Picot's Dog Sweater - Finished!

After finishing the body, I forged right ahead with the trim for Picot's dog sweater. The pattern calls for cuffs on the sleeves, a ribbed belly gusset, and ribbed trim around the bottom.

Sleeves:

Using Size 7 DPNs, slip/pick up leg sts. Work in the round K2P2, decreasing evenly in first round to correct for rib.

I picked up 32 sts, and ended up using 1x1 rib, just to make the cuffs a little stretchier.
Continue 2K2P for 22 rows.

I decided on a shorter, doubled cuff, so I knit 11 rows of 1x1 rib, then one purl row, and another 11 rows of 1x1 rib. Instead of a traditional stretchy bind off, I folded the cuff in (so the purl row was at the crease) and cast off my stitches by sewing them to the line where I picked up for the cuff. This gave me the added bonus of being able to sew up any pesky holes left from where I picked up stitches.

Repeat for second leg.

Belly Gusset and Finishing:

Slip Belly sts onto a circular needle. Place markers on either side of the Belly sts.

Pick up 1 sts per row along the sides, and slip on Back sts, so that bottom edge of entire sweater is on needles.

Row 1: Wrong side. Work ONLY the Belly sts – 2K2P rib, beginning and ending with P. Decrease twice evenly spaced to correct st count.

Row 2: Turn piece, and work right side. Slide 1 side st (outside marker) from right-hand needle to left. K2T (one st outside marker, one st inside marker). 2K2P rib until st before second marker. SSK (one st inside marker, one inside marker).

Row 3: Repeat Row 2, but on wrong side.

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until gusset is 5cm long.

Begin working in rounds on right side.

Round 1: Slide 1 side st (outside marker) from right-hand needle to left. K2T (one st outside marker, one st inside marker). 2K2P rib until st before second marker. SSK (one st inside marker, one inside marker). Continue 2K2P for side and Back sts. Decrease evenly as necessary for ribs to match up.

Round 2: Slide 1 side st (outside marker) from right-hand needle to left. K2T (one st outside marker, one st inside marker). 2K2P rib until st before second marker. SSK (one st inside marker, one inside marker). Continue 2K2P for rest of round.

Repeat Round 2 until ribbing is 2 cm long. Bind off.

Sew in the ends, and your sweater is done! I had some left over yarn, so I decided to knit Nami a hat in the same variable stripes pattern so that she and Picot can match when they go on walks this winter.



Finally it was time for the big reveal!! Here is Picot modeling the finished product.

It is a little big around the body for her, but hopefully that means it will be comfortable for her to run and jump when she plays on the beach near her house.

I hope you love your sweater, Picot!

Picot's Dog Sweater - Body

With the go-ahead to forge on ahead after our fitting, the rest of Picot's striped sweater knit up pretty quickly. I started off casting off for the leg openings:

K10, Cast Off 9 sts, K71, Cast off 9 sts, K10. (I slipped the stitches onto some scrap yarn to make them easier to pick up later.)

Work belly and back back and forth at the same time (using two skeins).

Continue in stockinette stitch for 9 rows.

Double check your measurements to make sure the leg openings will be big enough for the dog's leg before casting the stitches back on. I used a provisional cast on - again to make picking up stitches for the cuff easier.

CO 9 sts over leg openings, and join to knit in round. (total 113 sts)

There - that was the hardest part of the sweater (until the trim). After the leg holes, knitting the rest of the body is just smooth sailing.

Continue in stockinette stitch until sweater is 50cm from neck ribbing.

Cast off 12 sts, K85, Cast off 12 sts.

I slipped the “cast off sts” onto a piece of scrap yarn – these will be the “Belly sts." From now on, you knit the body back and forth, decreasing on each side.

Continue in stockinette stitch, decreasing one stitch at the beginning (SSK) and one stitch at the end (K2T), for each Knit row until there are 60 sts remaining (25 rows).

Continue in stockinette stitch (without decreasing) until sweater is 72 cm long.

