kyan's sweater

Although we don't haven't had much snow here in Illinois, it has gotten quite cold. The temperature reached down to 21F last night, not so bad for this time of the year. However, my poor little Kyan shivers every time he has to go outside (this is why I feel fortunate for indoor plumbing). I've wanted to make myself a sweater, but I thought it would be great to try out such a garment on my dog first. He gets a warm sweater to wear outdoors and I get to experiment with a few new techniques. Let's just say it's a good thing I experimented on a dog sweater first.

I found this pattern and began with a left-over ball of Patons Classic Wool Merino "Natural Mix" on size 8 circulars. I had only used 10% or so of the yarn, surely the remainder would be enough for a dog sweater, he was small after all. Well, no. I had to go out and buy another ball, luckily I found the same dyelot that I was using. Once I was able to bind off for the belly, I felt it was time to try it on before I got myself into too much trouble. The arm holes were way too big! This in turn made the overall sweater too long. I put the sweater down and walked away from it for a few days.

Now, I really didn't want to rip the whole thing back. I had worked diligently on cabling, seed stitch, and ribbing and the thought of redoing it seemed daunting. My solution, rip back slightly to make it the correct length and "patch" the arm holes with stockinette stitch. Which I did, and added ribbed sleeves.

All in all, it didn't turn out as ghetto as I expected it too. It's slightly too large in width for him, but he can wear it. I think that next time I should gauge my swatch in a ribbing pattern instead of stockinette, which may help with the fit. I chalk it up to a learning experience.