Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Incident With the Dog in the Night

We had our own... ahem... incident the night before last. This incident caused a bit of a falling out with Hazel and I. What is it? Oh, well yesterday as I was standing at the dining room table packing my things, preparing to leave the house, I turned around and saw this behind the recliner in our living room:


Hmm, is that what I think it is? Upon further inspection (all while holding my breath) I found this:


In case you're wondering why these look so familiar, it's because you just saw them here.  That's right. This was one of my new socks. I actually stood there for about ten seconds with my hands in the air shouting, "AHHHH!  NOOOO!"

I knew immediately that Hazel was the culprit. She's always had a thing for socks and has been known to steal them at night and tear them apart. Sometimes we are lucky and she merely sucks on them, leaving them gross and stiff. However, this time, my handknit sock was not so lucky. I looked at her and said, "How could you do this to me?  Three years old and I still can't trust you!"  She was coming over and jumping at me, trying to be friends. I couldn't even look at her; I was so mad.


I left the house in quite the tizzy, just about ready to cry. Now, in the past three years Hazel has chewed up many things but this definitely tops the list (the $25, unused Starbucks giftcard that I had received for Christmas is a pretty close second, though). 

You know that part in the Godfather 2 where Michael and Fredo are in Cuba and it's New Year's Eve? Michael has finally realized that it was Fredo who was betraying and endangering the family.  He grabs Fredo and holds him close (of course Fredo is trying to pull away) and says, "You break my heart." 
This was the kind of moment Hazel and I had.

I told just about everyone I saw yesterday what had happened. Both my mom and Mary asked if it was repairable. Truthfully, I really didn't look at it much before I left yesterday. So when I got home last night, I took some time to get a good look at the damage. Despite being covered in dried dog slobber, the toe of the sock had received most of Hazle's wrath.


I'm thinking I could probably just snip off the damaged part and, since I have about 35 grams of the yarn left, reknit the toe. I didn't notice any other tears to any other part of the sock so that really is the only repair that needs to be done. 


Thank goodness the other sock did not meet the same fate and is still safe in the laundry basket. I don't know if my heart or my sanity could have handled having both of the socks damaged.

15 comments:

  1. Ooooh, I hope you can repair it. We had basenjis, notorious for chewing, and they loved leather. Shoes, of course. Expensive ones that "will last forever". And, for some reason, usually MY shoes. A Birkenstock, a Naot and the cutest patent leather sandals you ever saw. Rrrrgh.

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  2. My heart sank when I saw that sock. So glad you have extra yarn.

    My beloved Maggie, who passed away three years ago at age 16, loved to chew on just one shoe of a pair, but only if it was MY shoe. Never anyone else. She outgrew this, but not before she also indulged in her sweater chewing and one corner of the couch.

    Love that Godfather scene, btw.

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  3. My poor jaw hurts from hitting the floor so fast. I feel for your socks. I make sure to keep mine from Lucy, because she'd break my heart in an instant if it meant a moment alone with some handknit socks. They're totally repairable, but wow! Hazel is on the "S" list.

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  4. I completely relate. I've had several incidents with my trouble cat, Olias, and my knitting. I'm sos orry that happened, and I think it is repairable. Maybe give yourself a little time before attempting it, until you can be less frustrated. We love our pets, but man, they make it difficult some days!

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  5. Oh, Andrea!! My feelings are altogether hurt for you...so sorry!I am glad that you can fix them. I received socks for sockapaloooza and they were cut through by Customs and have never been fixed.

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  6. Oh, no! So glad you have extra yarn. Maybe you need a lockable sock drawer? ;-)

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  7. Nightmare! I think I would have cried :-(

    We had a dog that used to raid the dirty laundry for worn knickers and chew them up. She wasn't content to do it in the house though, she used to sneak them out of the dog door and eventually abandon them on the drive. I dread to think what our postman made of it!!! But at least I hadn't spent hours handcrafting my knickers....

    Deep breaths and a large glass of wine might ease the pain!

    :-)

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  8. oh no!! i always carefully hide my knitting away...the dog isn't interested, but the cat cannot be trusted. i hope you can fix the sock!

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  9. I'll just say I've been there and know just how you feel and felt when you saw that sock. Love your plan of action to snip off that area and simply pick up and reknit toe area. If that doesn't work for whatever reason you might consider cutting and sewing and convert them into arm warmers a la Toast but it doesn't sound like that will be necessary, whew!!!

    Hazel - they were her first pair of socks - how could you???

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  10. oh no!!! My heart sank when I saw the sock. I'm glad upon closer look it may be repairable. You may want to wait a bit before tackling the repair. It will give you and Hazel a chance to make up.

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  11. Listen carefully....I'm sure you can hear this all the way from Montana....

    "Bad Dog! BAD, BAD HAZEL!!"

    And all the way from Montana, if I squint a little, I can see Hazel's tail between her legs slinking back into the laundry room - oh wait, she doesn't have a tail!!

    Sorry Andrea - right now she's a pup only a mom can love!

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  12. boy is she lucky you love her (and I hope she learned her lesson)! it does seem like a repair is completely possible - yay for generous skeins!

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  13. Kill the dog.

    No, I'm just kidding. I feel your pain though. My cat recently went diarrhea on a project that took me 10 months to complete (my fish blanket). I was literally shaking with rage. Good luck repairing your sock! And try not to kill the dog. Although, really, I'm sure no one would blame you if you did.

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  14. What a tragedy! I can totally relate. After we adopted Mingus, we had to only use laundry hampers and garbage cans with secured lids.

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