30 January 2015

Knitting - Dog coats

Yes dog coats or sweaters, whatever you want to call them.  My youngest daughter has a friend who has 2 dachshunds, Daphne and Winston, they are feeling the cold, aren't we all.  So I offered to knock them up some coats.

I went online and printed off an assortment of free patterns, but plumped for the Easy Dog Sweaters from Talking Tails.  Its a simple pattern which you can make your own, adjusting the sizing easily. I also added 6 rows of rib to the start of the under panel to prevent rolling.

First off is Daphne's, she is the smaller of the 2 dogs and her measurements were more or less the same as the pattern.  I used Caron Simply Soft Paints which is an aran weight yarn. I used our ceramic Jack Russell as the model for these photos.





Next Winstons' he is longer and broader around the chest, so I added a few extra stitches to the back and under panel - I think now finished I could have left the under panel as the pattern as its slightly bigger than I wanted.  The main yarn I think was possibly from Lion Brand though I have lost the label, for the stripes I used 2 strands of DK worked together. The colour of the main yarn is greener in natural light, looks blue here.




These sweaters take about 4.5 hours to knit, so easily done in an evening.  Daphne's took 65 grams of yarn and Winston's 80 grams, so a good use of oddment stash yarn. The thorny question of what to charge came up.  I said £6 for each, that covers the yarn, if I added my time even at minimum wage then we would be looking at around £35 each, crazy, no one would pay it.  How do you charge or work out a fair price?

My next project will be a couple of simple cardigans for Jess, she starts nursery in the next week so needs something for messy play that won't matter if it gets spoiled........


11 comments:

  1. Guaranteed to make you laugh, I thought, how on earth did you get the dog to stand like that!. Closer inspection and I realised your model was made of china. Oh dear, I do think I need to wear my glasses more often. I think they'l be perfect tol keep Daphne & Winston a little warmer.

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  2. I too though the model was real...

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  3. Great dog sweaters! Jenny, our miniature dachshund, hates the cold. It must be something about the breed. I'm sure the dogs will be much happier now that they have something warm to wear. As for the pricing, I think you could easily have charged double the price. Have you seen what the pet stores charge for dog sweaters?

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  4. Pricing knitting is impossible but I do think some people would pay £35 for a one of a kind hand crafted dog coat. But I there is a rather rude adage in knitting: knitting is like sex, if I love you I'll gladly do it for free, if I don't love you there's not enough money in the world to tempt me!

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  5. Nice dog sweaters!!!
    Joss (my dog) loves to get ready before stepping outside the house. He loves to wear a jacket and so i decided to get one more for him. I was looking for articles on buying dog apparel and then I came across yours inspiring read. Thanks!
    You can find more dog coats here : http://essentialpaw.com/collections/dog-coats

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  6. Your way of description is really very interesting. Thanks for sharing this info about dog coats with us.

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  7. Amazing. This is the pattern I've been searching for, however the website is down and I'm not sure how I can get it.

    I'm a beginner knitter that probably can't pull it of .

    What are the chances of forwarding it to me please?

    Email address Is hayleywhytock@hotmail.com

    Thank you.

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  8. would this pattern fit a sydney silky terrier, would like to get pattern, or maybe i could work it out from another pattern i have and knitted, it's adding more sts to the back and less for under piece. I might do a trial one and see how that goes.

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  9. Thanks for writing such a good article, I stumbled onto your blog and read a few post. I like your style of writing...
    best-dog-sweaters

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