Sunday, March 2, 2008

The Shepherd's Dog


The dog is from the Jan Messent Book, Knit A Fantasy Story.
I did make a few changes. I did not use a frame to build the dog on. (This will make sense if you have the book)
I also changed the legs. For the front legs I cast on twelve stitches and knit twelve rows of garter stitch and cast off. I rolled the legs tightly with the cast on and cast off edges being the top and bottom of the leg. Then I stitched the roll edge to the rest of the leg and then stitched it to the body.
For the back legs I cast on twelve stitches and knit six rows. On the seventh row I k2, kfb across, then knit five more rows and cast off. Finish like the front leg and the thicker end is the top of the leg.
I don't know if I just missed them but I could not find directions for a tail. I made mine by casting on four stitches and knitting I-cord for three rows. Then I k2tog, k2 on the fourth row. I knit the three stitches in I-cord for three more rows, then k2tog, k1 on row eight. I knit the two stitches in I-cord for three more rows, the k2tog and cut the yarn and pulled the end through the loop and wove it in. It made a pretty good tail.
So far the chickens and dog have been pretty close to the scale of the Jean Greenhowe figures for the Nativity. I may manage to finish the horse tomorrow.

No comments: