Back from Westminster and Creating New Designs

Hi,

Well, I really enjoyed showing everyone my sweaters the Kanine Knits booth at Westminster Kennel Club. Our group of artists and designers were located in the lower lobby of the Hotel Pennsylvania and a good time was had by all. We had a chance to visit with the top dogs in the country and their owners, plus make friends with all who worked the show. Many people wanted sweaters knit showing their winners.

Westminster was a time of joy and sorrow. Right before I left for the show I had to put down my Ari, Westernesse Aragorn Karu, CGC, TDI who had gotten ill. Ari was a special dog, my closest companion, a dog loved by all and kind to all. He helped raise the puppies, marched in parades, worked in threapy but most of all, listened to me when I just needed unquestioning support. He would have been eleven years old this month and I really miss him.

Made a new friend in Nikki Wharton-Eby an artist who created a fantastic sketch while people watched. She is extremely talented. http://www.nikarl.com/wst_page7.html

I managed to come down with my worst cold in years the day after the show and spent the next four weeks coughing. Not a good way to end an event

I’m coming into the home stretch on The Crafty Golden Retriever – Knits and I’m trying to get both the Newfoundland and Corgi books put together. They all filled with tons of patterns as well as stories of the dogs having fun.

Two new designs that will be added to the collection of pattern designs available at the Kanine Knits Website http://www.kanineknits.com/kanine_knits_knitting_patterns.htm are for the Australian Terrier and the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen.

I’ve set up a My Space site so that another generation will find out about these dog designs. Take a peek. It’s located at http://www.myspace.com/kanineknitsdesigns . It took me longer to set it up than it would a teenager. Even though I work in html all the time, this host was a challenge. However after a few days, I think I’ve got what I want.

Anyone in New England who is planning on attending the Spring Cluster of dog shows at the Eastern States Exposition over the Easter weekend, come by the Kanine Knits booth and visit. Infodog’s page with information about the three shows is http://www.infodog.com/prm/1581/prm1581.htm. I’d love to meet you, especially knitters who love dogs.

New York City - Here We Come!
Kanine Knits Trunk Show
Intarsia has “Gone to the Dogs!”

Feb. 9 - 13, 2007

Since we couldn’t make TNNA this year to introduce our new line of patterns, we decided to bring them to the one place in New York City where dog lovers abound—the Westminster Kennel Club Show.

The display will include many samples of some of the over 75 intarsia designs of pure bred dogs to be worked on sweaters and accessories plus samples of the pattern leaflets for you.


The Crafty Dog Series knitting books will also be available.

Designer Peggy Gaffney will be available throughout the show to discuss her work as well as take requests for future designs that might be popular to knitters. Peggy is also available for classes or talks. Since she’s only a two hour train commute to Grand Central away, she would be available to share her “Painting With Yarn” approach to intarsia.

Of course Peggy's custom knitting services will be available to non-knitters who want to wear these wonderful sweaters. She'll custom design for you a unique sweater created with your choice of yarn and style and with an intarsia design of your dog.

The Trunk Show will be set up on the lower level (stairs at the back of the lobby) of the Hotel Pennsylvania at the entrance to the Green Room where all the canine stars are prepared for the show. The hours are from 10 am to 4 pm Friday—Monday and 10 am to noon on Tuesday, February 9—13, 2007.

Peggy hopes to see everyone there. It is always an exciting time for dog lovers and hopefully this year we won't have the added excitement of the blizzard that, though fun to see, made it tough to get to the show.

Come visit and see the sweaters.

Sadness, Happiness, and New Challenges

Those who know me know that my life revolves around my dogs. So it is with sadness that I had to say goodby to my beautiful Champion Westerness Arwen Karu who at only 10 years of age had gotten cancer. Her children miss her as I do since not only was she beautiful inside and out, but she was the leader. But as I have learned over the many years I've been in dogs, the time we have with them is a gift. We bring them into the world and see them out and I held her as she was born and as she died. Her children who I have here, Harry Potter, Seamus, and Brigid are all a delight and just as beautiful as their mother.

