Hello Again!

Posted on 24 September 2011 by Judy

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an extra set of arms & hands? So many times I find myself wishing for that. I could accomplish twice as much as I do now. That would be wonderful!

It’s been a long time since I’ve written~ too long! I feel bad about it. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to write, I’ve just been so busy with my work. Unfortunately I’m not one of those people who are good multi-taskers. There are so many things I’d love to make, but they all require a lot of time. In the interest of trying to get more items made, I decided to concentrate my efforts for a while~ and that’s why I haven’t been here. There is still so much that I want to make, so I can’t commit to a regular writing schedule , as I hope to be able to do someday, but I intend to pop in more frequently and let you see some of the things I’ve been working on.

I recently finished a custom order Christmas dress for a customer that was probably the most difficult order I’ve ever worked on. It was a real challenge, but I was determined to do it. I worked on this dress for a month, twice even staying up all night working because I had to see what it looked like~ and if I’d captured the scene pictured in my head. In spite of the difficulty I have to say that I really enjoyed the challenge this dress presented. Creating it helped me learn a lot about perspective & how to fit a lot into a small space~

The order was for a Christmas dress in green fabric, smocked & with an embroidered scene that included a Christmas tree with colored lights, a little girl, a basset hound & a chocolate lab. Once the sides are smocked there is only about a 3 1/2″ x 3″ space left in the center to compose a scene. That’s really not much room at all. Most of my scenes usually have 1 or 2 major figures in them. That is usually what fits the most comfortably. This request was for twice as many figures as I usually have, so the major problem it presented was how to fit everything in and still have it look nice- and the figures be identifiable. When I thought about the scene, what appeared was an outdoor picture. When it came to actually embroidering the scene I pictured, I realized quickly that I was also going to have difficulty with the snow- and how to show that some of the figures were in front while others were further back. These were the two major problems that kept me up all night~ and taught me a lot. I have never been so totally engrossed in a dress as I was with this one, and I’m happy to say that I was pleased with the results~ (the scene pictured in the upper left corner.) If you look closely you will see that the string of tree lights begins in the little girl’s hands & extends down to the basset hound at her side. The basset hound holds a section in his mouth while the chocolate lab, having wound the lights around the branches a few times, is standing behind the tree with his end of the lights held in his mouth~ and so the title, “Three to Light the Tree.”

Just before beginning work on the order for the Christmas dress I made a dress for my shop that is my personal favorite. When shopping for fabrics, I like to buy cuts of whatever I see that I think would make a nice dress- without having any particular dress in mind. I bring them home, wash them & put them away until I’m ready to begin a new dress. That way I build an adequate supply of fabrics so that when I’m ready to start a dress, I can look at them & choose whatever I’m in the mood to work on. The fabric for this dress is fabric that I’ve had longer than any of my other fabrics. Every time I went to choose fabric for a new dress I’d pass this one over~ it just never seemed to “grab” me~ until recently. I think I even surprised myself when I opened the cupboard where I keep my fabrics, spotted this and said, “Yes!” I never would have guessed that it would turn out to be my very favorite dress, but that’s exactly what happened. Once I saw the fabric I knew exactly how I wanted the dress to look. It’s always a bit scary to me to combine fabrics as I’ve done here, with the collar & sleeves in white and the body of the dress in a small print, giving the dress a “jumper & blouse” look. It’s difficult to visualize which fabrics will look good in that style & which won’t. It’s definitely not fit for every print. This is only the second time that I’ve tried embroidering on the “puff” part of each sleeve, but I really like the way it ties the print of the fabric together with the white sleeves, although it’s not an easy thing to do. In fact it’s very difficult to embroider from inside the small area that is available in the sleeve of a baby dress, but I think it’s worth the effort and contributes to creating a dress that’s both unique and very special.

These are just a few of the things that have kept me busy in recent months. I’ve also been knitting, as I’m trying to build a supply of knit items for my shops as well, but more on that in my next post. I’m working on a new dress right now and I’m close to being finished embroidering the scene. I’m looking forward to getting to the part where the dress gets sewn together. I’m sorry to say that my sewing machine which has served me so well over the past 25 yrs. has finally said, “enough!” It’s replacement is sitting, still in it’s box, waiting for me to reach the stage where it will be needed. I’m anxious to see how it will work. Hopefully I’ll love it as much as I’ve loved my old machine and, (whisper-) maybe even a bit more! I’ll let you know how I like it, next time I write~ must return to work now!

