Giant whale sized thanks to everyone who helped me test out those Merry Christmas Note Cards yesterday (I heart you guys)! I will have the revised non pixel-eee version available tomorrow!
Today I would like to feature a little gift my sister (VikiChops) made for one of our doggies (HarrietChops). Firstly...a little background.. my sister is a flight attendant and in-between jet setting all over the world, has gaggles of time to knit. She's seriously getting good at it. We are talking cable knit stuff here folks.
See that lovely green swiss cheese of a "scarf".... well that's not her handi work. That lovely there is all mine. She was trying to teach me to knit last year and that's about as far as I could get. Do you like the holes...? I did those on purpose you see. I had plans for those holes. I was thinking they could either be modern art ventilation holes or perhaps holes for beads gracefully scattered about yon scarf. We may never find out cause I cannot figure out how to cast off to save my life. Heck at this point I doubt I could even pick it up and keep knitting on it. I have completely forgotten everything the master taught me. That's so shameful I know...but don't cha love those knitting needles! I got them in Philly and they are so dreamy! I might just start collecting knitting needles cause they look cool. Who knows.
So let's get back to Harriet. I have been noticing on Etsy lots and lots and lots of fashionable shrugs. I love shrugs.. I think they are totally fantastic.. maybe not so useful for keeping you warm..but who cares when you look that cool right?
Harriet is the kind of dog who screams.. "I need a shrug!!"... her dog shoulders are perfectly shaped for a shrug. Her demeanor (a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Greta Garbo) says... "make me a shrug dhalink...or leave me alone and break my heart"... So several months ago I asked my sister if she would knit one for her. She immediately agreed (if you can believe it - she's as nutty as I am).. yes that's right. There are two of us out there.
Since she needed measurements before she could begin we decided to wait until she came to visit a few weeks ago to really set this Dog Shrug Plan (DSP) into action! She walked in the house with a cache of knitting needles and several different colors of yarn scientifically chosen to match with Miss Harriet's multi-colored craziness. The day after she left she had finished the Shrug on the plane ride back to Flight Attendant Glamourville, USA and had it in the mail to me!
When I got it.. Miss Harriet's dog shoulders were not nearly as Shrugtacular as I had envisioned....basically she has no shoulders so I had to crochet a little matching black two button strap to keep it from well... shrugging off of her.
Upon her first Shrug Fitting she completely covered the shrug in dog hair so I had to get it washed and ironed before we could do the Dog Shrug Fashion Photo Shoot... I did that yesterday and wanted to share a few pics from the shoot....
This photo is of Harriet showing off her squirrel radar skills. Surprisingly the wooley nature of the Shrug does not interfere with her radar in any way whatsoever.
In this picture, Harriet is demonstrating the versatility of the Shrug when used for general front yard relaxation. Notice how it keeps her elbows covered? Very clever of the Shrug designer if you ask me.
Here we have the aerodynamic version of Miss Harriet (that puff behind her is actually the white fur that could not keep up with her - cause she's so fast). You will notice that the Shrug stayed with her even though her fur could not. It's really a Spidey Shrug of sorts.
This last pic is just cause I think she's adorable in her new Shrug and I wanted to get one more pic in.
Sew...my sister actually has the pattern written down for this Shrug and will be sending it to me soon so I can share it with you all (she kinda made it up on the fly). It's really easy to make (unless you are me). You just have to make adjustments based on the size of your furbaby. As soon as she sends it I will post it (along with pics of the Shrugs she's making for DogChops and CharlotteChops).. I can hardly wait!
Take care everyone!
P.S. You may notice a leaf or two on Miss Harriet.. that's cause she immediately rolled in the leaves as soon as we got outside... and every time I got near her to brush them off she would lay down and roll in them again. I gave up.. so we'll call those fall fashion accents ok?
P.S.S.T. KellyChops left a comment about a great knitting resource site called knittinghelp.com! Go check it out if you have problems knitting. It's crazy cool! Thanks K.C.
