It’s 6 April 2010. It’s 93(F) degrees here in the sunny South. And I’m (re)starting this sweater for my boy.

I started this in 2008, put it aside when a more urgent project came up, and didn’t get back to the sweater before my gauge altered drastically. I frogged the little bit I had (the turtleneck-in-search-of-a-sweater part) during the 2010 Ravelympics. But I’ve restarted the sweater today--when I’m not in the throes of urgent holiday knitting--and I’m pushing to get this finished this time.

On 10 May 2010 (05.10.10 or 10.05.10, depending on your nomenclature), Sam will be 10 years old. That’s an auspicious combination of numbers. I hope he’ll get a new sweater for his birthday.

And blue is just his color…

Sam:

• Length: 31”
• Neck: 14”
• Width between front legs: 5.5”
• Neck to legs length: 7”
• Chest circumference: 31.5”

26 April 2010: It’s going well, but this is one loonnnggg dog!

30 April 2010: Just the rump shaping to do, and adding buttons. And it fits! (updated pictures soon)

But I think I’m going to alter the rump shaping…

9 May 2010: I altered the rump shaping and am very pleased with it. Something to note, though: At one point, you’re increasing on the ribbing (after the collar section) and you’re not increasing the same amount in each rib. On this sweater, I spread the increases out around the sweater, increasing in every other rib. Next time (on my girl’s sweater), I’ll make sure the increases are symmetrical from the center back, instead of just in every other rib. This will make my decreases for the rump shaping more symmetrical.

A couple of other notes:

1. The edges curl if you keep them in stockinette. On mine, they curled even if I slipped the first stitch on each row. They stopped curling when I turned the first stitch of each row to garter stitch. (The buttonhole flap doesn’t curl, but then the whole edge of that is garter stitch.)

2. Be sure you position the buttons far enough in from the edge so that you don’t get a gap between the buttoned sides when the nice stretchy ribbing stretches out there to accommodate your dog’s big chest. I accidentally discovered this before I attached the buttons because I was trying it on Sam using coilless safety pins (hadn’t bought the buttons), and I discovered a gap because the pins were too close to the edge.

3. And always make the slit for the leash/collar to fit through. The neck of the sweater is too long for you to snake the leash down the neck; if you don’t make the slit, you’ll have to put your dog’s collar on over the sweater, which is a recipe for disaster. Trust me, the slit isn’t a big deal to make, and it’s not going to let cold air in on your dog or anything like that.

4. Remember that sweaters on a dog don’t hang like they do on people. Gravity won’t make the sweater longer on your dog’s body. Keep knitting!

Poor Sam. I just tried this on him and took him outside--with the lifeline still in place and the yarn still attached at the bind-off. Before I cut the yarn, I want to be sure I was okay with the length. The buttons are on now, and the fit is very snug (my gauge, I think--not a pattern issue). And it’s 70+ degrees outside. And Sam kept looking behind him to see what was following him because the dangling lifeline and the attached yarn were twitching around his legs and his tail and making him edgy. We came back in the house, I took the sweater off him, and he laid down and gave me the stink-eye. Every greyhound owner knows what that looks like. ;)