We felt we had to make our own tribute to Uggie the undisputed star of The Artist, so here he is with the oscar that he won’t be receiving, so we’ve made him his own.
Here he is again performing his famous lying on his back trick.
and again on the red carpet.
You can make your own Uggie, from Knit your own Dog, just do the Jack Russell, We have made Uggie in fine Rowan Heritage Tweed, 376 Bell Busk, with Reeth 372 markings, as he is a rough haired Jack Russell. The Oscar is made out of Bendicks Bittermint papers and the end part of a screwdriver and the red carpet is a sock.
First spotted in a fake vintage shop in Soho and now on Amazon, the sheep jumper , in it’s old age, has become hipsters kitsch menswear. Here it is available for a remarkable £24.99.
We don’t quite know what to feel about Princess Diana’s old favourite being described as “Mens’s kitsch ironic retro vintage style” but we probably won’t sue and at least if you want one you don’t have to knit it for yourself.
We are sorry to have to admit that there are several mistakes in Best in Show knit your own Cat, or if you are American, just Knit your own Cat. We checked and re-checked the patterns and so did our publishers, but a few have slipped through, spotted by the eagle eyed, Karol and Gill, who also made this fabulous pack (I’m sure that’s not the correct collective noun) of Siamese cats.
Anyway the mistakes are as follows:
BRITISH BLUE p50 LEFT FRONT LEG it says work as for Right Back Leg to ** should be Right FRONT Leg
SIAMESE CAT SITTING. p93 To Make up. No mention is made of sewing up back seam.
BLACK AND WHITE CAT STANDING p105 Left Side of Body row 13 should not have p1sn in middle of row it should read.
Incsn,p3sn,p21bl,incbl,p11bl(39 sts) this also applies to the Right Side of Body
P106, in a fit of insanity we have given this cat 2 tails, the second tail is actually a collar.
BLACK CAT PROWLING p125 Left Side of Body Row 1, it should say p9sts from spare needle of Left Front Leg
the same applies on row 5, p12sts from spare needle of Left Back Leg
STAFFIE CAMPAIGN
We are delighted to have reports of the Battersea Staffie Campaign spreading all over the country, there have been sightings from as far afield as Brixton and Broadstairs, do send us any photos of sightings you may have, here to remind you is what it looks like
or
Our hot news is that our Best in Show Knit your own Cat, or rather Knit your own Cat, as it’s called in the US, is being published in Feb by Black Dog and Leventhal, the lovely people who published Knit your own Dog, here’s the link
http://www.blackdogandleventhal.com/new-releases-and-coming-soon/299-2/
We will then be following up with Best in Show, Knit more Dogs, or Dogs 2, or Bester in Show, the title has not quite been decided, but it will be MORE dogs, it will be coming out in September, and it will be lovely.
While you wait patiently, here is some more fridgeart
Here as a New Year treat is a really weird website: http://www.tattyworld.net/thread/99309
with a lot of this sort of thing.
Yes, huge reductions, to rival Gap/Brora/Boden etc. starts tomorrow.
Amazing bargains, but hurry as we don’t have everything in every size. Have a look at our collection page and phone up or email to see what stock we have, the no is 01273736106
We have just been working on a particularly exciting commission. Battersea Dog’s Home asked us to make a life-sized Staffordshire Bull Terrier, for their ‘Staffies they’re softer than you think’ campaign which was launched last week.
Here are some photographs of the work in progress:
And here it is finished – looking, as I’m sure you’ll agree, pretty damn soft and cuddly.
We’ve also given them a pattern for a small version, larger and more toy like than our usual dogs, but very much smaller than this magnificent beast. If you’d like a pattern here is the link to their website and it’ll cost £2.00, worth every penny and it all goes to the dog’s home.
Jo and I are very attached to Battersea Dog’s Home, as we both got our first dogs from there, Alice and Fanny, RIP. Here they are.
http://www.battersea.org.uk/dogs/staffies.html
NEW BOOK
Also we are about to start work on our new book Best in Show knit your own dog 2, or Second Best in Show, or Dogs 2, or…..not quite sure what it’ll be called, but we are doing a second book of knitted dogs, as there are SO many dog breeds that people are clamoring to knit, which we couldn’t fit into our first book.
We would very much welcome any suggestions, do please email us with any dogs you would like us to include. – we’ll send you a free hamster house pattern as a reward.
We will be showing our glorious cashmere knitwear, as well as cats, dogs, books and kits at Made at The Corn Exchange in Brighton on November 19-20th. We have both free and 2 for 1 tickets if you would like to come, do get in touch. Their website is http://www.brighton-made.co.uk/ it will have all the details. Here’s a cat:
STAFFIES. THEY’RE SOFTER THAN YOU THINK
We’ve been working with Battersea Dogs Home on their new campaign to get us to love Staffies, we have knitted them a loveable Staffie toy. We very much agree with them on this, Staffies, when treated properly, are lovely lovely dogs. So here’s our knitted Staffie and look out for the campaign, here’s the Facebook link http://www.facebook.com/Startuk.org#!/media/set/?set=a.10150373639209708.378238.9580139707&type=3
Need advice on how to knit your own dog or cat? Come and talk to Joanna Osborne at the City Books 25th Birthday Festival at the Old Market, Hove on Sunday 16th October from 2-3 p.m. If you bring a photo of your own dog or cat, Jo will help you to create a replica, and talk you through the more complex knitting techniques.