Birth also keeps me busy. My friend Kathy Queen's Newfoundland, Moriah, took a leave from her work as part of Connecticut Canine Search and Rescue to have 10 puppies. There were 7 blacks and 3 Landseerers. Due to complications they had to be hand fed which meant all dog friends got to roll up their sleeves and pitch in. But it was worth every minute since they are all big beautiful babies. And do I mean big! For someone
who is use to Samoyeds, a Newf pup who is 10 lbs. at 5 weeks of age is an armful. You lift 10 of them to have their portraits taken and you really feel it.

Mariah is beginning to enjoy them more now that they want to play. They are quite a handful now. Though a number will be going to show homes, hopefully there is a future search dog among them to work with mom.







Knitting is ongoing here, but the sweater patterns will soon be made available through knitting shops around the country. Since Peggy has designed over 100 breeds, that gives practically everyone who knits a chance to create one of these sweaters. It might just be the insentive to get people to start knitting. It is the fastest growing craft out there now.

So keep checking with your local yarn shop and they'll be available soon. In the mean time, if you're impatient, you can order them from Kanine Knits directly by email or phone numbers posted at http://www.kanineknits.com.



And not to be outdone with patterns brochures, and sweaters to knit for clients, the finishing touches are being put on the next in the crafty dog book series, The Crafty Labrador Retriever - Knits. This is being revised and proof read but will be coming out soon with many patterns of Labs hunting, showing in breed, in obedience and agility, with even excited Labs going all out in flyball. It's tons of fun and lots of knitting. Watch for the announcement on the webpage as soon as the publication date is set. I've be lucky to have some wonderful people working on this with me.

February is much to short a month especially if you are busy as we are here. The big push for the month was the trip to NYC for Westminster. I had agreed to display my sweaters in the Hotel Pennsylvania and there in lies a tale.

I'll tell you, there is nothing like being in NYC in a blizzard. It is probably the only time that that bustling city is ever quiet. On Sunday morning on my way to church I was able to stand in the middle of 32nd. Street and not see a vehicle or person moving. It was so impressive. That mighty city - so quiet.

As you can see, I had a spectacular view from my hotel window. The Penn is a very old hotel without a lot of amenities, but it has a great location, across the street from Penn. Station and Madison Square Garden. It meant that I could travel to the show by train with all my sweaters in suitcases, and just cross the street to get to my destination. And speaking of trains, let me say here and now that the Red Caps who work the Amtrak Train Stations are the best. I dealt with four of them over the trip and they made the whole travel experience a joy. They go the extra mile to make sure that you and your luggage get where you're going and they do it with courtesy and charm.

My booth was located on the lower level of the hotel as part of the Green Room/Paws Mall experience. This is where all the top competing dogs come to be bathed, massaged, exercised, jogged, and understood by a psychic and where the owners come to shop for gold jewelry, portraits, hand embroidered pictures, or in my case, custom knit sweaters. The place was full of dogs, handlers, and owners all weekend because of the number of specialties and up to Tuesday when everyone who hadn't won was headed home.

There were beautiful dogs everywhere. The great dogs and those who will be great all passed by. The media was everywhere and I even was interviewed by a reporter/cameraman from Fox News 5 New York and chatted with a producer from MSNBC. But the most fun I had with the media is when I turned on Fox 5 News at Ten on Monday night and during their "New York Minute" about Westminster saw my booth and sweaters. As the Amtrak Red Cap said, "You've arrived."

So for those who want to get the inside experience of Westminster next year, without the crush of the Garden, stroll over to the Penn and go down to where the great dogs are prepared for the competition.

There was even entertainment in the form of "Leroy, the Painting Dog." Leroy is a very talented rescue dog whose owner has taught him to spell, he responds to commands that are spelled out. He's also learned to paint where he will select a color paint with his brush and paint away at the easel in a manner that would have him fitting in to any kindergarten classroom.

