Life without the
Baby Alpaca DK 4818
I'd like to tell you that my shopping bag of Baby Alpaca DK 4818 was returned (see yesterday's entry for more on this event). I'd even be more delighted to tell it came back to me, a sweater in my size are already fully formed. Or even that the fiber was knitted into this warmer-than-summer cardigan, long enough to cover my torso.

Alas, the yarn has yet to be returned. Unfortunately, I have vision of it in the bottom of a garbage can, covered with gobs of leftover McDonald's fries and soaked with Diet Coke. That image actually helps me because I know this luscious yarn is basically useless at this point. It has no life. It was only meant to be with me a short time on Earth. Yes, 40 minutes on a train. That was the only time we were allotted together. It was my companion for an ordinary ride. Instead of a human train mate, I had a fibery one - which actually resembled a bag of Burritos to Go, which No Doubt Contributed To Its Demise.

I did the obligatory call again today to the Lost and Found departments. I got plenty of sympathy all around. When I called Visa today again, they told I need to talk to Purchase Protection, who in turn said I must file a Police Report to get a refund.

So I called 311 sheepishly (pun not intended). The operator asked what was stolen. "Yarn," I said with a straight face. I mean - really, it could have been taken from me. I just know that when I got off the el train that bag of yarn wasn't with me. "Yarn?" she said, a bit incredulously.

I resisted the temptation to explain, to downplay the loss. More important thefts are reported, I realize. But the yarn was important to me. It was an investment in my hobby. It makes me less likely to start any new knitting projects in the near future. I don't want to lose what's dear to me, you know? I'm not saying I'll never start another sweater, however, I just need to recover. At least my wallet and credit card do.

So I told the 311 operator where I lost it, how it much was worth. And that was that. I got a report number which I can now use to submit my claim to credit card. Hurrah! I feel so much better that I finished off my Cacao Reserve by Hershey's Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs that I got free at the CVS Pharmacy using a coupon from yesterday's newspaper. Delicious, even if it was imported from Germany.

Life (and Monday) is better with a little chocolate, don't you think?

Before....And After

Here's a picture of me before entering Loopy Yarns in Chicago's South Loop neighborhood. I'm feeling a bit fatigued after having gotten up at 6 a.m. on this morning, dashing downtown to make an 8:10 a.m. editorial appointment (I was two minutes late thanks to door keys that conspired to get lost and a lagging El train). But I'm also exhilarated too - excited beyond belief at all the possibilities that are whirling in my brain after meeting six magazine editors face-to-face to discuss story ideas. I'm also thinking about a dress that I think I can knit for $15 after buying bunches of yarn for 70 percent at Loopy.

Now, it turns out the Pima tencel in Purple that I had in mind for the dress (a new one in a book about fitted knits; I forget the exact title) is not on sale. Oops. Cancel the $55.33 purchase on my United Mileage Visa card. It's back to the racks for another project. I end up filling my wiry wooden basket with 10 skeins of another royally-hued fiber: Baby Alpaca DK, normally $6.85 each. I get all these little furry little balls for a grand total of $20.55. A fall sweater of the warm sort is already forming in my mind.

I get on the subway train with my black Herman Miller tote, my purchase, and my cranberry Target purse. I'm taking this train all the home, so I pull out my summer knitting, the halter top. I'm lost in the thought, binding off here and there, and there and here, listening to these guys behind me talk about something my hearing-impaired ears cannot decipher for the puny life of me. Whatever.

I decide to get off the train at an earlier stop since I realize there's a street festival going on where I want to pick up (not figuratively, thank goodness) a bus. I'm off the train, and on the sidewalk when I realize, "Oh My God, I don't have my yarn!." Out pops the cell phone. I'm calling the transit help line; the operator there gives me the Lost and Found number. Nobody answers, unfortunately. I call the 800 number for my Visa since I bought the fiber with my credit card. They of course, give me another number. I call that number, and then another.

I don't make contact with the Right Telephone Number until I get home (and consume all of the Vosges chocolates I won in a lottery at my conference). Guess what? I need to talk to another Customer Service Department, which isn't open until...tomorrow.

So I've no idea if I'll get my money or the yarn back. I fear that the train engineer will toss the bag in the garbage since my 10 white tissue-paper wrapped hanks resemble big burritos-to-go. The plastic bag doesn't even feature the Loopy Yarns logo either. So I'm not super-confident I'll recover this project-in-the-making.

I might be more likely to recover the cost through my credit card since I purchased the train pass with my Visa as well as the actual items themselves. It's not worth losing my nap over, which I most definitely need since I've been in this meeting for 3 Days Straight. My brain is French-fried.

I've only lost project stuff once before...a remnant from Vogue Fabrics that I was going to transform into a surplice Kwik Sew top for my sister. I think I inadvertently threw that knit out since I haven't seen it since. I know it's not in the Stash since I've dug through the pile. But I didn't stress over that because it was a $6 buy.

What yarn/fiber/fabric/patterns have you lost? Please help me cope with paint of my Premature loss!