This year I crocheted many dog breed scarves and was able to sell them to friends and contacts through my facebook page. I also put a flyer in my Veterinarian's office and sold several.
pictured to the left is a red-tri Australian Shepherd scarf
It all started out with my making the 4 shown here to the right. I made these up ahead of time and took them to my club's annual Fall Dog Show (FL PanHandler's Bone 'N Biscuit Harvest) which is an all breed Agility and Obedience Trial and Australian Shepherd Conformation Show. The scarves I took to sell at the show were 1 each of the 4 color varieties of the Aussie. Left to right: Blue Merle, Black Tri, Red Tri and Red Merle. I sold all of the scarves I had pre-made and when I left I had orders for 8 more Aussies.
I had no idea at the time how much this endeavor was going to influence the next couple months of my life! I ended up having a very sick dog a few days after the show. He had a severe reaction to vaccinations that had been given about 3 1/2 wks earlier. I had a Vet bill just under $1,000 in one week! I didn't have the money to pay all of this bill so I put out a plea on my Facebook page hoping to get some orders for the scarves to help with my expenses. I also put a flyer in my Vet's office stating I could make any breed in this scarf. Well, I ended up with 28 or so scarves to make and they all had to be done by Christmas - we were at the time, about 5-6 wks away. Each of the orders I took were for a custom scarf, in other words, the customer would send me a digital picture of their dog and I was to make the scarf look as much like their dog as possible. I ended up crocheting 9 different breeds of dogs and 3 wild animals - grey fox, raccoon and panda bear! I did NOT have a pattern for any of these scarves. I started with a pattern I had purchased over the internet for a red fox and the rest is history. It would take me approximately 1-1/2 days to complete each scarf so I worked from 7am - 11pm every day for about 5 1/2 weeks non stop! I was able to pay off my Vet bill and have enough money to buy some Christmas gifts for our 12 grandchildren! I will be forever grateful to everyone who placed and order! I am also an artist and do custom paintings. I had 4 paintings to complete before Christmas as well! (2 are pictured at the end of this post)
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| Red Tri Australian Shepherd |
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| Black Tri Border Collie |
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| Sandy colored Mixed Breed Dog |
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| Coton DeTulear |
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| Blk Tri Aussie with "freckles" |
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| Shibu Inu |
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| Grey Fox |
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| Raccoon |
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| Panda Bear |
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| Labradoodle |
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| Black Mixed Breed Dog |
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| Basset Hound |
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| Black & White Pit Bull |
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The next 4 pictures are a Lethal White Australian Shepherd
This scarf is one I did for my granddaughter of our own dog, Bekka. She was rescued and adopted by us in 2008. We have 2 other Australian Shepherds but this gal is my granddaughter's favorite. Bekka has very tiny eyes which are blue with pink around the edges of her eye sockets and the pupils are down near the bottom of her eyes. She is able to see not as well as most dogs, but well enough to understand over 50 words in American Sign Language. You see, she is also totally deaf! She only has a few colored markings, the ones on her left side and on the top portion of her tail. She also has one black and tan leg, her left rear one. And, we couldn't forget her cute little pink spotted nose! She also has a tail which not common to the breed in the USA, as they are usually docked a few days after the litter is born. In Europe it is illegal to dock the tails so the Aussies there have beautiful tails like our little Bekka, although they are not colored like her unless they are also a LW (Double Merle). The true name for her condition is homozygous merle http://www.australian-shepherd-lovers.com/lethal-white.html or double merle.
These dogs can have serious health problems.
Bekka by the way, is NOT the dog that I mentioned earlier having the serious reaction to the vaccinations.
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| view from above of the LW Aussie (Bekka) scarf |
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| close up of the face of the LW Aussie (Bekka) scarf |
Two of the custom watercolor paintings I did for customers this Christmas -
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| Junior Handler and Red Merle Australian Shepherd |
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| Border Collie |
