A Knit Dog Sweater That’s Easy to Customize

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]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

Have you read?