A sad knitter story

Here’s something that almost never happens.  I’m leaving for Vancouver (Knit City yay!) in the morning, and I’m ready. No running around to do, no last minute handouts or tiny balls to wind, my clothes are clean, I’ve hemmed my new jeans (sure, I’ve hemmed them three weeks after I bought them, but I’ve hemmed them) the house is tidy (enough) I’ve even made a quick run to the grocery store to make sure I don’t leave Sam with an empty fridge. (I think that last one was particularly generous of me.) I’ve got a bit more work to do, and there’s the perennial problem of the inbox, but mostly I can see a little room in this day coming my way, and I’m pretty excited.  I am bound and determined to get the body done on the Minni sweater before I head out. That’s 12 more very long rows, and then a long grafting job to join the two sides, and that seems reasonable, doesn’t it?

If that’s accomplished, then I can work on the sleeves while I’m away (not on the flight though, I save that for socks) and I’ll be onto a part simple enough to manage most of the downtime that I’m away.  I can’t see a world where I come home with this done on Monday, but I should be a whole lot closer, which is fabulous, exciting news – because even though I started this little sweater in “lots of time” it turns out that I’m made of crazy, and now the deadline is rather soon. Totally soon. I love this project, but damn it all to moths, it’s a lot more knitting than I thought.

I know I just said that I’m knitting socks on the plane, and the sweater while I’m there, and that I absolutely did just say that I can’t imagine there will be enough knitting time to finish the sweater, I am still hunting around the house for another project to take with me. You know how it goes. While it’s super unlikely that this will be the weekend that I suddenly knit eight times faster than I ever have before, and there’s not really even a remote chance that I’ll be separated from my stash for longer than I expect, and even if that happened, I’m flying to Knit City, home of a very, very nice marketplace chock full of yarn…

I still feel like taking out a little yarn insurance isn’t the worst idea I could have. You know. Just in case something bad happens – and sometimes things do.  Can I tell you about my sister-in-law, Kelly? Kelly lives in Madagascar – at least for now, and just as you’d imagine a super hot country off the coast of Africa to be, it’s not a huge knitting place.  Kelly, though, is a knitter, and her whole family still lives in Canada, and so as crazy as it makes  her look to the locals, she knits up a storm.

kellysknits 2014-10-02

That’s a selfie Kelly sent me today – she’s knitting Encompass, which I’m sure seems completely lunatic to the locals. A chunky cowl? Hard to explain in a place with no winter.

Kelly makes a pilgrimage home once or twice a year, and while she’s here she does (imagine this) all her yarn shopping for the upcoming twelve months, and brings home everything that she’s knit since the last annual wool fest.  Over comes a years worth of knitting, packed up, and back goes a years worth of yarn.  Intense, right?

Now imagine this.  Kell packed up all the beautiful things she’d made – and on top of that, she added in all the things that my niece Kamilah had knit in the four months she’d been visiting her mother there. (Isn’t that sweet? A 21 year old I taught to knit when she was tiny, knit… like.. half this stuff.)  She put it all in one suitcase together.  What had they knit?

2 Tamas

1 Quince and Co spring jumper and beret

1 Tokyo hoodie (Quince and Co, again.)

2 vintage style baby bonnets.

1 Small Thing sweater

2 Beyond Puerperium sweaters

1 Limepop sweater

A hat for Lou, and a few more things she can’t remember.

Everything was finished, except for the sleeve of Limepop. (You may be gathering that Kelly has some time on her hands in Madagascar, and you’d be right.) It’s all grey too – because that was all she had. She packed all of that into one bag, and started the trip home.  She went from Antananarivo, to Johannesburg, then London, then finally home to Toronto.  She arrived… and (deep breaths knitters, this is hard to hear) the bag didn’t.  She had three pieces of luggage, and two arrived, and the one with all the knitting was AWOL.  All of it, gone.  Now, Air Canada is usually pretty good about luggage, and stuff usually isn’t totally lost, it’s delayed.  A tag comes off, something – and somebody finds it, and matches it up with the baggage description, and you get it back.  I mean, sometimes it takes a while, but you get it back, and this is what Kelly has been thinking, except for now it’s been 60 days, and things look very grim indeed.  Kelly’s been phoning and checking and ever so nicely bothering them, but it turns out that one knitter’s treasures are a drop in the bucket when it comes to Air Canada’s luggage hunting abilities, and so we’re going to kick it old school.

