Vargö dog sweater

The Vargö dog sweater is knitted seamlessly starting at the neckband. The upper body is knitted in stranded colorwork and the lower body is worked in Stockinette stitch in just one color. The colorwork patterns are easy to knit with 4- or 6 stitch pattern repeats (the maximum length of floats is 5 stitches). The back and belly are separated at the leg openings and knitted separately. After completing the leg openings, the back and belly are joined in the round again. The back is then worked longer than the belly by binding off stitches at the belly and shaping the back with decreases. Lastly the stitches are picked up for the ribbing around the back and the leg openings and worked in the round.

All dogs are different, so the measurements given are just estimates. I recommend taking measurements of your dog first and matching them when knitting the sweater. Also, if possible, try the sweater on your dog as often as possible. You can easily adjust the pattern by adding more length before the leg openings or vice versa, making the neck shorter, or for example adding decreases at the underbelly to make it fit more snuggly.

Vargö is a part of Suomenlinna island situated in front of my hometown Helsinki. On calm and sunny days, it is a popular day trip destination for people living in Helsinki, but the weather can get quite rough on a stormy day when the wind blows from the open sea. The word Vargö means “the island of wolves”.

Dog’s measurements:
Chest width: 30 (40, 48, 56) cm / 11.75 (15.75, 19, 22) inches. Eetu is wearing the largest size with a chest circumference of 54 cm / 21.25 inches.
Back length: approximately 26.5 (38, 47.5, 57) cm / 10.5 (15, 18.75, 22.5) inches

Yarn
MC: 2 (2, 3, 3) skeins of Knitting For Olive Heavy Merino (100 % wool; 125 m / 137 yards per 50 g), shown in colorway Pearl gray, or 140 (200, 260, 300) m / 160 (220, 290, 330) yards of similar worsted weight yarn.
CC: 1 skein of Knitting For Olive Heavy Merino (100 % wool; 125 m / 137 yards per 50 g), shown in colorway Dark ochre, or 50 (60, 80, 90) m / 60 (70, 90, 100) yards of similar worsted weight yarn.

Needles
3.25 mm / US3 DPNs or a circular needle with a cable suitable for small circumference knitting for sleeve openings and the neckline for sizes 1 and 2
3.25 mm / US3 circular needle with a cable length of 40 cm / 16 inches for the neckline for sizes 3 and 4
3.25 mm / US3 circular needle with a cable length of 80 cm / 32 inches for the back edging
4 mm / US6 circular needle with a cable length of 40 cm / 16 inches for the body

Gauge
20 sts and 24 rounds = 10 cm / 4 inches of charted pattern in the round on larger needles, after blocking
20 sts and 28 rounds = 10 cm / 4 inches of Stockinette stitch in the round on larger needles, after blocking

Note: Always use the needle size that gets you the right gauge! You might need to knit the colorwork using a needle one size larger than you would normally use for Stockinette stitch with the same yarn weight, so swatch carefully and change needles after finishing the colorwork section if necessary.

Notions
2 stitch markers
waste yarn
sewing needle
blocking tools