Daisy May’s Dog Sweater

Daisy May's Knit Sweater

This cute Egg plant sweater had caused me to create the Daisy May Dog Sweater Pattern Generator.  And, it's finally finished.  I'll be posting some new dog sweaters created off this generator.  Below is the pattern for a border collie/black lab mix named Daisy May who inspired the sweater.  She'll be comfy and cozy in this Eggplant colored dog sweater.

MATERIALS: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky, I used Eggplant (Love this color!) or any yarn that achieves this gauge

GAUGE: 14sts = 4" and 18 rows = 4" using size US 10.5 needles
NEEDLES: SZ 9 circular or SZ 9 double pointed. The circulars are super easy with this pattern, but if you don't have them, just use the double pointed needles.
STITCH MARKER: 1

Daisy May's is a border collie/black lab mix and her measurements are as follows:
About 40 lb dog
16" neck
26" chest
23" neck to tail
armpit to armpit about 4.5"
DIRECTIONS:
Begin at neck
DOG NECK

Use your judgment. MEASURE. I wanted this to be a little snug to feel a bit like one of the "Thunder Tee" shirts you can buy. Also, I used a k2,p2 ribbing to make the neck very stretchy and knitting, in general, is very stretchy. So, although Daisy May's neck size measured 16 inches and my gauge on a 10.5 was about 14 st/4 inches OR 3.5 st/inch, I cast on enough stitches to get a k2,p2 in the round for her neck size of 16 minus about 2 inches for stretchiness, so about 14 inches. You can make it looser if you prefer.
SO, 14 X 3.5 (3.5 stitches per inch) = 49. To get a k2,p2 ending in p2, I just cast on 48 stitches. Then I decreased the needle size to a size 9.
c/o 48 stitches
Join in round, making sure to place stitch marker at beginning of round.
R1: K2,p2 to end of round
Repeat R1 until ribbed neck measures 3.75" ( or a little longer if you want a longer turtleneck)
Dog Chest

 
Dog Chest

MEASURE. Daisy's chest is 26". I subtracted 2 inches. [26"-2"=24"] Then take gauge per inch and multiply. [24 X 3.5 stitches/inch = 84 stitches.] So measure you puppy's chest at the widest part and calculate how many stitches you will need.

 
R1: k1, m1, k to last stitch, m1, k1.
R2: k
Repeat R1 and R2 until there are 84 stitches or to the number of stitches you calculated for your dog's chest.
Try this on the dog and see if it reaches to where the leg holes will be. If you can't try it on (Daisy May lives in Montana and I live in Florida, so this wasn't an option for me. I decided to wing it and I knit 4 extra rows here. Better too big than too small.

 
Leg Holes
Leg Holes

MEASURE space between front legs. For Daisy it is 5 inches. I subtracted 1/2 inche. [5"-1/2"=4 1/2"] Then take gauge per inch and multiply. [4 1/2 X 3.5 stitches/inch = 15.75 stitches.] So, I round up to 16 stitches. Half of that is 8 stitches. So the leg hole should start at 8 stitches past the marker at the beginning of the round.
Ok. That's the beginning.
MEASURE dog's arm circumference at the top. (Daisy May isn't here and I didn't have that measurement. So I measured my dog, only about 25 lbs, and she is 7" at top of arm. I'm not too worried, because, as I said, knitting is stretchy and I want it snug. So I'm going with 7.5" at the top of Daisy May's arm. [7.5 X 3.5 = 26.25]. I'm rounding down to 26 stitches for the size of the leg hole. Keep in mind there is a front and back to the leg hole, so you can divide that by two when casting off. [26 / 2=13 stitches] They are your leg hole stitches.
R1: k8, cast off 13 st (which is half of the stitches calculated for the size of the leg hole.) Keep in mind that 8+13=21, so you'll want to knit to the last 21 stitches for the other leg hole. Cast off 13, k8. You should be at the end of the round.
R2: k8, *[turn work as if to purl and cast on 13 st into the last stitch you knit, k next stitch which should be the first stitch at the other side of the leg hole]. Knit to next leg hole. Repeat from *. K8 (to end of round).
Body
DOG BODY
MEASURE neck to tail and under neck to where you want the sweater to stop. Leave room so when dog goes potty, he/she doesn't wet on the sweater. Daisy May is 23" neck to tail. I don't want the sweater to go over the end of her butt, so I'm shortening it by 4 inches. [23 – 4 = 19"] which will be the total length of the back. The belly side, I didn't have a measurement, so I had to guess. I'm taking a % of the neck to tail measurement and using 75%. [(23-4) X .75 = 17.25]. I'm rounding down to 17". So the back will be 19" and the belly 17" from the base of the neck or where the ribbing stops, to the end.
R1: k to end of round
R2: *[k2, p2] repeat from * in ribbing for 26 st, knit stockinette to last 26 st and *[p2, k2], repeat from * in ribbing to end of round. The idea is to have ribbing for a snug fit under the belly and a flat stockinette on the back.
Repeat R2 to desired length of belly.

Cast off belly stitches in stretchy cast off.

Knit body stitches to 1.5 inches before desired length.  End with 1.5 inches of k2,p2 ribbing.  Cast of in stretchy cast off.

Trim as you like.  I prefer a contracting crochet trim and applique daisy's for Daisy May's sweater.  Use your imagination.

UPDATE:  Turns out this was a little too short on the back for Daisy May.  To adjust, I picked up the stitches from the back and knit in k2,p2 ribbing for 1.5 inches, knit in stockinette stitch for to rows.  Knit a row of lace (k4, *[y/o, k2Tog] and repeat as desired.  Knit 2 rows, knit a row of bobbles (a bobble is knit by [k1, 9k1,p1,k1,p1 in same st), p4, k4, p2tog 2x, k2tog).  I spaced them out so I had four bobbles in a row.  Then repeat lace row.  Then repeat 1.5 inches of k2,p2 ribbing.  End with Stretchy cast off. 

Happy Handknit Hound Knitting!