I’m throwing up the knit signal for Kelly.  If you work for Air Canada in any of those cities (except Antananarivo- Kelly’s looked there herself) then we’d love your help. The bag looks like this:

kellysbag 2014-10-02

Except in that picture it looks purplish, and really it’s grey and black. It’s a Mountain Equipment Co-op Fasttrack 70L.  It’s bag tag (if it still has one) is SA771262, and the name on the bag would be Kelly Dunphy, or Ben Chapman.

I know there’s not much hope, and I know that Air Canada has probably done all the reasonable things that the do to find bags, but c’mon. This is one whole year of knitting – and there’s no way to explain to them the degree of loss. If anybody knows anybody who knows anybody who could help, we’d be so grateful. That’s a lot of presents and hard work to lose – not to mention the investment of time and yarn.

Go forth and hunt, my knitters, and thanks for the gasp I heard over the internet when you read that it was all gone. I bet it made Kelly feel way less crazy.

PS. You know how they don’t let the Queen and the Heir travel together, or the President and the Vice-President? I’m going to start thinking that way about my knitting. Split it up. Safer that way.

233 thoughts on “A sad knitter story

  1. Oh, that is so sad! I’ve lost a few things over the years, finished and in-progress, and it’s crushing… I hope it all resolves itself! Imagine the poor guy with no kids who finds himself in Africa with a bag full of knitted baby sweaters!

  2. I’ve lost clothing while flying but nothing so precious.. Lots of love to the Wool Gods that it can be found!

    And wine for backup in case they can’t.

  3. That is so sad!! Our company was doing alot of work in Antanarivo and everyone that went thru Johannesburg packed as if they would lose their luggage… But to have it all be hand knits just makes my heart sink.

    • I travel a lot for work and my first thought after reading the blog was “betcha it ‘fell off a luggage belt’ in Jo’burg”

  4. Gasp Indeed. I am adding my good thoughts to the uplifted good thoughts of all of the knitters around the world..hope it turns up soon. it has to be somewhere!

  5. Yes, I did gasp! My blog is only new, but I will put a shout out on it. The more knitters do it the better! I’m keeping my knitting needles crossed and sending positive thoughts out into the Universe.

  6. I am so going to be sharing this wherever I can, even though I’m in the States. Heck, I bet there’s already a campaign on Ravelry to go hunting (or there is about to be)!

    • It’s out on my Twitter (as an RT from yours), Facebook, and Tumblr. Post it on Instagram – maybe #lostknitting as a hashtag, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

  7. OMG…I did gasp! I keep all my knitting with me in carry on for exactly that reason, but a years worth is too much to stuff in an overhead, I guess. If the power of prayer means anything, it’ll come back….

  8. Pingback: A sad knitter story | Yarn Buyer

  9. Oh how sad indeed. Sending good vibes that the bag and all contents will be found intact. I’ve lost so many things travelling, and some things you always regret packing into checked luggage.

    I’ve also learned over the years to ship anything truly precious via FedEx, DHL, or similar international shipping company and spend the money on shipping insurance. Then, if the shipping company loses your package (which does happen, though less frequently, I believe, than airline luggage losses), you at least get the insured value of the shipped goods back. Albeit, whilst still suffering the loss of the items.

  10. Ugh. I am (supposedly) flying tomorrow (out of Chicago where storms and the FAA facility fire have caused thousands of cancellations this week), and I have a suitcase packed with my hand dyed yarn for goodie bags at a retreat. I considered carrying it on for this very reason. It’s a nonstop flight, so chances are normally minimal it would be lost, but with all this chaos, I worry. I’d be seriously peeved if several hundreds of dollars of product (plus my time dyeing it) went AWOL. But if it were also knit into garments…so much worse! Hope it’s found.

  11. oh the agony!! My friend’s husband is an Air Canada pilot (and she’s a Newfie, hence tenacious!). I will put her on the trail….

  12. Might I respectfully suggest that, in addition to your sweater and socks, you take an additional pattern. That way, should plans change, or weather “sock” you in, you could purchase yarn at the market and still have available knitting. If the pattern isn’t needed, no foul.

  13. I’m in the States and I don’t know anyone in the airline business, but I will post anyway. All that time, and all that love, poof gone! I shudder. I think I recognize that color of wool — it looks like the same grey I found in Zimbabwe. Sending positive thoughts and prayers to your sister-in-law.
    No she isn’t crazy — loves sometimes seems in short supply in the world. A whole bag of it can’t go missing for all time it just can’t!

