Hooked on ‘Vintage Crochet’

Ever since reading an advance for it on Alicia Paulson’s blog, I could not wait for Vintage Crochet, by Susan Cropper, owner of London’s Loop yarn shop, to come out. Finally I have it in hand, and it has thus far  exceeded my expectations.

I adore crocheting ~ even more than knitting.  The gal who taught me to crochet loves to tell the story of how I came to her granny square class, struggling and struggling to get it, and leaving so frustrated and angry with myself for being all thumbs.  But I was determined, because the yarn shop, wild fibre, was right across the street from my house, and those beautiful yarns beckoned me.  So I bought a simple how-to book at Barnes and Noble and showed up at Tracy’s class the next week with a fully completed crocheted dog sweater for my Yorkie. 

Once I got started, I was hooked.  That little piece of metal (I do like the aluminum cheapies best) felt so at home in my hand that soon I was turning out ponchos (Martha Stewart’s, of course), afghans and anything else I could think of.  Despite my trouble with that first class, I come by the ability to crochet naturally ~ my grandmother Rose was buried, at 92, with her crochet hook and a piece of work in her hands ~ and I still like to break up the knitting with a crochet project every once in a while.

Problem is:  How hard is it to find a decent crochet pattern?  Besides blankets and the now-outdated ponchos, where are the patterns for crocheted garments you’d be caught dead wearing?  I’ve bought every issue of Interweave Crochet that’s been published, but never made a single project from the magazine; watched Hip To Crochet and Hooked on Crochet gather dust on my bookshelf. Couldn’t even wrap my head around anything in Stitch ‘n’ Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.  Every pattern I see is so precious or dated or over-designed or crafty-in-a-bad-way (see Rowan 43 for the most hideous of all, Chevelle, a cropped granny squarish top in a nasty ’70s color combo).

But Vintage Crochet is thoroughly enthralling with its old fashioned yet perfectly current patterns for clothing, accessories and home furnishings.  The photography, by Kristin Perers, is delicious, and the book makes sure it shows you an item from several angles ~ up close and on a human or two.  Thank you!   There’s the ripple blanket shown on the cover ~ oh, and you Yanks, be sure to buy this version rather than the one with the gal in the sweater, as this is the U.S. edition, with American crochet terms.  Precious egg, tea and coffee press cozies.  A to-die-for lampshade.  A button-trimmed shelf runner that’s def on my to-do list. For the adventurous, a crocheted picnic canopy.  (Wouldn’t it be nice over a bed, too?)  And even a bobbled-and-hooded dog sweater.

It was hard to decide where to start, but I decided to make a small item first, just to get the new off the book and give me some instant gratification.  Here’s my Rickrack Kerchief, completed in about one day:

 

 

 

 

 

The project calls for three balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (one of my favorites), a bit of ribbon and a  C hook.  I used two balls of Baby Cash in off white and subbed some leftover Blue Sky Alpacas Sport Weight in moss green and some Rowan Wool Cotton in Citron.

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve never worn a kerchief in my life, but I wore this one today, an atypically windy end-of-April day for Savannah.  Even the teenage daughter liked it!

I found no mistakes in the pattern, and it was easy to follow.  (There are, however, a few errors in this first edition, so check Loop’s website before embarking on a project.)  Making my little triangle was, dare I say, exciting, almost as exciting as trolling the Internets looking for bargain yarn for my next Vintage Crochet project.  The crochet, she does eat up the yarn, y’know.  I’ll probably go first with the Betty Shrug, to use up a bag of blush pink Blue Sky Alpaca Silk I’ve been hoarding for just the right project.  Can you visualize?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I think I’ll order a bag of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Aquamarine or Rose for Alicia Paulson’s Millie Cardigan, the pretty sweater that got me interested in the book in the first place.  It’s a sweet, delicate bed jackety cardi trimmed with dainty strips of Liberty of London florals.  Go to Ravelry and check out what a few others have done with this lovely pattern.

I’m working out of several new books, and I’ll share my impressions with you over the next few postings.  Also finishing up another FREE DOG SWEATER PATTERN that I’ll post soon.

