Momiji’s Autumn Striped Sweater
Our puppy, Momiji, is a 14 (almost 15) years old pomapoo (Pomeranian and toy poodle). She’s originally from Japan and she moved to Canada with me when she was one.
She used to do pretty well in winter when she was young. She still prefers chilly weather to hot weather, but she’s become more sensitive to colder weather (or temperature change) these days. It’s very understandable for her age. She’s about 75 years old in dog years!
She’s always had her sweaters and heavier jackets for winter walks, but her sweaters were getting old, so I made one last year.
For this simple one, I used Darling Darby Sweater pattern by Jean Clement. This pattern shows you how to make a custom fitted sweater for your dog, using body measurements of your dog and your knitting gauge.
In result, this turned out to be the best fitting sweater I ever made for her!
However, because I used heavier yarn and tighter gauge, there’s not much give. I know that having too much give is not good as it might stretch out if the sweater gets wet from snow or rain. But it also needs some give/ease to make it easier to put it on your pup.
So this year I tried another pattern.
Pattern: Odd old dog's coat by Hinterm Stein
Yarn: RCY Epic Yarn
This is a free pattern and comes in just one size, so most likely you’d have to adjust to fit your dog’s size.
Here’s what I did for increasing and decreasing for Momiji:
Cast on 60 stitches (Front centre part is 18 stitches)
Increased the body to 95 stitches
Decreased the body 1 time every 6 rows, 3 times every 4 rows, and every 2 rows until there are 50 stitches
Increased the front centre until there are 26 stitches
This probably doesn’t make much sense at all if you’re just reading this, but if you’re following the pattern, I think you’d understand which increases and decreases I’m talking about.
Momiji is about 4.5 kg with long neck and legs, thin waist, and a barrel chest. I think she’s lost a little bit of muscles lately due to her age, but she really looks like a mini hound: strong big chest and thin everywhere else.
The adjustment above made the fit pretty close, but still a bit too short/tight in the front and too loose around the waist. I’d make further adjustment next time to get the fit right.
What I like about this pattern is that the front centre piece (where it covers the chest area) and the back piece are buttoned together at the side. So there’s no need for squeezing her legs into little sleeves.
Some senior dogs get stiff as they age, so this construction is a really nice solution!
Momiji still has a good range of motion for her age, but I thought it’s always good to be prepared. And even if your dog is flexible, this construction makes it super easy to put it on a dog who doesn’t like to stand still.
As I always do, there’s a little hole to attach the leash to the harness (she’s wearing her harness underneath).
I used left over yarns I had in my stash (it’s sturdy 100% wool) to create random stripes. I think these fall colours looks really great on her!
I know she’s grey so pretty much any colour would look great on her, but since her name is Momiji which means maple in Japanese, fall colours just feels so perfect.
“Look at those ears!” would have to be the phrase I hear the most about Momiji and they’re not wrong!
We love everything about her, but really, look at those ears! She expresses her emotions through her ears so much and they move a lot. They’re also like radars always scanning for food related words!
Oct 28, 2021
