Naming William Wiggles

(Or How I Won This Yarn)

The red knitting I've been doing lately is not going to end until I knit something with this gorgeous yarn I received from Leah.

It arrived wrapped in the paw print tissue and with a little note saying, "Please excuse the Papillon hair." Of course! Papillon hair makes everything a little more precious - except something I plan on eating.

This is Araucania Ranco fingering weight yarn, 75% wool 25% polyamide, hand dyed in Chile.

The color is a beautiful, deep, warm rusty red. In the sunlight it looks like a carnelian stone. Leah must have been studying my color preferences to get it so perfect.

It's the color mate to the Firecracker Heather yarn I'm using for Autumn Song. Now I need to find the perfect sock pattern.


Last May Leah fostered a one year old Papillon rescued from a puppy mill. He was temporarily named Ace.

I fell in cyber love and was tempted to drive to Nashville, Tennessee and adopt him. Fortunately, DH Bob and I have an agreement that three dogs is all we can handle. As long as one of us stays sane when the other is tempted, we're OK.

Bob stayed sane and I started praying for Ace to find a good home.


This story has a happy ending.

A while later Leah blogged about how quickly Ace was learning to be a happy, healthy dog. Leah's mother nick-named him "Mr. Wiggles".

In August Leah decided Ace/Mr. Wiggles was going to have his forever home right where he lived - at Leah's house. She had a contest to name him.

Leah announced the contest winner on August 28:

Contest Winner - The Winner for choosing Ace’s new name is…….DRUM ROLL…Marguerite. She suggested the name William and teasingly wrote that he could be called Willy Wiggles. I fought the need to name him this as I am not sure I want a “Willy.” It just seems so undignified. It is just a thing of Fate and cannot be avoided. My thoughts are I will call him Will and put the ‘eee’ sound on it when I need to. Wiggles. Darn it.

The honor of naming sweet William was prize enough, but I sure do love the yarn. I wish William and Leah many happy years together.