In Sickness and in Health

MY TURN

We had quite the surprising week. Not a good surprise, but an opportunity nonetheless for me to give back, and I always appreciate that.

Michael, my healthy, robust, always giving partner, contracted a couple of hernias this month. The day he remembers feeling “something” was a day he spent with the leaf blower outside trying to outmaneuver the mounds of spring goodies that have fallen from the giant live oak between our house and our neighbors’.  It’s a losing battle ~ you rake or blow away this stuff, and the porch and yard are filled with it the next day.  But he tried.  Then Michael took on the bathing of our squiggly, wiggly Yorkie, Willie, with his rapidly expanding girth ~ the dog now weighs 13.2 pounds! By the time that day was over, my husband was doubled over with pain and on his way to the doctor.

This past Monday morning Michael was scheduled for a couple of minor hernia repairs, laparoscopic, quick and easy.  Wrong!  One incision is the simple laparoscopic kind, an inch or so right at the belly button.  The other, however, is a good 4 or 5 inches long.  The result:  My poor sweetie has been bedridden all week, in terrible pain, unable to eat, entirely dependent on me, and in a hazy Percocet delirium.

So, I’ve had to go from being well cared for since my shoulder surgery to suddenly being the caregiver myself ~ and I am exhausted!  Needless to say, the 16-year-old has been little help.  I’ll be glad when my sweetie is up and about and back to normal.  It’s hard to see someone you love hurting and not be able to make it go away.

OUR GARDEN GROWS

Last year we planted dozens of exotic daylily bulbs, and I could kick myself for not writing down what everything was.  But the first of them started blooming this week in our front bed.  This magenta darling will bloom only once this year, but what a glorious sight when she does!

 

 

We’ve also got every kind of herb you’d want, plus cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries, zucchini, Meyer lemons, spinach, arugula and a new crop of heirloom tomatoes shipped from Laurel’s Heirloom Tomatoes.  For 18 years I lived downtown in the historic district, with only a courtyard and no earth of my own ~ and prior to that, five years in Manhattan preceded by five years in downtown Boston, so you can imagine how much I love being able to literally put down roots.

GOING GRAY

Coming from that New York state of mind, I’ve been all about the black for a long, long time.  My closet looked like a funeral director’s.  In the last year or two I ventured a little toward the browns, but they just weren’t me, and I kept drifting back to black. 

I’ve found a new niche in GRAY, ironically well-suited to my station in life as part of a retired, fixed-income couple.  (Too bad my taste doesn’t lend itself to that income.)  You may have noticed a trend in my recent knitted items, from the “Charlotte” wrap, knitted in charcoal Rowan Ribbon Twist, to “Grey Gardens,” my luscious Cascade Cloud 9 triangle wrap in dark gray, to even the ill-fated “Nightfall Cropped Top” from Twinkle’s Weekend Knits in dark gray and ivory Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  The wardrobe is filling in with lovely gray items by Eileen Fisher and Garnet Hill.  And what about these cool shoes (the pewter ones, left) by Palladium?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re comfy comfy comfy from Garnet Hill, and I adore wearing them with GH’s Knit Layered Skirt in dove gray, their Elbow-length Scoop-neck Tee in warm gray, and ~ soon ~ this amazing Martin Storey striped cardigan sweater I am almost finished with, from Rowan Classic’s “Colour of Summer” book, which has quite a few terrific patterns.

         

The sweater calls for Rowan Cashcotton DK, but I’m using Wool Cotton (probably my all-time favorite Rowan yarn) in two shades of green, elf and citron, along with Rowan Cashsoft DK in mist, which is ~ what else? ~ a lovely, soft gray.

 

 

A Special Visitor

ABSENTEEISM …

Yes, I’ve been away, working working working on the dog sweater design I’m about to share with you.  But let’s face it ~ I could’ve checked in with you.  It was Spring Fever.  It was the 20th anniversary trip to Charleston (last week).  It was the 20th anniversary (this past Wednesday).    It was the daughter’s 16th birthday (yesterday).

It was just … I didn’t have anything to say, and what I had to say took too long to say in the time I had to say it.  Oh, well ~ forgive, ‘kay?

THE BIG DAY

Yesterday was April’s 16th birthday, and it was a wonderful day.  

