Dog sweater

I recently made this adorable dog sweater for a friend’s wee bud. The dog in question is a Yorkie, so is a little person who feels the cold easily. I had the perfect yarn in my stash, leftover from the Christmas socks I knit for my granny. Although this yarn is a man-made fibre, which wouldn’t be my top choice for a knitting project, it does make it easy to wash and hard wearing, both necessary qualities in a dog sweater.

The pattern is a free one from the Drops website, called The Lookout. It’s a super cute cabled design, with a fold over collar. I didn’t have quite enough yarn for the ribbed arm cuffs but to be honest, I thought they looked a bit unwieldy and potentially uncomfortable. When wool gets wet, it can have a tendency to rub and the under-arms would be a classic place for raw patches to develop. Removing the arm cuffs hopefully minimises the risks of that happening.

If I’m honest, I probably wouldn’t knit this pattern again. I wanted something interesting, since a simple stockinette design would potentially be a bit dull to knit. This was almost too far in the opposite direction though, keeping track of the cables (presented over 3 different cable charts, all with different numbers of rows to repeat) was a struggle at times and I didn’t feel I had control over the project until I was about 2 inches from the end.

I finished the project with a Craft & Thrift logo of 3 trees embossed onto remnant leather. I think it elevates the project to something more professional.

I feel mean criticising a free pattern, but this was also not the easiest pattern to read and understand. At the point you split for the legs, the pattern is written in such a way to imply you end up with only one leg hole. I thought it would be a big enough hole for both front legs to fit through but it’s not centred on the lower chest, meaning you end up with one leg hole, positioned to the left of centre. As I knit on, it became obvious you were then supposed to knit a band of cable to separate the two front legs and I realised I’d made a mistake. Ripping back cable is a GIANT pain in the arse. I had to dig around on the pattern Ravelry page to work out where I’d gone wrong, and see multiple other people who’d made the same mistake.

Ultimately, I’m happy with the final product and the recipient is cosy and warm, which was the main objective! I’m also glad it fits, the wee bud lives in Guatemala, so fitting across the world was a minor challenge. The fitting guidelines put her as a medium, which was recommended for Cocker spaniels. Luckily, being a vet in the real world, I knew that would be massive on a Yorkie so I opted for the small, which was the middle of the size range. It fits well across the chest but looks a bit long in the body. Still, a usable final sweater that will hopefully help keep her warm!