The Dachshund Part Deux

I left off with my knitting a dachshund for Paul. I had the pattern from Knit Your Own Dog, intend to increase the size by using bulky yarn and #10 needles. All was moving along as it should.

The front and back legs for the right side

The legs came together quickly and the intarsia (colour changes) were very simple to do. I moved on to making the right side of the dog.

The right side with the legs added

It was easy, but the labeling I did so well on the legs (note the green labels) are missing from this side. By the time I had both sides done I hadn't marked either of them and had trouble determining one side from the other. This problem is heightened for me. Most people are able to tell their right from their left, but for some reason I struggle knowing readily this basic information about myself. This becomes even more difficult when I'm trying to figure out which a particular side on a knitted animal might be. I did have a 50 percent chance of guessing correctly, but as you can see from the photo below, I lost that bet.

This poor boy has his head on backwards

I managed to put the sides of this dog together and added his head. Unfortunate for him, his head is facing his tail. Again a more suave person would probably be able to figure this out well before the entire head was complete. But not me, no I was so fixated on following the details of the pattern I forgot to stop to look at the overall effect.

When I described this situation to Lex, he in his scientific way reminded me that learning my left from my right would help avoid problems like this in the future. He has long suffered my telling him to turn right when it should be left. What is it in the brain that makes this task so easy for most 3 year olds such a challenge for me?

I had to frog the head (rip it, rip it, rip it out). It took me a few weeks to pick up the project again since I was disappointed with my failure. The headless dog sat in a bag while I tried to determine which side was which. With a more precise approach I got the head facing the way it should. His ears have been added and I've sewn his head together as well.

He has his head on right

Now it's just a matter of putting on final details and stuffing him. (To continued in the not so distance future.)

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