How To
New Tricks for Old and Young Dogs
Yes, I am still over here brightening my gray January days by knitting stripey dog sweaters. The winning combination of Jen Geigley’s 1999 Pullover’s smashing, Gaptastic stripes + Sole Salvo’s sleek Lucky Dog Sweater is the gift that keeps giving me knitting bliss, in six-row doses of vibrant Atlas colors.
Georgie girl’s big sweater was still in progress when I felt the urgent imperative of making a matching mini version for Olive. And so I did.
Olive will be able to hide in plain sight, the better to terrify people.
Here’s the thing. I’ve been knitting a long time. I’ve knit short rows, and I’ve knit stripes, and I’ve battled that jog at the color change that happens when you’re knitting stripes in the round. I’m not new here, OK?
But these dog sweaters showed me two things that lit up my neural pathways like the Fourth of July. And I’m going to share them with you.
How Short Rows Work
I have a basic understanding of how short rows work. But you can know how a thing works and still be amazed to see it clearly.
When I’ve worked short rows in the past, it’s mostly been on solid-color sweaters, to lower a neckline in the back, or add a curved shape to the hem. I got it. But I didn’t SEE it.
When you are adding short rows to a regular rhythm of six-row stripes, you see exactly what those short rows are doing. You can’t miss it.
Behold:
A picture paints a thousand words, and the way the Merlot stripe widened from six rows on the back to fifteen rows on the front was more instructive to me than a thousand solid-color short rows.
On Olive’s size XS sweater, the Cedar stripe went from six rows to eleven rows. (Don’t worry, her tiny sleeves are coming. )
For both sweaters, I followed the pattern’s short row instructions exactly. What the short rows did was add extra rows in the chest of each sweater, while leaving the back of the sweater unchanged, so it lies nice and flat on the dog’s back.
I’m really excited about this. Maybe everyone else understands short rows a lot better than me. But I needed to share!
A New Way to Make Jogless Stripes? Maybe
In the comments on my last post, a reader asked how I was avoiding the dreaded jog at the color change of my stripes, which are being knit in the round for most of the sweater.
I had not even thought about it! How was I doing it? Where was the jog? Or more precisely, why wasn’t there a jog?
The answer: the beginning of each round of the sweater, where you change colors for each stripe, is in the middle of the 2 x 2 ribbing, in the front, on the right side of the body.
If you look closely at the the sweaters, below and above the right sleeve opening (in the photo above, and on the left in the photo below), you can see a jog—if you’re looking for it. But if you’re not looking for a jog, all you see are continuous stripes flowing serenely across the ribbing.
This is so delightful to me. Since the Lucky Dog Sweater was not specifically designed to be striped, it’s a happy accident that the design gives you jogless stripes.
So my question to the knitting world is: how could this be done on purpose in our striped sweaters, hats, and other in-the-round knits?
I might be adding sections of ribbing to my next stockinette sweater, just to try it. Isn’t it cool?
Final Tip
The Lucky Dog Sweater doesn’t have an opening for a collar or harness to come through, probably because placement of that opening would vary depending on where the dog’s leash attachment is. But unless the whole harness is going to go over the top of the sweater (covering up a big part of the sweater!), an opening is essential.
Here’s how I do it: Just before beginning the ribbed collar, I do arithmetic to determine where the center eight stitches of the back start, and when I get to them, I bind them off and then finish the round. On the next round, I cast on eight stitches right over the eight stitches that were bound off on the previous round. That’s all. The opening is wide enough for a couple of metal rings to slide through. If your dog’s hardware is located somewhere else, just put the opening where it needs to be.
There’s no dog in my life but this is such an interesting post, thank you Kay!
Those dog sweaters are beautiful and will turn heads no doubt while out walking!
Did you plan your stripe color sequences or just grab randomly when switching colors? I ask as a color challenged knitter…
For the first sweater I just picked one at a time, aiming for a mix of dull neutrals with brighter colors popping out. Then I copied the sequence for the little one.
Patty Lyons has a few articles on jogless stripes (also in her awesome book) right here on MDK : https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/community/ask-patty-jogless-join/
Thanks for the tip on the opening for the harness. I’ve been thinking of knitting a Lucky Dog Sweater for a neighborhood dog who walks with a group of us most mornings–and whose name is Lucky! Your method is better than what I was planning (a vertical slit) since I can measure him and put it in exactly the right place for his harness.
Love this! With the below freezing temps we’ve been having in TN, and a 90-lb dog that just had surgery, I need to get knitting quickly! Thanks, Kay!
Oh bless! A sweater will be healing for both of you!
No dog in my life either but I found these details so interesting. But now I’m dying to see Olive in her new sweater!?
❤️❤️❤️these! Would you please post a modeling shot of Miss Olive in her stylish striped sweater??
We will definitely do a photo shoot, the whole reason I knit 2 sweaters!
My Dachshunds would look so cute in this sweater ❤️
Yes! Those long wiener bodies can handle a lot of stripes! Would be so cute.
I made the Edinburgh sweater (complete video so helpful for a dog sweater-phobic like me (all those arm and head and leash holes). Now you’re making me think about Stripes! Yikes!
Love, love, love these dog sweaters. Now tell us, Kay, aren’t you tempted to make a matching sweater for yourself? You know you and Olive are a team, right?
You “felt the urgent imperative”? Is that a polite way of saying that Olive is a demanding little b***ch?
She’s blasé about sweaters, honestly. She considers it her due.
Love this. Thank You.
“… lit up my neural pathways like the Fourth of July”
Love this!
I keep looking at Duke & thinking how smashing he’d look in a hand-knit sweater. Thanks for the tips.
Thank you! I got brave and added 2 short rows in each of 3 stripes on the top I’m making. Nearly imperceptible! Thanks for the coaching!