Of course the fun of such a trip is meeting all the really wonderful owners who visited my booth. It's an experience I love, being able to talk to fellow dog fanciers and work with them to create unique sweaters that show their love of their dog. It's also fun when they come up with questions that challenge my design skills and allow me to create new designs. They are the fire that keeps this business lively.

It also gave me a chance to talk about the forthcoming books and get input and offers of photos and articles to enhance them. The Crafty Labrador Retriever - Knits is in its final stages with the books for Newfs, Goldens, Corgis and Bichon close behind.

The Connecticut River Working Group Association shows at the Big E in W. Springfield, MA will be the next time I'll have my sweater booth out. It's on the weekend of March 18 & 19. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

A New Year Has Begun

Well, the holidays are over so I getting back on an even keel. Most people think of this time of year as time off, whereas if you create handmade garments for those who love to give them to doglovers for Christmas, this is crunch time.

January brought a trip to Tampa last week to show my sweaters at the AKC Eukanuba National Championship. It was a delight to have so many people who have bought my sweaters in the past come and tell me how much they liked them. Some even came to model them and tell their friends where they got them. The best recomendation is a satisfied client.

I was able to talk to people about the new books that are being written. I would show them the sample of The Crafty Samoyed - Knits and then told them what I was doing with the Lab, Golden, Corgi, Newf, Bichon books and telling them also that I'm looking for photos to include of all these dogs. The books are scheduled to be published during the spring and summer, with the designs ready and only the lack of photos holding things back. I'm still looking for photos of these dogs doing hunting, agility, obedience, herding, retrieving, water rescue, etc.

The National Championship was laid out differently this year where I, with many of the vendors, was on the first floor and all the judging on the third floor. What this meant was that I didn't get to see any of the judging. I was delighted, though, that BIS went to that beautiful Malamute "Costello" who was breeder/owner/handled. For those of us who show in bred-by, this was a wonderful achievement. Of course it helped that he was a truly magnificent Mal.

Taking first place in the Meet the Breed competition, the Samoyed booth was a true winner as they have been in the past. The Florida sammy fanciers really knock themselves out to represent the breed in all its traditions. This year they were even in costume that set the theme.

One has only to look at these scenes to travel to the frozen north and the homes of the Sammy people.
The painted backdrop was outstanding. My favorite part was the almost mystical drawing of the Samoyed headstudy that seemed to be looking down from the northern lights on our Sams today.

This was a job well done and the team is to be congratulated. The public truly understood the world of the Samoyed.

I got to meet some of the stars of the show. The beautiful Bichon that went BOS came to visit my booth and show me that a beautiful smile is worth a million.

I also got to know Doodle the wonderful standard poodle who won an ACE Award for working with children who have special needs. This is quite a dog.

So now I'm home and knitting and writing the knitting books that need to be to the printer soon. Never a dull minute.

Enjoy the photos.

Back From the National

Well, this was probably one of the best Samoyed Club of America National Specialties. It overcame the odds and in a last moment race managed to move from the devestated show site in Biloxi to the lovely setting on the banks of the Ohio River in Owensboro, KY. The entry was 900 which made our the 8th largest National in the country. This shows our devotion to our breed which is not large in number with only about 1200 members in SCA.

Many old friends were there. Not only were there friends that came from the Northeast such as Tom Delaney and Marion McNeil, but also those from around the country.





The sweaters got a lot of raves. The two new styles, the Christmas design and the puppies on the sled both got raves. I even had time to teach a short class on spinning so that people could take all that dog hair and turn it into yarn that can be worked into sweaters.
With The Crafty Samoyed- Knits those who are knitters have tons of designs on which to practice.








The bitch judging by Annie Clark was excellent with very difficult choices. I may be slightly bias but I must say that the girls at the show out shown the boys in both type and structure.








It was so nice to find connections to the dogs that won. Judy Davis, an old friend, gave us a beautiful young bitch in Yukons Classy Chassis as WB. This was Judy's first National win even though she has been in SCA forever as I have. The winner's bitch's littermate Wintermist's Yukon Heaven won the 9-12 class so it was such a wonderful winning day for Judy.









