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Two weeks ago, Thea seemed to be losing her normal excitement for food so we took her to the doctor, expecting to find out she had some dental issue and learned she had a very aggressive form of lymphoma. The doc recommended palliative care and said she might even have a few good months ahead but, unfortunately, we only got another week. Today we had to say goodbye to her.

I can't begin to express how fortunate we were to be her humans and how much we miss her. She has slept by my side almost every night and kept me company while I work, since the day we adopted her. The emptiness where her playfulness used to be is deafening.

We adopted her in April 2007 and she was unfettered chaos. She destroyed my knitting, tore up books, and earned the moniker, "the stealth pooper," pretty quickly. Even so, it's impossible to think of her adoption as a "rescue" because she was the most loving, playful, outgoing pup from the start and if we hadn't scooped her up, some other lucky family would have.

Thea was a glorious weirdo, unrepentant hussy, and had the most amazing sense of humor. She seemed to always find humor in life and that rubbed off on all of us.

For me, it was love at first sight. I still remember seeing her photo on the rescue site and being instantly smitten. And then we got her and she was ten pounds of trouble in a five-pound sack.

I took this last picture the day she got her diagnosis. Her downturn was fast and unrelenting which was a kindness in its own way. She was unambiguously ready to go when we made the call. But that's all thinky logic stuff and it is doing fuck-all to cut through the grief. I miss her so much and wish I could kiss her head again.

I don't have any good way to wrap this up or the energy to regale you with the many wonderful stories I have about her. I just loved her to pieces and miss her terribly and I can't believe how fast she went from being her sweet goofy self to gone, but I am glad she isn't suffering and that I had so many wonderful years with her.

The gift-a-long ends at midnight eastern time on Wednesday which means you only have a matter of hours to save 25% on thousands of patterns from hundreds of designers.

I decided to look through the shops of some of the participating designers and picked out a few eligible designs that looked like they'd be fun to make or fun to wear. Links below the image.

Trellis & Chevron by BabyLove Brand | Tablet Braid by Janelle Martin | Peacock Tail Feather by Christa Veenstra
Rigel by Helen Gipson | Roses and Ivy by Julie Yeager | Irish Rover by Kirsten Hipsky
Estuarine by Stephannie Tallent | Mint Coffee Mandala by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk | Grow Your Molecule by Elena Fedotova

As you can see, there's lots to love in the GAL. Check out these designs and many many many more over here. If you buy a pattern during the GAL, you can join in the various KALs and CALs for a chance to win prizes. And remember, the discount ends at midnight eastern on Wednesday. After that, all patterns turn back into pumpkins and you'll have to leave the ball. Use code giftalong2016 to get your 25% discount until then.

And, if you happened to miss them, my eligible patterns can be found here.

A few years back, I participated in the Gift-A-Long and I'm doing it again this year. For those of you who aren't familiar the organizers describe it like this:

"The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by a rather extensive list of independent designers. From November 22, 2016 at 8:00 pm US EST to December 31, 2016 at midnight US EST there will be fun games, contests, and 8 KAL/CALs that will help you get your holiday knitting done with companionship and fun! From November 22, 2016 at 8:00 pm US EST to November 30th at 11:59pm US EST tons of indie designers will be discounting between 5 - 20 of their patterns 25% for this event. Use coupon code: giftalong2016. You can read all about the details in this post: click here or on the FAQ page in our group pages."

My eligible patterns are shown in the graphic above and are viewable in my GAL bundle on ravelry. To get all the details and join in the fun, check out the Ravelry Group. You'll find pinterest boards of all eligible patterns from all the designers as well as details about prizes.

I can't believe an entire month has passed since we launched the new edition of Twist. Between losing Panda and seemingly-unending home repairs that started in May with an attempt to get the house repainted and turned into an endeavor that required a carpenter, roofer, electricians and new decks, all before the painting could even begin, it's been hectic, to say the least. My poor little blog never stood a chance.

But the new edition of Twist is still waiting for you, if you haven't seen it yet and as always, I feel genuinely privileged to have a place in its virtual pages.

My first of two patterns is Lithograph a half-circle shawl design worked in twisted stitches and lace. For the submission process, I made a mini-prototype to show how the increases would blend into the background of the latticework.

The final shawl is worked in Lisa Souza's Polwarth Wool and Silk yarn which is a breeze to work with and so lovely to touch. The silk gives it plenty of drape while the wool gives the piece some substance. It's a perfect choice for this pattern.

My second design is Antrea, a beanie, slouch and cowl pattern suitable for anyone. Knitters are probably aware of the general submissions process for patterns and they see the end product, but in between those points, yarn companies, designers, and the members of the publishing and editing team, all try to wrangle a zillion moving parts to make the magazine. Yarn is often being shipped to other countries and then the sample shipped back to tech editors in a third country before being handed off to the publisher for photography and anywhere in there, a missed deadline or late delivery can throw the process off kilter. So was the case with the yarn for Antrea. It was originally scheduled to go overseas, went missing, alternate yarn was shipped and the orphaned yarn, finally tracked down, needed a home. Having finished up Lithograph fairly quickly, I volunteered and was told that I may only receive one color so I should plan a design that didn't require two different shades.

