Scooter's Sweater

Every year I say I'm not going to do holiday knitting. And every year, a week or so before Christmas, I start feeling bad that I haven't made Scooter anything. I know what you all think; dogs don't care about knits. Well, Scooter is a dog after my own heart. He loves knits. He seeks them out. Nothing makes him happier than cuddling in something knitted. (Of course this is a problem when I'm actively knitting the thing he'd like to be sitting on.)

This is Scooter's new trick, "Wave." I'm teaching him to wave with his left and right paws on command.

Scooter has been without a sweater that fits for several years now. He has outgrown the one he has and gets upset when we put it on him. He looked a bit like a stuffed sausage when it was on. But he's 10 years old now, and I think he gets a bit colder than he used to.

There were various family theories over whether he hated sweaters or if he didn't like the one that was too small. I was on the side that felt that he would like a sweater if it fitted him. So I sunk some money and bought three skeins of Cascade 128. I knew he liked that yarn because last year's present was made of it. 

Since Scooter could care less if it is Christmas or not, I went ahead and put it on him as soon as I was done with it. He appears to like it! As he should. I measured him and custom knit it to his sizing. And I added extra leg room so he could run all he wanted without sleeves feeling funny. Here is the project's ravelry page if you want yarn and needle details.

 

He's catching a treat in this photo. It does a good job of showing the shaping I put into the chest.

There's one last thing to note. I made the sweater to match mine. Yes, that's a bit dorky, but I don't care. He's my little buddy.

"Give me the treat, human."

Vestus For The Rest Of Us

I am on fire. Another FO in under a week. My Aunt had requested a vest last year. Although it took me until now to feel comfortable enough with my skills to design a vest for her.

She loaned me one of her vests so I could match the sizing. I am proud to say that I the knit vest is pretty darn close in size to her other vest. She also bought the yarn, which was Universal Yarns (now discontinued) Deluxe Worsted Magic in the Blue Meadow colorway. The ravelry project page is here.

It's funny how when you follow a knitting pattern, shaping a shoulder is easy. But when you are writing up a "quick" pattern, all of a sudden shoulder shaping is a mystery. After a few days of puzzling, I finally thought to add a few short rows to help it slope. Ta-da. Magic.

I was so eager to start my next project, that I actually started swatching while walking to get tea. This lovely ball of Handmaiden Casbah was a nightmare to ball. I was going to roll it up "quickly" before bed, but it turned into a tangled mess (no fault of my own), so I went to bed at 2:30AM because I couldn't just leave it. What will this skein become, you wonder? It will be a pair of Smaug Socks that I fully intend to wear when I go see The Hobbit.

Christmas Liar

A few days ago I boasted that I wasn't doing any Christmas knitting. None. Well, I'm going to have to admit to you all that I am a Christmas liar. It wasn't suppose to happen this way. I really wasn't going to do any Christmas anything. I even delivered all my "before Christmas, but not really for Christmas" presents. But then a shipment of Cascade 128 Superwash showed up at work. As I labeled it all I realized that I really couldn't deny one fuzzy little guy a Christmas present.

You see that? He is posing with yarn. I asked him to and he did! No treats, no nothing. I just asked him to be near the yarn for the picture. A guy who is willing to jazz up a yarn photo without incentive deserves a Christmas present. So Scooter will be the recipient of the only "for Christmas" present I am making this year. Note the colors. Does it remind you of a certain project I finished not too long ago?

I already know he likes the yarn. I presented a skein to him and he grabbed it, ran off, deposited it near the dining room table and barked. I'll assume he said, "I love it. You had better start knitting tonight."

Christmas Spinning

In addition to my "knit before Christmas" knitting projects, I had a few "spin before Christmas" spinning projects. I didn't want to show them off until they were delivered because they were a surprise. (And I know the recipients read this blog. Hi guys!)

I spun up three skeins of yarn for my three regular knit night buddies.

It's silly, but I had been worried that my buddies wouldn't like the yarn. I was of course completely wrong. The skeins were a big hit. I also put homemade cookies in the packages as well. I'm sure that helped.

The labels, as seen below, are organized by: skein name, dyer's name, breed of sheep, yardage, yarn weight, and wraps per inch. 

I am now officially done with all things Christmas. I'm now focusing my attention on a sock test knit and a sweater for myself. Go me!

Love Blanket

The other day I was reading a blog post on Needled called Generosity. Kate talks about how generous knitters can be. She was a recipient of a hand knitted blanket made by ten people that she didn't know. I'm sure every knitter who reads that blog was a wee bit jealous. (Although she very much deserved every bit of love that blanket contained) Fast forward a few days. As I went out to walk the dog, I saw a package addressed to me from my old employer (and friend). I put it inside and continued on. Scooter had a quick walk that day. As soon as I got home, I ripped the box open.

Tore past the tissue paper to find this. A hand crocheted blanket made for me! Especially for me!!! For anyone who knits/ crochets/ quilts, etc, you know that each stitch was done with that special recipient in mind. As soon as I saw it, I exclaimed, "It's a love blanket!" And boy do I feel loved in it.

It's huge! It's heavy! It's double thick! All the color work is carried inside the stitches.

Thanks so much Mrs. L! I think about you, your husband, and camp very fondly. And every time I look at the blanket, I'll be reminded how loved I am. (I also appreciate the amount of postage it took to send the blanket to me)