A dog named Cher – Yards of Happiness

FO: Double the Dogs

I’ve been on a bit of a toy kick lately. Once I start something and gain momentum I like to keep riding that train (perhaps why I just keep on knitting sweaters…). Since I made Wasabi the Whale I decided to make my friend’s son Jacob a stuffed dog toy. We are hoping to visit them and he likes pictures of my dogs but isn’t 100% comfortable around dogs so I thought why not give him his own? And then once I made one I said, well I can’t leave out his little sister…
Seeing double dogs
So we’ve now had a family of four dogs in our house. Jellybean has been utterly fascinated by them. I don’t know if she wants to snuggle them or thinks they’re a toy for her to play with, so I’ve been keeping them away from her.

Jacob’s favorite color is purple so I pulled out this really dark purple from my stash of Caron Simply Soft and decided to whip up the first dog. I didn’t stuff his head as much as I think I could have so after I washed him he’s become much more of a floppy dog. Which is super cute. His ears fall down more like Cher’s do, which I love. And I added in a little green bow tie because I felt like he was just too naked. And once I did that, Cher wanted to snuggle him. Perhaps she thought I was making her a boo?
Seeing double dogs
For his little sister Leah (you’ll remember her from this post) I dug into my stash and pulled out this super bright hot fuchsia yarn from Deborah Norville that I’ve had forever. I used one skein to make a hat and I loved the vividness of the color and how soft it was but never found something to use it with until now. I also haven’t seen this colorway ever again – why does this always happen to me? It was perfect for this project and her dog has stiffer ears because the yarn is a bit heavier. And I added a scarf to hers as an accessory. I matched their accessories to the eyes of the other dog as a fun little detail.
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The entire time I was making both of these I felt like they looked so much like Jellybean since she is a chihuahua (Cher is half pug) and the dolls were even matching up in terms of size too!
Pup in progress
And since my girlfriend Rachel knows how to knit she asked me when I made the second doll to show her the progress as it was made. So I actually have a kind of step-by-step as I went along. I’m hoping these become beloved toys that they play with and love on for years to come. And I have a feeling I’ll be making a few more toys before the year is up!
Seeing double dogs
So have any of you made toys before? What are your favorite patterns?

It Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

I fly through most knitting projects. Full size sweaters typically take me on average about two weeks. Baby knits can be whipped up over a weekend. A hat, just a few hours. So yesterday I thought about the dress I was knitting my goddaughter and I wondered why it has taken me 2 months and I had only gotten about 4 inches of progress made. I didn’t like the pattern. So I looked at the project and looked at what else was in my library and I said this shouldn’t be this hard and I frogged it!
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I felt such a wave of relief when I did that. And then I decided to make the Summer to Fall dress instead and you know what?

Last night I got all the way up to finishing the back panel of the dress! That’s about 10 inches of knitting that I finished and in the last 2 months I could barely get through 5 inches in the other pattern. All I’ve got left is the front of the dress to knit. It’s like a block was lifted. I wasted all this time because I felt like I needed to finish something and then realized I was the only person putting that pressure on myself. I can always just knit something else if I don’t like it. And once I let go of what held me back I was moving full steam ahead. So I hope to finish this over the weekend and then I’m thinking about knitting a few toys after making Wasabi the Whale the other weekend. It’s also Bark in the Park for the Nationals at the baseball stadium so we’ve taking the dogs on an adventure and seeing how they like baseball. Wish me luck and say a prayer that Cher is a polite dog the entire time we’re there.
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June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 by IamDWJ Categories: Baby Knits, Cher, Color, Knit Picks, Knitting, My Dogs, pink, YarnTags: #Cherstagrams, #yardsofhappiness, A dog named Cher, baby knits, dog, knitting, pink 16 Comments

My Valentine to You…

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this already but I just had to share it here because I love it so.
Moose on the loose!
I was leaving Marshalls the other day and hanging randomly on a rack at checkout was a moose sweater in Cher’s size.

How could I resist? Tiny little antlers on a hoodie of a nicely made wool sweater for a tiny dog who is always cold this time of year.

If only the little moose would stop running and I could get a clearer picture. Happy Valentine’s day from the moose on the loose in my house.

February 14, 2016February 12, 2016 by IamDWJ Categories: Cher, Things That Bring Me JoyTags: #Cherstagrams, A dog named Cher, Dogs in sweaters, knits for dogs, My Dogs, rescue dog, Valentine's Day 6 Comments