Adventures in Knitting

I used to work at a local shop owned by my mother-in-law. The shop carried country decor and handmade items. I knitted and sold sweaters for children and sweaters for the 18" girl dolls that are so popular now. Here is one of the leftover sweaters, knit in knitting worsted from the neck down. I can't remember what I charged for these teeny sweaters, probably about $10.

One day a nice lady came in to the shop carrying a very small stuffed cat toy. She told me that she had heard that I knitted and wanted me to make some sweaters for the cat doll (which was about 8" tall and shaped more like a person than a cat in that it stood on two legs). I was very overscheduled at the time and really did not want to take on any piecework, but she was very determined to get what she wanted, so when she asked what I would charge to make these teeny tiny sweaters, I said $25 each to discourage her. She was not put off at all but seemed to think this was totally reasonable (and considering that I had to experiment and draft a pattern, maybe she was correct). She wanted seasonal sweaters for the cat so that it could be displayed during different holidays. I remember that I ended up making about 4 sweaters, a St. Patricks Day green one, a Christmas one, and can't remember the others. She cheerfully paid the $25 each price and went off happily with her sweaters. So, in honor of the rich lady who paid for my husband's Christmas present that year, here is the pattern for the little cat sweater:


She also later came in with a stuffed dog toy that was quite an odd shape and a lot bigger than the cat. She wanted a dog sweater to fit the toy, so I made one with short rows over the chest area. Looked quite cute when I was done. I remember struggling with the wraps on the short rows since the garment (a doggy sweater) was so oddly shaped, and I finally gave up, took it off the knitting needles, hung it on the machine and did the short rows in two minutes flat.