New Book - Knit a Kitten, Purl a Puppy

Knit a Kitten, Purl a Puppy

Do you love puppies? Kittens? Of course, everyone does (well most everyone). So Kanine Knits, in keeping with that thought, has just released their latest book, Knit a Kitten, Purl a Puppy. It is a full color knitting adventure for the family with projects for everyone from infant to adult with 23 puppy and kitten breeds worked into the sweaters, skirt, hat, scarf, bag, and more knitted accessories. 

 

The breeds include: Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Siberian Husky, Abyssinian Kitten, Rottweiler, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Pug, German Shepherd, Tuxedo kitten, Bulldog, Chihuahua, Persian kitten, Yorkshire Terrier, Boxer, Siamese Kitten, Chow, Bernese Mt. Dog, Basset Hound, Exotic kitten, Dachshund, Boston Terrier, Miniature Schnauzer, Samoyed, Havanese as well as other designs. 

This has been an adventure and from the response I received when it was launched at Stitches East and again this weekend at the Meet the Breeds in NYC, it is a winner. The general comments ranged from “Awwww,” to “This is so cute,” to “I love it.”  To make it easier for everyone to get quickly, it is available through Amazon, Amazon UK, and Amazon EU, ready to go.

 For those of you in the New York area, I would love to meet you. I will be speaking to the Big Apple Knitters at their December Meeting. We will be talking about intarsia and the fun and ease of creating pictures within your knitting.

I am taking a week to decompress before starting my next project. Suffice to say, there will be more books with puppies and kittens in the future as well as many more patterns and dog breed books

Peggy Gaffney television interview

 

Peggy Gaffney talks about her many knitting books and patterns created especially for dog lovers, cat lovers, and those who love alpacas & llamas.

From Martha to Me - A Busy Month

Visiting Martha

This has been an especially busy month at Kanine Knits. To begin with, there was the annual Dreamers Into Doers event that is held annually by the wonderful people at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and sponsored by Deluxe. This year 80 female entrepreneurs (and one guy - a guest) came together in NYC to learn from the experts different methods of growing our businesses. The event also includes a chance to see the Martha Stewart Show and ask questions when it was over. 

For most of the participants this was their first chance to visit the home of the Martha Stewart media empire and ask questions of the people who make the magazines, television and online aspects of the business. We learned about creating product and marketing it. Many of those who attended were following in Martha's early career steps as party planners though there was a business diversity throughout those attending. For me it was fun to meet up with five other dreamers who first met at this conference three years ago and to see how far our business have come. The friendships and bonds that have been formed within this group are still going strong. 

Talks by visiting speakers ranged from Deluxe, to The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck developers, to Diane Winston from Score who stressed the many services that are available free to business owners through this arm of the Small Business Administration. 

Martha wasn't able to be at the meeting where she was scheduled because she was rushing off to meet her newest grandson who was born on the first day of the conference. The baby, a boy, was named Truman. We all shared in her joy. 

It was also a great chance for me to get together and catch up with my friend Hannah Milman who is the SVP Exec. Editorial Director for Holiday and Crafts at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Hannah is not only a wonderful person but a very talented and creative crafter. 

My TV Interview

This week I did my own thing on television. I was interviewed Jason Alster about my knitting books and patterns on the Meet The Author show. It was a lively half hour where I gave Jason (a non-knitter) insights into the world of knitting, yarn, books & patterns the reasons why I write about dogs, cats, llamas and alpacas. It was enjoyable since I love to talk about what I do. 

I am slowly (24 hr days are too short) getting more patterns with many new breeds up on the website, so be sure to check it often. 

Next month I will be having a booth showing my books, patterns and samples of what you can knit at the Connecticut Sheep, Wool & Fiber Festival on April 28th in Vernon, Connecticut. Come and visit plus you can see the animals and watch the sheepdogs work. 

Fiber Arts Friday

Today is a day to celebrate by showing off something you did in fiber. At Kanine Knits, it's all about knitting, designing and animals. Toward that end, I thought I'd show off one of my Kanine Knits designs of a Löwchen used on the back of this lovely sweater vest at the AKC/Eukanuba Dog Show several years ago. It shows what I stress in my work. That is to say, Pride in Breed.

Peggy Gaffney, designer

Happy New Year from Kanine Knits

 Happy New Year

Looking forward to a great year at Kanine Knits: more designs, more books, more appearances. I'm looking forward to meeting many more knitters this year.  

Watch for new Crafty Dog Knits books in 2012!

New! A Baker's Dozen of New Patterns!

With the fall shows behind us, Peggy Gaffney has been busy creating a bevy of new dog portrait patterns to add to the collection. The first group is now available to be ordered at the Kanine Knits website. There are many more in the design stage now which will be released soon. 

The first group consists of thirteen popular breeds: American Staffordshire Terrier, Basenji, Bedlington Terrier, Chihuahua, Chinese Crested, Chinese Shar Pei, Smooth Collie, English Toy Spaniel, Italian Greyhound, Papillion, Saluki, Shiba Inu and Tibetan Terrier.  

The beauty of these patterns is that though they come with a sweater in all the men’s and women’s sizes, the charts can be worked into a number of different items such as the pillows in the previous posts.

All these patterns plus more of the 100 plus patterns are available at the Kanine Knits Books & Patterns website. To check out and purchase any of these patterns or one of the other breed designs, simply go to http://www.kanineknits.com/kanine_knits_knitting_patterns.htm.

Christmas Is Coming

Knit A Quick Gift for the Dog Lover on Your List 

 A Puppy Pillow to Rest its Master's Head!

Here is a Pattern to Make the Pillow.

By doing the simple steps below, you can quickly create a pillow which will make an excellent holiday gift or a lovely decoration for your home that shows pride in your dog's breed.

Materials:

• Needles   #8 US or needles to give a gauge of 5 stitches and 6 rows to the inch.
• Yarn    Worsted Weight
• Pillow form     14” x 14”
• Any one of the more than 100 dog breed portrait patterns in the Kanine Knits charted design collection. http://www.kanineknits.com/kanine_knits_knitting_patterns.htm

Directions:

Cast on 70 stitches in Main Color, placing a stitch marker at the center point following stitch 35. Using the chart information for stitches and rows, subtract the number of rows from 84. When you get that number, divide by 2.  The number you get will tell you how many rows you will knit before beginning the chart of the dog and the number of rows you will knit when you’ve finished working the chart.

Hint:

Mark the center point on your chart and then mark every 5^th stitch either side for the number of stitches the chart requires. As you work the plain rows leading up to the beginning of the chart, place stitch markers on your work to either side of your original center stitch marker to correspond with the chart. When the knitting is complete, simply tuck in all the loose ends neatly on the back of your work.  To do this, overcast around the edge of each color with a yarn needle.

Finishing:

The back of the pillow can be either knit using the same 70 stitches and 84 rows, or if you are in a hurry, simply back with fabric sewn on three sides, the pillow inserted, and then sewn together on the fourth side.

Enjoy the Holidays!