A New Coat for the Pup

One of my favorite things to knit is doggie coats. Like baby clothes, they knit up quickly.

And while my doggie Georgie Girl has very heavy fur if I don't cut it, it still gets pretty cold here in Baltimore, and I think she needs a little extra warmth on those cold winter walks we like to take.

I think she looks especially prosh in a hand-knit coat...

Here, she models the first coat I made her ... it's a simple pullover with a separate ruffled neckpiece (she looked silly in it, but it kept her warm). It's not a good picture, I don't seem to have another one. She'd just come in from a snowy walk.

My second effort was much better. This is the Basic Turtleneck Sweater from a book by Ilene Hochberg.

Here's the larger version of the same sweater.

Here is the latest -- like the first, it's a pattern I just made up. I used Lion Brand Hometown USA, a thick-n-quick yarn.

(check out the blurry tail action!)









So despite five WIPs ... that is my only FO!

But I have one more thing to share with you. I was at Books a Million the other day, and found this:

I couldn't get all of the sticker off. The title is "The Museum of Kitschy Stitches." I plan on sharing some of the more horrifying pictures with you all. Such as:

Avert your eyes! Don't look directly at the pattern!!

Okay, that's all for now ... have a great weekend, and don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for Finished Object Friday!

I Missed You All So Much!!

Wow! Four days with no internet at home! I had SO much I wanted to share with you all, and I couldn't!

I indulged myself at a kitchen store ... bamboo cutting boards, silicone oven grabbers, a garlic crusher, mortar & pestle, etc ...

I've been wanting one of these rocking-style garlic crushers for ages.

It's fun, but tedious to clean. I use a 00 knitting needle to poke the garlic out of the holes.

I sewed some hexipuffs together...

Started a scarf which is now ....

This big.

This is a Striped Graduated Scarf from Cascade 60 Quick Knits. Being me, I have messed up the tweed pattern pretty badly.

Caught the doggie and kitty spooning one cold evening ...

And found Petunia in her favorite game; waiting till every person and animal is upstairs, then staring downstairs as if something was moving around.

Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis for work-in-progress Wednesday!

Back on Track

I'm pleased to announce that my knitting mojo has returned. I have three WIPs on the needles.

1. The Gail (Nightsongs) shawl, which I tried last year and fubared pretty badly. I hope I'm on the right track this time. Yarn is Manos del Uruguay laceweight, purchased at the MD Sheep and Wool last year. Or the year before ... can't quite remember.

I got up to row 28 and then realized I was knitting far too tightly, so I frogged and started over. I should be okay till the last row of the chart, when I have to stop and figure out where to resume in the middle of the chart, which is one of the things that threw me last time I tried this pattern!

2. Calypso Shrug/Shoulder Wrap, from the fabulous Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders book.

The pattern is very simple and mindless, but I might have chosen the wrong yarn for it. This is like the crazy-eyes scarf pattern, where you yo1, then 2, then 3 times to make a stretched out pattern. But the yarn is this odd thick-and-thin blend I bought at last year's S&W, and I'm afeared it won't work right when I go to block. But I'm three pattern repeats in, so I don't want to stop.

3. The Beekeepers Quilt, also known as Hexipuff.

I'm going to start sewing these together so I won't be trying to sew 300 of them all at once.

I leave you with this absurdity, which is really a very typical Spinster Beth sort of thing.

Question: Do you ever re-use your spice jars, but don't relabel them? 

Any guesses? 

So that is what I am up to! Don't forget to stop by Tamis Amis on Wednesday, for WIP Wednesday.

Well, this is a First!

I started knitting in 2005. I have knit constantly since then, always something on the needles or lined up for next. But two days ago ... a strange thing happened.

I finished these ...

And had nothing to follow them with.

Seven years straight. But now it's just me and the hexipuff quilt, which is a sporadic project. I couldn't believe it. In desperation, I cast this on ...

But I don't know if I'll stick with it, so I won't go into any detail until I know if it's going to be an actual project, or if it was just a stopgap so I wouldn't freak out at not having something to knit. I think it's the self-imposed yarn starvation diet I put myself on. It's crushed my imagination. I hope this project shakes me out of it. 

(That's Edgar giving it a cat-scan).

Okay, that is it for me ... I'm very tired tonight, and I think I'll be hitting the sack early. Don't forget, though, tomorrow is Work in Progress Wednesday at Tamis Amis!