Meet another friend of mine...Leroy

I received another nice email from a reader today named Joy with a picture of her little man in the Varsity Sweater (available as a freebie from this link). Leroy is a 15 1/2 year old maltese who looks absolutely handsome in his striped sweater.Thanks Joy for sharing your picture with me! If anyone else has pictures of their finished projects, please email me and I'll post them here online!

Meet my new friend... Basil!

So I have been feeling pretty icky lately and my day was just turned around when I got the sweetest email from a reader. It was from Eve from the U.K. and her little man, Basil. He's a 14 week old Yorkie and loves sporting his new Snuggie Sweater and he had to share with me how much he enjoyed being toasty warm:

Isn't he absolutely cute in his Snuggie!!!

It's emails like these that make it worth spending the time to write up the patterns that I knit. Like I've said before - I'm not a pattern maker. I don't make money off my patterns. I just knit for pleasure and enjoy making dog sweaters for my puppies. And I love to share my successes in making a sweater with other lovers of animals. And what is better than a free pattern? Sure I make typos (and I correct them as soon as I'm made aware) and sometimes I don't explain my methods in a way that everyone understands (that's the hard part about not having "test knitters" but making a pattern based off of making it once) - but when I get sweet, kind emails from readers that wanted to share their success stories and satisfaction with my patterns I just smile from ear to ear!!!Basil is sporting the Chevron Sweater and looks so handsome!

So not only was it great to hear from you, Eve, but it was nice to connect with someone out there in "Internet Land". It's nice to make new friends and it just reminds me of why I wanted to start this blog. I wanted to find other avid knitters and dog lovers. I want to swap stories, laugh, smile, and make a new friend. And today it happened... Thank you!

Izzy's Dog Sweater Leg Opening Help

I've received a couple emails asking for help on Izzy's dog sweater for the area between the legs. I thought that I would make a quick post trying to explain how the leg openings work. Here's the info I've sent a couple people:

Basically the leg openings cannot be knit in the round since you will not be knitting some of the stitches to make an opening.
Let's start at the directions that say "To make leg openings"...
1. You are starting at the beginning of the round (you should have a stitch marker placed here to denote beginning of round) and you should have 44 stitches on your needles. You will knit 2 stitches and cast off 4 stitches (the casted off 4 stitches will be your first leg opening).
2. You then will knit to last 6 stitches of round. You'll cast off 4 stitches (again, this is your 2nd leg opening) and knit the last 2 stitches of the round.
3. You will then knit your 2 stitches before your leg opening. Your original 44 stitches should be broken down to 2 stitches after stitch marker, 4 casted off stitches for 1st leg opening, 32 main body stitches, 4 casted off stitches for 2nd leg opening, and 2 stitches before stitch maker. You will break the yarn leaving a really long tail to knit with (or you can just use a separate ball of yarn or the other end of the ball of yarn - basically you will be knitting 2 separate areas simultaneously so you need 2 working tails of yarn). Main ball is rejoined to the stitch after the 1st leg opening. **again - you should have yarn attached to main knitting area (the 32 stitches between leg openings) and the little area between the leg openings (the 4 stitches). You will start knitting back and forth (not in the round) on these stitches working both sections at the same time using the correct ball of yarn attached to them.
4. When it says to knit 32 stitches (that should be the stitch count between leg openings), knit those stitches. When you reach the next leg opening you should turn your work (there isn't any yarn attached to that side of the 4 stitches between the leg openings). Purl the 32 stitches you just knitted to the 1st leg opening. Now you should have the little ball of yarn/long tail of yarn that you left on the 4 stitches between the leg openings. Using the little ball of yarn purl the 4 stitches. Now turn your work again and knit those 4 stitches between the leg openings. Then using main ball of yarn knit the main 32 stitches. Continue knitting back and forth on both sections simultaneously using the correct ball of yarn (main ball for the main section, little ball for the 4 stitches between the leg openings).
5. When you've finished the leg openings directions you need to now close the legs.
6. Knit 2 stitches, cast on 4 stitches over the leg opening (now closing the leg opening), continue to knit the next 32 stitches, cast on 4 stitches over the next leg opening, and finish the round by knitting the last 2 stitches. You now have a complete round and can begin knitting in the round again.

Hope this helps!!