I hope you enjoy the beautiful fall weather that’s either just arrived- or will be arriving soon! Fall is my favorite season, so I’m looking forward to cool, beautiful days!

Spring Is In The Air~ (trite~ but true!)

Posted on 24 January 2011 by Judy

What a difference in a weeks time! Not a speck of fog this morning when Pascal and I left the house! According to my computer the temperature was 53`. I still needed my jacket ~ over a sweater & a sweatshirt, but the air was noticeably warmer than it was earlier in the week. We haven’t been to Heather Farms in a few months. In the winter when it rains it gets too muddy. Besides being muddy, it’s not the best time to go, as most of the geese and the ducks have gone elsewhere, and hardly any of the plants in the gardens are blooming- buts that’s Winter.

Springtime at Heather Farms is always spectacular, and an ideal place to bring the camera. I am so looking forward to getting new photos for my notecards- Hmmmmm- it’s really NOT actually spring yet. But it FEELS like spring. I look over at Pascal who’s looking out the window of the car. Do I turn left & go to town for a walk, or do I turn right and head for Heather Farms~? I really, really, don’t want Pascal to get muddy. But it’s been two weeks since we’ve had rain. How muddy could it be now?

I turn right. We’re going to Heather Farms!!

We have about a 20 minute walk down a paved road before we actually get to Heather Farms and I’m happy to see along the way that there are several clusters of paperwhites ~ and even a few early daffodils, in full bloom; Spring was in the air!

Arriving at the path to Heather Farms we stood at the top of the hill for a few minutes, surveying the fields and the canal below us ~ The crisp early- morning air seemed so still~ and so quiet! The ground definitely was still wet, but if didn’t look too muddy. Okay, Pascal! Let’s go!

We had just barely started down the hill when I heard the familiar sound of geese squabbling. All right! Surly I’d get some pictures today! Rounding the curve in the path, we arrived at a clearing beside the pond that the geese & ducks have made their beach. This morning, with the exception of the ducks swimming in the canal, the pond appeared empty. But the beach was packed~ packed with geese! Mating season must have begun. The beach reverberated with squawking, reminding me of a political convention. One goose would get right into another’s face, squawking & nipping with wings extended, until the other goose backed away. We stopped to watch “the show” for a few minutes. I was anxious thinking that Pascal would bark at them and disrupt everything, but he didn’t make a sound; in fact, he looked bored~ so after taking a few quick pictures, we moved on.

On the opposite side of the path, just a bit beyond the noisy beach, it was quiet except for the light sound of water splashing. The canal at this point, was overgrown with reeds so at first I didn’t notice the pair of mallard ducks floating among them. Getting closer I saw a large white shape- Excited, I reached for my camera. At first it was hard to tell what I was looking at, as all I could see were two stick-like, long legs extending from a large, white, headless body- The head was buried under the water, but I had an idea of what it was. Last fall I was lucky enough to come across a beautiful, graceful bird, the Snowy Egret. Standing alone on the beach that today was populated with geese, it looked so elegant & magnificent set against the backdrop of trees in their fiery red orange & yellow, fall-leaf attire. This, I discovered, was the origin of the splashing sounds I was hearing. When the egret lifted his head from the water, he started a strange sort of stamping “dance” in the reeds. With one of his large feet he’d stamp the reeds continuously, now & then submersing his head below the water. The stamping must have been a way to make insects, or whatever he was eating that was in the reeds, come out so he could catch catch them in his mouth! I took several pictures of him but he seemed to be in constant motion so it was difficult to get a good one. I feel rewarded to have finally gotten this one good picture of him~ We walked just a bit further down the path , and there, standing directly in front of us was a beautiful mallard duck. He stood very still as if he were posing. “Click” – gottcha! It may not have quite been Spring yet, but it was definitely in the air!