  14. As someone who has given blood sacrifice to air travel by way of unreturned knitting (almost done! multi-year! fit perfectly!), I wish her luck and kindly air-employees.

  15. I could see this coming as I read the post and truly didn’t want to read that the bag was missing. I dearly hope that it turns up somewhere somehow and is returned safely. That day there will be rejoicing from The Blog. So sorry Kelly. I can imagine how this must hurt.

  16. Oh no! I flew a couple of years ago to stay 1.5 wks. with my parents. My WIP was a hand spun (I spun it) merino hoodie sweater. I wanted to take it so badly but I was too afraid of such a loss. I just left it at home anr took dish clothes. 🙂

    Please keep us posted, especially if the bag turns up.

  17. I mailed six hand knit hats via Priority Mail to my daughter at an USAF base in Japan via APO. The box was lost and was tracked/lost/disappeared at O’Hare in Chicago. The postal service kept asking me to put a $ amount to the loss…I said, “Forget it.”

  18. There’s a place near me called Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, Alabama. Phone number is 256-259-1525. Email address is info@unclaimedbaggage.com Might be worth checking with them?? They buy “lost” and unclaimed baggage from airlines and sell or give away the contents.

  19. Oh Kelly! I know how much time you spent on all of that! I hope the bag finds it’s way to you! You know where I am if you need me?
    Tina!

  20. A horrified gasp here too. My brother-in-law is a pilot for United, not Air Canada, but have emailed to see if he has any ideas or connections…

  21. That’s heart breaking … as a graduate student, they once misplaced my suitcase which had my only decent clothes that I would wear for conferences – and of course I was poor, and had bought these clothes as great deals on many outlet shopping trips – but with luck it returned. I hope this knitted garments return soon too – it can take time.

  22. Holy Frack! Sending prayers Kelly’s way that the knits show up!
    Oh. There was a bit on one of the news shows (The one that Diane Sawyer just recently retired from) on the local ABC affiliate in my area about luggage thefts. I hope that didn’t happen to her.

  23. I left a half-finished Citron (made from Zauberball in Durch Die Blume I’d got for my birthday) on a train in Cairo. We’d just endured an 8-hour trip north from Upper Egypt (where my husband had meetings) and I was so exhausted that when I gathered up all my things, my little project bag got dropped on the floor or left on the seat. I imagine some Egyptian gentleman picking it up, looking inside with a baffled expression, and tossing it out the window (with the eleventy billion other bags of rubbish). This was two and a half years ago, and I’m still mourning my Zauberball.

  24. I now have a stomachache. And a headache.
    Ohhhhh, Kelly!
    When planning this next cycle of knitting, make sure its all something you can layer and wear it ALL on the plane home.
    crazy gets preboarding.
    Good call on tossing up the knit beacon.

  25. Sent you a touched up version of the bag picture that better matches the description. Might help. Had to send via email as this site doesn’t permit photos in comments (at least as far as I could tell).

  26. Send her to the airport to look through what bags they have. Never know, and being nice and explaining the importance of that bag to a human might just help. Worth a try.

    • Also a good idea – I once found bags in Florence, Italy by insisting on being allowed to look myself after being told by all the “officials” there was “no way” the bags were there!

  27. Oh my bob! I lost a mitt (my very first colorwork) and I freaked. I can’t imagine losing a whole year’s worth of knitting. I wish I could help. I’m sending good mojo in hope to find it.

  28. 🙁

    I have a tendency to pack handknit gifts in my carryon, but I rarely to never have so many of them that they won’t fit. My sympathies — I hope they are recovered.

    If not, I suppose we can bombard her with yarn. 🙂 I’ve got a few skeins of Patons Wool and some others I can donate to the cause to refill her yarn coffers.

    • I think this is a GREAT idea. If she doesn’t find it, Stephanie should let us know an address to send yarn donations. I know I have some I would send to her!

      • I’m in too! I’ve got great yarn which I can send out to Canada or Madagascar, just give us an address and we can flood Kelly in yarn for the year to come!

  29. I thought the lost sock in the airport was sad. But this is way worse. I pray for a happy ending for this story. Now I’m going to click on the treble clef even though it’s asking me to click the music note. (retired music teacher here.)

