ugh! I’d be upset if I lost of my basic mittens that I slaved over let alone one of those gorgeous Fiddlehead ones! Yep, she wins.

  2. I feel her pain, those are indeed amazing mittens.
    Oh and sorry for your rubbish day too Stephanie, hope tomorrow is much better.

  3. Oh gosh, I’m sorry to hear about the crappy turn of your day… but you’re right, the loss of the beloved mitten is worse. Especially in January. Hope the week gets better for both of you!

  4. TOTALLY! Losing half of a pair of handknits? Any day worse than that isn’t worth having 🙂
    The only thing worse? Losing one you DID NOT MAKE. Talk about irreplaceable.

  5. That is so sad. I love my fiddlehead mittens and would be crushed if I lost one. Sorry to hear about your bad day.

  6. ZOMG! That’s a tragedy! I was despondent when I lost one of my fingerless mitts (handspun from a Deb Menz batt) in the Big Box Store parking lot.
    Ugh. Tea and sympathy for both of you.

  7. I have a pair that don’t fit in the jewel colourway if your friend wants them (the Tanis Fiber Arts kit)… a lost fiddlehead mitten is a sad thing….

  8. I have a pair that don’t fit in the jewel colourway if your friend wants them (the Tanis Fiber Arts kit)… a lost fiddlehead mitten is a sad thing….
    Sorry you and your friend has such a crappy day:(
    Feel better, and have a glass of wine for good measure 🙂

  9. *hugs* Very sad.
    And the angriest knitter moments? When your boyfriend confesses that HE LOST the pair of handknit, Fair Isle men’s large gloves that took you many hours and much of your sanity.

  10. Oh, man. That just isn’t the way life is supposed to be. What a bummer. You are right. My day is going way better now!

  11. That’s a horrible thing to happen to a knitter! It raises goosebumps on my arms and reminds me of the time I was getting back into the car after a grocery store marathon and found my handknit mitten on the dirty snow by the drivers door. Whew. Too close for me. Hope things are looking up.

  12. I saw a handknit mitten lost in a parking lot yesterday… all you can do is leave it there and hope its owner comes back.

  13. Lost 75% of a pair of socks at unknown Olive Garden near Portland OR. Dang, too much free salad.

  14. hi Steph. I am sorry you had a bad day, and your skirt was gorgeous by the way…and really, I lost a scarf that my daughter made for me one time, cream lace. Someone nicked it in an airport, and I could have cried.
    I am in the middle of making a pair of those mittens. One is done, and shoot, if my husband loses them, HE will cry. : /

  15. Haha, Stephanie, you have to warn me about this so i can delete every other page on my site so that the one you link to has a chance of handling the traffic! 😀

  16. FTW! I think I’d cry if I lost one of my new Stragos I just finished, never mind a Fiddlehead! Poor her…
    Oh, and poor you, too!

  17. Jen, yes? I lost a Latvian last winter (looped fringe) and even I cede her The Throne of Suckosity, poor lamb.

  18. Get this. THEY ARE MY ONLY PAIR OF HANDKNIT MITTENS.
    I bet I’d have a million pair of them if I wasn’t knitting THE LARGEST BIRCH SHAWL IN THE WORLD.

  19. Also, I had to bike home in the freezing rain with NO mittens because in my broken head I can’t wear just one.
    Did I mention the herbal tea? With the rain, and bad days abound – WHERE IS THE RED WINE.

  20. I sympathize with both of you — and especially with the loss of the mitten. Last year I lost a hand-knit, thrummed mitten that I got while on vacation in Nova Scotia, and I’m still not over it.

  21. Yep. She wins.
    But to Laura 6:21PM – I don’t even knit for my husband, as I know LOST is lost under layers in the sock drawer. /boyfriends?????????

  22. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! that is agony! i adore those mittens and have big plans to make them… soon! how heartbreaking to lose one!!

  23. D:
    Also: well done! The mitten site appears to be down already ;p
    (I was lucky; the first time I followed the link must have been right after this post went up. Now I just have to wait for the rest of you folks to get distracted by the next shiny thing, and then I can check out the rest of the site…)

  24. Yes we are indeed a very strange lot. Even though she wins hands down, you at the very least deserve a large glass, mug, shot glass of alcohol for the nasty day, per Christne’s suggestion!

  25. I actually left my Fiddlehead Mittens on the bus two weeks ago. After a quick debate I determined I could not lose those mittens; it was worth going after them. I immediately fetched my friend and the car and off we went after the bus. We were able to catch it before it started the return route.
    I had a contingency plan to make a new pair if I was unable to get my mittens back. Maybe your friend can look at it as a chance to try a new color scheme.

