Knit a Fishy Sweater for Your Dog

Little dogs are adorable in or out of clothes, but when the weather starts to get cooler your little friend might actually need an extra layer of warmth for walks or time spent outside.

Luckily, we’re knitters, so we can fashion a wardrobe for a tiny dog in no time.

If you happen to have a little pooch who needs some extra protection, allow me to suggest stitching up the Fish Frenzy dog sweater by Sandy Mills, aka New Age Knitting.

This sweater comes in four sizes, for puppies with a chest circumference of 10 to 18 inches (that’s 25.5 to 45.7 cm) and is covered with adorable fish in different colors. It calls for worsted weight yarn so you can use all your leftovers to make a super colorful school of fish. Choose washable yarn if you can for ease in caring for the finished garment.

Parts of the sweater are worked flat while others are worked in the round. Because of that and all of the colorwork I’d say this is an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working in the round and doing stranded colorwork you should be totally fine.

If you wanted to make the project a little easier (or you just want to make multiple versions of dog sweaters using the same pattern) you could work the body in plain stripes or even in a solid color to make this a really quick and useful knitting project for all the little doggies in your life.

You can get your copy of the pattern on Etsy.

Have you ever wanted to knit a dog? Check out our collection of knitting patterns to make dogs (not to be confused with knitting patterns that make something that dogs can use, like this one). And if you like cats we’ve got cat knitting patterns, too!

[Photo: New Age Knitting]

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Knitters are always looking for ways to continue to knit and to wear their knits even when it’s hot outside, so there are tots of great T0shirt knitting patterns to choose from. I love knitting short-sleeved shirts because they feel so much faster than sweaters, and you can wear them on top of dresses or even longer-sleeved items when it gets cooler.

There are lots of different styles of knit tops, from the basic to the more detailed. On the more basic side are things like the Perfect T-Shirt from Originally Lovely, a basic raglan tee with nine sizes and worked in worsted weight yarn; Paper Bloom by Yvonne Hugo (free on Ravelry), available in six sizes and worked with cotton and silk yarn for extra coolness; or Iris H’s Amelia Top, also on Ravelry, a slim fit, DK weight top with nine size.

Jazz it up with a bit of lace like on the Athens Lace Hem top by Sarah Hatton (Ravelry). This otherwise simple project has a bit of lace at the bottom, which is an easy way to make a project more interesting without a ton of work. This one uses fingering weight yarn and comes in nine sizes.

Another simple embellishment is to emphasize the lines of your top with different stitches. The Spring Lines top uses twisted ribbing at the center front and V-neck and along the raglan lines to give it a slimmer fit and more interest. This design from Turquoise Toque Designs has 11 size options and is available on Ravelry.

Silfurberg by Joji Locatelli uses both of these elements, with lace panels at the center front and back and purl ridges throughout to make it a little more fun to knit and to wear. The pattern uses fingering weight yarn and comes in 10 sizes. Learn more on Ravelry.

Keep it simple or add puffed sleeves (and/or long sleeves) to the slim fit Knitty Committee top by Lily Kate France. This one has two length options, waist shaping and optional bust darts to fulfill all your curvy top dreams, and it comes in nine sizes. You’ll find it on Ravelry.

Take it even more romantic with the Daphne Top from Friday Knits, which has puffed sleeves and applied I-cord to emphasize the bust and sweetheart neckline. It comes in eight sizes and uses DK weight yarn.

Or add some sweet flowers with the Gigio pattern from Emilie Luis. This pretty pattern found on Ravelry has cable panels running up the front with the option for adding sweet embroidered flowers. You can also add decorative buttons if you like. It comes in 11 sizes and calls for sport weight yarn.

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