I’m excited to add these new photos to my growing collection for new notecard sets to be added to my shops soon. Last week was a busy one, but I was able to complete and list my fifth lamb, Amelie~ and I listed two new sets of note cards, Glistening Orange, and Bench of Poppies. I’m currently still working on the baby blanket I’m knitting for my grandson who turns 1 this week. I haven’t worked on a dress since before Christmas. I thought it would be a nice break to work on my knitting and notecards and while I love doing both of those, I hadn’t realized until a few days ago, how much I miss working on my dresses, so this afternoon, guess what I did! I cut out a new dress! All that I know right now is that it will be a size 2 and it’s a beautiful shade of light, light, pink. Mainly I need to concentrate on finishing the blanket, but if I have a dress all pleated; ready to smock & embroider, I may just be able to work on it a bit this week too. I’ll let you know~ Have a great week!

Hey~ The Gate’s Open!

Posted on 16 January 2011 by Judy

~*~ For some reason, the large photos at the beginning of my posts are getting distorted. Until I can resolve the problem, if you click on the photo, you will see it the way it is supposed to be. ~*~

Sunday morning and lots to do~ and lots to procrastinate over! “Come on, Pascal, let’s go for a walk!”

We go for a walk almost every morning. Besides being good exercise, I find it a nice way to get my mind going for the day and get things sorted out, , especially if I’m feeling overwhelmed- which is how I felt this morning. I grabbed my camera and the dog and walked out the door. I’d rather have my camera with me even if I don’t use it, than find myself wishing I had brought it.

It was pretty foggy out, so I didn’t really expect to have much of an opportunity to use it, but as we started up the country road I couldn’t help but notice the interesting and beautiful effect the fog was having, masking everything in an ethereal cloud of dampness and quiet. Wondering if I could capture some of this strange beauty with my camera, I began clicking away, noticing how the branches of the trees that were in close range appeared strong and dark, like out-raised arms holding the fog at bay; in contrast, trees in the distance appeared soft & frail, their outlines blurred in the fog.

I was surprised to see how much of a start the spring grasses have had already. We’ve had a lot of rain so far this winter, but I hadn’t expected to see the grasses getting long so soon. Damp with the morning fog, they looked almost florescent-green against the foggy-gray backdrop of sky. The countryside had acquired an entirely different “attitude,” much as a person’s mood can be affected by weather changes. This “attitude” I was seeing was one of great beauty and I was indeed happy that I ‘d brought my camera!

Leaving the fog outside with the trees, I had a better sense of which project to work on today. I have been so excited about knitting little lambs. I just finished my fourth one and listed it on my website and in my Etsy shop and I’ve started knitting a new lamb~

After my walk, knowing I was going to work on my lamb today, I was excited; couldn’t wait to start; but first I had to get the last of the things I’d been procrastinating over, finished ; writing my blog post!!

And I’m off to knit! Have a great week!

A New Year~ A New Pascal Story~ Nice Job, Pascal!

Posted on 9 January 2011 by Judy

To really get 2011 off to a good start, I think a new Pascal story is in order~ Though he turned eleven in July, (4th,) Pascal hasn’t lost any of his funny quirks; if anything, he’s been busy adding new ones & refining the old ones. Last night was a perfect example of a classic “Pascal” maneuver~

Every night, I prepare his dinner when I prepare mine, so we both eat dinner at the same time. He eats very slowly for a dog, but being a slow-eater myself, he always finishes eating before I do. Every night as soon as he’s finished his dinner, he comes over to where I’m sitting at the table to let me know he’s finished so I can wipe his face- ( I discovered early-on that he really likes to be clean, so if I don’t wipe his face when he’s finished eating, he’ll wipe it himself- by running his chin along the cushion of the couch!) Once I’ve cleaned his face I finish my dinner while he sits on the floor at my feet, patiently waiting for me to finish eating.

Because he’s always been such a “picky” eater I have to have something I can use as a bribe to make sure he eats his dinner, as his medicine is mixed into his food. Once I’ve finished eating, I take both of our plates into the kitchen & if he’s eaten, give him a treat to eat in the other room while I wash dishes. Normally his treat is potato, but occasionally I’ll give him a small dish of sherbet, which is what I usually eat while I do dishes, however he doesn’t usually see me, because he’s in the other room eating his potato.

