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Shoot, I can't even remember when Mark first challenged me to a knit-off (or in my case, a crochet-off). Maybe the end of October? He needed motivation to start (and FINISH) a project, and he figured I would hold him accountable. The ending date was set for Christmas.   It wasn't until Thanksgiving that I mentioned the contest to him, and to my surprise, he hadn't done much.  We weren't telling each other what we were doing specifically, but I did want to check in with him.  When I told him that I would be done by Christmas, the ended result happened--he got his rear end in gear and started knitting! In the end, I made a blanket with a pattern that I had used before, but I decided to go with a festive Christmas theme in my color choices.  I finished the whole thing, and it served a double purpose: it kept me warm at night while I was working on it ;-) Mark? He decided to try a Fair Isle knitting pattern for a sweater.  Fair Isle--that is a BRUTAL technique, and ...

I'm honestly not sure how I can write this post.  I wish I was some kind of writer who could capture the life of Hootie and our feelings about him, but only our memories give him full credit of who he was and what he meant to us.  Hootie coming to us was the definition of serendipity.  Range had been missing for a while, and John suggested that Hannah go over to the battle barn (a barn across 550 in Port Matilda) to pick out a cat because, as John has always said, "every girl needs a cat".  Knowing what I know now, I don't think I would ever recommend taking a "barn cat" out of a barn to live in a home, but Hootie never was a barn cat.  He had been raised in a home with his two siblings, but at some point, the owner gave them to the barn owner.  I can't even imagine Hootie surviving in a barn without the love of people, so it should be no surprise when Hannah showed up that he ran right to her. The deal was done.  Or so we thought. That first night, he...