As to the WD Cabaka's Yacker of McCoy it was a dog from Denmark whose great-grandfather is the father of my young dogs. Cabaka's Yacker Of McCoy went BOW.When I looked at him it is like looking at my guys who were back home.











Susan Thorpe-Vargas had a good show when she tried showing her own 9-12 puppy dog RUSLAN'S FILM'D IN BLAK N' WHYT herself. With great style they moved about the ring and the fact that Susan was in a motorized chair and her puppy so well trained that he always gaited evenly and stacked himself. It was so impressive that they place third in their class. It was an excellent example of the wonderful Samoyed temperament.










BISS went to Ch. Echo's Perfectly Clear (Dasani), a bitch while Best Opposite went to Ch. Echo's Just A Dreamer (Sullie) so it was a case of ladies rule.

But the sentimental favorite of the National was the absolutely beautiful veteran bitch CH MOONLIGHTERS IMA ALMOND JOY. What a treat to see her showing to beat the band and looking as though she were 3-4 years old instead of her 12+. She held up beautifully and was awarded an AOM. She is what our breed is all about.


For all the results go to http://www.mirage-samoyeds.com/SCA2005/news.htm



I had a great time seeing all my old friends. I even got to have my booth next to the quilt I designed for the rescue raffle. A group of us who are quilters that got together back in 1997 have been able to create a quilt to be raffled off each year to raise money for rescue. Considering that we are a small group, only about 8 in number, we have managed in our own small way to raise thousands of dollars over the years and helped countless Sams.


So the National is now just a memory, but it's a wonderful one. Thanks to Sheila and Walter, our fine chairmen, this will go in the annals as a great one.

Peggy

It's show time. I've been from one end of the state to the other with specialties and all breed shows and even a trip to the Big E (Eastern States Exposition) to share a booth with the Sheep Breeders Assoc. of Connecticut. It's such a great time to show everyone my sweaters and talk dogs.


Last Thursday it was off to the Labrador Retriever Specialty in North Stonington. It was a very hot day and it was interesting watching a breed where they can jump into the water between trips into the ring. It would take a Sam hours to dry but these dogs are wash and wear.

I met a wonderful 11 week old Labrador puppy named Whinnie. She is in training to be a service dog working with special needs children. Nancy Bard, her breeder and trainer, is developing a program in Eastern Connecticut. Whinnie is not only a special dog for what she will be doing but she's also a beautiful example of the breed.
Whinnie will be one of the dogs featured in the upcoming The Crafty Labrador Retriever - Knits and she has been an inspiration for at least one of the designs. I also got to spend time with her and Nancy when I worked the Big E (the Eastern States Exposition) in the Connecticut Building on Wednesday night.

This was my first trip to the Big E and I was overwhelmed by the amount of humanity that passes through this park every day. I'm use to it being almost empty when we use the facility for dog shows. It was quite an experience talking with the visitors and the people in the CT Sheep Breeders Assoc. whose booth I shared. I loved the portable spinning wheel that was used for demonstrating the spinning technique. This was much easier to use than the wheel I used when I learned to spin. -- Sorry folks, I don't spin dog hair for my sweaters. I barely have time to keep my dogs combed out with six Sams. That's why I included a section in the books where dog owners can send the hair to have it spun to be knit into their sweaters.


At the weekend shows I got to see old friends, though we all froze on Sunday when the rain clouds came in and the temperature dropped. I regretted having finished the afghan I was making on Saturday. I did see old friends who were walking around showing off my sweater creations that I had made them showing off their dogs.

Now I design and try to contact all the people whose names were given me to help with information on the books. I am on a search to find people with stories about the activities in which their dogs participate to add to my books. Never a dull minute.

This will be short. I’m playing hookie from the second day of the Lab specialty today just to catch up on sweater orders and get ready for two more shows this weekend in Goshen, CT. I did a Labrador Retriever Specialty yesterday in No. Stonington, CT and it was fun meeting people in another breed. It was especially good because I was able to let people know that I am writing The Crafty Labrador Retriever – Knits book. I took some candids for the book and connected with people who will contribute some stories.

But, I’m tired and since I came home to more orders yesterday, decided I needed to get some designing done, yarn ordered, and all the little things accomplished that keeps the sweaters going.

Tomorrow and Sunday, I’ll be off to Goshen which is a site I enjoy and the weather should be perfect – sunny and in the low 70’s. It will be the first all breed show since The Crafty Samoyed – Knits came out so this will be the first chance that many of the exhibitors will get to see it.

I really enjoyed the salute to the Samoyed that was in the Congressional Record. We aren’t the only ones that think what Sheila and Walter did was terrific.
“SAMOYEDS STRUT STUFF IN OWENSBORO -- (Senate - September 22, 2005)
[Page: S10370] GPO's PDF
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it was President Harry Truman who observed, half a century ago, that ``if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.'' That is perhaps a little harsh. Nevertheless, I note that many of my colleagues in the Congress are dog fanciers, and the Senate is a strikingly dog-friendly workplace. So it is fitting that we pay tribute to a renowned people-friendly breed of dog: the Samoyed. Legendary for their beauty, friendly spirit and heroic and historic treks to the North and South Poles, Samoyeds pulled the adventurers of yesteryear to new frontiers.
Several hundred Samoyeds and their humans will be pulling into Owensboro, KY, in October for the Samoyed Club of America's ``Simply Southern'' National Specialty. While I am pleased that these noble dogs and their guardians will be visiting the Commonwealth, it is, sadly, because of Hurricane Katrina's devastation in Biloxi, MS, where the event was originally scheduled to be held. So the SCA Specialty this year is a hurricane evacuee, but in addition to contributing over $10,000 from show proceeds to animal rescue in the devastated region, the organizers look forward to going back to a rebuilt and newly vibrant gulf coast in the future. ……”
I think they are going to like us being there.

Hi,
We now have a new site for the SCA National Specialty in Owensboro, KY and it looks as though everything will work out beautifully thanks to an incredible effort on the part of this year's committee. They've been helped by volunteers in that area and it should come off smoothly.

I still have a lot of shows to do before leaving for the National. This week I have a new Labrador Retriever Specialty in North Stonington, Connecticut, their first independent show, on Thursday and Friday and then two all-breed shows at the other end of the state in Goshen, CT on Saturday and Sunday. Since the Lab book is the next to be published, this should work out well. I hope to find people who will tell me what it's like working their Labs in all the activities that are in the book. I've roughed out the stories, but they are so much better when there is the first hand experience of someone truly involved.

This year’s Rescue Quilt is up on http://www.samfans.org/fundraisers/2005quilt/index.html for all to see. It’s one of the quilts that will be in my book The Crafty Samoyed – Quilts that will be out next year.

Well we got lucky yesterday in that the rain came before and after the Cornfest. The fair was fun and I got to know Bonnie, my fellow member of Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association better sharing a booth. She had her poetry and I had my knitting book and my sweaters.
There were no other Samoyed lovers there so the book didn’t sell, however, luckily for me there were those with other breeds, who admired the sweaters and placed orders to have them custom knit for them. Since it is not too late in the year, they’ll have them to wear for the Holidays.

The rain on the way home was spectacular. Big black clouds and jagged bolts of lightning lighting up the sky. The rain pounded down and I had to wait till it let up a bit to make a dash for the door when I got home.

The dogs were glad to see me, though I had to put up with the once over since I had been petting other dogs at the show. I told them that they wouldn’t have liked it because it was very hot and humid all day, but of course, they would have loved all the attention. Young Brigid is becoming an attention junkie with all the therapy visits we’ve been doing.