Dexter at 8 wks old

Gosh our little man has grown! This week I'm finally calling him a real kitten. He's getting in all sorts of trouble - jumping on tables, playing with anything that hangs (including yarn and electrical cords), running around the house like a crazy cat, and eating up a storm!
I think I can finally stop the week by week description of him because he's finally just in the growing stage. I can't believe how much a cat can change in a month. But he's turned into a great kitten and I believe we're going to keep him...But having a kitten can be a HUGE hassle sometimes while owning a food-crazed Maltese. Mia has always been very food driven. For a 6 lb dog she sure likes to eat... anything! If it's edible (and sometimes that criteria doesn't even need to be met) she'll eat it - including lettuce, uncooked pasta, skittles, grass, earplugs (one of her favorites), and (drum roll please)... cat food! Yeppers, I got home last week and found the 6 lb bag of kitten food ripped open and about 3 lbs of it missing. Mia instantly had a "I'm guilty but I hope you don't notice me" look on her face. She put her head down and crawled to her bed. At the time I thought it was guilt and shame. Now I know it was probably the churning and upset that was happening in her little stomach.
Mia was sick for a week. Not just "sick" but "SICK". I was irritated with the vomiting and diarrhea for about an hour. Then I just felt so bad for the little miserable ball of fluff. She didn't move from her bed for a week. And it took a good week for her stomach to come back to normal. It was tortuous for her and for us (thanks to the getting up to let her out every 3 hours at night). But we survived and luckily she did too.
But did she learn? Heck no! I think she would eat another 3 lbs without even thinking about it. So since we're keeping the cat we have to come up with a way to feed the little man and keep his food out of Mia's little paws. Currently we feed him on the 2nd story of his kitty condo and that seems to work. But you never know...

A Picture I've Gotta Post

This is just too hilarious not to post!!

Can you see what is in Maddie's mouth??If you guessed a chicken nugget... you're right! I gave her a chicken nugget and she walked around for several minutes just holding it in her mouth like this. Too hilarious!

Freebie: Ribbed Sweater Vest

This weekend it finally feels like fall is here. It's slightly chilly with the cool breeze and the leaves are beginning to change to shades of crimson and marigold. This is the time of the year that I enjoy the most. I get out my cuddly sweaters, my cherished hand knits and of course - the dog's fall wardrobe.

While I was unpacking my sweaters I ran across a J Crew sweater vest that I own. It's a chunky knit sweater vest in a creamy off-white. It's a go-to item for fall because I can wear it over a simple long sleeve T-shirt for cool weather or I can pair it with something warmer like a fine gauge sweater for cold weather.
Inspired by how versatile the piece is I decided to whip one up for my little Mia. She's the dog, if you remember from last winter, that gets chilled to the bone in 60 degree weather. So I thought that a sweater vest would give me the option to layer it over other clothes when the temperature starts to plummet.
Well here is the final product. Knit in an acrylic yarn for easy care it took about one hour. How easy is that? Nothing beats the speed of U.S. 15 needles!
The vest is knit in a 1x1 ribbing for the ability to stretch to fit a wide range of chest measurements. If your dog is larger than Mia (the sweater dimensions are listed on the pattern), the chest probably doesn't need alteration but perhaps you'll want to make the body of the sweater longer (remembering to insert a buttonhole every 9th row). The vest is also knit so that you don't have to pull the sweater over your dog's head. It can button up on the chest (my dogs don't mind sweaters being pulled over their head so I tacked closed the opening but still have functional buttons for looks).

Take a look (download here) and please - leave me a comment to tell me how it went!!
**Thanks to a knitter, it was noticed that there was a error in the finished stitch count in the first pattern (says at the collar there are 20 sts when it should say 18 sts). I have corrected the error in the pattern currently linked to. However, if you have downloaded a copy prior to 1/22/10 you might have to correct your stitch count at the collar from 20 sts to 18 sts).**

Freebie: Varsity Dog Sweater

Here it is ya'll! I finally sat down this afternoon and wrote up the pattern. I didn't have any test knitters so if you find a mistake please email me and let me know.

The sweater is written for 3 sizes (shown on my poodle is the medium) and would be the perfect sweater to knit for your pooch in your favorite team colors.

The pattern is available in pdf format for free here. Please leave a comment and let me know how it goes!

Happy Fall!

Sneak Peek... new dog sweater!

