Mystery Unveiled

What do you when you lose your primary knitting project and a few days later your friend, Opa, jokingly requests that you knit him a poodle wine bottle cover? Why, you take that request seriously and you knit him a poodle wine bottle cover.

You can click on any of the pictues to view them larger.

I'm totally smitten with my poodle. And if I was any kind of wine drinker, this baby would not be leaving my home. But fortunately for Opa, any wine bottles that come into my house are emptied pretty quickly. I did find an old bottle of wine in the back of the fridge that I was able to use for final photograph pictures, which was good (and also weird because there was less than one good solid swig in the bottle so why we kept it, I have no idea). I had used a Grey Goose vodka bottle as a test dummy (since the wine bottle was as of then undiscovered) while I was knitting along, but it wasn't shaped quite right for this pattern. That vodka bottle is a little too tall and thin. Opa is lucky I didn't have any Absolut chillin' because I think the poodle would have fit that bottle a lot better and this poodle just may have become a Connecticut resident! Assuming my husband didn't make the poodle "mysteriously" disappear. Husband, not a lover of the poodle.

I followed Erika Knight's pattern in Simple Knits With a Twist. The pattern called for some Rowan cotton yarn, but because I know Opa, and because Monsieur Poodle is going to be used around stain makers (i.e., red wine and Opa), I substituted Sugar 'n Cream. Also, I had no idea what I was doing, so I figured it would be better to mess around with the cheaper stuff (though I don't think the Rowan is uber expensive or that I saved a whole lot of money). Both are one hundred percent cotton and I got gauge with the Sugar 'n Cream. Having not touched, seen, or tested the Rowan, I am not sure how they compare in person, but the Sugar 'n Cream was fine for poodle purposes. I found the yarn to be a little splity, but nothing too bad. This may be a function of cotton. I've never knit with it before so I'm not sure. I think a nice wool yarn would work okay, as would a high end acrylic.




The pattern itself was fine. Nothing too complex; though I did need some help figuring out why my stitch count was off in the beginning. Something about reading the pattern ... yah yah. There is a whole lot of seed stitch going on which was a bummer since I am not a big fan of the knitting of the seed stitch. It makes a pretty fabric though, so I used it and I am glad I did. I followed the pattern with only minor modifications when it came to the pompoms. I added a tail! What poodle doesn't have a poofy tail I ask you?



I suspect the tail was omitted in the pattern because good god you have to make a lot of pompoms. Let me just say now, I am not a very good pompom maker. I thought I was until I had to make so many! I suspect I could make better ones if I bought the gadget, but up until now my fingers always did the trick. If I ever decide to go into the poodle wine bottle cover making business, I am so buying one of the pompom making gadgets! I'm also hiring KAN who kindly helped me with some pompom making. She is an expert pompom maker and the only reason M. Poodle has face pompoms.




Yarn: Lily, Sugar 'n Cream, Color Hot Blue, #01742, Dye Lot #161771, 1 and 1/2 skeins
Needles: Susan Bates Quicksilver Circs, size 4.5 mm (US 7)
Pattern: Retro Poodle Bottle Cover, Simple Knits With a Twist by Erika Knight
Time: 4 days.
Care: Hand wash cool, dry flat.