My sweet, lovely daughter has been with us since April 5, 1994, when we went to China to adopt her.  She turned 2 and took her first steps while we were there, and the ensuing years have been a wonderful, sometimes painful whirl of two, ahem, older people trying to raise and handle a quirky, talented, intelligent little girl.  Now our baby is almost grown! (The Savannah Morning News told April’s story at age 6.)

I believe April had her best birthday ever.  She had a date with a special boy to have sushi lunch ~ he brought her chocolates and white tulips ~ and go on to the movies.  Since many of today’s teenagers seem to feel no need to learn to drive, these two included, Poppa chauffeured them around and brought them back here for birthday cake. 

Isn’t she cute ~ all 4’11” of her?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hadn’t met the boy before, and there was much advance cleaning and fixing up to get ready for his visit.  Here’s a picture of April’s room clean ~ take a good look, because you’re not likely to find it that tidy again soon.

That’s a reproduction of a Gee’s Bend quilt that I bought from Anthropologie several years ago.  The Jim Dine heart poster was in my Pepto Bismol pink studio apartment in New York before I moved to Savannah and got married.  The stick thingie propped on top of the bookcase is a voodoo doll from New Orleans.  And you can’t see the big birthday gift, a Nintendo Wii, on a dresser to the right.

 

THE LATEST PROJECT

It’s in the low 80s here, but I realize it’s still cold elsewhere, and there are plenty of little ones who stay cold year ’round.  So, here’s the latest installment in the puppy finery parade, pattern available by clicking on the thumbnail to your right under “My Patterns for Sale on Etsy”.

Fido’s Flower Garden 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your pup can welcome spring in this beautiful, intricately detailed embroidered fair isle beauty. Knit partly in the round with an off-center lace-trimmed “henley” neck, decorative button faux closure, and pearl-beaded highlights, this sweater will keep your pup warm while temperatures are still cool outside, and pretty as a posy.

For the intermediate to advanced knitter who enjoys detail work. Some embroidery, hand-stitching, beading and crochet required.

The sweater uses 10 shades of light worsted-weight yarn.  This one is knitted in Cascade 220 wool.

 

     

 

My boy is extra sweet when he wears this one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Life Sucks … Eat Rhubarb & Frog*

MY ‘NIGHTFALL’ CRAPPED TOP

Yesterday sucked. I had just given in to my jones for Wenlan Chia’s latest book, Twinkle’s Weekend Knits, last Friday.  Since my LYS doesn’t carry any of Twinkle’s yarns and I was supposed to hold four strands of Twinkle Cruise (sportweight) together to make the darling “Nightfall Cropped Top” pictured on the cover of  the book, I decided to use Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  I have a ton of it, having overbought for a multi-colored ripple afghan, so I had enough to make the very same color combo that lured me into buying that book.  Cotton Fleece is more like worsted than sportweight, so I did a gauge swatch, a good-sized one, and got gauge holding three strands.  Yay! I was a little unsure about how my, ahem, round figure was going to rock this little item, but figured it would do fine over some of my droopy, shapeless Flax dresses (note to self: must change my look this summer) and maybe even give them some shape.

Worked on the little top all weekend.  Finished it yesterday, and, what a coincidence, I just happened to be wearing one of those shapeless Flax dresses.  Here’s my cute little “Nightfall” top.

  

Isn’t it precious?  I was very happy with how this turned out … for about half an hour, as long as it took to get out to Dillard’s at Savannah Mall and start shopping for my daughter’s prom dress.  First the straps started slipping down, then the whole thing began looking like a California mudslide.  I finally realized my “Nightfall” had stretched so badly it would fit an SUV. 😦

So, off to the frog* pond it goes. 

After I got home, I sat down here and started recounting this disaster at length, I’m sure way more than you’d ever want to know.  Phone rings, I slip while hitting SAVE, and lose my whole post.  As I said, yesterday sucked.

We did find a gorgeous prom dress, by Jessica McClintock, and it’s on its way from Dillard’s online.  Here’s a picture from the website.  Isn’t that apple green just scrumptious with the black?

