Post # 19: Fido's Ill-Fitting Furry Sweater and a Lumpy Bumpy Quilt

    
Sometimes it's good to be a hoarder. Really. Not the reality TV, over-the-top, jaw-dropping, eye-popping, gross-you-out sort of hoarding, not that kind, oh no! What I refer to instead is the good kind of hoarding, the kind where you have something you know you don't need, can't use, it simply doesn't work, yet for some unknown reason, you do not get rid of it, whatever the thing might happen to be.Then somehow, sometime later, it turns out there was a good reason to keep the item after all...a happy ending of sorts. That's what happened with these two things I made for our dog, Fido, a long time ago.

     When I first started knitting I went online and found this dog sweater pattern because Fido needed a new sweater. I chose this particular pattern because it seemed like the easiest and that was the scale by which I measured which project I should attempt, I was so new to knitting. It is a Lion Brand pattern and you can find it here: http://lionbrand.com/patterns/kff-dogSweater.html
This is the photo they provide, which shows up very nicely. It's a bit easier to see than in my photos with the black-on-black (not to mention my slow-to-improve photography skills). I used the Lion Brand Fun Fur and other Lion Brand yarn recommended in the pattern.

I have been unable to locate a picture of Fido in that darn sweater. It was huge on her. All I can tell you is she looked like a sad, soft, procupine or an overgrown hedgehog. Here's a picture of Fido in another outfit just to remind you of her sweet face. If I come across a pic of her in that sweater later I'll post it. That was one good dog. I surely do miss her.

Now, Fido was a much better model for the camera than Alice, but what do want for nothin' - your money back? It's almost as though she has stage fright, it's funny. I dug the sweater out of Fido's dog box, tried it on Alice, and it fit like it was custom-made for her. I'm so glad I didn't get rid of it. One time about a year ago I actually almost turned it into a purse, but then some life event came along or some other project or distraction, and it got stuck back in the dog box for, hmmmm, let me see, 5 or 6 more years.

 Alice seems to be saying, "Come on, mom, just take the picture already." What the pictures don't show is how excited she gets when I begin to put a sweater or a new collar on her. She really acts like she loves to wear the stuff, but she just isn't very cooperative about posing.

     The flannel "biscuit" quilt that I made especially for Fido was also a dud of a gift for her. I made it in a class and it took a lot of time and effort. It was one of those pain in the a-- type projects that you really like at the time but swear you'll never do another one when it is finished.

      Each little puffed up biscuit is stuffed individually and when it was new it was pretty lumpy and bumpy, much more so than it is now. Fido, who was nicknamed Queen of the Pillows, refused to lay on it, and she would normally lay on anything that had a little bit of cushion to it. I guess it was just a little too lumpy for her missy prissy ways. Kind of like the princess and the pea.

      Over the last ten years it has spent time as a bath mat, a bedside rug, and mostly as a decoration inside a box inside my closet. During my winter fibernation and cleaning out of the cobwebs from my craft supplies and my mind, I came across it and draped it across this ottoman. Alice has adopted it as her morning sunning blanket. Yes, I do believe...sometimes...it's okay to be a hoarder.

Finding peace in creativity,

Meryl