Tag Archives: Boq

Mini Jumpers Advent Calendar, WIPs and a FO

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I’m making progress day by day and I’m well on my way to completing the 24 Arne & Carlos Advent Calendar mini-jumpers. I’ve finished through #8 and have begun #9. They’re quite fun and they don’t take a lot of time at all once you get the hang of it.

Because they’re going to hold tiny trinkets (gifts) for Advent, I decided to catch the floats in the body of the jumper but I’m not worrying at all about the sleeves. Nobody’s fingers will be getting caught in the floats so I’m just knitting them with abandon. I decided at the outset to make all of the sweaters in a “traditional” Christmas palate of red, green and white and I’m sticking to that. To be honest, though, I’ve doubted myself here on more than one occasion as I try to figure out how to keep the colors random but no two the same right next to each other.

I’m slowly making my way to finishing a few WIPs or UFOs … I use the two terms interchangeably, don’t you? I’ve finished a camouflage sweater for my son’s pup, my youngest grand-dog, Gus. I was asked to knit it in camo yarn in honor of my little shihtzu, Boq who died last January. A very sweet request. Gus should have it (hopefully it will fit!) in New York City by Boq’s birthday. I can’t believe how much I still miss those little dogs. Boq loved his “macho” camo sweater and was such a handsome model (see below.) Photos of Gus in his sweater coming soon.

Wicked Munchkin Boq 1/31/2005 – 1/15/2021

I’ve had a new order from a former customer who I’m always delighted to hear from. Every winter I’ve been knitting her a few caps in bulky weight yarns. This year she’s requesting black hats and navy hats. I have one black hat knitted and the second hank of yarn is caked up and ready to knit. If I’d stop writing, I could knit it and have them both blocked and ready for delivery next week.

I’m nearly finished with the front of the Anchor Sweater. I put it aside to knit Gus’s sweater and the caps for Judy. I hope I’ll get it finished so that I can knit the sleeves and wrap this project up by the middle of next month. The sleeves have some stripes on them but they’re pretty simple and shouldn’t take a long time to knit. Intarsia is still one of my least favorite knitting techniques but the sweater is pretty cute. Some lucky kiddo will get to wear this sweater eventually!

Gone knitting!

Broken Hearted

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Last week I lost one of the loves of my life. My little dog, Boq, died on Friday.

Wicked’s Munchkin Boq (aka Boogie Man, Pee-Pee Boy, Brother, Booger, Sweet Boy)

I got home from work on Thursday to a mess on the living room floor and Lola walking back and forth through it. Suffice it to say, I was confused and getting upset because my husband didn’t answer my calls … yells … screams … I was afraid. Afraid for my husband, first, and then realizing that his truck was missing, afraid for Boq. And as that realization dawned, I found my sweet husband and a towel-wrapped bundle coming into the house. He had saved Boq, who’d had a seizure, was in shock and his little body was shutting down. He had rushed Boogie to the vet where, with a little warming and some IV fluids, he “pinked up” and was sent home. But the next day it was clear that he was not ok and the vet report was not encouraging. They found a tumor the size of a navel orange on his liver. The tumor was taking up 60% of his abdomen and he was showing signs of serious discomfort. It was clear that he was at life’s end at almost 15 (105 in dog years.)

After talking with my sister-in-law (she and my brother owns a veterinary hospital and have such amazing wisdom) and my kids we made the difficult decision to help him leave us so he wouldn’t suffer. We are so grateful that our veterinarian here allowed us to be with Boq as they helped him go. It was so peaceful and it was so sad. He is no longer suffering but our hearts are broken.

He was the sweetest, best boy. He was never house trained, we were. He was always a little bit “off” and kept us eternally amused. He sat facing the back seat of the car, he kept trying to dig his way back to China or wherever his ancestors came from. He was a wonderful paper shredder, a snuggly bug, a chill dude. I miss him so much.

Rest in peace, sweet boy. We will never ever forget you.

Whatever Lola Wants

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Lola’s New Sweater

This little dog is not a cooperative model but here is Lola’s new sweater!

I found this big box craft store yarn in my stash and decided that I needed to knit it up and get it used up and out of my “collection”. It was in the same bin as the camo yarn that I found for Boq’s sweater … and I’ve been carrying it around for years. (The camo yarn has been around much longer but still!)

I used the pattern, Pug Dog Sweater, the same pattern that I used for Boq’s sweater (see my previous post) and I did change this one up a bit, too. Female dogs don’t have a problem with sweaters coming low on the belly so I added more rounds to Lola’s sweater to make it longer under her belly and then I only did a few rounds of decreases to cover her back. I have written the details in my Ravelry project pages for both sweaters. (Or I will after I finish writing this post. Ha!)

I still have a bunch of this yarn so I think that when life calms down a little bit that I’ll knit up some fingerless mitts and mittens and bring them across the lake to the Maine Arts Academy. I’m sure there are students with cold fingers over there!

Gone Knitting!

Pondering my Craft

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IMG_2345My little guy is very thoughtful.

I caught him sitting in my atelier today just staring …. I’m not sure if he’s admiring the lovely wool that was gifted to me or if he was missing his favorite porch in Maine (the bags are from my knitting shop in Waterville … circa 1985 bags). Maybe he’s simply pondering my craft.

Gone knitting.