Puttin' On the Dog

My friend KC has two dogs she's pretty much crazy about, so I decided that the best thing to give her for her birthday and Christmas were puppy presents. Puppy Protectors to be precise. I saw an extra very cute pattern for a "Doggie Mac" in Jil Eaton's Simple Chic and decided to go for it.

Since the dogs' names are Ruby and Rusty, there was no problem picking out colors for the coats. I hunted around until I found a red I liked for Ruby that went with a rust I liked for Rusty, bought the yarn and knitted up a swatch. Even tried running a couple of lines of contrasting color through to see how they really looked.

I was not enamored of the color combo I'd thought would be a winner once I'd finished the swatch. When I felted it, I decided to deep six making a plaid Doggie Mac and went for a contrasting color bordered Puppy Protector instead. In the end, the main thing I used from the pattern was the general shaping; I changed the yarn from bulky to worsted and changed the fastenings as well.

As senior dog, Ruby is getting the first Puppy Protector. It looked kinda shabby at the knit stage, kinda okay once I'd crocheted on the border, and pretty darn good once it was felted.

What really makes it look good, though, is Ruby herself. Cute little bitch, ain't she?

Thanks to KC for the puppy portrait.

Rusty won't get his Puppy Protector until after Christmas, it may even be as late as Ruby's was after KC's birthday - 10 weeks (yes, I'm blushing, but I had to do a custom fitting and find the buttons, knit the belly band, needle felt the button holes and...) Rusty will get his jacket before the weather warms in spring. Then those puppies will be, to quote Kate, "stylin'".

Color coordinated dogs. What a hoot.