A Knit Dog Sweater That’s Easy to Customize

February 22, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I do not know and I have not ever owned a dog, but I know that dogs sometimes get cold. Some dogs like to wear sweaters, and some humans like to dress their dogs in sweaters, regardless of the dog’s feelings about it.

If you fall into any of those camps and have ever wanted to knit your dog a sweater, the Vanilla dog sweater from Ruth Ritskes is a good place to start.

It looks like a really simple design that would be easy to customize for the exact size and preferences of your dog. It comes in three sizes but if you have your dog handy while you’re knitting it, you can easily modify the girth or the length as needed to keep your pooch comfortable and stylish.

It’s worn with leg holes for the front legs and is open around the back. I’ll bet you could add a little bit of knitting to the leg holes if you wanted to give more coverage, and you can make the body of the sweater go as far back on their body as you want it to.

And of course you can go wild with stripes, add in different textured knitting patterns, throw in their name worked in duplicate stitch…the possibilities are endless.

It’s a very easy knitting pattern if you just knit it as written, too. All you need to know is know to knit, purl, make one and knit in the round. The pattern includes photos and links to videos to make it easier for you.

You can get the free pattern as a download on Ravlery.

If you’re looking for more dog sweater patterns, check out my roundup of Halloween-themed dog sweaters (many of which could be altered to not be seasonal if you prefer).

[Photo: Ruth Ritskes]

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Knits Inspired by a Book Series

I hadn’t heard of Laura Sebastian’s fantasy series Castles in Their Bones until I stumbled upon Mary P. Hunt’s knitting patterns inspired by the series, but if you’re already a fan (of this series in particular or fantasy in general) you’re sure to enjoy these designs.

The book series, in case you’re curious, follows triplet princesses who each marry a prince on their 16th birthday as part of their mother’s master plan to take over the whole continent of Vesteria. (Thanks, GoodReads!)

I don’t know how I found the (all these links ahead are to Ravelry, FYI) Star-Touched Hat knitting pattern, but it was the first one I saw. There’s also a coordinating cowl and mittens if you want to complete the full set.

All of them prominently feature stars and have a sort of Art Deco feel. They call for DK weight yarn in two colors, so you could make them all to match or use different colors for each.

The hat comes in five sizes, ranging in circumference from 18.5 to 22.3 inches (or 47 to 57 cm). It can be worked with a short brim or a folded brim.

The mittens come in small and large adult sizes, with extended sizes for both (more length is included in the extended sizes). These feature a cool Latvian braid at the top of the cuff, which is a fun skill to learn.

And the cowl is one size, on the smaller side as cowls go, measuring about 13.5 inches/34.5 cm tall and 26 inches/66 cm around.

The designer suggests you can hold a bit of metallic thread along with your yarn to give it more of a sparkly, regal, celestial feel, but that’s totally up to you!

As mentioned above you can get all of these patterns on Ravelry. As of this writing there doesn’t seem to be a discount from buying all three, but maybe that will change.

[Photo: Mary P. Hunt]

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