  30. As a fellow knitter in the tropics, I totally feel the pain. Right now I have a shelf of knitting ready to travel with me in November. I would be so, so sad if my gifts didn’t make it home. Sometimes knitting and thinking about my family and friends is the thing that helps me keep it together when I’m 10,000 miles away from all of them. Best of luck, that’s a lot of love in one suitcase!

  31. Back in the olden days (I’m retired now) I used to fly to go to work. Would stay at a site for about a month. I learned the hard way to only pack those things in a checked bag that you can lose forever. I also learned how to pack for a month in a carryon. Smartest thing I ever did. Never lost anything after that. That said, however, it was before 9/11 and all the new restrictions. I sure hope the bag is found. Please do keep us posted.

  32. Whenever my husband flew home from Maine he would bring live lobsters. The lobsters were his carry on and the airline lost his luggage every time. Could you imagine lobsters lost for a few days? (Once again this was befor 9-11-01)

    Lots of thoughts and prayers for the return of the lost knits.

    There are a few places that buy and resell “lost luggage” in the USA.

  33. Pro tip – that bag is WAY to generic looking to be trusted with ones knitted masterpieces. I’ll bet money someone mistook it for their own and walked off with it. Next time, tell her to use fabric paint to draw something big and distinctive right on the outside of the bag – I have a big neon pink peace sign on mine. It’s not pretty, but it helps me identify my bag right away, and helps the airline folks if they have to search for it.

    • Before I went on a trip with a well-seasoned traveling friend, she told me to bring her some colorful yarn so she could tie it on the handle of her black suitcase. I brought her some Red Heart Rainbow and made sure mine was purple. Great idea!

    • Ever since I went to “Wasabi” green luggage – haven’t lost a piece (knock on wood). Plus – I don’t elbow for position at the carousel anymore, I just stand behind a fit (good looking, if possible) man – and when it comes around I say, “Could you grab that bright green one for me?”
      Works every time!

  34. My appeal is also to St. Anthony!! He has not let me down before and I make a sincear appeal now. “St. Anthony of lost souls and possessions. I ask your assistance in the finding of this bag and it’s contents intact. Please return it to it’s rightful owner I ask”
    In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost..amen.

    I do hope for a miracle. So much work and love simply cannot vanish!

    bjr

  35. Please send Kelly my deepest sympathies.

    Although I haven’t had an airline completely lose a piece of checked luggage, I have come too close for comfort. I once took a trip on a now-defunct airline I will call Trash World A**holes. When I arrived at my destination, my checked suitcase was nowhere to be found. The airline could not tell me where it was. While I waited in line to file a claim, I saw several people whose bags were completely SOAKED in de-icing fluid. One couple were in tears, as they saw de-icing fluid dripping out of their lovely brocade-covered suitcase, stained by dye from some special silk something they had bought on their honeymoon in Paris. They were so distraught that complete strangers were giving them hugs to try to comfort them.

    Luckily for me, I got my bag back — three days later. The Deity or Deities only know where it was in the meantime. I still feel for that couple who had one or more of their honeymoon memories ruined.

  36. How heartbreaking! Miracles do happen though so we should all keep hoping. Surely if the entire knitting community thinks positive we can pull this thing off!

  37. And in random chance, the blog verifier mechanism requires that one touch the world.

    You did. She did. I so hope she gets her bag back.

    I lost one hat, just one hat once (but one that I’d knit for my late MIL as a chemo cap) and it’s been I think two years. I still miss it.

    And yet I still think someone out there must have needed a chemo cap, and they got one by a means I would never have devised, and it was cotton and pretty and someone admired the handiwork and wished they could give it back and and. One can only hope.

    • I wrote that comment feverish and ill with the flu, and was trying to be comforting, but I think I completely missed the mark. What mattered was the horrifying sense of loss–and I’m glad Kelly got to see the whole knitting world gather together for her comfort.

  38. Holy crap. I wish I knew someone at the airline, but no luck. Hoping that all the knitting has so much of Kelly’s good juju in it that it comes back to her like wooly homing pigeons.

  39. Where can I send her replacement yarn?! Small comfort but free yarn may soothe her poor sad heart. I’ve got closet fulls I will gladly share my stash.