* To frog: In knitting, to rip out a completed project and give up on it

ABOUT THAT RHUBARB …

Until this spring, I don’t think I had ever eaten rhubarb, much less cooked it.  But it’s in the stores now, so I decided to make the Rhubarb Crisp from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food cookbook.  After the first one ~ and my husband’s complaints about the price of rhubarb ~ I worked up my own little recipe for a variation, Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble.  It’s mostly Martha, but I like it better with the berries, and it so happens they’re way cheaper than rhubarb when they’re in season, which is now. 

This is so easy, just thinking of it made me throw one in the oven for dinner tonight.

   

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB CRUMBLE

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Slice 1 lb. rhubarb into chunks about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick.  Trim 1 lb. strawberries and combine with rhubarb in a 9×13 baking dish.  Toss with 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour.

In a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup flour and 1 stick unsalted butter, ice cold and cut into pieces, until the ingredients are small clumps.  Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup rolled oats and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and pulse until combined.  Sprinkle over the rhubarb and strawberries.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until the rhubarb and strawberries are bubbly.  Best served with Edy’s No-sugar-added Vanilla Ice Cream, or your diabetes will act up.

A Hand Knit Wedding

Last Sunday my friends Rachel and Solumon were married on Columbia Square in Savannah, in front of a fountain gushing green-dyed water for St. Patrick’s Day and among several dozen friends and family ~ many of whom were dressed or wrapped in hand-knit items. 

Rachel was the star, of course, and her delicate lace veil-turned-shawl ~ knit by the multi-talented Kristen of our stitching group ~ was the showstopper of the day. 

  

About a month ago, after Rachel caught sight of Kristen’s work on the lace piece and admired it, the rest of us got together and raised money to buy it for Rachel’s veil.  As you can see, Rachel was delighted to wear the piece, and it really made her wedding ensemble.  Bravo, Kristen!

But Rachel wasn’t the only one rocking a hand-knit.  With the weather unseasonably nippy, we all hauled out our wraps and sweaters (yay! It’s often too warm here to wear anything knitted), and some even borrowed others’ creations to ward off the chill.  I wore my new ‘Grey Gardens’ wrap (down below in the previous post), and several other gals, such as Sarah (below right) wore the colorful and imaginative creations of Tracy (left).

  

Kate (above right), also wearing one of Tracy’s wraps, took many of these pictures (the good ones).  Aren’t all these women gorgeous?  Brooke, Julia and Penny (l-r, below) didn’t wear their hand-knits, but they look so good I had to put them in anyway.  Besides, Julia did all the flowers and decorations for Rachel, and they were wonderful.

Now, here’s one of my favorite pictures, of Sandy (left) and Jennifer walking home from the wedding.  I swear ~ if I didn’t know better I’d say they were somewhere in Central America on the way to sell their handmade goods at market.  Sandy’s is a many-colored woolen wrap, and Jennifer is wearing a piece she hand-spun, hand-dyed, knitted and trimmed with three charming tiny bells on the bottom of that center back jagged edge.  As a matter of fact, Jennifer ~ our fearless LYS leader ~ surprised us all by wearing not one but two of her own creations, the luscious pink angora shell she has on in the picture on the right.

   

Not to forget the gifts Rachel made for her bridesmaids, these pretty sky blue felted buttonhole bags.

It was a lovely wedding on a beautiful day.  Thank you, Rachel and Solumon, for inviting us and sharing this most special occasion with us. 

AND TO THINK, THE FIRST JOB I EVER HAD IN JOURNALISM WAS WRITING UP WEDDINGS!  SOME THINGS YOU JUST NEVER FORGET.

A Lotta Look

‘Grey Gardens’: Wrapped in a Cloud With an Edge

    

Yes, I finished something on time, my ‘Grey Gardens’ wrap.  And the weather cooperated Sunday so I could wear it to my friend Rachel’s “Handknit Wedding” (more on that later this week).  The day was brilliant and sunny, but the temps were cold for Savannah, so I cuddled up in this luscious, oversized angora-and-wool triangle and never even felt the chill.

