On her second day in Red Hook, she somehow slipped her leash, got spooked by a stranger trying to help get her back (Dear Dude, don't yell at dogs you don't know), and bolted. Cassie ran for the house to get me, and we spent the day in pyjamas, parkas and snowboots searching the neighborhood both in cars and on foot. We had 10 people there, friends and family, helping us both to search and for emotional support. Over the next 2 days, we spoke to everyone on the street, put up over 300 flyers, alerted every vet, shelter, pet store, and neighborhood dog association in our and surrounding neighborhoods, posted on craigslist and about 10 other lost dog/pet websites. We walked through the projects and along the waterfront at night and alone shaking bowls full of food and calling her name. She has tags and is microchipped. I had to leave for Florida for a few days on Tuesday, but Cassie kept looking. She checked out every phone call, every lead. She drove around Red Hook, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens every time we got a call.

All with no luck. That was over a week ago. The dog has disappeared. We've stopped looking now. We still check the shelter if there's a tip on a black lab, and we still answer every call. But the calls are fewer now, less like tips and more like, "Have you found your dog yet? We'll keep looking."

Had she been with us even just a few days more, she would have been more comfortable with us and known where her new home was. She would have been able to make her way back home. As it is, I'm afraid she's lost and didn't know how to make her way back to us. And maybe she wouldn't have been so afraid to come back to us.

We've come to the conclusion that she wasn't our dog. If/when she is found, we won't be keeping her. She'll be going back to live with her foster family. They have dogs, a bigger family and a less-stressful, less-urban environment. She needs those things. There were too many upheavals in her new life with us: new people, new house, new stressful environment. We needed a dog who could handle those things and understand that we've got great love to give. Sadly, she couldn't.

In a few weeks we'll start looking for a new dog. We're not ready for one yet, but perhaps soon we will be. And you know that as soon as we find another, she'll be found. Because that's the way the world works.

But it's worth it! I promise! For now I can reveal to you all what my secret mission has been.

Cassie and I got a dog! Yeay!

I've been missing my dogs ever since I moved out of my parents house. And now that Cassie and I are living in a house rather than in an apartment building and in a some what isolated neighborhood, we decided it was time to get a dog or a security system. We thought the dog was the better option. There's little chance for snuggling a security system. We already have a cat in the house, but he's not exactly good for security. In fact, if someone came in he would do the very scary hide-under-the-couch at them. Way to frighten off bad guys, Fred.

Thus: dog.

She's a lab/pit mix we got at the 11th Hour Rescue in Jersey. They're really fantastic people, you should totally check them out. A woman we work with volunteers there and she found us this perfect little girl.

After a rather long battle for names (there were a few times we almost came to blows. For girls with the same taste in most things, we definitely have different ideas about appropriate dog names) we decided (perhaps tentatively?) on Dagny. (Atlas Shrugged) She's very shy and comes from a pretty bonded dog family so being without her sisters is making her very upset. I really hope she's going to work out. She's definitely timid with the new environment. Understandable, really, Red Hook, Brooklyn is definitely different than rural Jersey. She seems to be warming to us, though. I think she's just going to take a little longer than most other dogs. We're not sure what happened to this little dog family in the early days of their lives, just that it probably wasn't very fun.

But now she's with some very nice girls who will love her and walk her a lot and take her to the dog park and give her lots of treats. She's totally going to love it here.

This has totally been the best week ever.

I wrote a pattern for the movie Coraline.

I have been frothing at the mouth wanting to tell you about this, but wasn't able to. I am a HUGE Neil Gaiman fan and a HUGE fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas, so to be asked to have anything to do with a project that brings those two together makes me a little weak in the knees.

This movie, like Nightmare Before Christmas, is stop-motion animation. Some of the characters had tiny handknit sweaters made for them by the insane genius that is Althea Crome. But for part of their viral marketing campaign, they asked me to create a person-sized pattern of Coraline's star sweater. The pattern was sent in some of the crazy mystery boxes that have been going out and now that the website is up it's hidden on there. So you too can make yourself a Coraline sweater.

I wrote the pattern for Children's sizes 6, 8 and 10 and Ladies sizes XS-XL (34-50"). It's a very interesting pattern in that you knit the sweater plain and then you do velvet appliqued stars all over. It's so much fun. [Rav link]

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to be working on this project. I want to yell it from the top of the mountains. CORALINE! SWEATER! But, yeah, not like I'm a fangirl or anything.

The pattern is hidden on the movie site, but I'll tell you in the comments where to find it if you don't want to search.

Plus, I finished my Drops Jacket! Yeay, sweater for ME! It's so comfy I don't want to take it off. At some point (soon), I'm going to have to though. I managed to spill pie on it while I was working on it. I know, what a spaz-tastic me thing to do, right? And, apple pie bits + wool = moth feast. NOOOOOoooo! That's just not going to stand around here.

Drops Jacket in Malabrigo Worsted
I added pockets, changed the collar to fold over, put in snaps instead of buttons (though I think I may be putting buttons over the snaps at some point. If I make this again I will: make the body 1 1/2-2" longer, make the sleeves about an inch longer, make the bust just a little looser, make the pockets just a little taller. LOVE it how it is for this one though.

Also, I would have more photos for you, but it was really chilly and beginning to snow as I was taking these. My poor little ears were not happy with me. And since I somehow always manage to cut off my hair in the winter time, I've been making (and wearing) lots of hats lately. I'll have pictures of those for you soon. Maybe also some more photos of me in my new jacket. You know, post-washing.

[rav link]

The new knit.1 comes out Dec 16th and it is going to be awesome. My friends Faith and Tanis are now co-editing it and have taken it in a very cool direction. I'm really happy to have gotten the chance to have a little part in it.

This sweater I busted out in just a month, so I was a little crazed, but it was so much fun. Some sweaters are killers on a deadline, but this one? Interesting, and super fun. Maybe I need to do more lace sweaters?

You really need to get some of that Koigu Mori (their new silk/merino blend). It's lovely to work with and makes a gorgeous, smooth, shiny fabric. And the semi-solid nature of the yarn picks up the texture of the lace, making it look almost iridescent. And that lace is super cool. Almost like lacey cables.

Whee! New sweater!