Chocolate Labrador

I know if you follow me you might be thinking "Why a chocolate lab, and not a black one?" Simple answer, I hadn't enough black wool, but plenty of brown.  I was flicking through ravelry, looking at the other patterns that someone who had liked one of my patterns had also liked. Does anyone else do this? It sounds a bit creepy, "a knitting pattern stalker", but I often find it a good way to find patterns I like. So I came upon this pattern Rufus the Lab Puppy by Dyah Dyanita, and I thought I would give it a go.

For me this pattern was interesting, as all the pieces except for the ears were knitting in the round. Although I do knit in the round, it is usually only for socks or hats, and in my own designs I tend to knit flat and have lots of seams to sew. All the curves and shaping in this pattern were done by turning mid-row, a technique I use a lot. I can't cope with circular needles so used doublepoints, which made the legs and tails a bit of a fiddle, but this was mainly because my needles were just too long.
 
The hardest thing I found was to attach the legs and tail in quite the right place. 

The tricky thing now is keeping this little lab away from my real labrador. She destroys all her toys in a moment or two. 

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for July is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.