  

As promised, I’m offering the FREE PATTERN on ~ duh ~ my Free Patterns page.  The wrap is knitted in Cascade Cloud 9, Berroco Ultra Alpaca and Crystal Palace Kid Merino, on US 8 needles.  I started out to make Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton’s “Sursa,” which is a big favorite in my knitting group.  But a friend suggested I not double the Cloud 9, which made it a whole new ballgame.  This is a B-I-G knit, i.e., the finished measurement is 96″ by 34″ sans ruffle!  But it’s a dream to work with ~ somehow avoiding the up-your-nose-and-all-over-your-clothes downside of angora ~ and the Cloud 9, which is used for the main, gray part of the shawl, does the most amazing thing: it felts itself as you knit.  Makes the most wondrous fabric.  I did a totally different ruffle, too ~ a fluted chevron thingie that’s a little, well, edgier than a simple ruffle.

My First Human Pattern. Enjoy!

Another Hot, Fierce Tranny Mess

Do you love “Project Runway” on Bravo?  If so, you’ll know what that little subtitle refers to, and you’ll enjoy this skit that ran on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.  WordPress won’t let me link directly to the NBC clip and it’s not up on YouTube, but here’s a link:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/#mea=227155

Knitting Junkie All Strung Out

But It’s My Knitting Arm

I tell you.  It’s been a rough seven, almost eight, weeks of NOT not knitting.  When they told me I had a “significant” tear in my right rotator cuff, I agreed right away to a little laparoscopic surgery and six weeks in a sling.  Nobody mentioned nonstop pain or not being able to use my right arm at all.  Oh, the doctor said I could knit, sure.  But he clearly has no idea how many muscles are involved in simply throwing a knit stitch.  So this has been a mighty painful recovery. 

 Just last night I got up at 3 a.m. to take a pain pill.  Half a hydrocodone, the “step-down” dose.  I’ve been holding onto this last bottle as if it’s a life preserver, spending the time I’m not on the drug, well … thinking about the drug.  The other afternoon, I fell asleep with the electronic TENS unit humming away through its four electrodes into the depths of my shoulder, while nestled up against an electric heating pad.  I’m lucky I didn’t get electrocuted.

So it’s with a bit of shame and recovering alcoholic style remorse that I admit I probably brought all this pain on myself.  Even last week, when I vowed to “put down” the needles until I was better … I lasted One. Day.

I’d like to say I have more to show you for all this pain, but, since my last post two weeks ago I have completed this ~ a little set of four neon-colored washcloths for a friend’s kitchen shower.  Sad.  Pitiful.

The pattern: Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth

The yarn: Sugar ‘n’ Cream cotton in Hot Green, Hot Blue, Hot Pink and Hot Orange

The needles: US 7

Took one full day of around-the-clock knitting and just about did me in.  But, after my One. Day. of recuperation (have you tried JUST watching TV lately???), I was back up and running, knitting these inordinately long rows for a piece I’m going to surprise you with as soon as I finish it ~ and that will be soon.  Here’s a hint.

The project involves Cascade Cloud 9, Crystal Palace Kid Merino and Berroco Ultra Alpaca.  I started out loosely following a pattern but soon realized I was off on my own, developing a whole new thing.  Today I accepted that I was not going to be able to finish the project without another ball of the Berroco.  Oh, and that my LYS had had only that one skein when I started out.  Several phone calls around the country, culminating in one to Berroco HQ in Massachusetts, had me getting my LYS owner to call Berroco (while in the carpool lane to pick up her daughter from school) and order one skein to be overnighted to Savannah at a yet-to-be-determined cost.

Did I mention I was a knitting junkie?

I’ll be finishing up this lovely item this weekend and will post the pattern FREE for you here probably Monday, assuming my shoulder doesn’t go into spasms and shut down entirely.

In the meantime …

Don’t Hate Me Because My Town Is Beautiful

Two weeks ago, I started photographing the signs of early spring around town.  Now we’re in full-blown azalea-land, complete with bumblebees, pollen and the continuous drone of a lawn mower somewhere nearby.

The first signs were the budding magnolia trees in the yards of the mansions a few blocks over.

  

Here’s a tentative February azalea display right in front of my daughter’s school.  By now I’m sure the avenue is lined with millions of the bright blossoms ~ if the frost of last week didn’t kill them off.

