Hi there! It's still too hot here, and humid, and icky, but on the plus side, my incision on my back from my surgery is not as bothersome as it has been, so that's good! I hope you're doing OK wherever you are, since it seems like everyone everywhere is having some kind of extreme weather.
I wanted to show you my completed Waffles Puppy! I know I've been taking you along on my knitting trip with this project, but to review, first you knit and stuff his head:
And it was fairly simple and straightforward, but I gotta tell you, adding the safety eyes and the nose were one of the hardest parts of this whole project! Making sure to get them snapped so that they would not be able to be pulled out took me about half an hour! I kept thinking I'd have to wait until The Tim got home from work and ask him to help me. Fortunately, I managed to finally make it work on my own.
Next, you added the ears:
Again, the pattern is extremely well-written and understandable. but the hard part here was not just picking up the stitches to create the ears, but the first few rounds of knitting. It's hard to knit when the stitches you've picked up are not kind of free-standing, so to speak. This was the most difficult thing every time it was needed in the pattern.
The body was next, and because it was a larger piece, not too fiddly.
And then, of course, he needed his feet!
And finally, his arms and little tail:
GAH! He's so stinkin' cute!
Here are the details for anyone interested who may wish to make a puppy of their own.
Project: As yet unnamed puppy stuffie
Pattern: Waffles Puppy, by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Home Bulky Twist Marled Yarn, in the colorway Folkstone Twist, from Barrett Wool Co.
Needles: US size 8/5.0 mm and US size 10/6.0
Modifications: Are you kidding me???
Notes: I bought this in a kit years ago from Barrett Wool Co. It's still listed as a product in their "Kits" section, but says it is currently out of stock. Anyway, I put it away and when I was doing a stash review earlier this summer, decided that I would knit it as a good summer project. The yarn was already wound (so clearly at some point I thought I'd start and then did not), so all I needed to do was collect the needles and get going.
This is the first time I've ever knit or even attempted to knit a stuffie. I think it was a good idea that I started with this project, because it only has a few pieces, and it is larger, so although parts were fiddly, it was not working the entire time on a very small, fiddly project, which I'm not sure would have been that agreeable to me.
Anyway, for the most part, I worked on one section per week - which really amounted to working on it for a few hours one day a week. At the time, I was working also on my late Relax Tee, and that was getting most of my knitting time. It wouldn't have taken long at all to complete it if I'd worked on it as my primary project, but it's not like I had a deadline or anything.
The pattern was very very well-written, with good photographs to help with needle placement, etc. The yarn was lovely, rustic looking, but very nice and pleasant in your hands. And it seems like it is also sturdy, so if say a kiddo had this toy, it would be quite durable.
As I said, the hardest parts for me were the safety eyes and nose, and knitting in the round for the ears, etc. for the first few rounds after you'd picked up stitches.
Now, as you may have noticed if you looked at the Ravelry link or the Barrett Wool. Co link, the puppy is wearing a hat and a sweater. My puppy currently has neither, and likely will not have them for a while. I will probably knit his hat when the weather gets cool, and decided that it's more likely I will turn the sweater into a vest if I do decide to knit that for him. But right now, I'm not interested in him having accessories, and it's too hot for him to wear them anyway! So for now, he can bask in some puppy nakedness! 😊
This was such a fun project, but I have to say I'm glad I made it now, and not when I first got the kit. I'm a much more confident knitter than I used to be, so I knew I could do it and even if it wasn't perfect, it would be close enough. If I had started this when I first bought the kit, I have a feeling that when I first started with the ears, I may have given up. I would have been sure that the stiches shouldn't be so hard to maneuver once they were picked up. But now I understood why that was the case, and knew it would get easier to do one a few rows were underway.
I finished knitting him this past Monday, and am still contemplating his name. I decided he is a "he" because all the dogs I've had in my life were male, so that makes sense to me. I have a few thoughts, but I need to live with them for a while and see which one he seems most like.
If you are in the mood for something different but fun, I would find some yarn - you could probably use just about any weight - and knit yourself a Waffles Puppy. It's so much fun to see him coming into existence, and at least for me, it was a different enough project to keep my interest, but not so involved that working on any part of it was a slog.
And then at the end, you have a puppy! What could be better??
*****
No specific plans for the weekend. I think I mentioned when I posted last week that we were going out to dinner on Friday to a Mexican place in our neighborhood (or maybe I didn't ... I'm too lazy to check). Anyway, it was really enjoyaable and delicious. We even had margaritas, and boy were they good! One thing we especially enjoyed was a salad we'd shared - we asked our server what kind of dressing it was, and he checked for us and said it was a coriander vinaigrette. So now I'm on the search for a recipe.
This weekend, really the only thing I'd like to do is go to the Lowe's near us. I want to see if they have any garden pots, etc. on end-of-summer clearance. I have some ideas for next spring/summer, and if I already have the pots or planters, I'm more likely to make it happen.
And that's all the excitement around here. I hope you have a good weekend, and if you are in the throes of any extreme weather, that you can stay safe.
See you next week!
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