New Book from Kanine Knits

The Crafty Bernese Mountain Dog Knits has gone to press and will debut at Berner U, part of the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America National Specialty on April 23 where I will be teaching knitting to all those who want to learn how to create these dog portrait designs.

This is the fourth book in the Crafty Dog Knits Series along with those about Samoyeds, Labs and Goldens. It has been a lot of work but made very pleasant by the wonderful participation of a number of Berner breeders especially Linda Seaver who was invaluable in collecting photos of the dogs and giving me the benefit of her experience in the breed and Cindy Forlenzo and her dog Burt who posed for the covers.

Check out the web page dedicated to the book which is available for order at a special pre-publication discount till April 15. Go to the Kanine Knits page about the new book http://www.kanineknits.com/Kanine_Knits_Crafty_Bernese_Mt_Dog_Book.htm and take a look.

Saying Goodbye to Ria

I had to say goodbye to my beautiful Samoyed bitch Ria. For a dozen years she has been a constant source of joy, whether in the show ring which was her favorite place or visiting all the children at obedience class.

Ria was special. She made me look so good in the ring. I didn’t have to do anything; she could and did show herself. One judge asked me if I didn’t feel redundant since she was quite capable of winning with no help from anyone. Her signature biscuit ears were always on alert and her movement was flawless. She knew the ring so well that I could have shown .her off lead and not missed a step.

A number of years ago she was injured with a terrible blow to the head from, what we think but couldn’t prove, was a slingshot. She ended up having both her eyes removed. However, nothing changed for her. She stayed the same Ria, beloved by the other dogs and bossing them around. The only difference came when someone tried to stare her down and discovered that didn’t work since she couldn’t see. She would blithely walk up and steal a bone right out of their mouth. Right up to the last, if you said to her “show dog”, she’d trot to a perfect stack in front of you, staring at bait that only she could see and hold the pose till released.

She was my inspiration, my shadow, my loving friend and I will miss her.

More New Patterns from Kanine Knits

I am getting more and more patterns out to knitters with a love of dogs, four more have been added to the collection of Portraits of Dogs in Knitting. They are, the Parson Jack Russell Terrier, the Belgian Sheepdog, the Lakeland Terrier and the American Eskimo. These plus many more are available at the website www.kanineknits.com.

These will be up on the pattern page ready for knitters to order today. Ten more breeds are in the stack waiting to be knit and will debut soon.