  40. One time my luggage was lost for several weeks. But it actually had been delivered to a dorm at the local University that was hosting tour groups during the summer. My bags had gotten snagged at the airport by the luggage collectors for the tour and then sat unclaimed in the dorm’s common room for weeks before a resident got curious and looked at the tag. I hope this happened to the knitting bag and that it will be back soon 🙂

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  42. I live in Zambia and have to travel through Johannesburg to get to North America and can’t even tell you how much stuff I’ve lost at that airport. One trip a bag was lost for weeks; once we got it back, it was wet and covered in mold. I could hardly stand to open it and everything was trashed inside (plus all valuables missing). That was rainy season though and it’s dry season now, so hopefully if Kelly’s bag is found it won’t be destroyed by water. Finger’s crossed for the bag eventually turning up!

  43. I just felt myself getting nauseous reading about the loss of all this knitting…. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the bag will turn up again.

    If it doesn’t come back, my sincere condolences to all involved.

  44. What airline did she fly btw London & South Africa? The likelihood is (sadly) that the bag probably never made it into Air Canada’s hands, and that the people to politely freak out to are the first airline. I also know from personal experience how difficult AC finds it to communicate with their codeshare partners … So it can help to do it oneself. Good luck & Godspeed little bag.

  45. I lost a bag when flying with Alaskan Airlines I think it was. I was flying to the U.S.A from Australia. I waited for it to arrive at my hotel and made phone calls regularly. No luck. I claimed on m travel insurance and was reimbursed. One year later the bag turned up mysteriously on my doorstep in Australia without explanation. hoping for the best

  46. Was the luggage taken off the plane in JNB?

    Please let me know, JNB is notorious for luggage loss. I live close by to JNB and will go there to search, if the luggage left the plane.

    LET ME KNOW!

  47. If it had been me, I would have fainted right there in the airport. And when I came to, I would have freaked out. I can’t imagine such a loss.

  48. Oh, poor Kelly! 🙁 What a heartbreaking loss. I don’t know what I’d do. Except cry.

    I’m nowhere near any of the airports listed, but I will send her so many good vibes. I really hope she finds it.

  49. I sincerely hope this is found and returned. I looked through the pictures of all the contents and am amazed by the productivity of Kelly, the Madagascar Knitter!!

  50. Let me tell you a tale that might give you some hope. Back in the 80s, a science fiction author name of Diane Duane was writing Star Trek books. She was also being impersonated. She’d reported the impersonator to all the appropriate law enforcement agencies, and nothing was happening very slowly. So she put the world out to Star Trek Fandom. Now mind you, this was in the days before the internet, when everything was done via mail and word-of-mouth at conventions. Fandom had the perp cornered in a matter of weeks. So if a bunch of Star Trek fans with nothing but stamps and some weekend conventions could nail an imposter faster than organized law enforcement professionals, I have high hopes that if that bag is findable, an internet full of knitters IS going to track it down.

  51. I second the idea of sending future treasures via fedex, dhl, etc. if they can’t go in the carry-ons or “personal items” bag — big purse, laptop bag or whatever.
    Unless I’m carrying gifts somewhere, i take only a carry-on outbound: for the trip home, anything fragile/precious comes along in the carry-on, while the dirty laundry, tschotckes and books come home in a duffle bag that was in the carry-on when i left home. I carry rx and a couple of essential otc meds in my purse, but don’t bother with shampoo, etc., that i can buy at my destination. Every top piece of clothing can be worn with every bottom. No clothing item is too precious to leave behind or lose (except a hand-knit sweater i’ll wear on the flight) — not even the three pairs of hand-knit socks.
    Can Kelly keep enough clothes with friends/family in North America that all she has to carry is her handknits or, when homeward bound, her fresh supply of yarn?

  52. Never check your yarn bag. Make it your carry on. That is certainly more important than an extra pair of clothes. We can buy more clothes, wonderful knitting just can’t be replaced. Hope it is found.

  53. Got that roller coaster feeling in the head and tummy, can’t even imagine losing all that hard work xx But I do have a question; did the plane come through London Heathrow or Gatwick? Got everything crossed that the bag and it’s amazing contents are found.

  54. I’ve lost a bag of freshly bought yarn skeins, parts of WIPs in progress, but nothing compares to this. Oh. My. If I lived in a farflung hot country I’d probably shop once a year and return with a case full of fabric, maybe patterns, and if I lost all that? I think I might go insane. But fabric, sewing patterns (and yarn too, but less so) keep me out of the lunatic fringe. Prayers for this poor woman.

