I don’t normally do this, but I would like to add a little back story to these boots, and the reason for their name. In September of 2012, I lost a very dear friend to breast cancer. She was much too young, leaving behind 3 daughters. She had fought valiantly for a year and a half fighting for her life. But when it got to the point where we all knew it was going to take her, it went FAST! She was moved to her mother’s home in our hometown so that her mother could care for her and spend her last days with her only child. Her mother asked me if I could make her a pair of slippers to keep her feet warm. On Friday night, we had a girl’s night in, with all of us girls who were close in high school, Melissa’s two youngest daughters and her mother Ramona. We had some very special professional photographers volunteer their time to document our evening together. It was a night I will never forget. That weekend, I started Melissa’s slippers for her, optimistically assuming she would have a few weeks to wear them. On Monday evening, Ramona called to tell me that she was gone. I never finished the slippers. So, I have decided to make these slippers in pink (for breast cancer) and name them Melissa in honor of my beloved friend. At the end of the year, I will total up the profits from selling my pattern and donate $1 per pattern sold to breast cancer research in her memory. There are several organizations I have in mind, so I will probably pick a different one each year. She was the strongest woman I ever knew, and I feel blessed knowing that she is my angel watching over me.