I haven’t told you about the therapy visits. This year I had fun developing a square dance group with dogs as part of Cheshire Dog Training Club. I took traditional square dance steps and worked out patterns that incorporated all the obedience commands. Then it was set to music and everyone had a ball. The routine we do takes less than ten minutes and we’ve been using it as an opening and closing for our visits to nursing homes and hospitals. After the opening dance we introduce each dog and tell about the breed, demonstrate some obedience exercises and then visit everyone. This is Brigid’s favorite part. She is a monumental people lover. She is also an obedience comic. I started training her about a month and a half ago and she took to it beautifully. The only problem being the stays. As part of the dance routine, we line up, put the dogs on a down and then march around, weaving through the group of dogs, snakelike. They’re good on staying down, till we finish and start back to stand in front of the dogs for the finish. Inevitably, Brigid sees me coming up the row and breaks to come see me. She gets a laugh from the crowd and now thinks it’s funny. I’ve got my work cut out for me getting her to do it right before we try for her CD. Unfortunately, she’s so cute doing this, it is impossible to get mad.
The group has a wide variety of dogs so it really looks interesting when they are all dancing together. Above is a photo of the group that one of the nurses took at our visit.

Off to the Cornfest

Well as my son was quick to point out to you, I told you all about Kanine Knits yesterday but never gave you the link. It’s http://www.kanineknits.com. It works so much better when I remember to give directions.

Today is pack up day, loading the van to go to a show, though, for a change, this will not be a dog show. Tomorrow, rain or shine and it looks like we’ll get both, I’ll be part of the booth sponsored by CAPA, the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association at the Cornfest, a country fair and craft show on the green in historic Wethersfield, CT. http://www.historicwethersfield.org/Events/cornfest05.htm So if anyone in the area wants to come by our booth, I be one of several authors plus I will have samples of my sweaters for people to see.

Hi,

My name is Peggy Gaffney and I am an author and knitting designer. Perhaps that should be reversed, since the knitting designing came first but the books that I am creating are a very large part of what I do and therefore the joy of being an author is uppermost at the moment.

What I write about and what I design all revolve about my love of dogs, pure bred dogs and specifically Samoyed dogs which I have bred, shown, and loved for over 37 years. It was the dogs that led to the designing that led to becoming an author so as you can see, it is a natural progression. I live with six Samoyeds at the moment, two cats and a son.

About 10 years ago, I started thinking about what I'd do when I retired from teaching school and at the time, I was working part time for a friend who owned a knitting shop and was an author of a wonderful knitting book which I'll tell you about later. She was the one who suggested that I make a business out of two things I loved, dogs and knitting. And so it was that I started designing sweaters with intarsia patterns of pure bred dogs. My goal in the designs was to make the dogs look as much like the breed as possible. These would be custom designs with each sweater created for the individual to his tastes and specifications. It started with Samoyeds and then Newfoundlands (my friend Kathy has search and rescue Newfs) and then Goldens, and Dobes, and Brittanys, and so on until I have created designs for more than 100 breeds. I call it Kanine Knits: Sweaters for the Dog Fancy. And it has been something that Fanciers really like.

Now over the years, people asked if I'd sell my patterns. I didn't want to do that because these were my bread and butter, but I got thinking that it might be fun to write a book with a collection of patterns for each breed. I wanted the books to be special. Then came the idea of writing a book about what the breed did for fun in modern times and create intarsia designs to illustrate these activities and of course, sweater, hat, scarf, etc. instructions to go with them. So the concept of the book grew and I started writing the first of what would be The Crafty Dog series.

The first book had, of course, to be about Samoyeds. It was called The Crafty Samoyed - Knits. I was lucky to have friends who had expertise in many of the activities that I hadn't tried with my Samoyed and they contributed stories and pictures to add to my stories and photo collection. The book turned out to be very hard work and at the same time a lot of fun.

Now The Crafty Samoyed - Knits is out and selling and I'm working on the next breeds: Labs, Goldens, Newfoundlands, Shelties, German Shepherds, Boxers, Corgis and more. Each will be the combination of stories, sweaters and stunning designs for knitters to work. And I'm hoping to find fanciers in these breeds to share their stories with me as well.