I've looked forward for a few weeks now to getting down to making a knit dog from my new book 'Knit Your Own Dog' but haven't had the time. This week I finally got the chance....and I must confess to being a bit disappointed. I know it must be possible to achieve results similar to the ones in the photographs, but I found the instructions really unclear, particularly as the first dog I attempted was an English Bulldog. When it came to sewing the body and head together, they might as well have been written in Sanskrit for all the sense they made to me.
I know I am a visual learner and work better if I have a diagram to go by, but I am no amateur when it comes to constructing knitted toys and I had real difficulty making head or tail (pun intended!) out of these instructions. In the end, after tacking it together a couple of times in the way I thought they meant with no success, I gave up and went my own way and ended up doing a fair bit of needle sculpting in order to get the face how I wanted it. I'm not sure if he is a bulldog or a pug or ET in a collar, but that's the best I could do. I feel sorry for any complete novice knitter who wants to make a bulldog, because it ain't going to happen!
So I think the way to use this book, lovely as it is to look at, is as a guide only and to continue following my own creativity when knitting dogs.
5 comments:
I like him, he's got attitude and personality, put him to guard your house whilst you're out and there'd be no burglaries when he's in charge. He's turned out very well despite the instructions, probably due to your experience; you could probably write a better book yourself!
I love him just the same!
I thought it was a Cavalier :-)
Your quite right follow your own intution when anything comes with instructions. You made a good job, so give yourself a good pat on the back. :-) x x x Your version probably looks better :-) x x x
He looks cool ! Might have to knit him a wooly jumper or scarf x
It looks great despite the trouble you had. I agree though, books of that nature always should be tested before they're published and they should have diagrams. It's annoying if you spend more time trying to work out how something's done than actually doing it. :-(
Omg yes! I have knitted all the peices to this dog and have no clue on how to sew them up see tummy to the chin? What chin? Sew seams of the head? You mean the divided three parts they had me knit separately now see them together???? I am so so lost...
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