Lately, our dog Linus has been shivering in this cold New York City weather, so I decided to knit my little buddy a sweater! Here’s the pattern I came up with, using?TalkingTails?as a general starting point. It’s a really easy pattern — if you can knit, purl, and knit two together, you’ll have no problem!

Supplies:

• One skein of Caron Simply Soft navy blue (You’ll only use a very small amount of the skein, so you can save the leftovers for other projects!)
• One skein of Caron Simply Soft light blue (Again, you’ll be using a very small amount)
• Size 6US needles
• Size 7US needles
• Darning needle
• An adorable dog who needs a sweater!

[ Note: This sweater fit my Maltese dog, who is 7.4 pounds. ]

Instructions:

1. Cast on 46 stitches onto your size 6US needle.

2. Work ribbing for 8 rows in the navy blue (knit 2, purl 2, and reverse on opposite rows).

3. After 8 rows, switch the work over to the larger size, 7US needles.

4. Switch to the light blue color. Work garter stitch for the first and last 4 stiches. For the middle of the rows, use stockinette stitch (knit all stitches on one row, purl all stitches on the next row, and keep repeating).

[ To write it out explicitly:

Row A: k46

Row B: k4, p38, k4 ]

5. Continue in this pattern for 8 rows. Then switch back to navy blue and continue in the same pattern for 8 more rows. Continue your stripes like this until there are 3 navy blue stripes, and 3 light blue stripes.

6. After you have 6 complete stripes, switch your work back to the smaller 6US needles. Again, work in ribbing (k2, p2) for 8 rows. Bind off.

7. Next, you’ll start knitting the underbelly of the sweater. Cast on 18 stitches in the navy blue yarn on your larger size 7US needles. Work garter stitch for 3 rows, then work in stockinette stitch for the next 5 rows, making sure to work garter stitch in the first and last two stitches of each row, creating a garter stitch border.

8. You’ll need to decrease this section of the sweater. In the next stripe, using the light blue yarn, work in the same pattern as before (garter stitch in first and last two stitches, with stockinette in between). When you get to the 5th row, knit together the first two stitches, and knit together the last two stitches of the row. Complete the stripe as normal with 3 more rows. Each stripe should be 8 rows tall.

Repeat this with the next two rows (decreasing in the 5th of 8 rows), with a total of 3 decreases.

When you have 2 rows of navy blue and 2 rows of light blue, switch work back to the smaller size 6US needle, and finish off the piece with 8 rows of ribbing (k2, p2).

9. Using a darning needle, sew the underbelly part of the sweater to the top, leaving a gap where the pup’s arms will go. In this sweater, you’ll sew together the first two stripes, then leave a gap for the next two stripes, and then sew the last stripe.

10. Tuck in any loose ends, and voila — your puppy sweater is ready!