And a couple more-confident ones today in my own yard.

  

Before Global Warming, such beauties saved themselves for a few months longer before appearing ~ that’s why Michael and I named our daughter April, for the most beautiful month of the year.

Here are the delicate Johnny Jump-ups my next-door neighbor has in a window box, along with the brilliant fuchsia geraniums on my front porch.

   

And here’s what I finally took down from the young Oklahoma Redbud in my yard.  The tree put out buds this week, so I guess nobody’s coming back to the nest I’ve been watching all winter.  (I added those eggs.)

I’ll have that pattern up probably Monday ~ it’s not a dog sweater! ~ and the little dog sweater neck lining tutorial on my Free Tutorials page by tomorrow (Friday).

Carry on.

Knitting Leftovers = ‘Furrrocious’ Dog Sweaters Four Ways

FROM MOM’S LITTLE WRAP …

I’m an unabashed Rowan fan.  Give me most any Rowan pattern or any Rowan yarn, and I’ll be in heaven.  So when I stumbled on the delicious Ribbon Twist yarn from Rowan a couple of years ago in a series of patterns in Rowan 38, I ordered up some of this pretty yarn and made myself a “Charlotte” in the Ribble colorway ~ a soft sage green with strands of royal blue, turquoise and yellow running through it.  Here’s the little ponchette, one of my favorite wraps:

This took four skeins (for smaller sizes, it’s three) and was worked on size US 17 needles in about a day and a half.

When I found out recently that my lovely Ribbon Twist has been discontinued by Rowan, I snapped up some more ~ it’s a luxurious yarn, big and thick (2 sts = 1″), in an absolutely glorious collection of colors.  Since everybody I know was discovering the Charlotte, I decided to make another one, in the colorway Rocky, a granite gray with pale gray and black ribbon:

TO A RUG …

Another great yarn being axed by Rowan is Big Wool Tuft, a big, soft, plushy wonder that is from the same era as Ribbon Twist and comes in eight or 10 colors that coordinate with the Ribbon Twist colors.  They’re used together in “Ribbon Twist Collection,” an old Rowan book I wish I had, in “Big It Up”, “Big Just Got Bigger” and, as mentioned, Rowan 38.  A friend saw a little doggie sweater I had knitted out of white Big Wool Tuft an suggested it would make a good rug.  Well, sure!

Yarniverse is currently selling Big Wool Tuft, normally $10 a ball, at $22 for a bag of 10 balls! So I snapped up three bags ~ one black, one gray, to make my daughter a bedside “faux-kati” rug, and another in off-white, just for fun.  Ribbon Twist is on sale all over the place, at Jimmy Beans Wool, for example, where you can also get the Big Wool Tuft for $3.99 a ball if you don’t want a bag full.

TO A NEW ‘WARDROBE’ FOR THE PUPS

But the best part is the fun I’ve had working up a cute sweater pattern for the puppies using these two yarns.  The pattern is for a basic sweater in Ribbon Twist with two choices of hems ~ seed stitch or knitted faux fur (Big Wool Tuft).  But that’s where the basic ends and the fancy-schmancy begins.  The sweater neck is trimmed in big, bold vintage buttons, and my two different versions have either a button-on “fur” collar or button-on “fur”-trimmed hoodie.  Here are my two angels in their new finery:

  

Now, you’ve met Willie, the fat little Yorkie on the left above, the ham-of-all-hams; but you’ve never been introduced to Chopsticks, my sweet, camera-shy miniature schnauzer mix, a rescue pup who’s a darling love bug, most excellent house-guarder, and ~ usually ~ not the first on the list of puppy knits.  Since Willie’s my muse and he’s tiny, he gets the pretty duds.  But this time I let Chopsy have the sweetest sweater ~ and she absolutely loves it!  You have never seen a prouder puppy.

Chopsy’s sweater has the hoodie, and Willie’s has the “fur” collar (such a little pimp!).  As a friend said yesterday, the sweaters are great for travel ~ one outfit you can wear two ways.  And what about those Glamour mag office-to-evening switcheroos?  Add a pair of dressy pumps and some darker eye shadow, and that plain-jane dress goes right from work to date ~ just like Willie and Chopsy’s sweaters!