  55. I hope knitters in other cities who are with Air Canada are also checking. My nephew was flying from Mumbai to Boston, and his bag ended up in Atlanta. (There’s a long, long story attached about how Air India couldn’t fix a plane, and it took three days to fly the part in, and how everyone was separated from their luggage, but still, his bag ended up in another city).

    I hope the bag is found. Thinking good thoughts.

  56. Please assure Kelly we feel her pain–I certainly remember how I felt when Beth Brown-Reinsel’s entire suitcase of samples (some of them having precious familial connections) was stolen from my car while she was visiting. And Beth even more so! Crossing fingers, toes, arms, legs and even eyes for someone to spot the missing bag and get it back to Kelly. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

  57. The horror of this is a bit too much to process. It’s like trying to imagine what it would be like to have a billion dollars. Doesn’t really make sense because it is so far beyond the realm of possibilities in my brain. I also can’t imagine actually finding the bag after it has been lost for this long. This f’ed up story is inconceivable from every angle.

  58. Oh no, what a terrible loss! One thing I have been advised to do (and which Kelly may have done in this case) is to include a card with my destination name, address and contact info, INSIDE the bag. So that in case it is honestly lost (not stolen), someone might open it up and find where it was headed. If I’m leaving on a long trip, I also include my home address. Keeping fingers crossed that this precious bag finds its way back to the knitter.

  59. Heartbreaking, indeed, but it gives me an idea, maybe the silver lining here? Maybe today I’ll dig out all the ugly things I’ve knit–too big sweater with mismatched sleeves, tacky, gaping thumb attachments on mittens, hats with weird, egg-shaped pompoms, scarves with unintended short rows–and throw them into a suitcase, check them in at SFO, send them on their merry way, and hope I never see them again, that they never boomerang their way back to me.

  60. The only great thing about this story is how epic it is going to be when the knitters of the world pull together and find this bag. Stranger things have happened!

  61. There are devices you can buy (Lug Loc is the one I like) that lets you track your luggage. Not cheap but when the items in your luggage are priceless I think it’s worth it.
    Holding thumbs that the lost bage is found!

  62. I just realized this morning that I lost my totally-complete-sock-except-for-the-afterthought-heel on the bus yesterday. I am inconsolable.

  63. Now you’ve made me nervous…I’ll be heading out to a knitting cruise out of Seattle next year and will be flying to their. Thanks to this post, I will make sure to put my knitting essentials in my carry on rather than checking it.

  64. I’m going to blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but this story actually made me cry a little.
    I cannot imagine the frustration that this would cause.

  65. This may have been mentioned, but it’s a good practice to put a sheet of paper with your name, address, and phone number inside your luggage. Then if it’s lost, or the tags fall off, there’s another chance for the finder to reunite you with your stuff.

    Good luck finding the bag. Lost luggage is not fun. Especially when the contents are so irreplaceable!

  66. Did she have anything inside the bag that might have had a different name on it?

    My luggage went walk-about once and it turned out, everything on the outside had been stripped of. Well, they opened the bag and found something with my mom’s name on it – and logged it in under her name.

    Just a thought.

  67. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that the lost bag comes home.
    Everyone will be wanting to take yarn and knitted garments as carry on …..so, the vacuum bags are the way to do it, they compress SOOOOO much, try it next time you have to pack.

  68. Hang in there! My extra bag with all my fibre/yarn that I purchased while in NZ several years ago went awol for almost 3 months. I had indeed given up, and then I received a phone call that my bag would be on a flight the next day. It does happen.

  69. I live near the LARGEST unclaimed luggage store in the US. I will call them and see if there is any hope on this end. – Did you know that all UNCLAIMED luggage is sold? I did not until I moved here.

    I always put tags in my luggage with my itinerary with destination point and home address with a telephone number on brilliant neon paper with a bold permanent marker in the net area so when opened it is visable. If my luggage has hand knit items I put in 3 additional index cards with the same info in all layers with a note that this is hand knitted and to please send them to me if lost!

    It would help if there are pictures somewhere where I can find them.

  70. I can’t stand this. May the knitting goddesses smile on these lost projects and deliver them safely to the knitting goddess who made them.

  71. I wish I could help, but I can only send positive thoughts to the lost luggage gods.. in the meantime I have learned that JNB is a notorious airport for lost luggage.. I will be travelling there in May, and will plan for carry on only!

