385
viewsDon't Take yourself Too Seriously
By MetaxaCunningham, Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 6 commentsFor the last while, I have been taking myself far too seriously feeling over-stressed and under-appreciated. It took my little French Bulldog to show me how truly ridiculous I have been.
For three weeks I spent my spare time knitting, which is something I do when my brain is tired but my body has nervous energy that needs to be spent. To soothe myself, I decided I would knit a simple dog sweater from some lovely leftover wool. Why is it that what seems simple is rarely, actually simple?
My knitting skills are decent but for the life of me could not create a simple little sweater to fit my dog. To be fair, my dog is awkwardly shaped with the large skull, barrel chest and squat body of most bully breeds…not an easy customer to clothe! For weeks in my spare time I toiled, knitting and ravelling, until I had something that would do. At one point I felt the need to trash everything and start from scratch because this little sweater was not up to my standards.
I periodically forced my dog to try on the sweater as I was making it to be sure that I did not waste my time again. My soothing little project became an obsession…I had to get it right. My little dog became increasingly annoyed with me and began to drop to the floor in limp protest when I tried the sweater on her yet again. “Ah well,” I reasoned with myself, “It will be worth it when I am done. She will have a warm sweater for really cold days and I will have the satisfaction of finishing a very frustrating project.”
When at last I was finished I put the sweater on my sweet little dog and admired my handiwork. It fit; it looked nice; I was pleased. Christmas day my husband and I loaded her into the car and we drove to the dog park. The first people we saw at the dog park oohed and awed over my cute little dog in her adorable sweater.
Clearly the dog did not share their enthusiasm. My little Poodie refused to run and frolic; she would repeatedly walk a few steps and then sit on her haunches in the snow and stare at us accusingly. When She had determined that I was not getting the message she ran around bushes, sliding and writhing on her side, enduring a face full of snow as she tried to rid herself of the sweater.
“She hates the sweater,” I said with a giggle. “I put all that work and time into it and she hates the bloody thing; we should just take it off.” I swear at that point her ears perked up, she stopped writhing and came to stand at our feet. My husband told me I was imagining things but agreed to remove the sweater. Once free of the sweater, she burst into a joyful run, bounding about like usual. In case you were wondering, she does have other sweaters that I have purchased and she has had no problem wearing them.
Thankfully, I can appreciate the irony of putting a lot of work and useless frustration into a project that was supposed to be relaxing. This little exercise in futility reminded me not to take myself so seriously. No one appreciates unwanted gifts, and a dog will not be polite and pretend to like it. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
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6 Comments
That sounds like time well
That sounds like time well spent whether or not your dog liked it. The knitting was definitely more for you than it was for the dog...and that's a good thing! Sometimes it nice to just unwind on mindless activities (although that sounds quite challenging!)
Lololol, this is such a sweet
Lololol, this is such a sweet story! I too, have recently picked up knitting again after about a year. I am a complete novice, and it took watching lots of YouTube videos and about 7 tries before I learned how to finish a garter stitch scarf and weave in the last bit on my own. I actually just posted a blog about knitting recently, because I just knitted a scarf in secret to surprise my husband with this Christmas. After spending so much time and energy on it (patience not being my strong point) I probably wouldn't have taken it as well as you did if my husband didn't want to wear it, lol. That's too bad that your baby girl didn't feel the same way about the sweater as you did:-( I bet it was just beautiful! I can't wait to be able to learn how to knit my dog a sweater. Is it possible that she could be have been allergic to the material? I'd hate to see her lose out on future sweaters knit with so much love:-)
I would love to read some more blogs about your knitting:-) I've really been getting into it these days and have found it to be so relaxing.
~Kimberly
Laughing at ourselves
Poor Poodie - subjected to countless fittings and victim of obsession. I'm so glad you were able to laugh about it and find the irony. In the end, the sweater helped you relax, even if the knitting didn't.
I hope to hold on to this
After reading this, I realize I do this a lot with my family. Tell your dog "thanks for the wake up call".
Happy New Year!
Sorry your doggie didn't like
Sorry your doggie didn't like the straight-jacket, I mean, sweater! LOL
Yes, when we are obsessed with wanting to do something "right" or "well" that can suck the joy out of it. May I suggest a crazy quilt or endless multicolored scarf from your old remnants for your NEXT project??? LOL
PS I am JEALOUS that you can knit a dog sweater.
Poor Poodie indeed. I do
Poor Poodie indeed. I do believe she felt like a victim after all of those fittings and probably thought I should be wearing a straight jacket instead of knitting her one.
I wish I thought it might be an allergy as Kim suggested, but when she was a little puppy, I made her a sweater out of the same brand of wool and she wore it without incident. My dog is quite intelligient and I believe her refusal to wear the sweater has to do with how many times I made her try the sweater on and how much less time I played with her while I was knitting all of those evenings. The whole sweater experience was not fun for her and she is all about fun.
I also failed to mention that I had enough wool leftover to make a matching hat, with pom poms. I only put the hat on for a picture and I did not make her wear it to the dog park, but I am sure she found it humiliating nonetheless. She will wear anything for a picture if there is a treat involved.
Perhaps I give the dog too much credit, believing that she is acting out in resentment or annoyance...but this wouldn't be the first time. When I took her to obedience training and she got bored with the repetition of a command she would go limp and refuse to move. When she is really fed up with something, she lets out an audible sigh. Honestly she is quite smart...at least enough to outsmart me.
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