Warm Summer Days...In May

At least, I am hoping that 90 degrees is as hot as we get this summer.  It has been nice for sitting outside in the early evenings to smell the honeysuckle blossoms and wave to the neighbors. Many of us have already started the southerner's summer ritual: work indoors during the heat of the day and come out in the early evening to walk the dog, work in our yards, or sit under the shade of a tree and drink iced tea.  Here, Emma is picking oak tails out of Juliet's fur...so cute!


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I've been swatching some lace patterns from The Encyclopedia Of Crochet by Donna Kooler

This one is called Spiderweb Lace.  I like it.
And I finally received Kim Guzman's Learn To Do Tunisian Lace Stitches. I have been contemplating the beautiful Bobbles In Blue Throw from that book. I think it would make a nice baby blanket....

Doggy Gansey

One of my friends from church, Robin, just got a new Toy Poodle. His name is Alfie. She said, 'You'll have to knit him a sweater.' Of course, I am happy to comply with any excuse to knit. I looked online for a dog sweater pattern and found this one to be the easiest and most adaptable.
Now, I've always wanted to knit a gansey. Looking through my stitch dictionaries, I found these two patterns in BW #1, Welted Leaf Pattern, and X And Diamond Border. I inserted a simple seed stitch block to add some interest. They worked well for this project because they are knit horizontally. Here is a side view of the sweater. I cast on 49 sts. for this sweater and used a US size 8 strait needle. The sweater measured 16" around and was 12" long from end to end. You could cast on 10 fewer sts. and knit a smaller bottom piece and come up with a smaller sweater.

Here are the Gansey patterns to incorporate into your sweater.


X-and-Diamond Border (multiple of 16+1)

Row 1 (right side) Knit
Row 2 Knit
Row 3 k1,*k4, (p1, k5) twice; rep from *.
Row 4 P1, *(p3, k1) 3 times, p4; rep from *.
Row 5 K1, *k2, p1, k3, p1, k1, (p1, k3) twice; rep from *.
Row 6 P1, *p1, k1, (p3, k1) 3 times, p2; rep from *.
Row 7 K1, *p1, k3, p1, k5, p1, k3, p1, k1; rep from *.
Row 8 K1, *p3, k1, p7, k1, p3, k1; rep from *.
Row 9 Repeat Row 7.
Row 10 Repeat Row 6.
Row 11 Repeat Row 5.
Row 12 Repeat Row 4.
Row 13 Repeat Row 3.
Row 14 Knit.
To continue this pattern in horizontal bands, repeat only rows 3-14 in subsequent repeats.

Welted Leaf Pattern (multiple of 8 sts)

Row 1 (Right Side) Knit
Row 2 Purl
Row 3 K4, p4; rep from *.
Row 4 K3, *p4, k4; rep from *, end p4, k1.
Row 5 P2, *k4, p4; rep from *, end k4, p2.
Row 6 K1, *p4, k4; rep from *, end p4, k3.
Row 7, 8, and 9--Repeat rows 4, 5, and 6.
Row 10 - *p4, k4; rep from *.
Row 11 - Knit
Row 12 and 13 - Purl.
Row 14 - Knit.

Seed Stitch (multiple of 2 sts.)

Row 1 *K1, p1; rep from *
Row 2 *P1, k1: rep from *

Or, as I look at it, the setup row is *K1, p1; rep from* For every row after that, knit the purl sts. and purl the knit sts, across, and you will have seed stitch. This way, it doesn't matter if you have an odd or even number of stitches.

As you can see, I knit the patterns in the following order.

1 1/2 " 2x2 rib
X-And-Diamond Border
Welted Leaf
Seed Stitch
X-And-Diamond Border
1 1/2 " 2x2 rib

I knit mine on a size 6 for the ribbing and size 8 for the body of the sweater. I used an acrylic, worsted weight yarn (Vanna's Choice) since Robin is alergic to wool. The sweater came out to be 16" in circumference (around the chest) and 12" long.

See Easy Dog Sweaters , a free pattern, for gauge, measurements, and construction instructions.


My dog, Brody says 'Hi!'