How to Crochet a Horse Sweater
If your horse is in the stable all winter, a nice warm sweater is just what it needs when you take it out for daily exercise. There aren't a lot of patterns available for horse sweaters, so this is your opportunity to blaze a new trail by designing your own. You may set a trend and all the equestrian enthusiasts in the area will be wanting to crochet a sweater for their horse, too. Depending on how fast you crochet, making a horse sweater may take quite a while, so start in the spring to make sure the sweater is ready before the winter winds start to blow.
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Instructions
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Measure your horse and write down its measurements. These numbers will help you calculate how much thread or yarn you need to buy to crochet a horse sweater.
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Take an old sheet and put it over your horse. Take a marking pen and draw where the shoulders are and where you have to cut the openings for the legs. Use the outline to help you make a pattern to follow. Decide if you are gong to crochet in one color or if you will go with a multi-color design. Be creative and see what sort of design you can come up with.
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Design a cardigan-type horse sweater. The point of having a cover on a horse is that it traps body heat whilst allowing air circulation from below. It's the same reason that Inuit anoraks hang to the knees, but are open at the bottom.
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Figure out how many stitches there are in a row and plan accordingly. Crochet a few rows with your chosen yarn and create a gauge.
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Use tube rounds -- as you would for leggings -- for the part of the horse sweater that will go over the front legs. Start with a foundation chain and use a slip-stitch. Form a ring by putting a slip stitch into the first chain, and then continue with this stitch to form a tube. When you get to the end of the round, you can either work in a spiral-fashion or treat each round separately. A double-crochet stitch can be used for the main body of the horse sweater.
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Start new colors or skeins of yarn at the beginning of a row. It is easier to hide the tail of your yarn by simply wrapping the new yarn around the hook, drawing it up in a loop and then continuing to crochet.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit horse image by ann triling from Fotolia.com
