Twin Puppies

I promise this will be my last dog sweater post for a little while... Hey - it's cold outside!

Since today is my dad's birthday I had to have Maddie and Mia show up in style so I quickly knitted up a matching sweater for Mia. They looked like little twins!!

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. 9 Circular (I used Clover Needles)
Skeins: A little less than one

Changes to pattern: The pattern was used for inspiration but I didn't follow much of the pattern...
I casted on the same number of strands as for Maddie's sweater (Maddie is about 10 lbs. and Mia is 6 lbs.) but I knitted the sweater on size U.S. 9 circular needles instead of U.S. 10.5 needles. I knitted the collar for only 4 rows (Mia has a short neck since she is a Maltese). I then increased one stitch at the beginning of the next round and placed 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 12 stitches were between markers (12 stitches was about 3 inches so adjust according to the distance between your dog's legs). 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 until the piece was the desired length (about 8 inches long). I then followed the directions to make the ruffle at the end and casted off. It took about 2.5 hours to make the whole sweater. They look so cute matching!!