So Kirby isn’t exactly the most normal shaped dog. Italian Greyhounds are oddly shaped to begin with. They have large chests and long skinny legs. Making a sweater for them usually requires some customization. I have a “formula” that I typically use for Heinz. I am ashamed to admit that I have never made Kirby a sweater just for Kirby. He has a few that he inherited that turned out too big for Heinz, but never one especially for him. And Kirby is an oddly shaped dog. His parents were “related” in more than the biblical sense so our dear Kirby is a bit deformed. In addition, Kirby runs hot so I had to find something in a thinner gauge. I was first pondering the French Marigold color of fingering weight Miss Babs but then decided that knitting a dog sweater in fingering was a lot like knitting socks and we know that I don’t ever complete socks. So I finally decided on two fabulous colors of Louet Gems Sportweight: Teal and Goldenrod. And in stripes! Is there anything more appropriate for an old man named Kirby?
So how does one go about designing a raglan sweater for an oddly shaped Italian Greyhound? It looks like this:
Yup, scribble. I started with his neck size. Calculated my gauge and multiplied the stitches per inch of my gauge by the number of inches that I needed for the collar. I then measured his chest size and determined how many stitches I would have to increase to get to his chest size (dramatic increase, I tell ya). I also needed to position the raglan increases so that Kirby’s oddly placed legs would be mobile in the sweater. I figured this out by measuring over his back to his armpit and placing the raglan markers at that point. I then measured across his chest to determine home many inches to put between the leg markers. Then I put it on him often. Kirby doesn’t like this part. He actually figured out that he should run away from me when I put my knitting down and looked at him. Kirby is smarter than he looks…