Last night I brought him his potato & went back to the kitchen to wash dishes. I had taken sherbet out of the freezer but hadn’t put it into a dish yet. Standing at the sink while it filled with water, I had the feeling that I wasn’t alone. I turned around, and guess who was standing there staring at me? “What are you doing?” I asked. I had just given him his potato, he couldn’t possibly have finished it! He continued to stare at me. I thought maybe he needed to go out, so I asked~ No- that wasn’t it. He wouldn’t follow me to the door. He just stood where he was, not moving . I walked into the dining room where I had given him his potato.

At first I didn’t see his dish where I had left it. I walked closer to take a better look. Nope! No dish. No potato! BUT I saw the plastic bag that I lay under his cloth placemat, & his placemat- both were pushed way back under the wooden stand that holds his water dish, carefully arranged in a lump- over the dish with his potato in it! He had done a great job! He hadn’t left one bit of dish sticking out from underneath the placemat & plastic bag! I lifted the placemat. There was the dish with his potato- completely untouched!

While I was in the dining room looking for his dish, Pascal sat totally still in the kitchen. He hadn’t budged- I knew what this trick was about, he’d done it before, but I pretended that I didn’t. With his dish in my hands, I walked up to him & said, ” No potato tonight, huh? What do you want?” He stared at me~ “What, Pascal? Show me what you want! Do you want ice cream?” Suddenly the statue broke it’s silent stance! He stood up, tail wagging in circles excitedly- I showed the carton of ice cream to him and asked, “This? Is this what you want?” I got a chorus of barks & a fanfare of tail wags. Clearly, I was on to something- something good!

Pascal got a small dish of ice cream~ and oh! Life was good!

Nice job, Pascal!

Happy New Year!

Posted on 2 January 2011 by Judy

Happy New Year!!! Our first day of 2011 has brought rain~ lots of it! I love rainy days & couldn’t be happier! It’s a wonderful way to begin the new year. So far, this winter has brought us a good amount of rain; hopefully enough to ward off the possibility of a drought and water rationing this summer. Already the hills have turned a deep, lush, velvety- green that promises beautiful photographs for this season’s note cards. 2010 was a good year, bringing the addition of two baby boys to the family. On January 26, my daughter’s third child, Colton, was born; a little brother for Grace & Sam. Then two weeks ago, on December 17th, my son & his wife had their first baby, a little boy, Henrik! With the new babies my attentions went to knitting, one of my very favorite things to do!

I knit a sweater for Colton, finishing it just weeks before his birth and I’m about to begin knitting a blanket for his first birthday. When my son & his wife announced that they were expecting a baby boy I decided to knit a blanket for him. Though I’ve been knitting since I was twelve, I’ve always chosen a pattern to follow. I have never tried making my own design before. I started Henryk’s blanket from a pattern that I chose, but when I got to the middle section of the blanket, I began getting different ideas about what I’d like to see in the middle of the blanket. I realized that I didn’t have to stay with that pattern , just because I’d started with it, I could actually do whatever I wanted to do with the blanket, and so I ventured out to create my own design. I had a great time creating my own blanket. I enjoyed it so much that I thought I would love to start knitting baby blankets for my shop; blankets that, like my dresses, would be my own designs & creations and would be, like all of my handsmocked & embroidered dresses, one-of-a-kind! It took a month to knit Henryk’s blanket, so I’m not expecting to be able to make many blankets, but when I can find the time to work on them, I would like to be able to have at least one for sale at all times. Knitting Henryk’s blanket really whet my appetite for knitting. With Christmas quickly approaching, I decided to knit scarves for gifts for family members this year. I enjoyed doing that so much that it wasn’t long before I found myself thinking that I’d like to be able to knit scarves to sell in my shop too.

While looking through knitting patterns I came across a pattern for a toy, knit lamb that I thought was adorable, and so I knit one for Henryk based on the original “Fuzzy Mittens” pattern.He turned out so cute & while I was knitting him, my mind was racing ahead to different ideas & variations that I might make to this pattern. I am currently finishing one for Colton for his birthday, and then~ yep! I’d love to knit some more to have in my shop!

