FLEECE AND CROCHETED DOG SWEATER

This pattern is made for a corgi. She's about 26 lbs. Size can be adjusted for your dog, just measure carefully. If anything is unclear to you, e-mail me and I'll try to straighten it out for you.

Start out by measuring your dog (good luck!). I cheated and used a Halloween t-shirt we had bought for Kitsune and judged by it!

Lay fleece in front of you lengthwise. Fold about two inches under on the right hand end. Holding this end toward you, cut a small hole through both thicknesses to make a neck opening, making sure it's big enough to fit over your dog's head.

IF DESIRED - cut the square edges at the neck end, this falls over the shoulders and front legs, so they are more rounded - I just think this gives it a more finished look.

Make holes around the neck opening, about 1/4 inch apart. On the other end, about 1-2 inches from the bottom edge, make one or two holes on each side for a strap to fit under the dog's belly. This helps hold the sweater on when the dog is running around! You can make holes anywhere else you desire to put the crocheted trim. On the one pictured I actually put trim all the way around. I made her a red one for Christmas though and used white yarn and only went around the neck and the bottom edge to look like a Santa suit! Just do whatever suits you.

Using a G hook, join yarn to any hole in the neck opening. Single crochet 2 stitches in each hole around. Join with slip stitch to beginning stitch. Go around as many times as you want - I only went around once on the pink sweater, but twice on the Christmas sweater to give it a wider "fur" trim. When you have it the way you want it, fasten off and weave in ends.

Measure your sweater to figure out how long you need to make the belly strap. Using the G hook again, join yarn to the hole on one side of the sweater, chain as many as you need to get the length for your dog's belly strap, attach to the hole on the other side with a slip stitch. you can fasten off here, or go back and single crochet through the chain and attach on the other side with a slip stitch to make a wider strap. Fasten off, weave in ends.

If you've made holes all the way around your sweater, attach yarn into any hole and work two single crochets into each hole around. Join with a slip stitch to first single crochet. Do this until trim is the width you want, fasten off and weave in ends.

Honestly, this sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. Once you have your dog's measurements it really is a piece of cake to make this sweater, and MUCH cheaper than anything you can buy at the store - at least if it's a small dog! If you have a large dog you may have to buy more fleece and sew two lengths together to make it wide enough, but that's beyond my expertise! Besides, my big dog has a very thick fur coat of his own and LOVES the cold so I've never made one of these for him. The little one, however, doesn't have long, thick hair and she gets cold on those early morning walkies!