Ruffle Dog Sweater #2

Last night writing about the Ruffle Sweater from Ilene Hochberg made me think about making Maddie and Mia matching sweaters for the holidays. So today using Lion Brand's Wool Ease in Cranberry (a beautiful deep red) I knitted up Maddie's sweater. The pattern was highly improvised since I don't like a lot of seaming and finishing. The pattern also calls for a bulky yarn so I used double strands of the Wool Ease and used size U.S. 10.5 needles instead of the U.S. 11 that the pattern calls for.

Here are the details:
Pattern: "Oscar de la Rawhide" Ruffle Dog Sweater
Book: Stylish Knits for Dogs: 36 Projects to Knit in a Weekend
Author: Ilene Hochberg
Yarn: Lion Brand's Wool Ease (I doubled the strands up)
Color: Cranberry
Needles: U.S. 10.5 Circular (I used Crystal Palace Needles)
Skeins: 1.25 skeins (247 yards total)

Changes to pattern:
I casted on DOUBLE STRANDS of the yarn the number of stitches written for the ruffled collar on *circular* needles (not straight as directed) placing a marker at the beginning of the round. When I had the collar the length I wanted (I wanted to make it a ruffled turtleneck), I increased one stitch placing a marker after the increased stitch. I knitted a full round continuing in stockinette stitch. I increased one stitch after the first marker (beginning of round) and before the next marker every other row until 16 stitches were between markers. The next row I started a new ball of yarn to work the area between the markers separate of the rest of the row working back and forth on needles instead of in the round. This made a slit for the leg openings. When the legs were the size I wanted (about 8 rows in total) I joined the piece in the round again continuing in the stockinette stitch. I knitted 5 more rounds and decreased 2 stitches in the middle 4 stitches between the markers. I continued until the piece was the desired length (about 10 inches long). I then followed the directions to make the ruffle at the end and casted off. It took about 3 hours to make the whole sweater. I'll make a matching sweater for my other dog!