And so, the new year is going to bring lots of new items to my shop! My handsmocked & embroidered dresses, were joined last year by my photographic notecard sets as well as by a few, one- of -a- kind, hand-embroidered onezies . I recently added a new hand-embroidered onezie outfit to the shop & this year and plan on adding more. As soon as I am able to knit them, I’m very excited to be adding several handknit items in 2011~ baby blankets, scarves, knit lambs~ and whatever else I feel like knitting!

And last, but definitely not least, I’ve resolved to make a very concerted effort to post in my blog no less than once a week. I know I have a bit of a dilemma here, in that everything I’m planning on making requires a substantial time commitment. I don’t yet know where or how I’m going to be able to find the time to do everything~ and that leads me to say that surely 2011 is going to be a year of challanges! I thought I’d add a few pictures of some of the knit things that I’ve mentioned here so you will have an idea of what kinds of things you can expect to be seeing in my shop over the coming year!

Here’s to a wonderful 2011 for everyone!

Spring~” Click, Click;” Catch it While I Can

Posted on 2 June 2010 by Judy

Spring! It’s everywhere I go, filling me with inspiration to create in it’s image; things that are flowery & light as the breeze spreading its signature scent. Pulling weeds in my garden under the appletree, I was captivated by the subtle, sweetly-spiced scent of appleblossoms~ how to express that in a creation?

Pascal (my dog,) and I, walk daily. Camera in hand, we alternate between downtown, with its beautiful fountains & planterboxes, and Heather Farms- ( several local acres of designated open space that’s been set aside as a wildlife preserve, with walking trails, gardens, ponds, meadows and a duck-filled canal.) Spring being such a short season, my camera clicks tirelessly as we walk, attempting to preserve the beauty Spring has scattered in its wake~

Currently, everything I make reflects my experience of Spring. Looking at my photos I immediately want to make notecards~ I’m excited! Here in my hands, the pictures enable me to hold onto Spring, long after it has passed. On the trees, the wind & rain can destroy the beautiful blossoms, but here on my notecards, they are saved; preserved in all their beauty – How wonderful to be able to have Spring always within reach!

As with the notecards, my handsmocked and embroidered dresses reflect my experience of Spring- One recently finished dress, A Dressful of Blooms, was totally spring inspired. Looking at it, I recall the spicy-sweet scent of the apple blossoms on my tree. Perhaps looking at it , you too will have a sense of the flower-scent~?

Today on our walk at Heather Farms, in addition to all of the new spring flowers, resplendent under water drops left by yesterday’s rain, we witnessed a very special spring addition~

Walking down the path beside the canal I saw what looked like something moving in the grasses on the far side of the canal. I stopped to see if I could tell what was there- At first I saw the mother duck. Her dark coloring blended in so well with the hillside that she was difficult to discern at first. She was standing very still looking back at us. Incredibly, Pascal didn’t bark! Watching her, I suddenly saw movement in the grass behind her and watched in awe as 5 tiny ducklings shuffled awkwardly to get close to her. After watching us for a while, I guess she decided we didn’t pose much danger, because she started walking down the bank towards the water, the 5 little ducks following close behind~ in one straight line! Down the hill they stumbled & into the canal, gliding on the water, mom & her 5- in one straight line, swim masters already!

We followed them a short way down the canal and then stopped and watched again as the babies followed their mom out of the water, up the bank and across the path towards the larger pond~ in one straight line!

These pictures, along with others taken that day will be available on sets of notecards in my shop. Spring passes so quickly that I’m so happy to have caught at least a bit of it before we move into summer~ which I know, is lurking just around the bend~

It’s Spring!

Posted on 14 March 2010 by Judy

It’s Spring!! Here, in Northern Ca. we ‘re experiencing the full tempestuous effects of Springtime.; blue skies & billowy white clouds with temperatures approaching 70, giving way to gray-sky windy days with temperatures in the 50′s, punctuated by rain storms- and back and forth the weather shifts like the moods of a young child. Today with Daylight Savings Time, I gain an hour of daylight to work in the garden, which is great because there is so much to be done to clean-up after winter & get ready for planting new flowers for summer.

