Knitted Dog Sweater

Comet's knitted dog sweater is designed for beginning knitters. The patterns are created using easy combinations of basic knit (K) and purl (P) stitches.

It's basically a large dog sweater but could be adapted for any size dog. If you have any questions about any of the instructions, feel free to contact me

• We suggest you work on this knitted dog sweater a little bit at a time. For example, get the materials together one day, do your swatch and measurements on another, start the actual knitting the next time...
• Remember that mistakes can be undone so try to RELAX and just enjoy the process!

ESTIMATED TIME

One week to six months - (It took Jo four months since she had to make up the design and had never knitted a dog sweater before!)

MATERIALS AND TOOLS:

• 2 or 3 skeins 8oz Worsted Weight, Sport, or DK yarn for dogs over 45 lbs
• If the sweater will be getting wet a lot, use wool or at least a 50% wool blend since wool stays warm when it gets wet while synthetic yarns do not
• One pair knitting needles to match the yarn weight
• A sewing or darning needle with an eye large enough for the yarn
• About 8 inches of Velcro or 4 large buttons

KNITTED DOG SWEATER MEASUREMENTS:

• Using the knit stitch, make a swatch (test piece) 20 stitches wide by 10 rows up
• Measure how many stitches per inch you made across and how many rows up [for metric use mm or cm]
• Write down this information

• Measure your dog around the torso from between the middle of the shoulder blades to behind the front legs and back up
• Take this torso measurement and divide by 5
• Comet's torso was 29 inches so that meant his knitted dog sweater measurements came to five 5-inch sections with a remainder of one 4-inch section to create as a filler [in retrospect, Jo could have created five 5.8-inch sections instead since 29/5 = 5.8]
• Since her knitting tension is 4 stitches per inch, she cast on 20 stitches (4 st per inch x 5 inches) for each section

LENGTH MEASUREMENTS:

There will be three lengths that are important:

1. From between the shoulders to the base of the tail = base length
2. From between the shoulders to the end of the rib cage = side length
3. From behind the front legs to the end of the rib cage = belly length

INSTRUCTIONS FOR KNITTED DOG SWEATER

PANEL 1 - PATCHWORK

1. Cast on your chosen number of stitches - an even number is required
2. Row 1: K4, P4 to end
3. Row 2: P4, K4 to end
4. Repeat till you've completed 8 rows
5. Row 9: P4, K4 to end
6. Row 10: K4, P4 to end
7. Repeat until you've completed Row 16 then do Rows 1 through 16 again
8. Stop when the section reaches your base length
9. For a fancy edge, do the last 3 rows in plain knit stitch
10. Final Row (casting off): Knit the first two stitches, then pull the first stitch over the second so you only have one loop left on the needle
11. Knit the next stitch and do the same
12. Continue till all the stitches, except the last one, have been cast off
13. Snip off the yarn at about 12 inches [30 cm]
14. Widen the last loop by pulling on the loose end until it's all the way through and then tighten it

PANELS 2 AND 3 – STOCKINETTE STRIPES

1. Cast on the same number of stitches as the Patchwork panel
2. Row 1: K4, P4, K4, P4, K4
3. Row 2: P4, K4, P4, K4, P4
4. Repeat till the length of your section reaches the side length
5. Decrease 1 stitch every other row (the one that starts with K4) by knitting the first two stitches and pulling the first stitch over the second
6. Decrease until you have removed one stripe of knit and one stripe of purl
7. Now keep following the pattern of K4, P4 in one row and P4, K4 in the next few rows, without decreasing. Once your stockinette section is level with the beginning row of the last set of patches on the Patchwork Panel, do the following:
8. Decrease 2 stitches every other row by knitting the first and second stitches, pulling the first over the second, then knitting the third stitch, and pulling the second over the third
9. With any remaining stitches, keep doing the pattern but switch to plain knit stitch for the last 3 rows to match the fancy edge on the Patchwork Panel (see the photo between the instructions for Panels 6/7 and 8).

PANEL 4 – BROKEN RIB

1. Cast on the same number of stitches as the Patchwork panel
2. Row 1: K all the way across
3. Row 2: P1, K1 to the end
4. Repeat Rows 1 and 2 till you're about 3 rows short of the tapered end of the Stockinette Stripes panel
5. Now do 3 rows of plain knit stitch to make the fancy edge, then cast off the remaining row

PANEL 5 – MOSS STITCH

1. Cast on the same number of stitches as the Patchwork Panel
2. Row 1: K1, P1, repeat to end
3. Row 2: K1, P1, repeat to end
4. Row 3: P1, K1, repeat to end
5. Row 4: P1, K1, repeat to end
6. Repeat Rows 1 to 4 till you are about 3 rows from the tapered end of the Stockinette Stripes panel
7. Do your 3 rows of knit stitches to make the fancy edge
8. Cast off the remaining row

PANEL 6 & 7 - FILLING IN

Use any pattern you want since this will end up underneath your dog's belly. It doesn't matter whether you have an even or odd number of stitches.

PANEL 8 - NECK PORTION - RIB STITCH

Cast on the number of stitches needed to go around your dog's neck as follows:

1. Measure the neck in inches
2. Take the number of stitches you knit per inch and multiply by the above measurement
3. Divide that number by 12 since that is the number of stitches for each part of the repeating pattern below. Discount any remainder
4. For example, your dog's neck is 16 inches. You knit 4 stitches per inch. 16x4 = 64 stitches. If you divide 64 by 12, you get 5 with a remainder of 4. You will want to cast on 64-4 = 60 stitches. (The 5 is not relevant except to get the remainder)

1. Row 1: K3, P2, K3, P1, K3, repeat to end
2. Row 2: P3, K2, P3, K1, P2, repeat to end
3. Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until your neck portion is 3 to 4 inches high
4. Cast off

FINISHING THE KNITTED DOG SWEATER

1. Thread the yarn end from a finished section or a new piece of matching yarn through a large eyed needle
2. Sew your Striped Stockinette sections to the Patchwork panel first, putting the wrong sides together
3. Next add your Moss and Broken Rib sections on either side - remember to put the straight edge toward the tail end and the tapered end toward the neck.
4. Then add your Fill-In section to either the Moss or Broken Rib
5. Add the Ribbed Neck section to the sections already sewn together. (You should have a long straight edge along the Patchwork and Stockinette Stripes sections. Pin it first to make sure it's evenly distributed)
6. Sew the neck section of your knitted dog sweater closed so you now have something to pull over your dog's head
7. Try it on your dog. Knit another section for under the belly if your Fill-In section was not wide enough
8. Use Velcro or ribbons for fastening the belly sections together