Buster's first proper snow

Buster is now 5 1/2 months old and the recent snowfalls reached us in the South East

Not a great deal fell here but enough to give Buster plenty to amuse himself with. His registered name is Tallisbay Turbo Boost and he certainly lived up to that charging round ploughing the snow.

My attempts to dry him off with towels were pretty futile as he rapidly churned the pristine white layer into a nice slushy mess, stirred some mud into it then dragged the towels around leaving them to freeze on the ground.

Even Posh joined in and shed her 12 years for a frisky game with Buster.

On Saturday night more snow fell so the doggies had early walks around the village we found this charming Snowman and Snowdog on the Green and couldn't resist a shot of Angus and Buster with them.  Posh is missing from the shot, she had an earlier very short walk with Angus but she is too old now and can't manage to walk as far as the Back Green.   Buster is only allowed moderate walks while he is growing so Angus ends up going out twice

First Bear of the New Year

Jason the first Bear of the New Year

It seemed a good idea to begin the New Year with another bear made just according to my own personal preference and I felt very much in the mood to stick with the simple charms of a happy friendly classic Ted, gently aged just the way I like them.

I have made a few changes to a favourite classic bear pattern; Depending on the fabric he still stands around 16.5 to 17" tall.

Jason is made from a very traditional Yellow Gold Colour mohair.  When I decide how much to "age" a bear I am often inspired by bears I have owned or seen over the years in terms of just how age has affected them.  Jason is a reminder for me of a vintage bear I used to own.  He was made of the same rather bright yellow gold cloth, when I found him he was in pretty good condition, Lightly thinned and matted in places and rather dusty. I have just developed a new way of adding a "dust" effect which I have used on Jason. His stuffing had become looser so that he was slightly crunchy but not really sagging or floppy.  Time had softened the rather harsh colour.  So on this occasion Jason's fatiguing is to reflect the older bear which I sadly no longer own.

And.... just to show that he can... Jason standing up by himself, although I suspect he would find this for long periods unattended.

I have given Jason another of the sweaters knitted by my late mum.   I used to have quite a few of them but the supply of suitable ones in this size is running out, I guess I will have to make a new pattern to fit the smaller sweaters.

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