Today the sun is out and the temperature is perfect for working in the garden~ 63`. Pascal and I took a long walk to Heather Farms this morning, past fields filled with mustard flowers blowing in the light breeze. The air was filled with sounds of geese squawking and as we followed the path around the curve, we came to the spot of commotion. The pond was filled with geese & ducks, as was the small beach. They all seemed to be out this morning, like us, enjoying the beautiful weather.

My plan was to come home after our walk, write a blog post and get to work embroidering my new dress so that hopefully Pascal & I could go out at the end of the day & work in the garden. A good plan, it sounds easy enough~ And it would be if my eyes weren’t constantly returning to the window, to the sunlight outside, to the flowers blowing in the breeze and the birds collecting twigs to build nests. Suddenly it becomes so difficult to be inside working!!

Reluctantly I avert my eyes from the window reminding myself that with Spring comes Easter, now just a few weeks away, soon to be followed by summer. Then I feel excitement about implementing my new smocking and embroidery ideas for the coming season. Right now my shop is filled with hand smocked dresses that are hand embroidered with bunnies, chicks, ducks, lambs and of course lots of flowers, making them perfect for Spring and Easter . Here are my two most recent additions:

In addition to the smocked & embroidered dresses, I thought it would be a great idea to embroider infant, onepiece bodysuits. I now have two of them in my Etsy shop, website, and 1,000Markets shop. Like the dresses, these are ooak. They are not only perfect for spring, but perfect for Easter as well, with 2 bunnies on one, and a little yellow chick on the other~

I am excited for you to see all of the cute handsmocked & embroidered clothes for little girls that I have in my 3 shops; Etsy, Rabbit Whiskers, & 1,000 Markets.

Spring dominates my notecard sets, as well. There are an abundance of cards with beautiful photos of spring flowers of all kinds as well as scenes of spring, such as the mustard flower field that I passed on my walk this morning. For anyone who loves spring & spring-related items, my shops are a must see! I hope you will enjoy browsing !

And now I’ve gotten excited to get to work on my latest dress. I’m going to put a spring scene on it~ perhaps the garden that I can’t yet plant outside! This dress is going to be a size 2 and it’s on purple & white gingham! Come peek in my shop in about a week- a week 1/2, and you should see a brand new addition displayed!

Happy Spring to you!!!

Cards ‘n Dresses ‘n This ‘n That

Posted on 20 January 2010 by Judy

Today, stormy- heavy winds and lots of rain~ perfect for staying in and working! After working on knitting a baby sweater and making and listing notecards for two months I finally feel ready to return to making dresses! I never intended to be away from sewing for so long, but I always seem to underestimate how much time something’s going to take. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. If I knew before starting how long a project was going to take, maybe I’d never start!

I’m not complaining. It wasn’t a bad two months. I have loved knitting for as long as I can remember. I find it very relaxing and enjoyed it even more because I was knitting it for my grandson, who’s birth will be sometime this week!

The notecards are a much newer project for me, as I began creating them just this past year. I love photography and I love making the cards. It was very easy to spend that much time working on them. The hard part was pulling myself away~ but I love making hand- smocked & embroidered dresses, too, so it’s time to go back to dress-making, but before I do, I’d love to give you a glimpse of a few of the photos you’ll find on the notecards I’ve completed.

I added a fourth collection of notecard sets that I’m excited to introduce. It’s titled, “This n That”and is simply an assortment of four photographic cards, tied together by theme, color, or in an obscure way. The photo above is from one of the cards in that new set. It is a photo of the artwork from the front of one of my handsmocked & embroidered dresses. It occurred to me that the scenes on my dress fronts would create very unique & fun notecards, and I’m pleased with the results.

Below are five more photos that appear on some of the cards just made. Each set is ooak and consists of a combination of 4 photographic blank cards. This represents just a small fraction of what you’ll find on Rabbit Whisker notecards.