  26. In the spirit of “if you are a knitter”, I recently heard someone at my knitting group say to another knitter “Hey, hand that over. I’ll tink that for you.” Such kindness that a non-knitter could never understand.

  27. This happened to a friend of mine, but it was both mittens… a pattern of Anna Zilboorg’s, and lined as well. She can almost make a coherent sentence when she talks about it now… I hope your friend’s show up.

  28. Amen to that, although frankly, your day sounds an awful lot like many of mine. If that’s any consolation.

  29. They are both sucky days. You lost a lot of time that you’ll never get back and so did your friend especially if she knits another one to replace the lost one. Or if you knit one for her.
    P.S. I think you dress quite fashionably no matter what Mom thinks. You have to pay me to get me out of trousers/jeans and into a skirt or dress (or die or get married).
    Have a great time with everyone at VogueKnittingLive.

  30. Oh, you both had rotten days. I hope there is a glass of something good, a warm fire, and someone kind to say “there, there” for both of you.

  31. What a tragedy! I love my Fiddlehead mittens. My mother made them for me. I took one look and started knitting. Fiddlehead mittens made me into a Knitter. I hope your friend finds her lost mitten!

  32. Oh, that is a terrible day! I hope a knitter finds them and posts them in a lost and found on Ravelry! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they were reunited?

  33. Absolute perfect sense… you means this doesn’t to all???
    SS to your friend!

  34. Oh no. Not the Fiddlehead!
    I once lost my first cabled mitten at a parking lot at obe of the biggest craft-fairs here in Denmark.
    A wonderful lady picked it up, reconised it from my blog and sent it to me! And we live very far from each other – well as far as it gets here in Denmark – I guess a four hour drive is nothing for you, but it takes only 6 hours to drive from end of the country to the other…
    I hope your friend finds his/her mitten again.
    /Julia

  35. The only thing sadder than a lost mitten is a lost hand-knit mitten. My heart breaks a little bit every time I see single mittens or gloves that have been lost. I lost one of my handknit fingerless gloves lately, not as lovely as a Fiddlehead mitten but one of my first ever knitting projects, sad doesn’t really cover it.
    I also hope Wednesday is a better day for you.

  36. She so wins. Could she speak through the sobs?
    Sorry you’re day was crap too, hope tomorrow is better.

  37. Oh Man!!!! I think I would just cry! You are so right, even though your day went down the pooper, she would definitely win. Why is it that you always lose one sock or one mitten/glove??? That just sucks. Maybe it will turn up somewhere and your friend will find it. One of my friends got a beautiful pair of silver earring from her daughter for Christmas and the first time she wore them she lost one of them. She and her husband looked and looked for it but they couldn’t find it anywhere. She had worn them down to her barn to feed the animals and there was a ton of snow so that earring could have been anywhere. The next morning when she went out to feed the animals she looked down at the top of her porch stairs and there was her earring, laid out in the middle of the first step. I really hope something like that happens to your friend.
    On a brighter note, Adrian has a new mitten out called Flocked. I think I’m going to have to knit myself a pair of those. Of course when I finish them and wear them, I’m going to tie them to my coat like I’m a three year old so I don’t lose them. I can lose anything!!! I hope Wednesday is a much better day for both you and your friend!

  38. Since I was JUST talking about how I one day want to knit those mittens…yeah, she wins.

  39. This has nothing to do with losing the mitten, which is tragic….. I’m wondering what you do with all of the socks you make. I know you give some to family, but really, how many socks does anyone need? I ask because my sock drawer is bulging, as is DH’s. My two children won’t wear handmade socks…their loss….I want to keep knitting socks because they are so wonderful but I have “socked” out the friends and family who will love them and Lord knows that I have more than I will wear out in a lifetime.

  40. Wednesday AM: fiddlehead site still down. bummer. Sorry about your crappy day. They’re hard enough in nice weather, but in the middle of winter? Really, there should be some sort of international law against them. We could wait, right?
    The poor, lost mitten reminded me of my mom. Years ago she got a pair of shearling mittens from my dad to match her shearling dress coat because her hands were always so cold. She handed them right back to him, told him to punch a tiny hole in each and “find something” to string them on (I think he used a rawhide boot lace). We couldn’t believe she would wear “idiot mittens” with a dress coat, but she pointed out that the cord would not show and she had no intention of picking one mitten out of the filthy slush, or worse yet, losing one.
    I still put strings on most of the mittens I give to others, but I’m spitting into the wind with my newest colorwork ones. My first instinct was to rummage about to see if I had leftover yarn to string them, but I’m sure I don’t. You know how Oprah says first God whispers, then you get a nudge, then a dope-slap, and if you ignore that you deserve what you get? Blood runs cold wondering where in that sequence I am.

