Sara Makes a Point
Sara writes in her comment to the previous post, how impractical actually knitting that blanket for a horse would be. Thanks for the input, Sara.
Coming from me, a happy citygrrl only about 25 blocks from the state capital, with no animals, plants, children, garden… I saw this as an amusing art photo. I only know one person who has horses, and I am absolutely certain she would not knit this even though she is a knitter.
I wrote it too straight-faced, I guess. Saying “your horse” is like saying “your spaceship” to a citygrrl, it doesn’t feel real.
I can’t imagine how stretchy knitting would survive under a saddle (I did ride horses at camp in 1969, for the record, and learned how to prepare the horse and put blanket and saddle on it before riding).
I do think the horse looks beautiful in the blanket. As an artform, anyway. I like tree sweaters, too.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I have a horse! I have 2 cents! Here they are: This type of blanket would not be used under a saddle (although there is a pattern for a felted saddle pad in the book “Greetings from Knit Cafe”). It’s probably not for the horse to wear in the pasture either. It would be more what’s called a cooler, that you put on your horse when they’re all sweaty in cold weather. Coolers are traditionally made of wool, although Polarfleece has recently become popular too. The cooler keeps the horse from getting a chill while you cool them down after a workout. You keep the cooler on until the horse is dry, then take it off and put on their “puffy coat” (stable blanket). Other people might use this as a dress sheet, which is really just a dust cover for a horse that you put on when you take them to a show.
I hand-embroidered a monogram on my horse’s dress sheet once, and if I still had a riding/show horse I might consider knitting him this blanket - it’s way cool!!!
February 8th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
My reason for not making a tree sweater are much the same for not knitting for my dog or husband: my trees are too big!
When we bought this 143 year old house, we got the trees to match.
Making a list: a Chihuahua, little trees and a short husband.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Thanks for the tree sweater picture. I laughed so loud on my lunch hour that I scared my co-workers!