text: Big Woof - Mason-Dixon Knitting
  Projects / In Progress / Big Woof
  By Kay Gardiner 10/3/19
  Last weekend, I got an idea in my head about turning one of the Stripey Scrappy Hats from MDK Field Guide No. 12 into a sweater for Olive.
  Naturally, I had to drop everything and make it. And by "drop everything," I mean: prepping for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana, for which I was expecting 14 people for dinner on Sunday evening.
  When the knitting muse calls, you cannot let her go to voicemail.
  The fun part of this sweater was . . . well, the whole thing. Everything about making it was fun.
  Fun Thing Number 1: turning a hat into a dog sweater.
  Fun Thing Number 2: getting stripey with Rowan Big Wool.
  Fun Thing Number 3: bribing Olive to try it on. OK that was only fun for Olive, who got more than her fair share of lox from my Sunday morning bagel, and then turned into Devil Dog when it was time to keep her side of the bargain.
  I didn't use a pattern. I just followed Dana Williams-Johnson's formula for custom dog sweaters.
  I didn't even follow it that closely. I figured Olive would need a 12-inch neck opening, and I cast on 24 stitches to approximate that in my Big Wool Gauge. After the ribbing for the neck, I worked 3 increase rows, a few rounds apart each time, until I had 40 stitches. Then I eyeballed the placement of the leg holes in the spots where Olive's legs would go, and made 4-stitch horizontal buttonholes in those places, using the beginning-of-round marker to center their placement. I even worked a few short rows to put a sassy curve in the back hem, as Dana suggested.
  It was the work of two hours on a very exciting Saturday night, listening to David Tennant talk about playing Hamlet, and only getting slightly behind schedule on my Rosh Hashana dessert baking.
  The most fun was picking colors for the stripes. I know it's crazy—she is a dog, I'm aware—but I feel there are colors that suit Olive, and colors that don't. Her best color is red, followed by black and tan, the colors of her coat. Cool, pale colors are not for her. Not having any red, I focused on black and tan (in Big Wool shade-speak: Smoky and Biscotti), then filled in with warm pinks, one hot (Pantomime), one dusty (Prize), and one beige-y (Concrete).
  Photo tip: To focus the model's attention, try having a stranger in the kitchen working on your dishwasher. or substitute the trespasser of your choice.
  Super proud of the leg hole placement.
  When the lady won't let you proteck from introders.
  Isn't it cute? My thanks to Dana Williams-Johnson for her dog sweater recipe. It was almost as easy as the 1960s Mom Apricot Chicken I made on Sunday.
  We've got Big Wool-ready circs! Your purchases make everything at MDK go—Thanks!
  "Flip It, Then Flop It"
  My knitting cup overfloweth: I'm also having a great time with my Superscript Shawl, trying to stay caught up with the knitalong.
  My shades of Amores Raíz are: Sherlock (teal), Charisma (minty aqua), and Alliteration (reddish pink).
  Remember my problem keeping track of when to increase at right edge? In the comments to that post, a kind reader steered me to Lucy Neatby's video demonstrating a fantastically clever solution: using yarn as a running marker and as a mechanism for counting rows.
  It's brilliant, useful for counting rows and keeping track of shaping, and also helpful in other ways that Lucy demonstrates in the video. No more—or at least, a great reduction in— stitch markers pinging across the floor and slipping into the cracks of car seats. An easy, intuitive, legible method. You flip the yarn, and then you flop it, as Lucy says. And it's free!
  Clip and save! Here's how to save this post in your MDK account, in case you need a quick reference on Olive's colors, or on how to use a running yarn maker.
  About That Knitalong
  There's still plenty of time to join our Superscript Shawl knitalong-in-progress. You don't have to finish your shawl to be eligible for one of the prizes we will award after the knitalong's official end later this month.
  All the details about the knitalong are here.
  In a few weeks, at the end of the knitalong, we will award prizes to a few of the knitters who post photos of their Superscript Shawl (finished or in progress), either in the MDK Lounge, or to the Instagram hashtag#mdkSuperscriptalong.
  The Grand Prize is a doozy: 4 skeins of Amor's Crave Caravan, a custom blend that is a virtual Noah's Ark of the fiber animal kingdom: it includes wool, cashmere, camel, and even silk.
  This is the yarn that Cecelia Campochiaro used for her stunning sequence-knitting sampler, the Corrugated Shawl.
  The grand prize includes 4 skeins of Caravan—enough to make the Corrugated Shawl—and a print copy of MDK Field Guide No. 5: Sequences, which has Cecelia's pattern.
  Crave Caravan is temporarily out of production, so this prize is a rarity, from Amor's own reserves. (We will definitely stock Caravan again when it returns.)
  With Rowan's Big Wool, you can knit up any crazy thing that occurs to you, real fast.
