Funky and Flirty Dog Sweater

So while I was home for the holidays, my grandmother gave me a bit of really cool accent yarn she had left over from one of her projects. I decided to make Lacey another sweater with it, but went a bit more girly and funky this time. The pattern can be found here: http://mysavannahcottage.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/lbd-pdf1.pdf

Model dog from original pattern and yarn used

BACK: I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn in “Real Teal” and paired it with the accent yarn for the collar and ruffle. I definitely made some modifications to the pattern as well. Firstly, I cast on 42 sts, as Lacey likes her sweaters loose and is a bit bigger than the 6 lb dog the pattern was originally created for. I added a multi-colored collar by doing 4 rows of k1p1 ribbing and then switched back to following the pattern, knitting with only the teal yarn. I knit in stockinette for 9.5 inches past the collar, increasing as directed until reaching 52 sts. Instead of binding off at the end, I just started right into the ruffle. It didn’t make any sense to me to bind off and then just pick those stitches right back up again… as you can see I re-incorporated the accent yarn at this point.

RUFFLE:I am for some reason a massive failure at the K1, M1 method of increasing, so had to revert to my k1 in front, k1 in back technique. After the increasing rows, I knit 6 rows in stockinette instead of the 4 called for since I made my sweater larger than the original pattern calls for. I found out the hard way that you want LONG needles for this pattern! I started on a pair of 8’s that were about 10 inches long, but it was basically impossible to fit everything on them after increasing for the ruffle. I luckily have another pair that is 13.5 inches long, so was able to switch off to these. I would suggest using needles at least this long when you get to this point in the pattern. After doing one of the two ruffles, I decided I liked the way it looked as is, and chose to omit the second.

FRONT:Having measured one of Lacey’s store-bought sweaters, I realized the space between the leg openings needed to be smaller than the pattern calls for. So, I cast on only 14 sts to begin with and then after doing the 4 rows of ribbing for the collar, I increased like I did with the back piece until reaching 20 sts. I extended the plain teal in stockinette to 8 inches past the collar before binding off.

FINISHING: Turning the two halves purl side out, I stitched them together to form the sweater. I left holes for Lacey’s front legs that were 2.5 inches long and began 2.5 inches past the end of the collar. I then tied off all loose yarn ends and wove them back into the pattern. Finally, I soaked the whole thing in hot water (as I thought it could use a tiny bit of shrinking) and blocked it. Ta-da! Now, off to the post office on Wednesday to mail it to my precious pooch!

Photos from my parents with Lacey wearing it: