BZ Dogs: Decisions Decisions

Zachary: "Hmmm"

Zachary: "Snowflakes."

Very seasonal.

Dog Blog Post #2318

The boys picking out the day's collar.

I wish MY closet looked this good.

Needlepoint is an enjoyable Football Season activity for me, as I have a hard time just sitting in front of the TV doing nothing.

Trivia: There are just 11-12 minutes of "live ball" football (action) in a typical three hour (clock time) game.

Here's a Flickr album of most of the collars being modeled by the boys, plus some close-ups: www.flickr.com/photos/bztraining/albums/72157640908971304

The collars are all DMC Cotton Pearl Size 5 floss, doubled stranded, on 10 squares/inch plastic mesh canvas. I usually get one collar out of a single $.99 sheet of "canvas" - that's two long strips joined at the short end plus a square in front to connect the opposite short ends to, created a V-collar.

The Autumn Leaves and white Celtic Knot probably took two sheets, each, being a bit wider and longer. If you look between the top two leaves you can see the join of a third piece of canvas. Same for the white collar.

I honestly don't know how much floss I go through. I usually buy 3-4 skeins of each color (27 yds each) and have 3-4 colors per collar. I have at least 3-4 skeins left over when I'm done. Skeins are ~$2 each for flat colors, a dollar more for variegated.

And no, I haven't the slightest idea how long one takes me to make. Perhaps a month or two worked mostly while watching Football?

The narrow blue collar on the right is a bit different, being double-ended with a "V" at each end, making it reversible from front to back with a slightly different design at each end. A good idea, but I don't like the fit as well and so I never did that style again.

It is, however, my favorite design. I think the boys look particularly regal wearing it. The blue field is worked in a single shade of blue, with narrow stripes of alternating direction stitches, creating the subtle shift in color.

The Autumn Leaf uses variegated thread, which I keep thinking I should do again but haven't.

The snowflake was a pattern-counting pain, although I like the argyle field.

The black collar shows dog hair (Note to self: don't do that again.)

I think the pearls on the purple collar look silly on my boy dogs, but haven't come up with anything to replace them with. It was based on a quilt block pattern.

And the hearts, a Valentine's Day favorite, always make me smile.

All designs are mine, based on a variety of sources.