My dog is fashionable and my homework is... well, not so done

Finished Hiroki's sweater in time for his Friday dog park date. Now he can be nice and toasty after his bath.


He's such a funny model. Like a deer in headlights. He is often mistaken for a deer, though.


Same pattern I used for his first coat, with a different decorative stitch going down the back this time. I used some wool that I recycled from an ugly gray sweater from the thrift store and dyed with Kool-Aid.

I've gotten back on the dyeing and recycling yarn train this past week. The above wool I already had measured and skeined out, but I've been wanting new yarn lately to make something nice and found a misshapen and sad cardigan at the thrift store that desperately wanted loving. It was a really thin yarn after being unwound, but there's enough of it to double up and make a Tappan Zee Cardigan by Amy King.

It was a strange mustard baby poop yellow, I wasn't sure it would dye because it was 70% acrylic, 30% wool. But it did work well with the Kool Aid, so now it's a more orange and orangey-red color and drying on my porch. I'm very tempted to start knitting with it damp, I'm so excited because I think I'll actually be able to wear this creation. But alas... I have homework that needs desperate attention after being ignored these past two weeks for work and crafty things.

And then...


This has been my on-going project for the past three or four weeks. For my Cultural Approaches to Tourist Arts final, we had to do a project -- anything we wanted to do -- that related to the course objectives. We talked a lot about authenticity and how cultures change their cultural items to be more tourist-friendly, so I made a pseudo-Amish quilt and am going to present on what makes an Amish quilt Amish.



It's not a full size quilt, it's only 3'x3'. But my first proper quilt where I did the three layers, hand-quilted the layers, and bound it. Yes, I hand-quilted those. First time I've done that, and I think I really like it. I did not so much enjoy the hand-binding. In fact, this would have been done over a week ago if it wasn't for procrastinating on the binding. I'm presenting it in class this Tuesday.


And since Sakura has been missing from the blog lately... here's a really early picture I found of her on my camera. Probably taken in the first two months after we brought her home.

Stay tuned for some sewing things... a friend and I have recently made Tuesday nights our sewing night and JoAnn's had Simplicity patterns 5 for $5 last week.

chilly weather... in Florida?

The past few days it has been chilly here. Lows in the high 40s, highs in the mid 60s. Which is kind of ridiculous for Florida in November. But very welcome.

I had to bring out Hiroki's sweater I made him last spring so he wouldn't get cold after his bath at the dog park. I made it out of acrylic because I was thinking of washability and practicality... but unfortunately he had to sleep in it several nights when we went camping and it is terribly stretched out. Still useable, but not quite as adorable as it once was.

So I'm in the process of making him a new one out of wool so it holds its shape better. I'm trying not to spend money lately, and I remembered I had a whole bin of yarn I recycled and dyed a few months ago.


This is the collar, I made it long this time to go around his ears. A greyhound turtleneck. And I'm doing a leaf lace pattern down the back of it so the rounded part that sticks out past the cast on edge will sit jauntily on his head. He's going to be the most stylish dog on the block. I'm really liking how the colors work up, a combination of reds, purples, browns, and a few spots where the natural grey the yarn originally was comes through.

And since I was winding yarn in little cakes, I pulled out my favorite color I dyed called Sea Glass and started making a beanie for myself.


I don't wear hats often, but they're so satisfying to make. And now that I'm working outsider, I'm going to need hats this winter. Mostly stockinette stitch, but every 8 rows I'm doing a purl row to mix things up a bit so there's ridges throughout.


In other news... I managed to find away to fit crafting into my Humanities seminar. For our final project we can do just about anything, and one of the ideas we talked about a lot this semester was authenticity and how cultural items change when they are mass-marketed to tourists. So I'm making a mini-quilt in a mix of Amish and modern ways. I'm using traditional Amish colors, but with soft patterns to make it a bit modern. I used electricity, of course, to piece the top... and then for the first time in my life ventured into hand-quilting the layers.

Sneak peak (full post to come later):



It's mostly done, I just have to finish hand-sewing the binding to the back of the quilt in time for my presentation on November 16. And I made two side panels that mimic the design so I can hang it on the long wall behind our long boring beige couch when the class is over. Those will have to wait to be quilted and bound probably until finals are over. I'm definitely feeling the stress of school and work combined this semester.