Lost and Not Found

Some people go through life leaving little Hansel and Gretel trails of things behind them: a lost hairband on the bus, a sock at the laundromat, a book at a friend's house, an umbrella at a restaurant, a sweatshirt at the gym. I am not one of those people. I generally keep good track of my things. When I get up from my seat on the subway, I tend to look back just to make sure I didn't leave anything behind. When I am leaving somewhere where I've put my things down, I tend to take mental stock of what I came with and compare that to what is in my possession as I am leaving.

However, I am not perfect nor is my system of check and double check. No matter how careful I am, sometimes things disappear. On the rare occasion that I lose something, it eats at my mind. I usually run down the list of finding-lost-stuff steps that my mom taught me. Step one: think where you last had it. Step two: retrace your steps. Step three (I added this one, mom is not to blame for step three): repeat the statement "how could I have lost it?!?!" until ready to move on to step four. Step four: conclude the process by declaring "It'll turn up eventually."

Almost a month ago, somewhere between the Harvard Square T stop and my work, I lost something. I lost the mate to this:

Folks, that is a sad lost. That is a handknitted mitten within a handknitted, felted mitten. I thought back to where I last remembered having it, retraced my steps, checked various lost and founds, cursed myself for losing it and then hoped that it would turn up. It hasn't.

When it was chilly, I wore those mittens every day. Once I accepted that they were probably not going to reappear, I moved on to deciding on a replacement pair. Here is what I made:

They are thrummed mittens. The thrums are made with cotton roving. I suspect they won't be nearly as warm and nice as wool roving would have been but they are Trinity friendly and that was my goal.

By making the new mittens, I've taken steps towards accepting the loss. Though, I have to admit that I still have my eye out for the lost mitten during my daily commute because sometimes things really do turn up later.