Argyle, modeled

This little cutie, Bici, was the perfect model for my argyle sweater.  

This sweater has a turtleneck collar (pictured turn down, as he didn't have a particularly long neck), and a shorter belly panel, ideal for boy doggies.  The belly panel is done in garter stitch, to add stretchiness to the garment.  The armholes are left unembellished for optimal canine comfort.  

I like how the burgundy looks against his sandy-colored fur.

A perfectly preppy pup!

Holiday knitting

I took a break from dog sweater designing to do all my holiday knitting.  In my mind, I don't really knit holiday gifts, but in reality, I do. I don't really know why I'm in denial about it.   The really funny thing is that the closer the holidays came, the more projects I came up with and just had to knit, so I kept myself busy right up until Christmas Eve.  

For my daughter's preschool teachers, I decided to knit reusable coffee cup cozies, all with my handspun yarn.  I used the pattern from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson (very useful book at this time of year! http://www.amazon.com/Last-Minute-Knitted-Gifts-Joelle-Hoverson/dp/1584798602

Some dear friends are spending a year in Ohio, and perhaps a few more years in cold climates, so I made them an ice scraper mitt.  This pattern is from the book One Skein Wonders, http://www.amazon.com/One-Skein-Wonders-Judith-Durant/dp/1580176453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325482201&sr=1-1, which is really excellent for small, quick gifts.

And also a hat for each of them.  A nice, thick warm purple slouchy hat.  The pattern is Autumn, by Jane Richmond.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/janerichmond

And a gorgeous pink alpaca beret-type hat.  This pattern is Icing Swirl Hat by Ysolda Teague, from her booklet Whimsical Little Knits 2.  http://ysolda.com/

For my husband, I knit a pair of Spiderman socks (and also gifted him all three Spiderman movies).   These were my super secret knitting and therefore took over a month, as my super secret knitting time is scarce.  The pattern is Even Big Guys Love Spidey Socks, and is available on Ravelry.com.

Another coffee cozy, this one for the friend who also received the purple hat.

Starfish for my kids, from Amigurumi Knits.  http://www.amazon.com/Amigurumi-Knits-Patterns-Cute-Mini/dp/1589234359/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325482339&sr=1-1

My brother visited from Reno at the last minute, and went home with two coffee/beer cozies, in addition to a hat that I whipped up for him at the last minute, but neglected to take a photo of.

After all this merry making, I ended up with a few new ideas, which I hope to get to soon.  

It's a wrap.

I like the ease of a wrap-style dog sweater.  Just a few rectangles and buttons, with plenty of room to explore different design options.  For this one I decided on simple stripes in two different colors, with an attached i-cord edging.