I was having a hard time during the Spring of 2009. I had just come out of a year of both brutal and positive change, and was really unsettled and floating, trying to heal and figure out what to do to best serve ME. I decided to take a self-imposed retreat to rural Wisconsin to write, reflect, and just slow down. I spent over a month reading, writing, cooking, and walking a beautiful dog.

During my last days in Wisconsin, I cast on this Milkweed Shawl. On the 4-day drive back home, I knit on this project while talking to my roadtrip buddy about love, life, and the choices we make. The last day we were on the road, I got to the end of the shawl and put it in my project bag to finish the bind off when I wasn’t in the car. That night, we stayed at my friend’s family’s house in Idaho. The next morning, I realized my Milkweed was gone.

My friend called his family, and they looked for the shawl--nothing. Every once in a while I would contact them to see if anything turned up. Nothing. I was so sad to lose this project, not only because it was a Socks That Rock Rare Gem that I purchased while working at the best yarn store in the world, Twisted, a color I adored and knew couldn’t be replicated, not only because I love the pattern, but because I knit all of those little stitches with a lot of intention and heavy introspection. I didn’t want to restart it. I was just so sad to lose this project.

Last week, I got a message from my friend’s cousin saying that she found the Milkweed while home on Spring break, helping with the Spring cleaning. I was thrilled. I jumped around, singing about my Milkweed, thinking about how it felt in my hands. It came in the mail on Thursday, the day of the week we have our local knit night. I bound off those hundreds of stitches while surrounded by the community of knitters I have come to know in my new town. How very full-circle. I know that I put a lot of woo-woo value on symbols sometimes, but I am so happy to have this piece of my life to hold and wrap around my neck.

ETA: Won first place at the county fair, September 1st, 2011!
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I finished knitting this while on a roadtrip, put it aside to bind once I had a tapestry needle, and it was never seen again. It was so beautiful. I loved it so much. Sniff. RIP. Knit from August 20-28th except for binding off.

3-22-2010 Glorious news! The Milkweed has been found, almost 7 months later! I will post pictures when it arrives.

3-26-2010 Bound off and is blocking.