There’s a pdf download for this quick and easy pattern on my FREE PATTERNS page.  Soon to follow, a FREE TUTORIAL on how to line a dog sweater neck ~ and why you should.

A Valentine to My Right Arm

   A month ago today I had surgery for a significant tear in my right rotator cuff.  Since then, I’ve been trying to negotiate life in a sling attached to my body.  I can knit ~ up to a point, then it starts hurting like all getout.  I can work the computer, but some days I have to hand over the mouse to my left hand and let it do the work.   I can’t sleep at night for the pain, and I don’t know when it will end. 

I bring this up because today is That Day.  That Day when you’re supposed to shower the one you love with kisses and bouquets and candy and special tokens.  This is best I can do today, but my heart overflows with how much I mean what I have to say about my dear husband, Michael.

We met 20 years ago this coming St. Patrick’s Day, and three weeks later we were married, first marriage for me, second for him.  Everyone said it wouldn’t last, but once we got going I knew it would.  We’ve been through a lot over the past 20 years ~ open heart surgery and five bypasses for Michael, the frustration of infertility and the joy of adopting our baby from China, a knee replacement for me, a big move from his family home in the historic district to the little bungalow of my dreams in Ardsley Park. 

Through all this we’ve not always loved each other with that unflinching eye that sees no wrong and adores every pore and cell of the other partner.  Sometimes, as a matter of fact, I’m sure both of us have wished the other would just take a l-o-n-g vacation. All married couples go through this, I suppose.

But as we approach our 20th anniversary, I had begun to think there was never to be any more romance for us ~ that we would just plod together, side-by-side, wrestling for the remote and trying to dodge the inevitable insults of our teenage daughter, until she was grown and gone and we could sit and look at each other and wonder where it all went.

This month has made me fall in love all over again with the guy I was lucky enough to grab onto upon one day when I was at the end of my rope.  I can’t possibly count the wonderful ways he has cared for me this month, cooking our meals, buying our food, cleaning the house, chauffering me and April, feeding and bathing the dogs, opening and closing doors for me, washing my hair, fastening my bra in back, picking up prescriptions, bringing me surprises to try and appeal to my lackluster appetite.

When my husband’s parents were old, his mother had emphysema and was confined to their house down at Tybee beach.  Michael’s father, it seemed, lived for nothing but to take care of his wife. Even though his own dementia was encroaching, he managed to keep it together as long as his wife was alive.  My mother-in-law used to say she had married “the most wonderful man in the world,” and my husband thought she was joking.  I know she wasn’t.

I just found this picture of my husband taken a couple of years ago in a restaurant on Easter Sunday.  He hadn’t been able to find his regular glasses, so he wore these huge plastic things that I hated.  I’m sure when I took the picture I said it would have been a good one if he hadn’t worn those stupid glasses.  Well, I think it’s a great one anyway, because it perfectly captures the sweetness, humor and generosity of the man who has put up with me for almost 20 years.  And 20 more, I hope.

        

Green Day Coming

It’s not even Valentine’s Day yet, but already we’re thinking ahead to St. Patrick’s Day here in Savannah, where the Irish and Irish-for-a-day do it up in style.  Our parade draws several hundred thousand people every year (yes!), it’s a school and business holiday, and the fountains flow green all over this pretty city.  The weather is usually balmy, but every once in a while it turns cool for the day.  Last year it did, and my hubby got to wear this vest I barely finished in time:

    

This was a big project (to go with his big girth), and I thought I’d never get it done.  It’s knit in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, and the pattern is “Everybody’s Vest” from “Hip To Knit” by Judith L. Swartz.  If you get started now, you can finish in time.

An easier ~ and far cuter ~ project is my little “Shamrockin” dog sweater.

Just look at that sweet monkey, so serious!  This, too, is knit in Lamb’s Pride Worsted and appliqued with felt shamrocks you can cut from the template included in the pattern.  It’s available on Etsy, and there’s a link over to the right on this page.

I have to show you this, even though I’m still writing the pattern.  Poor Willie, he’s usually game for any of my shenanigans.  But this was too much.  Still, don’t you think he rocks this hat?