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.
For those of you who are having problems putting the bulldog toether, I’m sorry the instructions are very sketchy. So here’s a diagram.
Basically, once you have sewn the 3 sections of the nose together, you need to fold it in once, about 2/3rds of the way from the tip, then fold it in on itself again. There is a certain amount of trial and error with this, so have a look at the photograph in Best in Show and fiddle about with it until you think it looks as much like a bulldog as possible. I would then catch it down with a stitch or two, before you sew the actual nose and eyes on.
I hope this helps. Do contact us if you are having any problems
Yes, it’s true, for a brief moment we toppled Cesar Milan, God of dog care from his number one spot, with out little book of knitted dogs.
Cats next, out in the Autumn, and after that Best in show 2 – more dogs, do let us know what dogs you feel should be included.
Our book Best in Show, has been published in the USA with the new title of Knit Your Own Dog, don’t buy it twice, it’s the same book.
It’s been given a terrific boost by being mentioned in both Entertainment Weekly, and People. We were featured in People many years ago with our red sheep jumper, as worn by Princess Diana, so we were delighted to be in an edition devoted to Prince William and Kate Middleton, it would be even better if she was wearing something of ours, a knitted corgi fascinator?
Yes I’m afraid so, however many times we checked the patterns over and we really did many many times, there are one or two errors, so we thought we would come clean and publish them:
PATTERN CORRECTIONS
ALTERATIONS IN RED
Whippet
Page 20 Left Side of Body
Row 14: P16sh, p16sn, p2togsn (33 sts)
Row 16: P18sh p3sn, p2togsn (22 sts)
Labrador
Page 84 Head
Row 23: K6, (k2tog) 3 times, k6 (15 sts)
West Highland Terrier
Page 58 Tummy
Half way down tummy section
Rep last 8 rows twice more
(Remove next 2 rows)
Next row: K2tog, k2, k2tog (4 sts)
RED SETTER
Page 77 NECK AND HEAD
Row 1: With gn, and with RS facing k8 from spare needle of Right Side of Body then k8 from spare needle of Left Side of Body. (16 sts)
Row 2: Purl.
Row 3: Inc, k5, k2tog twice, k5, inc. (16 sts)
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: Inc, k5, k2tog twice, k5, inc. (16 sts)
Row 6: Purl.
Row 7: Inc, k14, inc. (18 sts)
Row 8: Inc, p16, inc. (20 sts)
Row 9: K15, pult (pick up loop below next st on left needle by inserting tip of right needle from back through loop – this stops a hole forming when turning work – then turn, leave rem 5 sts on left needle unworked).
Row 10: Working top of head on centre 10 sts only, p2tog (first st of p2tog is loop picked up at end of last row), p9, pult.
Row 11: K2tog, k9, pult.
Row 12: P2tog, p9, pult.
Rep last 2 rows twice more.
Row 17: K2tog, k to end. (20 sts)
Row 18: Purl
Row 19: K15, pult.
Row 20: Working top of head on centre 10 sts only, p2tog (first st of p2tog is loop picked up at end of last row), p9, pult.
Row 21: K2tog, k9, pult.
Row 22: P2tog, p9, pult.
Rep last 2 rows once more.
Row 25: K2tog, knit to end (20 sts on right needle)
Row 26: Purl.
Row 27: K1, k2tog twice, k10, k2tog twice, k1. (16 sts)
Row 28: Purl.
Row 29: Inc, k14, inc (18 sts)
Start garter stitch jowls
Row 30: K7, p4, k7.
Row 31: Inc, k16, inc. (20 sts)
Row 32: K8, p4, k8.
Work 2 rows st st.
Row 35: Cast (bind) off 8 sts, k4 icos, cast off 8 sts.
Row 36: Rejoin yarn, cast (bind) off 4 sts.
OLD ENGLISH SHEEPDOG
Materials
the pure wool 4 ply is actually snow 412, but you can use Cashsoft instead which is 433 cream, or any white/cream 4ply will do.