  41. So sad indeed! It just kind of leaves a hole in side you when a hand knit goes missing. It doesn’t usually work but I suggest your friend tries to fill that hole with coffee, cake and wine. And if it does work for her let me know I am looking for back up on my go to method!
    I am in the midst of convincing myself that my Koohaas is just somewhere in the house. Really it is – it has to be!

  42. I still feel the pain of losing one thrummed mitten about 16 years ago. I bought them from an artisan craft sale, they were lovely. I kept the other mitten about 10 years in the hope of reuniting the two, but it wasn’t to be. To get over it, I decided to learn thrummed mitten knitting this past year, and made mitten after mitten for my DD’s Cadet officers. Just last night I had two parents ask me (yes, crappy knitter me!!!) to teach them thrumming. We’re setting up a knitting circle to make mittens and wool socks (the Cadets have to wear wool socks).
    Something good is definately coming out of that lost thrummed mitten. I shall rename my ‘grey’ roving as ‘silver’ so my mittens now have silver linings.

  43. I don’t know what your dumb things were or why your feelings were hurt or why the bank wasted your time, but yeah… I think she wins. Hope smart things happen today for you and that she finds her mitten just slipped thru into the lining of her coat.

  44. I made my daughters each a pair of lined Fiddleheads. If either of them lose one, the day I find out may be her worst day!

  45. I was gifted a kit for the fiddleheads and I plan on making them little kid style….with a long crocheted chain to connect them. I don’t know if I could stand to loose one!

  46. Totally off topic, but I remember on Twitter a while back you wondered why so many animal activists aren’t actually vegetarian.
    Now, I was vegetarian too for years (and still eat mostly veg apart from the odd bit of fish – but because of that refuse to call myself a vegetarian or even a vegetarian-but-I-eat-fish), so I understand. But I just found this article that I think explains the other point of view very well and I thought you might want to read it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2011/jan/19/vegetarian-animal-cruelty-meat?CMP=twt_fd

  47. I knew both gloves were in my coat pockets–the right glove in the right coat pocket and the left glove in the left coat pocket. Until I was leaving the house and could not find one of the gloves. I turned the pockets inside out; felt the entire coat lining, dumped the contents of my purse, bag and lunch bag. I almost tore the car apart looking for my glove. The single glove mourned for its mate and I was just miserable–this was my favorite pair of soft warm gloves. A day or two later hubby was in town near the office and he parked in my usual spot. He looked down and kicked a pile of leaves and there was the missing glove! It was dirty and tired but after a bath and a reunion with its mate the once lost glove was fine. So that is my hope for the missing mitten.

  48. Hubby: The cat needs to go to the vet before I leave the state (to work and pay the bills.)
    Me: sure she is a good girl, ha,ha,ha.
    1 hour later, cat really ticked off, hand bleeding at the vet…1 hour later..
    cat-1 human- 0
    Me: “Honey Please bring the cat in the house so I can spend the next 7 1/2 hours in emergency room getting pain pills andanti-biotics…..(((unable to knit with 2 projects with me)))
    cat-feeling way bad after 2 shots and 2 pills,
    me- fully medicated and still unable to knit
    hubby- still leaving for Ca,
    life- wins today
    life- wins ;(

  49. Yes I would say that between the two of you it was not a stellar day. Christine is right wine was created by God, beer is another choice. We should drink them in a toast to console the loss of a mitten,the bad day plus the hurt feelings Steph had. Been there. Thankfully, there is a shot at a new and better day.

  50. I made lined Fiddleheads for my sister last year for Christmas. I saw them this year. Dirty and worn with holes in them. Dearly loved mittens but I was sad.

  51. Ouch! The only consolation is Fiddlehead Mitts are a lot of fun to knit. I doubt that anything about your day would be fun to redo.

  52. I’m in the process of knitting my Fiddlehead mittens (my very first fair isle project!) and I think a little piece of me would die if I lost one. I know for sure I would be inconsolable. In other words, my condolences to your friend.
    On another note involving the mittens, I want to thank you so very much for your recent blog post regarding colourwork. It came at the most perfect time for me as I was frustrated with how these mittens were turning out. I felt as though I was doing a great job for my first attempt but I was skeptical that they would turn out after blocking. They looked just like your before picture so your post showed me that I was right on track and the proof was in the blocking. The transformation was remarkable.
    I’m an avid reader of your blog but never post comments so I should also take the opportunity to say that I absolutely adore your work. Your words make me laugh, smile, and cry, sometimes all at the same time but most of all they inspire. You have a huge fan down the highway near London.