  72. I’m not a knitter, although my wife is, but I am an aviation geek, so I can at least help clarify some details.

    Based on what Stephanie put in the post, and actual airline schedules and alliances, Kelly probably flew on Airlink (a South African Airlines affiliate) to Johannesburg, South African Airlines from Johannesburg to London Heathrow, and finally Air Canada to Toronto. I agree with some of the other commenters that Johannesburg is the most likely place for it to have been lost. The people to bother in Jo-burg are South African Airlines and/or Airlink, though, not Air Canada, who doesn’t even fly to South Africa.

    • Matt makes a good point and, sadly, luggage is regularly and permanently “lost” or the contents pilfered in Jo’burg (learned the hard way myself). 🙁

  73. I just died a little inside. What a terrible loss. What can we do? Praying that the right people discover the bag and the post at the same time and that it all gets back to where it should be.

    • I did some checking, not good news. Unless one of the knitting horde finds the bag, it looks to be a goner. I’ll keep my fingers crossed someone happens upon and Kelly gets it back.

  74. OMG, that is heartbreaking.

    That story one of the other commenters told about a bag accidentally getting taken with a tour group’s luggage — the opposite almost happened to me on a flight to Paris that was continuing on to Portugal. The flight was completely filled with a tour group except for 3 of us, and they got all of the tour group’s bags off in Paris and thought they were done. They would’ve continued onto Portugal with our bags, if we hadn’t asked them where ours were.

    Anyway, it might be worth checking (if it can be done), if there were any tour groups on these flights — or if the flights were continuing onto to other cities, checking those airports…?

  75. If it’s any consolation, my sister lost a bag flying Air Canada to Vegas, and it was returned…. SIX MONTHS later. So there is hope!!

  76. Oh my. How sad, how very very sad. I’m heartbroken for her!

    (Before my knitting heart was crushed, I was laughing about “yarn insurance.” I do the exact same thing! Every time I travel. Just in case.)

  77. Note to Self: Always carry-on knitting things. So sorry about this loss. Air Canada got some bad press, perhaps they’ll look a little harder.

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  79. My son left his suitcase with his 20 year old “lovey” in it on a train (along with a bunch of new clothes – who cares about those?). This was devastating! 3 weeks later, it turned up in Grand Central Station lost and found! “Lovey” continues to travel (now on a remote Pacific island) but stays much closer.
    I tell this story to say “keep looking and don’t despair.”

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  81. Here’s something off topic, to throw a wrench in your day. I was looking at your wedding shawl way back when…..and that thing is incredible. I wandered around your archives hunting for information about it, and left feeling a little unfulfilled. Have you every put the actual pattern together…with an explanation of how you calculate and execute that magically delicious border? I would pay for that, and I would spend the rest of my life trying to knit it.

  82. And I realize I should have specified WHICH wedding shawl. I am speaking of the shawl you made for your own wedding, which you called the Shropshire Shawl.
    Thanks!

  83. Thats such sad news.
    I can’t imagine loosing a year of knitted things.
    I would be devastated !
    I do hope the bag turns up.

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  86. My heart totally sank to my toes when I read that line. I know nobody who has anything to do with Air Canada, but I fervently home people here do.

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  88. Dude, that so totally sucks. I St. Anthony’d for her luggage, too. American has lost my luggage TWICE (I will never fly with them again), and once was an overseas hiking trip. So, not hand knits, but yeah.

    I have found, though, that it is the connections that cause the problems with bags. Was there a tight connection (say, less than 45 minutes?) or was she delayed getting into any airport and that made the connection problematic? That airport is probably where the bag is.

    Good luck!

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  90. I am still shuddering at the horror of that bag of beautiful knitting being lost. And also thanking my lucky stars — and incipient paranoia — that when we flew recently to our niece’s wedding, I hand-carried the Spider Queen shawl (the most complex Shetland lace I have *ever* knit). It took me three solid months of knitting all day, every day, and when I told my husband about Kelly’s lost knitting and asked him what he thought my reaction to losing that would have been, he assured me that he would want to be far, far away. I have no more suggestions to add than the many brilliant ones already offered, but I’m sending all my positive energy to the universe for the bag to turn up, and soon!