Here it is! I'm still writing up the pattern. I hope to seriously have it posted by this weekend for free. I really appreciate comments from individuals who are thinking of making the project or have made it (I love pictures even more of the finished sweaters!!)
This sweater is totally seam free. You even knit the pocket straight on to the back of the sweater so you don't have to sew the pocket on. I knit this first sweater out of red and white worsted weight yarn - but my next sweater for Mia will be made out of maize and blue for the University of Michigan ("Go Blue!") So I'm calling this the "Varsity Sweater" - make it in your favorite team colors!
This sweater is written for 3 sizes - from a 6 lb maltese sized dog to a 20 lb. schnauzer. Come back soon for the finished pattern!

New Freebie Dog Sweater - Coming Soon!

I finished a dog sweater yesterday evening and will be writing up the pattern this coming week. It is a striped sweater with a pocket on the back that is knit directly onto the sweater with no seaming. It could be called the "Seam-free Rugby Sweater". But I'll try to come up with something more swanky to call it. I also knit up another sweater that turned out beautiful, however, I'm not thrilled with the way the pattern worked up on the chest so I'll have to tinker with it a bit...
But since the fall knitting season is coming I thought I better come up with some new creations to keep your pups warm this winter!

Please, keep the pictures coming of all the sweaters you finish for your little ones!

Mia and Maddie's Favorite Dog Treats!

I am sharing Maddie and Mia's absolutely favorite dog treat recipe. This recipe has been passed to me via who-knows-where. It's fabulous and the dogs go crazy for them. So beware! (I learned how crazy they are for them when Maddie got into my purse and ate an entire bag of them!)

This recipe is quite large when you're making them for small dogs. I mix up the dough and split the dough into 2 packages - one for the freezer for future treats and one for the fridge to rest for the recommended hour until you shape and bake them. If you're worried about food allergies with dogs these treats work well using alternative flours. Also make sure you use all natural products - applesauce and peanut butter have the tendency to have additives such as sugar in them.

Okay, okay... I hear all the dogs out there barking and whining, begging for the treat recipe ASAP. Here it is:Mia and Maddie's Favorite Dog Treats
Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 6 tablespoons Missing Link (optional - I add it for nutritional value).
• 6 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• 1 cup natural applesauce (I make my own from scratch)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (I usually use soy milk but use cow milk sometimes, too.)
• Egg for basting (optional)
  

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Mix wet ingredients in a stand mixer. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix well (I like to use the stand mixer). Let the dough stand for 1 hour in the fridge. Roll the dough to 1/4" thick and cut with small 1" cookie cutters (or make larger cookies if you would like). Baste with egg to make the cookies look beautiful and professional. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. This makes approx. 80 small treats.

I store these treats in the freezer since it slows the dogs down when they eat them. But I'm sure you can store them at room temperature for a little while but I can't recommend how long...

Happy Birthday, Izzy!

Today I attended a birthday party for my aunt's dog, Izzy. Yes, you read that right - a first birthday party! All of the dogs had a blast playing with the new toys that were gifted to her and eating the doggie cupcakes.

Happy Birthday, Izzy!

A Weekend in Review: Dogs and Cats

This weekend has been filled with some animal photography. My dogs were in an unusually photogenic mood on Saturday and posed for an impromptu photo session in the living room. These are some of the pictures that we ended up with.
For those of you who don't read my blog often, the dog on the left is Maddie (6 year old miniature poodle) and the dog on the right is Mia (1 1/2 year old Maltese). They are the best of buddies and play with each other all day long!
Maddie poses for the camera and gets her minute in the limelight.

And Mia gives her stereotypical "I'm just a little puppy - I look so innocent". She has some good puppy dog eyes (has anyone seen the Pixar movie "Bolt" - she's got that look down to a science!)

Enough of my puppies. About 3 weeks ago I noticed that the people who live next door to me have a small colony of feral cats living under their deck. They never go in their backyard so the deck is just abandoned. The neighbor on the other side of me feeds the cats and looks after them. I keep telling myself that I need to trap them to get them spayed/neutered. But I haven't done it yet. Here is the mamma and son which like to come onto our patio and sun themselves. They are beautiful cats.
So that was my weekend - filled with dogs and cats! And a trip to the local Farmer's market...

The sun WAS shining...

Last week was beautiful out - the sun was shining, the air was warm, and the breeze was cool. However, this week is NOT working out the same. It's been raining for days! I'm so disappointed because my parents are on vacation and they left me their convertible mustang to drive if I would take in their mail and newspaper. I only have had one day where I could put the top down. Ugh!
But to reminisce about last week, I have a dog park picture or two for ya'll. Maddie and Mia really enjoyed their time running around in the wind.As you can see from the above picture, our little 5.5 lb Maltese decided she didn't want to play with the cute little red ball we brought from home. Instead she found some dirty, full sized tennis ball in the park that she could barely fit her mouth around. She's so funny sometimes. But she had fun (and we did too), so that's all that really matters I guess.

