Custom doggie gear and Dynamite knits.

My mom (and her little dog) have gone home, and we miss them lots!  During their visit, my mom brought out Casey's cooling jacket. It's like a wet blanket that dogs wear to keep cool. The fabric holds water and breathes well, it's amazing how quickly this wet jacket cools off a panting dog. Casey's little jacket needed some modifications in order to fit him properly and be useful. I took off the clip at the front and put on polyacetal snaps in just the right spots for a perfect fit. Then I made a dart across the back, tapering off at the sides. I shortened and put snaps on the belly strap too. Voila! A perfect fit. 
Now, Casey isn't just an ordinary little dog. He's a Master Agility Dog of Canada. He got his title at a trial the weekend before he came to see us.  My mom chose this embroidery design so I put it on his cooling jacket, with his name for the perfect touch. How cute is this? I don't have a picture of him modeling it, but he has a super hero with an official cape look going on.

We've had beautiful weather lately, so I haven't been able to get any sewing done.  We filled our little pool on Monday morning and ever since then my boys have been glued to it. Do these two look reliable?

Not so much, right?  They are still very young so I must be present when they are playing in the water.  Thus, no sewing for me.  I can knit outside though, so I've got a few things to show you.  I made this sweater last week and finished it yesterday, the buttons will go on tomorrow.  I think it will go in the store in the fall with the dark green and chocolate brown cardigans to come.

My mom knit a sweater for my youngest out of some neat self patterning yarn. She gave me the leftovers to see what I can do with it. It's DK weight so it knits up a lot faster than the sock yarn I usually use. This raglan cardigan will be for my little guy's doll so they can match, if he wants.  I may be able to squeeze a second cardigan out of the yarn for the store. If that doesn't work I can make a hat and mittens.

I went to the yarn store last week too, and I found a lonely skein of very pretty sock yarn. It was all by itself there, no mate in sight to make a pair of socks. I did the civilized thing and bought it to make a doll sweater. I'm going to make a raglan cardi out of this, but I'll need to plan out the pattern first.  It will be a simple design so the colors can be the feature.  This sweater will be the inspiration of a complete outfit.