The Crafty Bernese Mt. Dog Knits [Paperback]

Peggy Gaffney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 2008

Subtitled Knitting Projects for Dog Lovers, The Crafty Bernese Mt. Dog Knits is the fourth in author/designer Peggy Gaffney s Crafty Dog Knits series published by Kanine Knits. It tells about the Bernese Mountain Dogs and the activities they love. Peggy Gaffney then takes these activities and converts them into graphic charts that can be worked by knitters, cross-stitchers, beaders, or needlepointers. There are 25 charts within each book. Finally she has designed classic patterns for sweaters, hats, mittens, scarves, afghans, etc. into which these designs can be knit.

The designs include the Bernese Mountain Dog: Standing, Puppy in the Basket, Puppy Sitting, On the Mountain, Gaiting, Obedience, Sitting, Puppy in the Window, Agility, Carting, Head Studies, Jumping the Wall, Lying Down, On his couch, In a Christmas Wreath and more.

When writing about the Bernese Mountain Dog, she covers many topics such as: History of the Bernese Mt. Dog, Farm Dog to Show Dog, The Berner as Family Dog, Berner as Herder, Berner Goes Carting, Obedience and the Bernese Mt. Dog, Agility and the Bernese Mt. Dog, Tracking with a Bernese Mt. Dog, As Service Dogs, and much more.

With more than ten different styles of sweaters for adults in both men s and women s sizes from x-small to 2x, there is probably something that will appeal to you and there are five different styles of sweaters for children sized from infant up to children s size 12. All measurements are given in both inches and centimeters.

Gaffney has taken yarn and painted beautiful portraits of the Bernese Mt. dog in action that will warm the hearts of Berner lovers. She also goes into ways in which the hair of these dogs may be incorporated into the designs.

Author/Knitter Debbie Macomber says of these books, Peggy Gaffney has introduced a new idea into the knitting realm...you re in for a real treat.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Author Peggy Gaffney has created a unique line of books for talented and crafty dog lovers. She takes a single breed, studies it and writes about all the things that make that dog distinctive. Then she goes one step further and brings this study into the crafty world of knitting by creating a series of portraits of the dogs in action which she translates into knitting charts to be worked into sweaters and accessories.

Her background includes more than forty years breeding and showing her Samoyeds and a lifetime of knitting. For many years she created custom designed sweaters for owners of some of the top winners with portraits of these dogs worked in.

In recent years, however, her interest has changed to creating knitting books and patterns for knitters who love their dogs. She has published five books in The Crafty Dog series and has produced leaflets for more than 100 different breeds in her Portraits of Dogs in Knitting. All are available from publisher Kanine Knits.

More books in the series will be coming soon, to find out more visit her Kanine Knits website.

Product Details

• Paperback: 110 pages
• Publisher: Kanine Knits; 1st edition (May 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977041239
• ISBN-13: 978-0977041237
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,614,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peggy Gaffney has written nine knitting books designed to delight pet lovers, especially those with dogs. She has a talent for capturing the look of each animal in her unique 'portrait knits' that are almost lifelike in their detail. Peggy has spent most of her life pursuing her favorite hobbies which are knitting and showing her purebred Samoyed dogs. Her designs reflect her love for animals.

The world of 'picture knitting' is one which Peggy, who majored in English but minored in Art, decided would allow her to paint animal portraits but instead of using paint, she'd work each design in stitches, with needles and yarn. This Intarsia technique, gives a freedom for detail that is not possible in other forms of knitting. Whether the design is worked in a pillow, sweater, stocking or hat, she gives the knitter a chance to show off their favorite pet. Kanine Knits has published not only the collection of Crafty Knits books but also individual pet portrait patterns which are available through their website.

Peggy's skills didn't happen overnight. She spent more than ten years as a custom knitting designer creating one-or-a-kind sweaters and accessories for owners of some of the top dogs in the country. Having been a writer in many genre throughout her life, the idea of translating these designs into book form was a natural choice.

Her dog knitting books each focus on taking a single breed per book and creating designs of that breed in action. She realized that this wouldn't work with cats. Though they might enjoy agility, cats don't do 'obedience.' So after discussing the approach with a number of fanciers, she decided to take a dozen breeds and focus on what makes each of them unique. Each breed gets its own design accompanied by an object that figures in the cat's history. The story that explains how each breed came to be is included along with more than 50 photos of cats taken by the author as well as submitted by fancier around the country.

With The Crafty Llama and Alpaca Knits, she dealt with the two well known camelids and discussed the history, what they do and of course talked about the fleece which is of so much importance not only with the breeders but with knitters craving luxury fibers. The book is filled with photos of these wonderful creatures in action.

The Crafty Llama and Alpaca Knits is published by Kanine Knits which is also the publisher of The Crafty Cat Knits and the Crafty Dog Knits series which includes book about: Samoyeds, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Bernese Mt Dogs, Newfoundlands, Welsh Corgis and Poodles.

Peggy Gaffney is now hard at work on several new books to delight the creative knitter who wants to create a striking portrait of a much loved pet.