I’ve been wanting to make some dog-sweaters, but haven’t gotten around to it. And I didn’t have a dog to put it on either. But last week I got an order in for a sweater for a little corgi, about a month younger than Gin. So I finally made one!
Corgi’s have an odd shape, so I spent some time looking around for a corgi adapted pattern I liked. I didn’t find one! But I found a plain, seamless pattern made to fit a Dachs, and figured that might work. So I bought the pattern for Mini Pupper Sweater on Ravelry. I chose size Medium based on the measurements it was said to have. Started knitting, thought it looked a bit small on Gin, but kept going. The recipient wanted colorwork, so I added some Norwegian Marius. Knitted until the belly ribbing after the colorwork, and again tried it on Gin.
It was too tight. Did not look nice! So I wondered if I could block it bigger, or if I had to rip back. Decided to rip back to the chest panel, then a few more rows, added some more stitches to accommodate the large, corgi chest and get one more repeat of the pattern. AIming to add a better shape under the chest and around the front legs, and 8 cm extra around the chest and belly. And, it fit perfectly! The modifications made it properly corgisized! I also made the body a lot longer than called for, put a longer 1×1 ribbing underneath the belly for a snugger fit and room to grow. After finishing the belly, I rounded off the backpiece a bit, made it my preferred length and then picked up and knitted stitches all the way around in 2×2 rib. I also picked up and knit 1×1 ribbing around the legs.
Primary takeaway when knitting for a dog that isn’t the most common shape: Measure, measure, measure! And adapt thereafter. Feel free to use my notes if it helps!
Frigg Fiber Arts 