  Rowan Big Wool: Mix-and-Match Heaven
  wendyknits 10/03/19 • 5:04AM
  Olive is just too chi-chi for words!
  Karen Tumelty 10/03/19 • 5:10AM
  I'm making that chicken this weekend. It sounds so good!!!
  nellknits 10/03/19 • 5:52AM
  That's fantastic Kay! Olive is indeed the perfect muse.
  And I know that – stop, drop and knit feeling all too well.
  ElizabethD 10/03/19 • 6:03AM
  I've always used that traveling thread method to count cable crosses and sleeve increases/decreses. Sock yarn is ideal for that — I understand you have some now.
  Kirsty Cunningham 10/03/19 • 6:23AM
  That post has made me really laugh today, thanks a lot
  Diane 10/03/19 • 6:39AM
  The new stripey sweater looks great on the model, who is just too too (especially with those gorgeous gams!). Oh Olive!
  Jules 10/03/19 • 6:43AM
  Olive looks fabulous!
  I was, of course, completely distracted by a passing comment: can you tell us where you listened to David Tennant talk about Hamlet, please? I'd love to listen to that! (I would listen to David Tennant read the phone book. Or tax law. Anything.)
  Andrea 10/03/19 • 7:05AM
  Second that, also what kind of dog is Olive?
  Kay 10/03/19 • 7:38AM
  He (and Hamlet) are one episode in a series on PBS called Shakespeare Uncovered.
  Sarah 10/03/19 • 1:45PM
  I've watched most of that series, and all the episodes are great. Hamlet is one of my faves so that episode gets a big tick from me.
  Kay 10/03/19 • 7:40AM
  Based on Looking at Dogs on the Internet, we think she is a Cairn Terrier x Chihuahua cross aka a Cairnchi.
  Martha 10/03/19 • 10:29AM
  I had a friend who lived in NYC with a dog like that, and when people on the street asked about it she would say "Oh, he's a Manhattan Terrier". She said it was amazing the number of people who acted like they had heard of that breed and knew all about it….
  Debbi2 10/03/19 • 7:20PM
  We did the Wisdom Panel (bought it on Amazon per our vet's recommendation) and used it to find out the background of our three rescues. It was one of the most fun Christmas presents I ever received!
  Ruth Tothill 10/03/19 • 2:49PM
  Mmm. David tennant talking… Anyone who loves him as much as I do and wasn't in the UK about fifteen years ago should try to track down the bbc series of Casanova he was in. It was so good
  Lesa Wagler 10/03/19 • 6:55AM
  So posh! O.iveis a doll.
  Lesa 10/03/19 • 6:58AM
  Oops typos! To early for typing!
  Mary Lee 10/03/19 • 7:23AM
  Olive looks adorable. She'll be nice & toasty on her walks this winter when that biting wind blows off the river. Well done.
  Judy Asbell 10/03/19 • 7:38AM
  OMG, Olive is such a cutie pie! And that sweater is perfect for her. That look in the last picture, precious.
  quinn 10/03/19 • 7:46AM
  Great pictures of Olive 🙂 I can only imagine how satisfying it must be to conceive of, design, and knit an entire garment *that works* in such a short time!
  My Auntie Pauline introduced me to the apricot chicken thing years ago – thanks for bringing up a nice memory 🙂
  Chloe 10/03/19 • 8:06AM
  Oh Kay, if MDK ever creates a line of coffee cups with knitting expressions on it be sure to include your one about the knitting muse not going to voice mail. I can see Lucy's brilliant flip or flop idea being used in other ways with the contrast yarn becoming a permanent part of the design such as in vertical stripes on a hat brim or random patches of contrasting color on a blanket (lined to avoid that pesky loose-ends problem) or other applications for lazy people like me who don't want to learn intarsia or fair isle – and don't mind a little tedium:).
  Toni Van B 10/05/19 • 10:57AM
  I second that! We need a coffee mug with the line, "When the Knitting Muse calls, you cannot let Her go to voicemail." I already have the MDK "Knitting Is Supposed To Be Fun" mug, but it would be nice to have a second knitting-themed cup to offer my knitting pal when she pops by for coffee and chatting.
  And Olive looks smashing! And she doesn't look bored or put out in this photo shot like she does in most others. It must be the sweater.
  Chloe 10/03/19 • 8:23AM
  Apparently I'm not done yet. Just wanted to congratulate Olive on her choice of owner for knitting her such a dandy little color-customized sweater.
  Jennifer Gregory 10/03/19 • 9:00AM
  The running yarn marker is genius! I will certainly be giving that a try. Also – good to hear that I am not only a 'knitter' but a 'yarn operator'! ❤️
  judyinthedyes2016 10/03/19 • 9:06AM
  Such a sweet sweater for adorable Olive. She is so deserving, and in spite of what you say, she appears to be a most willing model! LOL . Thank you for supplying the Lucy Neatby video tutorial. I've saved it and will be using it shortly in my knitting adventures.