  91. Don’t give up!!! We waited 127 days for our bag to reunite with us from Cuba. According to Air-I’m-not-using-you-anymore it was found in Europe (???). We had paid for the insurance, which was good because the other bag looked like it had been run over by a plane, and we were able to get a set of new luggage for the settlement.

    Another bad thing is that we took our trip in October, and I did a lot of my christmas knitting (socks) there, and… Yup- in that suitcase. We were happily reunited after Christmas, and I had the next years knitting done (because I frantically knit like I never knit before after a quick stop at Three Bags Full in Vancouver before we drove home).

  92. I am shaking from the horror! I hate to say it, but even in the tropics, that much beautiful hand knitwear may have been too much temptation and might have been stolen. A friend of mine knit up a gorgeous sweater for her new baby boy and the first time he wore it (out to dinner with the family) they left it at the restaurant. In the 20 minutes from when they left the restaurant to when they came back after realizing it was still there, the sweater up and disappeared. It’s kind of like having your heart ripped out.

  93. I have no real advice, I don’t work for the airlines, but I’ll gladly donate yarn. I will see if the tarot cards can help with any info

  94. I think you stand a much better chance of catching the eye of the right person if you put Air Canada – you can help as the headlong with the photo of the bag immediately underneath it. Only a fan of yours will read all the way to the end of the story!

  95. I once lost a favorite shirt at a concert. I was wearing it over a tank top. It was very hot that day, so I took it off and tied it around my waist. Somewhere on the way from concert to parking lot, the shirt either fell off or was pulled off. I still miss that shirt. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I lost an entire year’s worth of diligent knitting.

    This summer, I flew to Ireland, and I debated greatly about whether to take any knitting or not. Regulations were one concern, but as we were with one of those tour groups, it was necessary to travel light. I was worried about the airlines confiscating my prized Addi Turbos, and opted to leave the knitting at home (never had time to knit, anyway). It never even occurred to me I could lose the entire project.

    May the yarn return home to its rightful owner soon!

    • Many years ago, when I was a young teenager, I knitted myself a chunky jacket with an intarsia horse on the back. Cycling on a warm day, I took the jacket off and put it in the rear pannier of my bike. It wasn’t there when I got home, and I was heartbroken.

      Some time later I saw another girl in town wearing my jacket. I was absolutely certain it was mine, not a lookalike. But I wasn’t brave enough to challenge her. Sigh!

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  134. Then send the postcard to all of the addresses in your
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  135. Then send the postcard to all of the addresses in your area, and try to draw customers in. If, on the other hand, you
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  136. The equipment itself is not really particularly expensive these times, so leasing can cost considerably more in the medium-to-long term.
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  137. Look into their years of experience in managing small business accounts so
    that you can get professional advice on various financial matters.
    If, on the other hand, you are not successful in paying your loans back,
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  138. Starting a small business with no money may sound impossible but there are ways to kick off a very
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    If, on the other hand, you are not successful in paying your loans back, you are going
    to develop “bad credit. Selling the same things, to the same market, in the same way.

  139. Then send the postcard to all of the addresses in your area, and
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    Selling the same things, to the same market, in the same way.

  140. The following are the benefits that you have to be aware of the most.
    Further, amount of loan must be need-based, subject to ceiling of Rs 25,000 per borrower for purchase of machinery or equipment etc, and meeting working capital requirement of one operating cycle.
    Two: Increase in income – When you are able
    to increase your traffic to the business, you will easily be able to
    also increase your income.

  141. The following are the benefits that you have to be aware of the most.
    You can know all the ins and outs of business and can run a restaurant without fail; but would you know the
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    Clients do not look no matter whether you’ve
    a small or big budgeted communication service.

  142. If you’re educated (or seeking an education) you
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  143. Look into their years of experience in managing small business accounts so that
    you can get professional advice on various financial matters.

    Without enough traffic, you will never have enough customers and this means you won’t be making enough
    money. When travelling, for instance, it would be possible to login to your accounting database and enter transactions on the
    road.

  144. Banner ads typically include graphics and text which entice Internet users to click on the advertisement.
    A lot of people have small business ideas that they often fail to put into practice either because
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    What you give away doesn’t have
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  145. The equipment itself is not really particularly expensive these times, so leasing can cost considerably more in the medium-to-long term.
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  146. Yet, there are grants that are made for equipment and
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    Two: Increase in income – When you are able to increase your traffic to the business,
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  147. The equipment itself is not really particularly expensive these times, so leasing
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