The past week has been so cold I just want to stay inside and sew! Progress is slow as the pieces are small and many. I find myself needing to make lots of changes to get necessary contrasts and light effects. But the deadline is not close so I can just take my time and work a section at a time.

While I was shopping at Festival at Houston, I found buttons for this baby sweater that I made for a friend’s new little baby boy. Now that the baby has arrived and the gift is given I can share it with you.

This sweater was unique, in that it is made all in one piece and the only seams are at the top of the sleeves, it was a fun challenge to make it and I think it will be my “go to” baby sweater pattern from now on. I thought I was lucky to find these perfect little buttons, every one different.

How cute is that!?

I really did have good intentions concerning this blog, but I have not done too well with keeping up lately!

Now that the Seasonal Palette piece is done, I have had to submit photos for publication in the book that they are going to do. My photos were not deemed good enough so I have spent considerable time improving my skills in that area. Over a year ago, for my birthday, my husband bought me a new camera which scared me a lot with all of it’s settings and I continued to use my old camera which was comfortable for me. It’s a Fugi 2 megapix while the new one is 10m Nikkon! But this dilemma with the Seasonal Palette thing caused me to get out the new camera and seek help. After almost a week and 3 or 4 trips to town to the camera store I got some acceptable pictures and learned some stuff to even improve my shots with the old camera. For the most part I have been happy with my photos and have even once had a quilt professionally photographed which I thought was not any better than the photos I had taken myself, but this project presented some difficulties. I think partially the dimensions of the piece, 32 x 78″, caused some of the problems.

I finished another Chemo cap for my 8 year old niece. (She just had a birthday!)  This one is made with bamboo yarn and is really soft, I hope she likes it!

I HAVE done some quilting, too which I will show you tomorrow.

Yes, Karen, the patterns are by Evelyn A Clark, there are three in the leaflet and they are all nice ribbed designs so they really fit. Seven sizes from XXS to XXL.I made this one first, because when my daughter rescued Benny he didn’t have any hair. It’s coming in now but he likes his sweater so much he won’t come to have it taken off and wears it inside for awhile! He is quite long in the body ( a Silky?) so it was easy to make it a little longer for him.

Another “rescue”dog, Amber Rose gets the second sweater.  She wasn’t interested in posing for a picture!

Since Thanksgiving, while waiting for the Muse to strike, I have worked on UFOs and knitted two dog sweaters. These are for my daughter’s Yorkies, being so small they don’t take long at all. The first one got away before it was photographed but the second one is this red one with hearts knitted in the design.

Yesterday evening I started the third; two more to go after that.  I’ll try to get photos of them on the dogs sometime.

My empty design wall is starting to bug me so I am beginning to think I might start something new soon!

The other day while trying to eliminate some books to make room for more, I came across this one about knitting with dog hair. I had forgotten I had it, it’s been hiding so long!

This rescue dog we took in last year has a very dense undercoat and every time we brush him we get loads of hair – especially in the springtime! Bushels! So I thought it might be fun to pursue this. First you have to spin the hair into yarn. My husband made me a drop spindle yesterday following the directions in the book and I gave it a try. The book said it would be hard to learn with dog hair and you should start with sheep’s wool and gradually work to a higher concentration of dog hair. I actually was able to spin some 100% dog hair as I don’t have any sheep’s wool yet. I can see how sheep’s wool with it’s longer fibers would make it a lot easier and stronger. My first effort was awkward and uneven but I see the possibilities! And, no, it doesn’t smell bad! And it is very soft and the book says, warm, so you should make the yarn thin.

The light hair on the right came from the rescue dog. We don’t know his breeding but he looks German Shepard with something else thrown in to make him extra big and hairy with large feet and a broader build. The grayer hair on the left is from my daughter’s German Shepard, Zeus, and the dark bit from her Yorkie, Nikki. The bit that I spun yesterday came undone and broke. Apparently you have to twist two strands together for a stronger 2 ply yarn, then skein it and wash it to set the twist. I am going to wait til I get some sheep’s wool to practice on. And I suppose carding combs would be helpful, too.

My other dog is a Komondor. His hair forms cords so is unavailable for spinning. Perhaps weaving or a rug would be in order.

I’m still working on writing the Poppy pattern, but hope to get outside today and pull some weeds since we finally did get some rain!