How Cute is This?

I have no knitting news to report.  The baby blanket of doom is hiding under the table.  I am ignoring it.  I will continue to ignore it until it no longer exasperates me.

In the mean time, I came across this free pattern on Ravelry.  It’s a Rainbow Dog Sweater (ravelry link). You can also find it on the Caron website here.

Rainbow Dog Sweater

I’m back to school, we started at the end of July, training for the 5k for my 30th b-day.  I don’t know if I will be able to run the whole thing, but I’ll give it a good try.

Dread Pirate Darby

I took Darby to get her nails trimmed and lo and behold! Puppy pirate costume hats for Halloween.  Naturally they were too large for Darby, but that certainly didn’t prevent me from taking a pic of her.

Darby is a Pirate

Also, the double pane glass window in my classroom was broken when someone tried to break in last year.  So there is only one pane of glass instead of two and the heat that comes through is intense in the morning.  I am putting up a stained glass window of tape and tissue paper.  It’s coming along quite well this time, as this is the second attempt.  if I like it I may turn it into an assignment for the kids to do in other classrooms.

I’m waiting for my sister to get her b-day present so that I can post pictures of it here.  Also, the dog sweater is nearly finished, i just need to do the under ruffle and some embellishments. I’m knitting something for my sister also, but it is so far from finished she’ll be lucky to get it by Christmas.  I can say knitting with thread and needles as thick as toothpicks is incredibly hard.

I want to knit Darby a pirate costume for Halloween.  That would be supremely awesome!

1 pound puppy sweater

Hey Y’all!

I know it has been a ridiculous amount of time since I put up a new pup sweater.  This quick and dirty pattern was written for a knitter who left a comment mentioning her 1 lb puppy and her lack of 10.5 dpns.

So for your tiny puppy…
size 8 double pointed needles (or something close, hey, we can’t be too particular…the goal is a warm puppy, not certain needles)
regular or bulky yarn…probably something a little bulky.  (same thing….warm puppy, not some particular yarn)

Cast on 24, knit in a 2×2 rib for 1.5 inch (or 2.5-3″ for a little turtleneck or mock turtleneck).

Increase for chest shaping as follows (please note, your going to have a stockinette panel where the increases are, everythingelse should stay in the 2×2 rib):
Knit 1, increase 1, knit 1, increase 1 finish the round in 2×2 rib (26 sts total)

Next row: Knit 1, increase 1, knit 2, increase 1, knit 1…finish the round in 2×2 rib (28 sts total)

Next row: knit 2, increase 1, knit 4, increase 1, knit 2 finish the round in 2×2 rib (30 sts total)

your tube should be about 2 ” long…. more or less…remember, this is quick and dirty

Leg Holes:
Knit 4, cast off 6, knit 14, cast off 6
Next row: knit 4, cast on 6, knit 14, cast on 6

Body: Knit until it is as long as you feel it should be.  Then do an inch of 2×2 ribbing.

Well, I know this is a quick and sloppy pattern for you to use, but I hope it works out for you.

Autumn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Double Cable Chihuahua Sweater

Double Cable Chi Sweater

For those few of you following my blog, thank you.You’re probably here because you have a special little Chihuahua in your life in dire need of a sweater also and you, too, have the ability to knit.I present to you dear readers, Darby’s latest sweater.If you can’t do cables, just follow the instructions without actually doing the cables or purls, and you’ll have a straight forward sweater.If you want to add sleeves, the instructions are written in the previous sweater pattern, I just ran out of the main color (started with a ball of the main color about the size of a tennis ball).

This week’s sweater is made with lion brand wool-ease.I used 2 colors, 1 brown and 1 red (who keeps the labels of yarn leftovers?Not me, I prefer losing them immediately and wondering what kind of yarn it is I have)

Please note, I can’t explain how to do cables, so I’ll describe them to you.The sweater has two cables that go in opposite directions.Each cable is made of 4 sts, with 2 crossing over the other two.From here on out, I’m just going to put cable where one will be done.

Recipe

Main color

Contrasting color

Notions:

Size 8 dpns

Cable needle

Needle for sewing in loose ends

Neck

Cast on 28 stitches in contrasting color

Distribute over 3 needles as follows: 9, 10, 9

Join and knit in 2×2 rib for 2”

Switch to main color and straight stitch and increase as follows:

Please note the center needle will always have k4, p2, k4 for your cables

Begin Increase shaping for the legs

1)k2, kfb, k4, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k4, kfb, k2 (30 stitches total)

2)k2, kfb, k5, p2, /k4, p2, k4/,p2, k5, kfb, k2 (32 stitches total)

3)k2, kfb, k6, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,P2, k6, kfb, k2 (34)

4)k2, kfb, k7, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,p2, k7, kfb, k2 (36)

5)k2, kfb, k8, p2,/Cable left with 1^st 4 sts, p2, cable right with 2^nd 4 sts/,p2, k8, kfb, k2 (38 stitches)

6)k2, kfb, k9, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,p2, k9, kfb, k2 (40)

7)k2, kfb, k10, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,p2, k10, kfb, k2 (42)

8 )k2, kfb, k11, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,p2, k11, kfb, k2 (44)

9)k2, kfb, bind off 8 sts, k4, p2/ k4, p2, k4/,p2, k4, bind off 8 sts, kfb, k2 (46)

10)k2, kfb, k1, cast on 8,k4, p2,/cable, p2, cable/,p2, k4, cast on 8,k1, kfb, k2 (48 )

11)k2, kfb, k14, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,p2, k17, kfb, k2 (50)

12)k2, kfb, k15, p2,/k4, p2, k4/,p2, k15, kfb, k2(52)

13)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

14)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

15)k19, p2,/cable, p2, cable/, p2, k19 (52)

16)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

17)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

18 )k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

19)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

20)k19, p2,/cable, p2, cable/, p2, k19 (52)

21)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

22)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

23)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

24)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

25)k19, p2,/cable, p2, cable/, p2, k19 (52)

26)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

27)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

28 )k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

29)k19, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k19 (52)

Begin decrease shaping for the narrowest part of the body, past the ribs

30)k2, k2tog, k15, p2,/cable, p2, cable/, p2, k15, sl1, k1, psso, k2 (50)

31)k18, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k18 (50)

32)k2, k2tog, k14, p2, /k4, p2, k4/. P2, k14, sl1, k1, psso, k2 (48 )

33)k17, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k17 (48 )*

34)k2, k2tog, k13, p2 /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k13, sl1, k1, psso, k2 (46)

35)k16, p2, /cable, p2, cable/, p2, k16 (46)

36)k2, k2tog, k12, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k12, sl1, k1, psso, k2 (44)

37)k15, p2, /k4, p2, k4/, p2, k15 (44)

38 )with Contrasting color begin 2×2 rib for 2 inches

*Please note, I stopped decreasing here for Darby’s sweater, but added some more shaping and an additional cable because it is a little shorter than I would like.If you wanted, you could continue with the cable without the decreasing by repeating #33 until you get to #35, doing a cable, and then doing #33 2 more times.Your choice.My Darby has a nice healthy lean shape, so the additional shaping wouldn’t be an issue, but if your little Chihuahua is more “robust” you may want to follow the steps as written in asterisks.

She is tired of all the cameras.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.