I was going to write a whole blog post about Quincy's life. One of my friends suggested I write a letter to Quincy and put it in her grave with her, but I couldn't bear to write it until now.
Here goes:

Dear Quincy,

Thanks for hanging out with me for the last 14 years. It's been a wild time, for sure. When we brought you home from the pet store, the whole dog-in-the-purse trend hadn't really caught on yet. I'd like to think we started it.

Thanks for coming everywhere with us- to restaurants, on crazy hiking trips, even to high school in my backpack. You were there for me when I was going through adolescence, and I'm sure your fur is partially made of my tears.

Thank you for gracefully accepting your second string spot when Hannah was born. I was so scared that you'd resent her for taking your space, but the worst thing you ever did to her was steal her spot in the bouncy seat.

Thanks for absorbing more of my tears while I was a single parent going through college. Thanks for putting up with all of the tail pulls and food-grabbing. You were (mostly) graceful about it, and I understand when you weren't.

Thank you for giving me such disgusting stories to tell, like the time you chewed up an entire trashcan's worth of used tampons and pads and then strewed the contents all over our living room floor. Or the time you ate my toddler's poop the second it landed on the floor. I appreciate grossness, and sometimes you took it to a level even I couldn't have imagined.

Thanks for taking third and fourth string to my second and third babies. They loved you, although not as fiercely as my first. Thank you for being Hannah's little companion, and for teaching her about compassion and being gentle, patience, unconditional love, and finally, about saying goodbye.

I'm sorry I wasn't a more attentive doggie-mama. Life gets in the way with three kids, a husband, and a home. I hope you know that you always had a special place in my heart, even when I didn't have the time to make a place for you in my day.

I hope your last days here were good for you. I had a good time walking you and letting you smell every leaf and pile of poop that caught your eye. You're the only one I would go to a McDonald's drive-thru for. Thanks for posing for pictures and licking my face and wagging your tail every time I walked in the room.

The vet said that your gift to us was 14 years of unconditional doggie-love, and that our gift to you was a dignified and painless end of life. It's so hard, but I know it's true. Love ya, girly.

it's going to be a hard week

It's time to put our dog Quincy to sleep. I'm generally practical about pets and veterinary care, but calling and making an appointment to euthanize the dog I've had longer than my driver's license? hard.

I think I made it thirty seconds into the call before I started blubbering.

The thing that sucks more than losing this dog (which I've come to view as closely intertwined with my youth) is that my kids are losing this dog. We went to the library and checked out all of their pet loss books. It's going to be a difficult week.

because I'm tipsy

I'm going to admit that my two most favorite movies are How to Make an American Quilt and The Sex and the City Movie.

And yeah, they're not crazy deep, but they're about female friendship, and they make me all mushy for my girlfriends (and one boyfriend who is like a girlfriend). You ladies rock.

(this blog entry helped me to not post this confession on FB)

Wurm!

In the past month, I've knit the same pattern twice.

This is the Wurm hat. It was a fun knit, both in Noro Yuzen and in a Savers-score alpaca.

this is Hannah's version, inside-out.
I'm not one for a lot of color, but I kind of want to steal her hat.


Mine has less color and more slouch.




This was my first time doing a knitted hem, and I'm kind of obsessed now. It's so neat and satisfying.

In doing a google search for "wurm hat", I came across this neat blog. One hundred hats in one year- yikes!

Happy 30th, Mr. F

and this gem:

from November 3rd, 2005.
Apparently I left this little note for my husband and then I took a three hour nap.

Aha!

I've been wondering how long it's been since I've been a knitter. I had a vague idea, but no solid date. I was scrolling through Chris' old Photo-a-day looking for pictures I'd like to hang in the house, and I came across this one:

From August of '05. Now I know.

Yesterday we received a birthday party invite for a fellow homeschooler. Part of the party will be making hearts for Hearts That Help. Unfortunately, we'll be unable to attend.

I found a pattern on Ravelry for a felted heart, and Hannah and I have a heart assembly line going on.



Another set of homeschoolers created their first little company, HOPE cookies. I wish I had a link, but I think they're really small-scale. They're selling 5 cookies for $5 and donating all of the proceeds to Doctors Without Borders. They've already raised $600. These kids rock.

Mostly Hats

I've decided to spend this year knitting hats. I've tried sweaters and scarves and mittens, but I really love knitting hats. The other day I actually found myself listing the reasons why I like knitting hats. It went something like:

a. instant gratification and increased likelihood of a finished object

b. no-guilt ripping out

c. the winter is cold

d. bad hair day solution

e. gauge matters less

f. i have a habit of buying one or two skeins of yarn

The desire to own this pilot cap is the reason I started knitting, and I've come back to it at least 20 times, for my own children and as baby gifts.

Some other patterns on my list for this year:

Windschief by Westknits

Habitat by Jared Flood

Wurm by Katharina

Odessa by Grumperina

Botanic by Westknits

Very Warm Hat by Elizabeth Zimmermann

I am also anxiously awaiting the release of Twisted Wooly Toppers, which will round out my list.

This is about it for my New Year's "resolutions". Knit more hats.

Not looking

Both the library books and the armwarmers were found within 2 days.

The library books were under a blanket, in a wagon, in my in-laws' garage. The armwarmers were under a couch cushion at my grandparents' house. Tearing apart my own house was completely unnecessary. At least I got some cleaning done and saved the $32 library fee...