ERROR MUSCLE MEMORY NOT FOUND RESTART Y/N

Reader, it was as if 20-odd years of knitting had gone =poof,= and it was most disconcerting. It's so… insubstantial? that my hands simply had no idea what to do. It was as if I were trying to knit without any fiber at all, and on US#2 circulars to boot. Casting on? What's that? How exactly does one hold the working yarn, again? Buh?

And of course the more that sense of file-not-found drove me to distraction, the harder it was to recover anything. And I had no "real" yarn to play with, because I'm on vacation and only brought the one project. I had to resort to VIDEO TUTORIALS, reader. (God bless you, knittinghelp.com; you remain an invaluable resource) It took a good 30 minutes of fumbling before I was anywhere near ready to go.

Add to that the fact that I've never done a shawl before and the whole "starting from the pointy end" means you're casting on 3 stitches and going from there, which means there's nothing to speak of on the needles as I'm learning to negotiate this crazy lace-ish stuff, and it's like doing surgery on a tangle of dental floss.

Just finished a long-term knitting project - I say "long term," as I am something of a slow knitter. This is the Versa Cowl, a free pattern on Ravelry (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/versa-cowl), done up in Red Heart's Brushed yarn in the 'Biscuit' colorway, and Caron Blossom Cake's 'Bark' colorway. It was quite the learning experience. I found myself, more than once, turning to Norman and his Nimble Needles (https://www.youtube.com/@NimbleNeedles) for advice. The finished piece can be worn a number of ways, but I'm leaning heavily toward the hooded cowl option. I'm debating on whether to block it or leave it as is. It is sooooooo soft. 🧶