  53. Oh, that hurt just reading it. I made Fiddlehead Mittens for the Knitting Olympics. If I lost one I’d need some vodka and a little lie down. I’m sorry for your crappy day but, yes, your friend wins.

  54. Oh! I knit myself a pair of Fiddleheads last summer and lined them with cashmere. I have been scared (and therefor constantly paranoid) about losing them all winter!

  55. Very sad. But turning into a pretty good day for Adrian, I imagine. Nice job crashing her site, btw.

  56. unlurking to paraphrase Piet Hein:
    the worse pain is to lose one mitten
    lose the second and then find the first again.

  57. I’m sure if we organized a world wide search party it would be found in no time. You should post a picture of the lone Fiddlehead.

  58. If you can’t see fiddleheads on hello yarn site there’s a flickr group that shows you the loveliness of this mitten. Beware the power of the harlot.

  59. I can relate to this. I had my purse stolen from our house one night while I slept alone upstairs (my husband was working late at Queen’s University library). Yes, I lost my credit and debit cards, etc. But those could be replaced. What has me really bummed? The thief also took my 3-year-old handknitted alpaca silk gloves. Ouch!!!

  60. Someone lost their feather and fan shawl project on the subway here and via Ravelry and the fact that it was found by a knitter, got it back. Maybe there’s still hope?

  61. I finally had to admit my grandmother was right when I was eight and protested this– mittens with strings just make more sense. So at the ripe old age of 42, I made myself a set of mittens with a string to keep them together. My students LOVE this.

  62. I realise this may get me lynched, but having only lost one surely the upside is that she only needs to knit one more to have another full pair again…?

  63. Your knitted skirt is really a masterpiece if you ask me and looks great on you . OMG cannot even imagine losing one of those mittens . Sure hope she finds it.

  64. Oh no! She definitely wins! I lost mine for two whole weeks once. Fortunately, I found them hiding in some luggage. It was such a wonderful reunion! I hope your friend finds them!

  65. Jeez, I hate those you win days! It’s amazing how easy it is to think we have it bad until somebody else has it worse. It’s all relative unfortunately :(!!

  66. I had a discussion last night with several friends, knitters and muggles, about the internal struggle we go through when it is really, really cold. Do we wear our special hand-knit mittens that are the only thing that will keep our hands warm? or do we continue to put them back in the mitten basket to ensure that we never lose one? Such a dilemma.

  67. Aw, that bites. She wins…and I hope they show up again. I lost one of my mittens last year, but it was nowhere as lovely and not lined, so I consider this much worse.
    And-your skirt looks lovely! You will rock Vogue Live. Wish I could be there too!

  68. I blame the full moon for days like yours.
    I am envisioning a smooth, flawless wonderful trip to New York for you.

  69. I just finished Sunday knits Holly and Poinsettia mittens and after a few days of wearing them with a constant frantic feeling I am going to chain stitch one of those long strings that attach the two mittens through your coats like we had when we were kids, our moms were smart ! so sorry about the mitten loss(

  70. Poor kitten, I hate it when I lose my mittens.
    See, I have a hard time saying one person won over the other – if you had been robbed/mugged or become homeless, then surely you win. Fortunately that happened to neither of you, and you both can move forward and knit in the future. Think of the blessings, and you’ll always end up ahead.
    (sorry to be so Pollyanna . . .)

  71. That is why I have yet to finish them, I’m deathly afraid I will lose one.
    Maybe she’ll be lucky like I was once, I found my mitten (my poor, poor mitten) frozen to the parking lot at work and flat as a pancake from being driven over (that’s not helping I know).
    I know I looked silly, I stole the coffee pot from the front office (the SPARE, EMPTY one, so don’t think I deprived a fellow caffeine addict of anything), filled it with hot water from the water fountain and went and released my mitten from the pavement and ice.
    A nice wash, blocked it back to normal dimensions and it’s just fine.

  72. I’m in the middle of knitting my second pair. This one for DD. She has been warned about the repercussions of mitten loss. But I think she would feel it almost as deeply as me.
    She made me a scarf for Christmas. I have worn it 3x so far to show it off. Now what should I do? Keep wearing it or put it away as a keepsake? I don’t want to lose it … but still want her to know I love it …. Anyone?

