Mostly comment responses:

Charlotte, pralines, while not strictly Cajun, would be New Orleans. That would be another option for desserts....I didn't think of them. I often make pralines at Christmas time. (The only problem with making them for the lunch...if it's as humid next week as it is now, they'll be all sugary. Candy is best made on dry days.)

Lydia, CPAaG is the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry. It's one of the odder groups on there. We rarely talk about knitting. But it's become a little community of sorts and the people are funny and supportive. And it's one of the rare places where I feel free to be a bit childish, in the sense of laughing at things that would have amused me when I was 12.

I do think I'm going to finish the dog quilt and donate it in her name and I'm also considering making a donation to cancer research in her name. I will just have to find a good group. (I don't know specifically what kind of cancer; all that was ever said was, "an abdominal cancer" so I don't know if I'm supposed to read between the lines like with my grandmother (hers was uterine cancer) or if it was something they couldn't really localize).

Thanks for the support. On some level I was expecting the news at some point, just not so soon. Cancer, to use a word I rarely use on here, sucks.

Oh, and Ellen: Clapotis is still going, it's just not at a stage that's interesting to photograph right now. I guess I kind of put it to the side in favor of other things, but it will get finished eventually.

And to answer Lynn's question of a few days ago (This will require a more involved discussion) about how long hand knit socks last. The answer is, "It depends."

It depends on a number of things, mainly I think, the yarn used, the gauge knit to, and how you wear the socks.

There are many yarns you can make socks of. Some of them perhaps being yarns you should not make socks of. Yarn that is very softly spun tends to make weaker socks. The best sock yarn tends to feel kind of "hard" - in the sense of being tightly spun.

Opinions vary, but I tend not to like all-synthetic yarns for socks. They may be stronger but they do not breathe; it is like wearing plastic bags on your feet. I tend to prefer wool.

Wool is a little warm for the summers here but the other day, out in the field, I was reminded of one of its best properties: it continues to keep you warm even when it's wet. (I stepped in a hole full of water while collecting the soil. I was wearing sneakers with woolen boot socks. It would have been a lot more miserable if I had had the thin cotton athletic socks I usually wear with sneakers on)

Most of the sock yarn made by the large companies (Regia, Online, Opal) has about 25% "polyamid" (I think that's the same as polyester?). This is supposed to make the yarn stronger. I have never tested it. Some of the smaller, independent dyers use 100% wool yarn. I really think if the yarn is tightly spun, the wool vs. wool plus polyamid won't make a difference.

There may also be differences between different wools - merino, for example, tends to be softer than some other breeds. I've never really investigated, though.

The gauge is also important. Simply put, the tighter, the better. I tend to shoot for a gauge of 8 to 10 stitches per inch on sock-weight yarns. This give a firm fabric. Looser stitches can experience more friction and may wear out faster. Also, slipped stitches (I think) tighten the gauge; often heels are knit using a slipped-stitch pattern which makes a thicker fabric that wears better.

How you wear the socks also plays a role. I have heard that walking around in stocking feet on carpeted floors can wear socks out faster. I don't have carpet in my house, and I usually wear slippers if I'm walking around bare/stocking footed so I don't know about that one. But the type of shoes you wear can have an effect: if there are points where the shoes create friction, that can lead to the socks wearing out. I usually wear handknit socks with clogs (low friction) or, yes, Birkenstock sandals (so sue me, fashion police) which also are low friction. (If I could find a pair of nice, clunky, Mary Jane type shoes, I would also consider wearing those with socks.)

Friction is the enemy of socks.

All of that said, I've never had a pair of handknit socks actually wear out. I've had a few that are getting thin in spots (mainly under the heel) but I've never had any "blow out" in the way that the cotton athletic socks I wear for exercising do (big holes starting in the heel or under the ball of the foot). Some of the socks I've been wearing off and on for seven or eight years. (I can't speak to how heavy wear would affect them, because none of them see particularly heavy wear, as I have many pairs).

I will say the times I've had holes appear, they can be blamed on one of two things:

carpet beetles (curses upon them) or the fact that I got a sandbur tangled in one of the socks. In both cases, strands of yarn got broken, and as I wore the socks, the hole enlarged. (The holes typically have been in the cuff, which tells me they're not wear-holes). And yes, I bother to repair them. Either with leftover yarn from the socks if I have it, or with a matching yarn. I put too much effort into my socks to throw them out of they get holes. (In a couple of cases, I've even reknit portions of the sock when they got damaged).

I like to think of the mends as being similar to the Japanese practice of mending tea bowls with gold seams. While on the one hand, the holes bother me - they are a reminder of the impermanence of all good things on this Earth - on the other, it gratifies me that I can repair the socks, and that they are worth repairing.

(The cotton athletic socks? When they wear out - usually pretty spectacularly with big holes on the ball of the foot - I throw them out and buy new ones).