Skull and Cross Bones

I found the sweater!!! I was in a paper bag of "night side table" things....Since i do not have one here, i never ended up putting those things away. Namely, a magic bag, tiger balm (which i had bought another jar of since), that lost sweater (!) and a bunch of useless things.  It fits her *perfectly*. Im kind of flabbergasted. 

Stripes!

Hey Allo! It has been a decent long while since i posted here. Again. But, to my defense, i have NOT been knitting at all. Last time i picked up the needles was during my summer vacation, and havent really got back to it when i came back home. I have been very very busy with illustration work, and (hum) schedule management, so hobbies have been put aside. Still, things cleared out recently so I've been getting around to working on some things. :) A friend of mine is pregnant, as been for a while now so i figured i should get knitting before her baby is born! I went shopping, bought cute wool, and got started on a blanket. I'll be posting about it soon. In the meantime, i found this in my knitting supplies, along with a bigillion other half started / half done projects, this was meant to be the back of a sweater. (the fact that this pretty much fits my 16lbs dog... tells a lot about how much weight I gained... this is so sad.) 

Well, i got inspired by this post from Anna at DoorSixteen to make a doggy sweater with the piece of knitted fabric i had in hands. This "model" leaves the front paws free and seems to work well on Constance. (Even if she is very comfortable in "normal" dog sweaters with paw-holes.) This looks like a little cape and is pretty damn cute. But seems to come off her if she plays a lot with it on. So it is more of an outwear garment, which is needed because it is winter here, my friends. Snowy, coldy winter, just like I like it. 

new place--cushions

Hey look! I'm posting something on my Knitting Blog! Incredible!! It is not even made out of yarn! So sad that i havent posted here for ever...but i have been having no extra time for myself in a long while, and therefore, no knitting, no sewing, no reading, no nothing basically...

I did move into a new appartment. Smaller, and with WAY crooked floors. Seriously has been tricky, and hazardous...Still, im coming to a liking of this new place, slowly. I bought some fabric on my last ikea venture, and made those today. I also *finaly* sewed my curtains for the kitchen, but since i didnt fix the rod up yet, i cant really get a proper picture. Still, how cool are those fabrics!!? Especially the oregami one. I think its great that ikea writes the name of the designer on the fabric's selvage. Its pretty cool and quite rare i think. I had it show purposefully by the seam, you can see it on the cloudy one in the first picture. 

Anyways, i'm pretty proud of myself, i got to say, because I actually finished them properly with zippers. Done with the extravagant ways of avoiding it...buttons, bows, ect. Just deal with it already!! It was not as hard as i thought... Though, i feel pretty dumb about buying such pale designs when THIS monster started showing her appreciation to the cushions's cushiness. HAIRS--BLACK HAIRS is the mentra of the week, as im starting to try to get this place to look decent. (how come was the shedding not as obvious in the previous place? Mistery...) 

That's her being a little bit scared, well, startled for sure, by the crazy summer storm we had around dinner time. I had not seen a storm like this in a while. I love it. 

Puppy sweater on puppy girl.

Turns out it is quite a challenge to take pictures of a puppy...it is either super duper exited, or falling asleep like an abandonned rock. But....those are ok. It shows how her little peach sweater is JUST RIGHT. I could not have done it a better size. and it was totally random since i had no idea what size she'd be at 9 weeks. She is the cutest creature on earth. word. 

I also, re-recommand the pattern i used. it was sooooo easy. simple to adjust the size with rules of three. (just mesure the cheast band and figure out with the size they profide.)

It is a sweater pattern especially made for bulldogs, pugs and other dogs that have a bigger cheast-neck area then other breeds. fits her like a charm. im happy. 

now, if the crate trainning went just as well id be in heaven...

pattern here.

Big-Fat-Snowflakes/and or rain.

*

We are getting the baby dog in less then 2 weeks! The wait is not totally unbearable since i have my head at other places. Im putting the final touches to the Girls of a Feather art show at HeadQuaters Galerie here in Montreal. I'm actually driving all the art there with my dear-dear friend Audrey-Frédérique on saterday, so its really final touches...

In the meen time, a couple weeks ago (or days...time is passing in a weird way) i sewed this little tiny blanket for the oh-so-awaited-dog.

I'm also knitting a beret for my friend Caroline. Its a trade of services, which i beleive should be the only currency in use. In the whole world. Really. This picture is awfully yellow and doesnt do justice to the very pretty deep purple shade of the wool she chose. But i'll take a picture under better lighting when the hat is knitted.

* this is a detail of an illustration that will be for sale at the galerie, as a limited edition print on awsome Arches watercolour paper. What wont be sold there of that serie will be for sale online after the show.

Smaller.

This is the second mini-dog sweater. Its become my daily before-bed-while-watching-startrek routine to knit those tiny things. They are so quick and rewarding. As a little girly addition to the light pink one i was working on, i remembered this idea of a neck band that becomes a bow...i had seen that before, somewhere. This is from a previous collection in a Phildar catalogue, but its not where i saw it first. i cant remember. But...its quite easy. you just make the collar band MUCH longer, long enough to be abble to tie a bow with the two loose ends. 

Since my sweater is for a dog...i made the bow at the back. 

I am fully aware that those are very lame photobooth pictures. But i've been taking and uploading so many pics for what im currently working on ART-wise...that i've just had no head space left for the knit projects pictures. The light doesnt really do justice to the pretty yarn and garther stitch. but whatever, gives you an idea. i'll probably take a million better quality pictures when the shirt can actually be on the pup.

Puppy Love.

     I finished the puppy-girl sweater in no time! Its amazingly quick to knit something that tiny...

It seriously is kind of the same lenght project then a hat. and the seams are very simple and easy. (always the step that can turn out appocalyptically for me.)

I conclude that knitting a sweater for a puppy is defenetly more fun then knitting one for an adult.

Here is the little garment. that turned out to be not so little...im sure it will fit her at SOME point, but not when she comes here. 

     I totally recommand the pattern i was using. (it was FREE online too, thats nice.) it is simple and quite easy to addapt to different size of yarn or needles, since the pattern itself is quite straight and simple. 

As for the dog names...we're still in decision-oblivion...

Still in the run;

-Brooklyn

-Mochi

-Bacci

-Miso

-Lilas

-Dossy

-Pumpkin

(as of today...tomorrow will be another deal..)

     Im taking this opportunity to debut my new glasses on the internet! I've had them since about christmas but its the first time i take pictures with them. I like them, they feel like a cadillac. (i specifically chose a model that went the opposite way then my previous frames-that annoyed me for the last 4 years, these are much bigger, and have no wide frames on the side. i feel like i have 360' vision now...)

I also love that cute chain my friend sent me for christmas. There is something so sweet about receiving gifts from oversea in the mail. especially when they come 4 weeks after christmas and make you feel spoiled!!

And since the sweater turned out bigger then i thought..i'm starting a smaller one!