  Thanks again for all that you and Ann write. I look forward to reading you every morning with my cup of tea!
  Kay Gardiner 10/03/19 • 11:14AM
  If you have a couple of days for the psychological warfare, she's an easy model!
  kcknits 10/03/19 • 9:40AM
  Olive is the cutest woofie ever!!
  And the yarn marker tip is just genius! Saved;)
  Lisa M 10/03/19 • 10:15AM
  Thanks for the video – the running yarn marker is brilliant! And love learning the term "left hand yarn operator" – that's me!
  leahdl1964 10/03/19 • 10:35AM
  Those dog expressions!!!! What a wonderful happy post!!! Love it!
  janna 10/03/19 • 11:51AM
  Olive, you look amazing! Those are your colors! And you are an amazing watch-dog, protecting Kay from that dishwasher repairperson!
  Marilyn 10/03/19 • 12:16PM
  Lucky Olive! It's too much of a recioe for me, but of course yours is perfect and au courant.
  Tx for the Neatby video (I LOVE her.) Lately, I've been thinking of using that method, but in the midst if knititng I never wanted to look up a reminder of how to do it since my laziness knows no bounds.
  Anonymous, too 10/03/19 • 12:37PM
  Olive's sweater is very chic, but did you have to reveal her secret identity? After all, Alfred kept Bruce Wayne's a secret! (The shawl is looking great. Don't encourage Ann to forget stitch markers again.)
  Lynn Peters 10/03/19 • 1:34PM
  Way cool! I'm a Left Hand Yarn Operator! Now I have to knit 2 small afghans–one for each grandson! I Wil commence operations shortly!
  Rebecca 10/03/19 • 1:40PM
  These pics make my heart sing! Olive is quite the model. Beautiful sweater and girl!
  Kym 10/03/19 • 5:47PM
  Olive is so on trend! (And adorable.) And that tip about using a running yarn stitch marker? I've been doing that for years to mark things and to count rows. It is a godsend. (Sometimes I have so many running yarn markers going, though, that my knitting looks like a marionette . . . but oh well.)
  Joan Siegel 10/03/19 • 11:04PM
  Olive looks wonderful in her new sweater! You're a better knitter than I am. I had to hide my knitting until after both Rosh Hashanah And Yom Kippur! I had 5 of my grandchildren and their parents for Rosh Hashanah and I'm making Break Fast for at least 20! L'shanah Tovah to you and an easy and meaningful fast.
  Debbi2 10/03/19 • 7:18PM
  Both Olive and the sweater are crazy cute! My Roux would look adorable in that…if the temperature here would ever drop below 90 during this so called fall.
  Elizabeth Ann 10/03/19 • 8:04PM
  I just love Olive! She is so sophisticated ❤️
  wendy Leigh-Bell 10/04/19 • 10:41AM
  such a sweet little dog! hope the honey cake worked out despite the tight schedule. I make a honey cake that wouldn't do for this festival due to the butter, but our friend Shelley the director of the Art Gallery of Hamilton Ontario was telling me she did one with orange juice and scotch! she said it passes the dreaded too dry test and has promised the recipe. will pass it on if anyone is interested plus my own which never fails. Lucy Neatby's video was so well done – I much prefer the scrap yarn marker to those little rings which do find their way into all sorts of places. the car rental people would have been surprised after our recent trip when cleaning the car – wonder if they knew what they were?
  EileenG 10/05/19 • 11:36AM
  Love Olive's sweater, and ow cute are those little floofy hairs on her ears?!
  m.halvorson 10/05/19 • 2:46PM
  I mean this in the kindest possible way–Olive looks like a Dr. Seuss character, one that is not very pleased with the action. Thanks for all the tips. Have watched the marker video all the way through and appreciate all you do.
  Christine 10/05/19 • 6:03PM
  I LOVE the beginning of round marker idea & can't wait to try it. I think this may be a good way to mark between your steek stitches on a cardigan to make cutting easier.
  Christine 10/05/19 • 6:13PM
  I LOVE the flip-flop yarn marker idea! I'm going to try it for marking my line to steek the cardigan I plan to have on the needles soon, and forget struggling with stitch markers that fall off my double points. Thanks!
  Elaine Appellof 10/23/19 • 4:20PM
  I made a my Jack Russell a sweater from the slip stitch hat last year. She hates it, but I think it came out great.
  Gloria 3/18/20 • 12:10PM
  Your doggie is very cute. What kind is she. Oh, P.S. the sweater is cute too. Be safe. Plead the blood over yourself, your family and all. In Jesus name !