A non-knitting co-worker requested me to knit her new dog a sweater. (I thought about teaching her to knit, but read on to find out why I chose not to). She recently had to put down her 17 yo yellow lab, Howard. The vet actually came out to her car to do the deed. Megan was really torn up over Howard's death. She approached me last week to ask if I would knit a dog sweater for the new part yellow lab she adopted recently. The new dog, Harry, was found napping on the side of a road, and was picked up by someone. Megan's friend wound up with the dog, and Megan is now his loving owner.
Megan had been knit a sweater for the older dog, Howard, and she wanted it imitated.
The original, pictured here
, is knit in Hunter Orange acrylic (yeah, I know - I didn't do it). While it has some design flaws (in my opinion), it also has some really nice features. I really like the three non-matching oranges that clash just right. I learned from quilting that if colors match too well, the overall effect is not nearly as wonderful as when there is just the right amount of clashing going on to make the project dance. The three different oranges starting from the neck are actually wool or wool blends. The really bright orange main color is acrylic. And I really, really like the co-ordinating variegateds, one with a lot of yellows and one with a lot of blue, that are thrown in. Megan liked that the dog can step into the sweater arms. Other than the armhole placement, the real problem with the sweater lies in the acrylic yarn. First off, acrylic isn't warm when it gets wet in snow or rain. Secondly, the acrylic stretched when wet, leading to the belly side of the sweater dragging in the snow. That served to make the stretching issue worse.
So, I am going to make Version No. 2 of the sweater for Harry.
I found some Canadian Hunter Orange wool
at City Side Yarn Co. , pictured here (the yarn at the middle of the picture). Now that I have seen the original and really liked the colors in it, I returned to City Side and found some coordinating stuff to add to it. There is some WoolPak (bottom) and some Cascade 220 (top). If anyone in Blogland knows a source for dog themed buttons for this project, I would appreciate the information...
In the meanwhile, I found some garish yellow orange humongous buttons
for the belly button band, and some wonderful cat buttons to put on the back collar (what would a dog sweater be without a cat on it somewhere to drive the dog crazy???)
I was hoping to have some fall foliage shots to share, but we are having a really lame fall here.
We still haven't had any frosts, and most of the trees are turning yellow only. We are missing the flame oranges and bright reds this season.
After my last post, I got myself moving forward with some of the multitude of projects I have ongoing. I finished one of the gauntlet mittens
which will be felted when its mate is complete. I put the pattern page next to it for size comparison - the unfelted mitten is several inches longer than the 11.5" page is.
Merlin's sweater
has another skein added on to it. I am about 2-3" below the armhole now. The striping is changing now that the row is shorter...
And lastly, but certainly not least, I am up to the thumb gusset on the first of the fingerless glove-mitts I am making for No. 2 son.
The other two pair of wristers are finished, ends woven in and will be mailed next week.
Meanwhile, we continue to unload the upper floor in the house, and the Great Room in preparation for the floor refinishing. It finally dawned on me this afternoon that we also have to move the refrigerator and the stove for the floor guys. I'll be getting up quite early to go borrow a hand truck to assist in the task. I am really glad I work with some strapping young men to help with the physical moving of the heavy stuff! I am gathering a week's (okay, a month's) worth of knitting projects to have with me in the borrowed RV since we won't be able to access the upper floor where the majority of my knitting stuff is, and we will be without TV, computer (possibly), etc. Maybe I'll actually finish some of my projects, or at least make a dent on them!
Meanwhile, my tri-annual house cleaning is well under way for the preparation for the floor refinishing. Every bookshelf has been emptied and dusted. The baseboards will be visible tomorrow so they can get vacuumed and washed. The ENTIRE floor can be washed with Murphy's oil soap. And, then the Pandora's Box of being able to see the walls in their entirety and inventory which ones are in need of repainting. Does it ever end?
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