She can help you make one of these, to unnerve your pet, or recreate your much loved deceased from an old photo. Or you could just come and have a look at the real knitted cats and dogs from our books. Knit kits and books will be for sale.
It would be lovely to meet you and entry is FREE.
OXFORD EVENT
For one day only, Muir and Osborne will be at the Freelancers Fair. We will be selling last season’s cashmere at low prices, as well our books, readymade cats and dogs and knit kits. It’s on Wednesday 19th October, 9.30-5.30 Willow House, The Ridings, Shotover, Oxford OX3 8TB.
ICELANDIC SHEEPDOG
One of the many exciting commissions we’ve been asked to do was to design an tiny Icelandic sheepdog, to be the faithful friend and companion of two knitted dolls, Olivia and Theodora. The amazingly talented Helene Magnusson who has a website called The Icelandic Knitter http://tricoteuse-islande.fr/en/models/smali-olivia/ asked us to do it. In the end she did most of the work, as she says on her site “It took four prototypes to make it right: the very first dog was a very cute little bastard! The last one, on the other hand, is a pure breed of Icelandic sheepdog!” Smali, as you can see, has turned out to be a magnificent beast, so congratulations to Helene for persevering.
We have followed up Best in Show knit your own dog with….. Best in Show knit your own cat. Out in mid-September, but available now, we hope you will take it to your hearts as you did with the dogs. If you would like to come and have a close look at the cats, or us, come to one of these events.
We will be launching Best in Show, knit your own cat at LOOP in Islington on 17th September, follow this link for more details http://www.loopknitlounge.com do come if you can. We are also showing dogs and cats at Origin at Old Spitalfields Market from September 22-28 September for more details follow this link http://www.originuk.org
Then Sally will be showing her paintings, (dogs and landscapes mainly) at the Palace Art Fair 6-9th October here’s another link http://www.palaceartfair.co.uk/ I have tickets for this if you would like to let me know I can send you one.
Do come and say hello if you can come to any of these.
Here’s some more lovely abstract artworks found in the back of the fridge
I think that’s marmalade
god knows what this is
This is one of the most lovely, elderflower I think.
And this is bearded cake
Do send us your own fridgeart and lets see if we can turn it into a legitimate artform
Exceptionally nice shed spotted in Corte in Corsica and this one is an example of minimalist chic on Samos
Follow this link to have a look at our new movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKkciGMC_TA It’s another stop motion extravaganza, but this time incorporating complex sounds and special effects and introducing….cats. It has 6 views at the moment, so with your help we can make it go viral, like the sneezing panda, smirking labrador etc
Last Sunday Jo had the honour of judging the first ever( we presume) knitted Crufts
Held at the Herne Hill Bookshop, who have been tremendously supportive of Best in Show, it was a magnificent British occasion, one of those things we do so well, like royal weddings, it had all the necessary components, gazebos, bunting, cupcakes and of course…driving rain. However there was a great turnout and a splendid collection of entries.
Judging was a big job, a bit like the Booker Prize, or…Crufts, it required a panel, of 3 people and after much deliberation here are the winners, congratulations to everyone, and thank you so much to the Herne Hill Bookshop.
If you didn’t hear about this and would like to enter your knitted dog in a competition, knityourowndog.com are still running monthly knitted crufts on their website and there are prizes to be won.
Sorry to Izabelle Cheung, in a moment of madness we misattributed her photograph of the magnificent Lily in her floral balaclava, to make up here’s the link to Izabelle’s fabulous blog. izznit.wordpress.com full of great stuff and excellent photographs.
While we’re here, does anyone know where you can buy boucle yarn? We are having trouble getting hold of it to make our poodles and also we have a boucle cat coming up, we have scoured the country and would be very grateful for any suggestions.
It would be reasonable to assume that we are obsessed with dogs, but to prove that we welcome all animals here is a knitted…..?
Answers please, there’s a free Princess Diana Sheep Sweater pattern for the first, or any correct answer.
You can now enter your knitted dog in an online dog show. Our publishers kindly created a website dedicated to our book, it’s www.knityourowndog.com have a look.
There are prizes for the winning dogs in the online dog show, so hurry to enter now.
Or if you are nearby,the Herne Hill Bookshop in Railton Rd next to Herne Hill station, will be having their own knitted crufts, contact them for more information. www.hernehillbooks.com
This magnificent photograph of Banjo comes from Ginger Goodrich
I’m afraid some of these others, all equally lovely have become separated from their photographer’s/knitter’s/model’s names, do let us know if they are yours and we will credit you.
This has been spotted by Nancy Little in the Border Collie pattern
P140 RIGHT SIDE OF BODY
P8cr,p4bl,K3cr,inccr.
Should be p
Thank you Nancy for pointing that out.
There’s something so magical about spring, it allows you to take liberties that will be frowned on later in the gardening year. So I’m basking in the pleasure of seeing a pack of tiny sharks frolicking about in a sea of Blue Angel Muscari whenever I open the greenhouse door.
You can do elegant soon enough.
In the meantime, no messing about when little plants start to sprout. Chipped mugs make wonderful pot-holders. Minimises the orange plastic, no need for messy saucers. The cactus offshoot is settling in beautifully.
My favourite kitchen herb pot (old terracotta, nice fat shape, just the right size for my windowsill) got left outside in the frost and cracked clean in two. So it’s been superglued back together and the join disguised with a couple of scraps of posh hessian-y ribbon left over from Christmas. I think it looks rather handsome with its first crop of Greek Basil.