A bit of virtual graph paper and a few hours of playing and I had a cable pattern suitable for a unisex set that could be worked in a single color or with a contrasting color in the ribbing.

The SweetGeorgia Superwash DK is super soft and springy with great stitch definition so the pattern pops even in a darker shade. The hats can be worked in a smaller or larger circumference and fine-tuned with a tighter or looser gauge. One skein of each color will make either hat and the cowl in opposing colors dominance.

There's one more bit of new that you've probably noticed if you're friends with me on Facebook, I have a little bit of art with me all the time now.

Oregon Grape blossoms

This beautiful piece was created by Ashton Allen at No Hope No Fear and it's even more beautiful than I could have imagined it would be.

California Poppies, Mayflowers, and Violets

Each flower is the state flower for somewhere I've lived with a hummingbird in back because, well, hummingbirds are pretty.

Lilacs and Anna's Hummingbird

Barring any unexpected issues, it'll be colored in November and the tattoo will be complete. I love everything about it and can't stop looking at Ashton's beautiful artwork.

Panda is the dog that made me a dog person. I had a dog as a young child. He was a perfectly fine dog but he lived most of the day outside, had no real training and when he was inside, he was so pleased to be around humans that he was just too much energy for me to really manage. At least, that's what I remember. It was a long time ago.

Then I had a couple of rodents. They did what rodents did and mostly put up with their human and then pooped or peed and I did not know really how to connect with them. I killed most plants I touched. What I'm saying is that I was pretty sure that I just didn't have what was needed to connect with other living things and I was probably more harm than good to them anyway.

In 2000, I met Leo and I really liked him and he really liked me and we liked each other enough that after only a few short months of dating, we decided to quit our jobs and move to the west coast. He had ferrets which were illegal where we were going, so we found a great local rescue, made an additional donation and headed out west. I knew going into this that Leo wanted a dog and I was pragmatic enough to know that the odds of our relationship lasting were something other than 100% so I figured he'd get a dog, it'd be his dog and I would hope I didn't mess anything up too horribly.

My friend is an animal trainer and the company she worked with had a litter of border collie/cattle dog mixes that had a role in a flea and tick commercial. Their human sold the litter to the training company because they'd been a surprise and he didn't want them. The training company quickly adopted them all out except for the last little girl. Her name was Houston

She peed on herself and then crawled up next to Leo. She had been living with trainers for a while so she had a solid sit, stay, speak, and a few other tricks in her arsenal. She was gentle and timid and not at all like dogs I knew. We paid our $1 adoption fee and took her home.

We named her Panda and I began to brace myself for ruined shoes and musky dog smells. But that didn't happen. I once saw her chewing on the tip of my plush Spongebob slipper and told her no in a lightly stern voice and that is the last time I recall her assuming anything was a toy that wasn't given to her to play with. She was eager to learn tricks, affection and energetic.

Panda was a very good girl.

When we lived in Los Angeles, Leo would go on day trips, driving all along the California coast to find dog-friendly places to play. In her life, Panda saw the entire west coast from Tijuana to the Canadian border. She was a nervous dog but not at the beach. At the beach, she was fearless and free.

Leo will hate me for posting this picture but back in her younger days, we'd invite her up onto the couch and she'd sit really close to one of us, push off from her front legs while stiffening her spin and fall onto our arm and rest her head on our shoulder. It was pretty cute.

She grew to love being on the other side of the camera. The sound of the shutter would perk up her ears and she'd come running from another room if she heard it. It was hard to take sock photos but I can't say I minded.

Panda was a really good girl.

When we adopted Thea, she was unsure how to deal with this crazy ball of energy and misbehavior, but she was never cruel. She'd been our only dog for six years and we had a quiet life. Thea shook that all up.

But Thea loved Panda right from the start and she won her over pretty quickly. They became fast and inseparable friends.

Throughout her life, Panda has always been a fetch machine. Neither of her siblings have ever come close to matching her athleticism when it comes to catching "the squirrel."

Panda has been my a central part of my family, my home, my life since 2001. This post could go on forever while I remember the things, big and small, that made her special to me. I could talk about her TV appearances and modeling gig. I could talk about the times she outsmarted us and times she comforted us. I have thousands and thousands of photos of her and looking at them now, I still remember all our wonderful adventures together. She changed me. She made me see the value in being patient and understanding. She taught me to be more gentle and thoughtful with others. I can say, without hyperbole, she made me a better person.

And now I have to learn to let her go. Her decline has been fast. While she was showing her age a bit a year or so ago, the past few months, and the past few weeks, especially, have been hard. We've treated what we could to ensure she was comfortable, but we've always agreed that we'd try to do right by her and not let her suffer. Today, she woke up barely able to walk, uninterested in food and her breath got progressively more labored. It was time. I love my sweet old lady. I will miss her. She'll always be the dog who made me a dog person.