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| you can see strings of yarn that still need to be woven in, sorry.... |
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| sunlight streaming in through the sliding glass door...sorry |
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| not the right angle, lots of movement and blur, sorry... |
UPDATE!!: No, these are not pictures of a giant Pit Bull modeling a hand-knit scarf they are pictures of a silly Yellow Lab modeling the hand-knit scarf above mentioned Pit Bull refused to wear this morning for pictures. I won't even tell you about the huge pee-pee puddle that resulted in the trying on of the scarf!!! =( UGH! This is too large for Cade Brooke although she was a sweetheart and let me put it on her and take a few pictures. You can see the large gap above the keyhole which is not what you want and wouldn't be there on Chico! Also, the tails are a little too long for her as well. I could fold this in half and tuck both ends in through the loop of the fold and this would be the perfect size for her, may just do that and let Chico shiver!
Yes, this is a pattern but more of a method. I'll give you the numbers I used but if you don't have a giant whimpy baby Pit Bull you will have to use the METHOD instead of the PATTERN to adjust for your doggie.
First I measured around Chico's neck and got 17.5" I'm going to add two inches to that so I need the area wrapped around his neck to be 19.5" long. Yes, yarn is stretchy but you don't want it too tight or the scarf is uncomfortable and your pooch is just going to wrestle it off. FAIL! On the other hand, if you make it too loose so that there is a gap between creature and nice warm scarf, it will get hung on something, pulled at by doggie pals, paws and legs all akimbo, you get the picture. This scarf needs to FIT.
I used US size 15 (10 mm) single point bamboo needles and Lion's Brand Homespun in a sapphire blue and chocolate brown. No tags available but I do remember the brand. This is a highly textured bulky weight yarn so the ribbing pattern wasn't important. If you were to use a non-textured yarn like Lion Brand Thick and Quick, the ribbing would show and needs to start with a Knit2 and end with a Knit2. More on this later.
To determine the width of your scarf, measure your dog's neck. How wide do you want it? I actually started casting on and just placed the needle against his neck since he was laying in my lap when I started this. I decided I liked the look at 6" wide which was 20 stitches. Like I stated above, this was a Knit2, Purl2 across and I ended in a Purl2 but that didn't matter with the textured yarn. For a smooth yarn I would have taken it up or down by 2 so that I could start with a Knit2 and end with a Knit2.
Cast on desired number of stitches. (20 for my example scarf).
Row 1: Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2. Turn.
Row 2: Knit 2, Purl 2, etc. across (***if you end on a Knit2 then when you turn, you will have to Purl those, then Knit, etc.)
Repeat these until your tail is the desired length. I chose to keep mine short enough that it doesn't drag and he can't get the tails in his mouth to chew them. It is up to you. My tail is 6 inches long. Now start your KEYHOLE. Depending on how many stitches you cast on (20 for me) divide that number in half and only work the first (10) stitches back and forth for 10 rows. You don't have to remove the second half, just keep them on the back of your needle.
KEYHOLE Row 1: Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2. Turn.
KEYHOLE Row 2: Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2, Knit 2, Purl 2. Turn. Repeat Rows 1 and 2 for a total of 10 rows. Break yarn. Go to the stitches you left behind earlier and join yarn. Proceed with KEYHOLE Row 1 and Row 2 for 10 rows. Now on Row 11 continue across ALL stitches. You just closed up your Keyhole. Now you are going to create the body of your scarf. This is where the size of Phydouex's neck is important. I said his neck was 17.5" and that I was going to add 2 inches. The 2 additional inches are for the gathers and overlap in sticking one end through the Keyhole opening so that the scarf is not too tight.
After you knit the body for your desired neck width, mine being 19.5" then lay your scarf out folded where the end should go into the keyhole and decide how long you need to knit this end to have it match up with the first tail. You have a 6" tail and a keyhole that is 10 rows. For mine to equal out, and with my knitting gauge, I needed to continue on for 10". Once your ends are the same length, bind off loosely in pattern. Ta Da!! Poochie Scarf!
Of course, you could create this scarf for a person and the same instructions apply... =)