Do let us know if you find any more, it would be very helpful to get it as right as possible for reprints.
I think this is something we have invented – the socklawn, very easy for you to do at home:
a) go for a walk in long grass
b) take your socks off and hang them up outside
c) forget about them
d) after several months you have a socklawn
or even a pair
Happily received on 25th December:
A beautiful and elegant sculpture made of recycled plastic milk bottles by Dominic Gubb
A cushion covered in line drawings of whippets and greyhounds by Emily Bond
Two lovely mugs by Katharine Pollen
A sleek wire sculpture of my lurcher by Bridget Baker
DOGS by Tim Flach – a magnificent photographic book
A fetching wooden greyhound by Dee Purdy
And to encourage inspiration for our next book PUSSY GALORE – Knit Your Own Cat, a bar of soap that grows hair.
Here as a tribute to the late great Oliver Postgate is Best in Show the movie – follow this link to youtube
Just in case I didn’t put in a note with each pattern, the yarn we used is probably unavailable by now, as it was a long long time ago, but you can use any 4 ply. Good luck
also
We thought you might enjoy this
We are offering 5 free tickets to The Country Living Christmas Fair to the first 5 people to contact us with the wittiest caption for this photograph of our knitted dogs. Here they are all ready to go off to our stand J50 where we will be selling them, our book Best in Show- knit your own dog, and a fabulous selection our cashmere knitwear
It’s on 10-14th November and the tickets usually cost £16.00 on the door. All entries must be in by 1st November.
As bonfire night is nearly here we thought you might appreciate a pattern to protect your dog’s sensitive little ears from the hellish noise of fireworks. Just email us and we will send it to you as a PDF.
You can also use it for cats/ children/ TV presenters if they also have sensitive little ears.
The Afghan Hound
We have had many requests to see some more of the dogs in our book Best in Show knit your own dog, so here are some more, more to come later.
We are showing at Origin in Spitalfields Market until Wednesday 29th Sept, do come and see us, we have books, kits and finished dogs.
The Dachshund
The Fox Terrier
The Whippet
As part of the Muir and Osborne, travelling roadshow,on Saturday 2nd October, we will be at Crafts for all Show in Bristol, and on Thursday 7th October we will be at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace. We will also be at the Country Living Christmas Fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington from 10-14 November. More dates to come.
Thrilling times for us here at Muir and Osborne, our new book Best in Show, knit your own dog, was published on Monday by Collins and Brown. We hope to have an interview in the Saturday Telegraph tomorrow and with a bit of luck serialisation in the Sunday Mirror, we are slightly hesitant about this because it was supposed to be in last Sunday, but like Colleen, we were let down by Wayne Rooney who took up so much of the paper there was no room left for knitted dogs.
The following week September from 16-19th September I’ll be showing my paintings at the Brighton Art Fair at The Corn Exchange http://www.brightonartfair.co.uk
They aren’t all of dogs although there will be quite a lot, mainly lurchers, greyhounds and whippets, also some landscapes and people. If you want you can see more on my website sallymuir.co.uk
The week after we will be doing Origin 23-29th September at Old Spitalfields Market, http://www.originuk.org where we will be showing our beautiful knitted dogs and kits, these will have everything you need to make your own dog in a stylish must have calico bag
Only five days to go….and not a moment too soon for my lurcher, Nell, who has stoically survived a year long invasion of knitted dogs only to wreak her revenge on a previously beautiful felted version of herself.
BEST IN SHOW – KNIT YOUR OWN DOG available from Waterstones, W H Smith, local bookshops and www.amazon.co.uk
I found this organic textile inspirational life-form in the back of the fridge, can you guess what it is? A prize for the most imaginative.
Please feel free to send in any of your examples of fridgecraft.
This one is in Cornwall,
Same shed, from a different angle, I can’t account for the unearthly green glow, except to say it’s near Tintagel.
This months puppy is the lovely Connie.
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