Archive for ‘December, 2008’

Sadness

For those on Flickr, you’ve probably seen this already. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to blog about it until now.

As quickly as one dog came into our lives, the other was lost. Our dear sweet Shambles died last Wednesday at the ripe old age of 17. He was such a funny old man and to say we adored him doesn’t begin to cut it.

Sweet Shambles

We were devastated by the loss but are feeling much better this week. Many thanks to everyone who made comments on Flickr or will here. I know a lot of people grew quite fond of the cranky old goat, and who can blame them? He was one of a kind.

Fiber Club:

I’m behind on the fiber club, between Shambles sadness and Christmas orders. If I don’t get it out before Christmas, I’ll have it finished and boxed before Christmas and mail it straight after. I apologise for the lateness and hope everyone understands. Thank you!

Yarn:

I put some Maisy Day Handspun yarn in the shop today. Yay!

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Meet Pippa and Her Sweater

We got another dog. :)

Meet Pippa

She’s lovely, unless you ask Shambles. He’s tired of being manhandled by a 17 lb. puppy. She’s either sound asleep with her legs in the air or jumping all over the damn place. She’s 8 months old, a Wirehaired Fox Terrier/ Beagle cross, and made of awesome. We got her on Freecycle. How could I not run to get her? She was in heat and tied outside. Everyone keep your fingers crossed she’s not up the pole, okay?

I made this new dog a sweater because her hair is so wispy, you can see her skin through it. Brr! She’s getting used to wearing clothing. At first, putting the sweater on her removed her ability to walk. I’ve never had a puppy, so that was surprising and amusing.

Ready for walkies:
Pippa In Her Sweater

Yarn: my hand-dyed and handspun Cosmos Merino wool (worsted spun from top)- worsted weight, 225 yards
Needle: size 5
Size: Pippa Size!

Seamless construction knit in the round, except where the leg holes are. It was worked back and forth there for awhile.

I cast on the neck, ribbed for awhile, then put 2 double increases in about an inch apart and increased every few rows until the area between the increases was equal to the area between her legs.

Put in the leg holes, knit straight awhile, then put in a centered double decrease on the underside, since she has a nice slim waist.

Cast off some stitches at the tummy and decreased on both sides one stitch in from the edge until the sweater was as long as I wanted. I then started ribbing and picked up and ribbed around the hole for awhile. Did the same at the leg holes and yay!

I made this with no ease and that was a mistake. She’s kind of stuffed into it like a sausage and it’s hard to get it off her. Hitting the perfect balance between stuffed-sausage and having a sweater too loose is difficult! Shambles can get his sweater off by catching it on a branch. He’s always taking his own sweater off. I’ll try again with another sweater for her soon. She’ll need plenty as she loves the snow.

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