Decrease one stitch at the beginning (SSK) and one stitch at the end (K2T), Knitting in between, for 5 rows (This will be garter stitch).

Instead of this garter stitch ending, I decreased on one side, slipped 10 stitches at the beginning and end of the row onto some scrap yarn until all the stitches were on the scrap yarn. This created a gentle curving back end.

Cast off. (I suggest slipping “cast off sts” onto a piece of scrap yarn. These will be the “Back sts”.)

The sweater should look something like this now:

It has the shape of a dog's body. Trim will make the finished product more polished, but the general shape is complete. This is the belly view, so you can see the slipped belly stitches and both leg holes.

I hope to finish up the trim this week, so Picot will have her turtleneck sweater just in time for July (only the hottest month of the year)!

Picot's Dog Sweater - Neck and Yoke

Before I started knitting, I asked Nami what color pattern she wanted me to use. She had already purchased a happy collection of pink, red and orange yarns, so I asked her to send me an example of how she wanted me to combine them. This is what she sent:

I cast on the red yarn for the neck, and set to work.

Neck: Using size 8 needle, CO 64 sts. Place marker, and join to knit in round. Knit K2P2 ribbing for 30 cm.

Nami wanted a turtleneck with ribbing for Picot because her other dog sweaters tended to stretch out too much around the neck. If this neck is too long, she can always fold it down, and still see the pink detailing.

Yoke:

Row 1: Knit. Increase 15 sts evenly across round. (K6, M1, *K4, M1* K6)

Row 2: Knit.Row 3: K1, M1, Knit, M1, K1Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until you have 113 sts. (until Row 35)

[NOTE: To make a better fit, I ended up making two short rows; one in Row 16 and another in Row 28.]

Continue knitting until sweater measures 32 cm from the neck as measured along the increase line. (until Row 69).

This is the point where you would cast off for the front leg openings. Even though Nami sent fantastic measurements, I wanted to make sure that I was on the right track, so I set up a fitting with Picot. Before the fitting, I slipped all the sts onto scrap yarn, and marked where the pattern said to bind off for the leg openings with removable markers. That way, I could move the markers during the fitting to the actual placement of Picot's legs.

Lucky me! The sweater fit perfectly. I didn't even have to move the leg markers.

I am forging right along with the rest of the sweater, and will have it finished just in time for the hottest months of the year (go figure)!

Picot's Dog Sweater - Pattern

Based on Picot's measurements, I wrote up a pattern for the dog sweater. Again, this pattern borrows heavily from Esther Smith Bozak's Custom Fit Dog Sweater and Terri Lee Royea's Side Button Greyhound Sweater (mostly from Esther - thank you!).

Picot's Dog Sweater

Gauge: 10 sts – 7cm
15 rows – 7 cm

Needles: Size 8 Circular
Size 7 DPN

Measurements:

1. Neck – 44cm 64 sts

2. Chest – 79cm 113 sts

3. Leg (circumference) – 24cm 32 sts

Leg (width) 12cm 25 rows

4. Leg (length) – 10cm 22 rows

5. Front (Neck to underarm) – 33-34cm

6. Front (Neck to sternum) – 69cm 148 rows

7. Back – 77cm 165 rows

* * * * *

Neck:

Using size 8 needle, CO 64 sts. Place marker, and join to knit in round.

Knit K2P2 ribbing for 30 cm.

Yoke:

Row 1: Knit. Increase 15 sts evenly across round. (K6, M1, *K4, M1* K6)
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: K1, M1, Knit, M1, K1

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until you have 113 sts. (until Row 35)

[NOTE: To make a better fit, I ended up making two short rows; one in Row 16 and another in Row 28.]

Continue knitting until sweater measures 32 cm from the neck as measured along the increase line. (until Row 69).

Leg Openings:

Row 70: K10, Cast Off 9 sts, K71, Cast off 9 sts, K10. (I suggest slipping “cast off sts” onto a piece of scrap yarn.)

