Aby-a-Day – 21 Februari 2020: New collars and travel leashes (Fashion Friday)

I thought I had posted about this here, but apparently I only ever mentioned it on Facebook: I am bereft. I just discovered my friend, Sally Keats, died last month. She was the person who made all my leashes and collars…I have “known” her for at least 10 years. I just can’t even.

I had been in the middle of a conversation with her about a new collar for Dashiell. She had gotten a new shade of green leather and we were excited to use it on Dash’s new collar, so he would have something a little different from Jacoby. She had beat cancer, and when she didn’t respond to my messages, I got concerned…and discovered she had died.

Reluctantly, I had to find a new person to make collars and leashes for the cats. So I went to Etsy and looked for people who make kangaroo leather show leads and collars. I looked for people in Europe…and, serendipitously, I found Emoticon Leads, and Jessica…in Jönköping!

When I had been trying to contact Sally, besides Dash’s own collar (and not one of Jake’s hand-me-downs), I had wanted short leashes for the show cats, because the long ones we have are a bit unmanageable on the train. After finding Jessica, I decided to get everycat a new collar (it’s been a while for all of them, especially Angel) as well as the travel leashes for Izaak, Lorelai and Dash.

They arrived last week. Angel and Alfred’s collars on their own, and the others in lovely silk bags. Jessica also made little paracord tassels to match the three leashes.

Jessica uses smaller rings on the collars than Sally did. It’s kind of nice. A little more dainty and cat-like. I really like the purples on Angel’s collar.

Zak’s collar and leash in shades of blue. Jessica made the leash handles openable adjustable, the same way Sally did.

Rory’s collar and leash in shades of red. Jessica has bronze hardware as well as brass, and she used the bronze for Rory.

And here is Dash’s collar and leash. Jessica had the same new green that Sally had. I think it’s really pretty, and perfect for Dash. It’s also different from all the collars and leashes Jake had, which is kind of nice.

And here are all the new collars in action! Angel’s purple always looks so good with her sorrel fur.

Freddy’s new collar has more grey and less black. It suits him.

Rory’s collar looks like it’s just red, but it’s actually three different, subtle, shades of red.

I love Zak’s combination of blues. Blue really goes with sepia.

And here is Dash, proudly wearing his very first, all his own, green collar.