So after two warm up postings on the trivial things in life like war and drugs, we finally get to the real deal of knitting. I've been knitting for around 18 years ever since my Primary School teacher had us knitting plain squares which she sewed into blankets to send back to her homeland of Zimbabwe.
Anyway, fast forward 18 years and working in an office where we can bring our dogs to work there are always possibilities to extend the knitting from the human to our canine friends. That's what this 'dog hoody' was about, as one of the Staffies who regularly visits was suffering in the cold because of his short fur.
It's a pretty basic pattern made with Aran wool (or 10 ply depending on which shop you visit) knitted in two parts, starting at the neck line and working down to the bum with just a little bit of increasing/decreasing to give it the shape. The leg holes are made by casting off stitches and then continuing to knit three separate parts before rejoining them again to continue the body.
To add the hood you simply pick up stitches along the cast-on edge and knit straight with a few increases in the centre to give the necessary shape. Casting off has to be done loosely to ensure that the edge doesn't crinkle up, else your pooch won't be able to see and will miss out on the all the admiring looks that the local bitches will be giving him (yes you can say bitches in this context).
The trickiest two sections were the outer seam, which requires a needle long enough to hold around 180 stitches, picked up from either side of the body and the left over stitches from the bum. A circular needle is recommended but I managed without. There is also a little knitting around the leg holes to tidy them up which would be much easier to do with 3 double-pointed needles, but I'm lazy and just did 2 separate sections and sewed them up. Rocky didn't really seem to mind though.
All in all it probably took around 20 hours to do, once you get into the bulk of the sticking stitch it grows quite quickly because of the size of the needles (5mm) and the thickness of the wool. And for shameless plug I'm offering them on ebay for a very competitive price. And if you want to give me money for doing something which will take about 20 hours but don't want a dog hoody at the end of it, then you can always sponsor me for the Brighton Marathon.
Anyway, fast forward 18 years and working in an office where we can bring our dogs to work there are always possibilities to extend the knitting from the human to our canine friends. That's what this 'dog hoody' was about, as one of the Staffies who regularly visits was suffering in the cold because of his short fur.
It's a pretty basic pattern made with Aran wool (or 10 ply depending on which shop you visit) knitted in two parts, starting at the neck line and working down to the bum with just a little bit of increasing/decreasing to give it the shape. The leg holes are made by casting off stitches and then continuing to knit three separate parts before rejoining them again to continue the body.
To add the hood you simply pick up stitches along the cast-on edge and knit straight with a few increases in the centre to give the necessary shape. Casting off has to be done loosely to ensure that the edge doesn't crinkle up, else your pooch won't be able to see and will miss out on the all the admiring looks that the local bitches will be giving him (yes you can say bitches in this context).
The trickiest two sections were the outer seam, which requires a needle long enough to hold around 180 stitches, picked up from either side of the body and the left over stitches from the bum. A circular needle is recommended but I managed without. There is also a little knitting around the leg holes to tidy them up which would be much easier to do with 3 double-pointed needles, but I'm lazy and just did 2 separate sections and sewed them up. Rocky didn't really seem to mind though.
All in all it probably took around 20 hours to do, once you get into the bulk of the sticking stitch it grows quite quickly because of the size of the needles (5mm) and the thickness of the wool. And for shameless plug I'm offering them on ebay for a very competitive price. And if you want to give me money for doing something which will take about 20 hours but don't want a dog hoody at the end of it, then you can always sponsor me for the Brighton Marathon.
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| Rocky with his hood up |
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| Chillaxing |
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| Enjoying a new hoody and a bone. Reem |
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