Work belly and back back and forth at the same time (using two skeins)

Continue in stockinette stitch for 9 rows (until Row 78).

Chest:

Row 79: CO 9 sts over leg openings, and join to knit in round. (total 113 sts)

Continue in stockinette stitch until sweater is 50cm from neck ribbing.

Cast off 12 sts, K85, Cast off 12 sts. (I suggest slipping “cast off sts” onto a piece of scrap yarn – these will be the “Belly sts”.)

Back:

Continue in stockinette stitch, decreasing one stitch at the beginning (SSK) and one stitch at the end (K2T), for each Knit row until there are 60 sts remaining (25 rows).

Continue in stockinette stitch until sweater is 72 cm long.

Decrease one stitch at the beginning (SSK) and one stitch at the end (K2T), Knitting in between, for 5 rows (This will be garter stitch).

Cast off. (I suggest slipping “cast off sts” onto a piece of scrap yarn. These will be the “Back sts”.)

Sleeves:

Using Size 7 DPNs, slip/pick up leg sts. Work in the round 2K2P, decreasing evenly in first round to correct for rib.

Continue 2K2P for 22 rows.

Repeat for second leg.

Belly Gusset and Finishing:

Slip Belly sts onto a circular needle. Place markers on either side of the Belly sts.

Pick up 1 sts per row along the sides, and slip on Back sts, so that bottom edge of entire sweater is on needles.

Row 1: Wrong side. Work ONLY the Belly sts – 2K2P rib, beginning and ending with P. Decrease twice evenly spaced to correct st count.

Row 2: Turn piece, and work right side. Slide 1 side st (outside marker) from right-hand needle to left. K2T (one st outside marker, one st inside marker). 2K2P rib until st before second marker. SSK (one st inside marker, one inside marker).

Row 3: Repeat Row 2, but on wrong side.

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until gusset is 5cm long.

Begin working in rounds on right side.

Round 1: Slide 1 side st (outside marker) from right-hand needle to left. K2T (one st outside marker, one st inside marker). 2K2P rib until st before second marker. SSK (one st inside marker, one inside marker). Continue 2K2P for side and Back sts. Decrease evenly as necessary for ribs to match up.

Round 2: Slide 1 side st (outside marker) from right-hand needle to left. K2T (one st outside marker, one st inside marker). 2K2P rib until st before second marker. SSK (one st inside marker, one inside marker). Continue 2K2P for rest of round.

Repeat Round 2 until ribbing is 2 cm long. Bind off.

Sew in all loose ends.

Picot's Dog Sweater - Measurements

My friend, Nami, asked me to knit a dog sweater for her dog, Picot. I looked at some dog sweater patterns on Ravelry, and decided to use a few to put together my own version. I borrowed heavily from Esther Smith Bozak's Custom Fit Dog Sweater and Terri Lee Royea's Side Button Greyhound Sweater.

The first step was getting Picot's measurements:

1. Neck measurement. - Nami wants Picot to have a turtleneck sweater. Because her t-shirts usually end up too stretched out around the neck, I will knit a ribbed neck to keep it fitted on Picot's neck. Nami measured around Picot's neck, where her collar normally sits.

2. Chest Measurement. This measurement should be around the biggest part of the chest. With Picot's hair, Nami got a range of measurements.

3. Chest Length. Nami measured from the neck to the end of Picot's sternum. This will be the length of the sweater as it extends down Picot's belly. You don't want to extend the sweater too far down, to avoid any pee wetting the sweater. (I know, what a lovely thought.)

4. Leg Circumference. This sweater will have leg openings and small cuffs. The measurement should be taken around the largest part of the leg.

5. Back Measurement. This measurement, from the neck to the tail, will be the full length of the sweater on the dog's back.

While Nami took measurements, I knit up a gauge swatch. My yarn's gauge on size 8 needles is 10 sts x 15 rows = 7x7 cm.