Things You'll Need:
- yarn
- knitting needles
- measuring tape
- scissors
- yarn needle for weaving in ends
- your dog
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Step 1
My little chihuahua loves to wear sweaters and I love to knit, so when I purchased a sweater for him several years ago that fit him great I began looking at this sweater and realised, "I can do that!" Since then I have made many sweaters for him using this method and we love them all. Christmas sweaters in red and green, fall sweaters in oranges and brown, the list goes on and on. It's a simple pattern that can be adapted to any size pooch. I hope you will give it a try!
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Step 2
You need two measurements here, the measurement of around your doggies neck where his collar is and the distance from his neck to his tail. You might want to jot these down.
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Step 3
This sweater is made up of two basic pieces. The back piece which is a rectangle and the chest piece which is wedge shaped, it looks kind of like a large pencil with a point on it.
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Step 4
Do a little guage swatch to find out how many stitches to cast on for your rectangle. The narrow end is your doggies neck measurement. Since you are beginning at the collar, do a nice amount of ribbing here, either k2, p2, or k1, p1, whichever you prefer. If you want a turtleneck make the ribbing long enough so you can fold it over.
After you do your ribbing begin knitting straight down the back in the stockinette stitch. Knit untill your back measures down to the base of your doggies tail. Bind off and weave in the ends with your yarn needle. -
Step 5
Now for the chest piece, the wedge shape. I almost always do this in ribbing all the way down. It gives the chest piece some elasticity and keeps the sweater fitting closely to your dog. Again, either k1, p1, or k2, p2, whichever you prefer.
Cast on two stitches and working in ribbing, increase one stitch every time you begin a row. Keep doing this untill the point you are making reaches from your dogs collar to about 1/2 an inch past where his front legs begin.
Now continue in ribbing but don't increase anymore, you are now working on the "wooden" end of your "pencil". Make this piece long enough to go past your doggies front legs and down under his tummy. Bind off and weave in your ends with your yarn needle. -
Step 6
Take your rectangle piece and with your yarn needle, sew the ribbing together at the neck but don't sew any further down. Tie off your yarn and weave in the end. Now take the wedge piece and put the point right up at the seam your just made at the neck. Sew down both sides of the wedge but no further. Stop when you ends of the taper. Leave a space for your dog's front legs and sew down the sides of your sweater. Weave in the loose ends.
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Step 7
If you also crochet, you can now single crochet around the bottom end of your sweater and if you like you can single crochet around the legholes, you could even do a few rows here to add little "sleeves" to it. I love this method because it leaves so much room for creativity. Hope you give it a try!