I hope you will come and enjoy looking through the different sets. A few of the sets have pictures of Pascal, some of which you may have seen in previous blog posts~

The wind outside is blowing sheets of rain against my windows, it’s steady beating reminding me that I still have lots of work to do, LOTS- (no underestimating time here.) I’d like to be able to tell you a bit about the new dress, but at this point, all that I know is that it’s going to be a size1. My next step is to go to the trunk where I store my fabric, and choose whichever appeals the most to me to be working on right now. Once my selection is made I’m hoping for an onslaught of design ideas. Other than knowing the size I’m going to make, the dress will be as much a surprise to me as it will be to you~ Hopefully by the next time I write I’ll be able to post a picture of a finished dress- or at least pictures of an, ” almost-finished dress- ” (if I’ve underestimated my time again!)

Pascal And His New Sweater

Posted on 22 December 2009 by Judy

Sew? I haven’t. I’ve been knitting Pascal a sweater- For the past ten years I’ve been knitting Pascal a sweater! So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I finally finished it last week. Ten years to knit one little dog sweater is, well, at the least, a long time—– but it’s not quite as bad as it sounds. It’s not like I’ve been working on it non-stop for ten years & just finished. This is what happened.

I actually started the sweater eleven years ago, and it wasn’t for Pascal. It was to be for the dog I had before Pascal, a schnoodle named Shadow. Shadow lived to be 18; a long life for a dog, but not long enough for his sweater to be a reality.

The first winter that I had Pascal I thought, it’s cold and we have a long winter ahead. I should finish the sweater I started for Shadow, for Pascal! I pulled the bag with the beginnings of Shadow’s sweater in it, out of the closet. It was indeed a beginning. I’d knit only about 4 inches of the back- and that was it! I had started the sweater on a whim, thinking it would be a good way to use up left-over yarn as well as help Shadow stay warm during the cold months. I had never knit a dog sweater before, but I decided that I didn’t need a pattern to make one- it couldn’t be very difficult- I measured Shadow’s back and started knitting.

When I picked-up the beginnings of Shadow’s sweater a year later to finish it for Pascal, I had nothing written down to follow- I hadn’t even left myself notes. I hadn’t gotten very far on it for Shadow, so I measured Pascal, and continued knitting- for a few days. I had planned to knit the sweater in my time off from hand-smocking & embroidering the girl’s dresses I sell. As the days passed I got busier & busier with my dress-making and never seemed to find “time-off” for working on the sweater. After weeks of dusting around it, I finally put it back in the closet to wait for “time off”. Each succeeding year I’d pull the sweater enthusiastically from the closet telling myself- and Pascal- “O.k.! this year- soon- I’m going to finish your sweater!

But every year the same thing happened- although each year a little bit got added to it. This year when I pulled it from the closet I realized that all I had left to knit was a small portion of the underside and the two sleeves. THIS was going to be the year!~! Pascal was going to find himself toasty-warm in the middle of a new sweater!! This time I put my sewing aside to finish my knitting. And finish, I did! Twice, actually!

Here is a photo of my first finish~ (Notice, he’s smiling~)

I couldn’t wait to put it on him once I got the pieces sewn together. Interestingly, he seemed to be as excited to try it on as I was. As I slipped it over his neck I saw right away that the neck was too wide. Four inches too wide! Hmmm…….

I made a tuck on each side with my hands to see how that would work. Perfect! I slipped it back off his head so that I could figure out how to make a permanent tuck on each side & still be able to easily stick his legs through the sleeves. I needed something that I could open & close~ like a tie- Aha! I’d crochet a tie, make a tuck again at each shoulder & tie it shut! That worked perfectly. If Pascal were a bit concerned about having a bow on each shoulder, he didn’t show it. He actually seemed very pleased with it. In fact,he did something he never does; he sat there willingly and posed while I took pictures.

The more I looked at him the more I was aware that something just wasn’t quite right. Pascal’s sweater from the front, looked more like he was wearing a pair of pants. It wasn’t yet quite a sweater, it was a “pantser”. The neck of the sweater looked more like the waist of a pair of pants. His sweater needed a turtle neck! I took his sweater back off, picked up my knitting needles and started knitting again~ Two days later Pascal had a full-fledged, turtle-neck, soft warm sweater~ It was everything we both had hoped it would be! I pulled out my camera and once again, Pascal did what he never does; he sat still and posed, looking very proud~ the perfect model!