Valya Boutenko

Thank you all for your amazing comments! You are such sweet and wonderful people--you touch my heart, and I appreciate every single one of you! My Kickstarter finished today, and it was a wonderful success. It's just amazing. Got to go get some patterns made! Haha! Happy knitting to all! :)

Made it! My Kickstarter project is fully funded--so it is definitely going to happen! Yay! There are only a few hours left--but there is still time to join in the knitting fun! I couldn't wait to get started designing these new small dog hat patterns, so I spent some time working on the cupcake design that will crown the "birthday hat" pattern. Let me know what you guys/girls think. Also, if you are a knitter and have a beloved small pup in your life that is sensitive to the winter cold, check out my Kickstater rewards before time runs out. You can find a link to my Kickstarter campaign below my signature. :)  

There are still four days left to go--and my Kickstarter project is 497% funded! I'm so excited to start working on these new knitting patterns, I can hardly wait! Already, I'm looking at yarn options and sketching out the designs in more detail. It takes a lot of thought to create something that will be both beautiful and comfortable. In the picture below you can see my dog Max wearing a blue hat with a pom-pom that I designed earlier this year. The hat he has on is entirely seamless and light as air. If you haven't done so already, go ahead and check out my Kickstarter campaign before it ends. :) You can find the link below my signature at the bottom of this post.

What a lovely chair! I love that it doesn't have arm rests, this is brilliant! :)

I just wanted to say a big thank you for all the posts on this thread. It is so sweet to read all of your comments! Since my patterns are sold electronically, I don't usually get to hear back from knitters/people who see my work. That is why it is extra special for me to connect with the sweet people here on permies.com! Thank you all! :)

On that cheerful note, I would like to share a photo of an absurd little pattern I recently designed for the extra short legs of my dog Jezebel. I call these little sleeves "Wrist Warmers" but I suppose they could be considered leg warmers as well! ;)

Haha! So you came across the banana sweater! :) That is too funny! To this day, this silly pattern holds the record for the most likes any one of my patterns has ever received! Yes, it is a real movement called "Yarn Bombing," and it is a type of art known as "Knitted Graffiti." One of the first images I saw was of an apple sweater, and it charmed me and inspired me to do something similar.



Later I saw that people were yarn bombing all kinds of things, from cars and bicycles, to trees and lamp posts! It seemed so fun that I could not resist contributing a small pattern to this hilarious movement. It happened one day that I had some yarn left over from a project I had just finished, and was just about to take a break and eat a banana. I saw the banana on the table next to the yarn and got an idea to design a sweater. :)  

Here is a sweater I designed for my boy Max, and even though the yarn is as soft as a cloud and very light, the sweater has lasted him 3 winters! It's true! It has held up nicely even though he did get it quite muddy on three occasions when we went hiking in the snow. I though for sure the sweater would be stretched out and ruined, but after I got home and washed it and lay it out in the shape I wanted--it was "good as new" each time! Now, I would like to point out here that I mostly had my pup wear the sweater on cold days around the house, and outside on days when it was not raining or snowing. Still, I think the garment has held up remarkably well because he is a dog--and for this reason is quite hard on anything he wears, even his leash and harness!  



I believe the secret is in the sleeves! You see, doggie sweaters without sleeves (with just holes in the body of the sweater) tend to pull rather hard on the front of the legs, and this results in excessive stress on the knitted fabric. (It is also not very comfortable for the dog to wear!) By adding even short sleeves to the armholes, the sweater is not subjected to this pulling effect and the result is a happier dog, a more comfortable sweater, and a more durable design that has lasted over 3 seasons! This is one of those cases where the construction of the piece substantially enhanced the function and durability of the knitted item. Needless to say, I put sleeves on ALL of my new doggie sweater designs. :)  

The smoke is really bad in Oregon right now, and I know the air quality is pretty terrible. It's a great idea to create a muzzle for a dog that would work as a respirator. A project such as this would take a good deal of planing and testing. I wonder if a dog would need to be trained to even willingly keep it on. It would be worth finding out. Thank you for the suggestion, I will investigate this idea further.

Thank you so much for the complements, and the suggestion to do a stretch goal with cards featuring my illustrations. That idea led me to the thought that I could do a humorous dachshund comic strip as a stretch goal for my kickstarter project. What do you think of this idea? :)

Who doesn't love a hand knitted bow tie? Haha! What I like most about this pattern is that it is adaptable to dogs of all different sizes, and that it is super comfortable for dogs to wear. The yarn is soft, and the knitted fabric has just enough elasticity to be super comfy around the neck. My mini dachshund Jezebel acted like she didn't even know she was wearing it while she modeled for this photo. The new bow tie I plan on designing in the upcoming "Party Animal Series" will have a classic fold-down collar around the neckband, taking puppy cuteness to the next level! My goal with a design like this is allow dogs to feel totally uninhibited while looking their best at a special event such as a wedding or family reunion.