On to projects that I'm currently working on -
1. I just finished two pairs of "Better than booties" baby socks written by Ann Budd available for free download from Knitting Daily. I made two pairs from a skein of Panda Silk Yarn. I had seriously an extra 4 inches of yarn left over when I was done with the pairs. I was sweating bullets at the end thinking I wouldn't have enough to finish the last sock! I knitted the pair on size U.S. 1 needles in a beautiful bamboo green color. The first pair I knitted were the "Chevron Lace" version and the second pair was the "Chevron Lace" but I adapted the lace pattern to be a reflection of itself so the lace came out looking like diamonds instead of chevrons. It was a fun pattern and I enjoyed learning a new technique for the toe. Try them out - it's a good pattern (but slightly difficult if you're new to sewing. I would rate this pattern as a moderately difficult pattern).
2. I just purchased the book "Vintage Baby Knits" by Kristen Rengren. I'm not usually one to purchase a book without trying it out at the library first, but it was so darn cute and had some really neat looking patterns. Most of the patterns look slightly fussy with construction. They are vintage, so there seams to be a lot of construction to them (meaning a LOT of seaming). But the patterns look timeless and matter-of-fact. I made the soakers first, deciding to knit them in the round and doing a double needle bind off at the crotch so I avoided all seaming. It was a very basic construction - not much to it. I probably won't make them again. But then again, they give the stitch count, etc. and they are a pretty basic pattern that you could spiffy up in a jiffy. So perhaps I might give it more thought.

That's it for now. I'm still working hard on the Playmat Blanket - I have 3 strips out of the 7 strips done. I pick it up every so often and work on it. I don't want to make it a chore, but actually enjoy it. Hopefully I'll be done with the blanket sometime this century... Keeping my fingers crossed.

We Finally Made it to...

To the DOG PARK!!
We had a blast and the dogs enjoyed the beautiful Michigan spring weather. If only it could stay this perfect all season (except we wouldn't mind some green grass!)Mia chewed on her ball and Maddie ran after her "Chuck-It"...

Easter Craft I Want to Make...

Betz White's Cashmere Bunny Tutorial is too cute! I don't know what I would do with the finished product but that doesn't make it any less tempting. I have some scrap felting wool lay around that could possibly work really well for this project. These are adorable!
I've also been wanting to make the dogs more toys and this shape is great for them. Obviously I would omit the button eyes (I might embroider the eyes) but this would be a fun gift to give my grandparents who are hosting Easter this year and have a dog themselves. Their dog doesn't rip up toys like Maddie does so it would last a lot longer. Hmmm... all the possibilities!

Freebie: "Izzy's Hooded Dog Sweater"

Izzy's Hooded Sweater is finished (click on name for link to free pattern)! I've been working on a dog sweater for those of you with a slightly larger dog than my 6 and 9 lb. dogs. My aunt has a dachshund/poodle/schnauzer mix that is about 18 lbs. So using some Paton's Shetland Chunky Tweed yarn in Sea Ice (a light blue) I casted on a dog sweater on some whopping U.S. size 10 needles! This pattern goes fast!
Izzy's hooded sweater is a great first dog sweater pattern. It's quick and easy with minimal skills needed - knitting, purling, simple increasing and casting off. Since the sweater is knit in a pretty loose gauge, it stretches easily and fits a larger range of dogs.
If you're interested in knitting this and have a smaller puppy, simply cast on the same number of stitches and knit the pattern on U.S. 7 (for a 5-8 lb dog) or 8 needles (for a 9-12 lb dog). The only modification I would make would be increasing the amount of stitches between the leg openings to 3 -4 stitches on each side of the beginning of the round marker instead of the recommended 2 (for a total of 6-8 stitches between legs instead of 4).
I hope you all enjoy this pattern. Since I don't have test knitters, please let me know if there is a typo/problem.

Addendum: I saw on Ravelry that a user was confused with knitting the leg openings. Basically what the directions are trying to explain is how to knit the small section between the leg holes and the main back section at the same time. I do this by cutting of a "long tail" for between the leg holes (or using a small ball of yarn) and using the main ball of yarn for the larger back section (or you can pull from both ends of a skein). Since you can't knit in the round when you are knitting around the leg opening you are knitting back and forth on the circulars. After you cast the stitches back on to close the leg openings you start knitting back in the round with the main ball. I hope that helps with any confusion in my directions!! If you need additional help click here for a quick post on the step-by-step leg openings.