  73. Thought of this post while watching my daughter bleed on her handknit dress. Very sad. Poor kid/dress.

  74. Thanks for the perspective. I was just feeling sorry for myself after having a crappy night (forgot the detergent, then the fabric softener in the laundry; dropped my pasta in the sink because I forgot the strainer; burned my arm reaching around a pan.I’ve been working on the Caireen wrap, but tonight I keep dropping my cable needle &/or stitches. After the 12th incident within the 3rd pattern repeat ON THE SAME BLOODY ROW I decided to pack it in for the evening and seek solace/ inspiration from some of my favourite on-line “friends”.
    Lost mitten from that beautiful pattern- that sucks way more.

  75. Oh, gosh – that TOTALLY sucks 🙁 Those mittens are gorgeous. I believe you’re right: She “wins” (if you can call it that). I hope BOTH of you have better days tomorrow! Well, actually it’s already ‘tomorrow’, but ykwim…

  76. Ouch. I hope it finds itself back to her. I lost the first ever lace shawl I made. I comfort myself with the fact that the person who found it knows it was hand-made and will treat it accordingly.

  77. Oh I’d be absolutely gutted if I lost something as beautiful as that!! She definitely wins, Steph, but I sympathise with you too xx

  78. I’m pleased to see a few others commenting about mittens-on-strings. I always refer to them as “idiot mittens” because Bill Cosby named them (back in the 60’s??) I’m shocked that I’ve proven myself so old in public.

  79. Oh, my. There’s a wool thief running around. I swear that someone broke into my house sometime yesterday and stole my felted clogs – the ones I just finished. I’ve looked everywhere and it’s not as if they were inconspicuous. They’re getting mittens from your friend, they’ve got my clogs. That means they still need something for the other hand and maybe a sweater, a scarf perhaps. Hold onto your knitting, ladies and gentleman.

  80. She has my sympathies. Before Xmas, I shrank (I was going to add some adjectives here but really, in the end, they’re all obvious), a knitted blanket I had made about 2 years ago. It took me about 2 months to knit, I’d been wanting to make it for over a decade, and finally sat down during a bad bout of flu and started it. It was merino, soft, and quite large. When I discovered what I had done, I think I just about had a heart attack. I certainly tried to hyperventilate myself. I asked my husband to put it away so I wouldn’t have to look at it. I don’t have many regrets but wow, that’s sure one of them.

  81. Oh man, that sucks! They’re gorgeous mittens! She could, however, make a lovely glasses case from the remaining one …

  82. That’s why I’m nervous about finishing my Alice in Wonderland mittens and wearing them out! I should buy some of those clips to clip them to my coat. I don’t mind looking five years old if it means I won’t lose three months of work.

  83. Those mittens are gorgeous! I’m going to have to find someone who can make them. I must have them and my skill level isn’t up to the task. Losing one of those is truly grounds for declaring it a BAD day. Ouch!

  84. Yesterday hubby found a wool scarf in the parking lot. It is a beautiful red & black scarf done in the garter stitch someone had lovingly knitted. I was extremely tempted to keep it. But resisting the temptation, I posted it on the bulletin board with my phone # and a guy called and left a message that the scarf belongs to him.
    My the knitting gods smile on for this good deed. 🙂

  85. Your story made me go buy the pattern. I hope she finds her lost mitten and that your day got better.

  86. JenH,
    I come to cheer you up.
    I become a knitter after my chldren were grown. Only one of my 6 kids ever worn a handknit. A redheart bunting. Your baby girl is so so lucky.
    One of those things that tears at the heart of a mama.
    Wanna send me the yarn? I will knit the replacement.

  87. I understand her pain. I had my car broken into last week and my and my GF’s backpacks stolen. In my GF’s backpack were the fiddlehead mitts I had knit for her. Made me verra sad.

  88. Oh my, heartbreaking indeed to lose something so pretty and after so much work.
    My kids lose mittens and hats too with such regularity that I am almost hesitant to make those for them. My rule is that they at least can’t take handmade hats/mittens to school so at least if they’re lost, they’re lost at home or in the snow on the front lawn.

  89. Yikes 🙁 This makes me want to attach a string to my handknitted mittens and thread it through the sleeves of my coat. So sad.

  90. I thought of this the other night when I was eating dinner in a restaurant in Laramie, WY. A young woman showed up at our table and asked if she could look under it b/c she had lost a brand new knitted gift. Two of us at the table were knitters and moved the table to find the lovely pair of completely cabled wrist warmers! We were very happy for her!

  91. OOOooh.. This is painful… but guess what– you may have generated a million knitters to make these fiddlehead mittens–If I find one, I ll be sure to let you know.. Was it left or right?

  92. That sucks!! I hate missing knitting. My daughter lost her Finley sweater the fourth time wearing it. And since I keep haunting the lost and found and have found nothing, I think someone took it.

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