Enjoy!!

Dog Snow Suit

For all of you in the Midwest - can you believe all of this bitter cold, snowy weather? It's been brutal here in Michigan. We have resorted to making "dog snow suits" for our puppies. Even our hardy poodle, Maddie, is having a hard time in the bitter cold. Last week we hit a low of -4 degrees (not factoring in windchill). Using a pajama pattern that I got I altered the pattern slightly and made them of thick fleece. Here is our poodle showing off her new outfit that keeps her slightly comfy in the tundra...

Best Guarantee... Ever!

We all know that there are so many gimmicks out there when it comes to purchasing an item: "Buy one, get one free" (and they forget to tell you until you're checking out that it's a rebate), "Buy 3 for $9.99" (but one is the regular price of $6 and you don't need 2 more!), etc. Well... I found a manufacturer that lives up to the hype of their guarantee - "Lupine Pet."
Lupine sells collars, leashes, and harnesses for dogs and cats. I purchased a lupine dog leash on Drs. Foster & Smith about a year ago. Maddie, my poodle, has a habit of chewing on the leash if you stand still for a moment. So she has chewed quite a few leashes to their demise. When I was on Drs. Foster & Smith website and saw that Lupine had a guarantee on their collars "even if chewed". I thought, "What the heck?" It was only a dollar more or so in cost than a generic leash and the patterns were quite adorable. So for the past year we have been using the leash and finally it gave way last week. My husband and I took Maddie out on the leash for a walk and all of a sudden she wasn't walking near us anymore - the leash had finally broken! I went to the Lupine website, looked at their guarantee and all they wanted me to do was mail the leash back to them. No receipt of purchase, no registration, nothing. Just put the leash in an envelope with a piece of paper with my address and name. For under $2 I had mailed it to them and today I received a BRAND NEW leash. All in all it took about a week to receive the leash.
I'm now a Lupine customer (and hey, their guarantee works - I'm here blogging about it!) Two thumbs up!!

Freebie: "Leaf Dog Sweater"

Here it is! I've been busy all day with a new project but I promised that I would post the new dog sweater pattern and I'm keeping my word (even though it's 1:00 AM!!) Drum roll please...

Leaf Dog Sweater (Click on link to be taken to 4shared for a pdf download).

I hope everyone enjoys this sweater as much as I do. I wrote the pattern up as I knitted it. If you see any errors (hopefully there aren't any). Please let me know so I can update the pattern.

Again, this fits my small 6 lb dog and I made one with slightly thicker yarn and it fit my 10 lb dog.

Coming Soon - Leaf Dog Sweater

I have written up my newest addition to my freebie section - a Leaf Dog Sweater. I knit the sweater the first time around in double stranded Rowan Bamboo Tape in the color "Orchid" which is a soft pink. Since I improvised the pattern I didn't write it up the first time around. But it turned out just gorgeous for my poodle, Madeline. So I decided to knit another one! This time I chose a durable thick cotton yarn from GGH called Tara in a deep emerald green. It's a bulky 12 ply cotton/microfiber mix and it took less than 2 skeins. Since I just finished writing it up and knitting it simultaneously, it's too dark to take pictures. So I'll post the finished pattern and pictures tomorrow. I think people will be very happy!! It uses a pattern stitch from Vogue's stitchionary for a middle section that consists of a leaf and flower bobble motif. The sides are flanked in diagonal ribbing that adds a lot of dimension. I made the sweater to have a thick, long turtleneck that you fold-over as well as long legs that can be worn down to keep your pup warm or folded up for some added style. This sweater looks pretty JCrew-ish. Too cute!
In the soft pink bamboo tape the finished sweater looks a lot more delicate and dressy but in the GGH cotton it looks thick, durable and ready for play. So it's a very versatile pattern depending on the yarn you choose.
As always, these patterns are sized for my small dogs (between 6.5 lbs and 10 lbs) but are easily altered for larger dogs. I knit this pattern as written for my smaller maltese, but went up a size needle for my larger 10 lb dog. You could easily add more stitches to the round or go up in weight of the yarn. If you need help resizing please send me an email and I would be happy to help.
As always, I hope you will enjoy and I'll be back tomorrow to post...
And please, if you enjoy my patterns (and to keep me going) - please leave me some love. I like to know people are enjoying these!