Dogs on Sweaters: Knitting Patterns for 18 Different Dog Breeds

Would you be interested in learning how to knit pictures of dogs? Perhaps you’d enjoy owning a knitted sweater with a dog picture on it — or maybe you’d rather knit a doggie sweater for a beloved baby or child. Or perhaps you’d rather make a dog-themed blanket or other sort of project. No matter what type of project you’d like to knit, if you want to adorn it with one or more dog pictures, there’s a brand new book you absolutely need to know about. It’s called Dogs on Sweaters: Knitting Patterns for 18 Different Breeds. This book includes charted patterns and instructions for knitting a whole bunch of different dogs and dog-themed projects. There are options suitable for men, women, children and babies. I think dog lovers are going to love this book!

What You Need to Know About This Knitting Pattern Book:

Dogs on Sweaters: Knitting Patterns for 18 Different Dog Breeds by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, Published by Trafalgar Square Books

Authors: Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne

Publisher: Trafalgar Square Books

Copyright Date: 2019

ISBN 13: 978-1570769344

Book Format:

This book is available in the following format:

Hardcover Without Dust Jacket

Number of Pages: 144

Skill Level: These are easy and intermediate-level knitting patterns.

Dog Breeds Included in This Book:

Charts for Use on the Adult-Sized Sweaters and Projects:

Beagle
Border Collie
Border Terrier
Chihuahua
Dachshund
Dalmation
French Bulldog
Golden Retriever
Jack Russell
Labradoodle
Labrador
Lurcher
Miniature Schnauzer
Pug
Springer Spaniel
Staffordshire Bull Terrier
West Highland Terrier
Whippet

Charts for Use on the Baby and Child-Sized Sweaters and Projects:

Border Collie
Dachshund
Dalmation
Jack Russell
Labrador
Pug
West Highland Terrier
Whippet

There are several other charts included in addition to the dog designs. One of them is a chart for a spotted dalmation pattern that’s used to adorn a cute wintertime baby romper. There’s a chart that reads “Cave Canem” (beware of the dog). There’s also a complete alphabet chart (all capital letters; no small letters; no punctuation or extra characters included).

Knitting Projects Included in This Book

This book includes patterns for the following projects:

A dog-themed baby blanket that incorporates a variety of dog breeds and utilizes multiple charts from the book;
A customizable woman’s raglan pullover sweater
A customizable woman’s long and loose pullover sweater
A customizable man’s pullover sweater
A customizable baby’s raglan pullover sweater
A customizable baby’s cardigan sweater
A customizable child’s pullover sweater
An adult-sized hat with pug motif
A customizable scarf; the sample scarf pictured in the book features a Jack Russell.
3 pairs of baby booties that are not customizable; the dog breeds for these are pugs, Jack Russells, and Dachshunds.
A dog coat sized for most dogs (except maybe St. Bernards). The smallest size will fit a chihuahua, and the largest size will fit a German Shepherd.
A one-piece, long sleeved baby romper with dalmation spots

The Best Things About This Book

The photos in this book are lovely, playful and fun. Most of the photos feature one or more dogs, one or more humans and one or more knitting projects. My hat’s off to the photographers, who must have had quite a challenge getting the cooperation of both the canine and human models (especially the kids and the babies).

My favorite pictures in this book are the ones of tiny babies interacting with big dogs. They are absolutely priceless.

Another amazing thing about the pictures in this book: Most of the knitting projects are pictured on models that are interacting with the same breed of dog pictured on the project. So, you can immediately look at each picture and intuitively see how the knitting chart resembles a real dog of that breed. The overall effect is really pretty impressive!

But, I can’t even imagine the amount of work that must have gone into planning the photo shoots for this book. It’s obvious that a lot of effort went into creating these pictures and projects. What you have here, folks, is something truly special.

These projects all look fun and appealing. They also seem like they’d be worth the investment of time and yarn. The suggested yarns look to me like they’re an excellent match for the projects. For the most part, they are practical yarns like Cascade 220, which in my opinion is an excellent value for the money (see my yarn review of Cascade 220 here for more details about the yarn).

I love all the options you get with this book. Some of the projects are designed to be customizable. The patterns are written in such a way that you can choose the silhouette you want, plus you can choose the type of dog you want to knit, plus you can choose whether to put the dog directly on the sweater background color, or to introduce another color by including an oval or rectangle surrounding the dog. Plus you have a couple of different options for doing the ribbing. Overall, you have a whole LOT of options for making exactly the project you want.

One simple example: The sample scarf included in the book has a Jack Russell pictured at each end of the scarf. But if you don’t happen to want a Jack Russell scarf, you can choose a different dog breed, and simply substitute the chart for your preferred breed when you knit the scarf. The only breed that doesn’t work on this particular design is the dachshund, which is too long to fit on the scarf.

So, with this ONE knitting pattern, you actually get 17 different scarf variations, because of the possibility of customizing each scarf with different dog designs.

I love it that this book includes options suitable for both babies and older children. Cute baby patterns abound, but it’s tougher to find nice patterns for children who’ve grown past the toddler years. I really appreciate it that this book includes a customizable sweater option for children from ages 3-9.

There’s a lovely variety of different dog breeds represented in the book – with both big dogs and little dogs being well represented.

The baby projects in this book will make adorable baby shower gifts for new arrivals who are born into dog loving families. There are multiple cute choices. Actually, all the projects in this book are gift worthy – and the book itself is gift worthy. If there’s a dog lover on your gift knitting list, this book would be an excellent investment, because the projects in it would all make wonderful Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, Mother’s Day gifts, Father’s day gifts…etc.

The book’s hardcover format seems sturdy and high quality. I’m guessing this book will withstand a substantial amount of use.

These patterns are all classic designs that won’t soon be outdated. The sweaters are all timeless silhouettes. The color choices are also appealing and stylish without being faddish. If you knit any of these designs, the recipient is likely to wear out the garment before it ever goes out of style. What that means: This book is likely to remain useful for decades into the future – a big plus, both when you’re making an investment in a knitting pattern book and when you’re making an investment in a project to knit.

Things to Be Aware of Before You Buy This Book

Some people are inevitably going to be disappointed when they discover their favorite dog breed isn’t included in this book. What, no German shepherds? No Scotties? No Dobermans? No Boxers? No Cocker Spaniels?

Nope.

But if you’re inclined to do some chart modifications, you can easily modify any of the charts given in the book using knitter’s graph paper. So, for example, you could take the Springer Spaniel chart and modify it to make a Cocker Spaniel, if you want to. If you’re willing to get artistic, and create your own charts or modify the ones provided, the options for the projects you can make expand even further.

While most of the photos in this book are outstanding, there are a few that are disappointingly small – for example, the baby cardigan pictures are small.

My eyesight isn’t what it used to be. To my eyes, the font used for the communicating the patterns is small and not that substantial. If I decide to knit any of these patterns in the future, I’ll most likely be making enlargements on a photocopy machine. This might not be an issue for readers who have 20/20 vision.

Conclusion

Dogs on Sweaters: Knitting Patterns for 18 Different Breeds is an absolutely charming book! I’m delighted to recommend it to other knitting enthusiasts — particularly to knitters who love dogs, or to knitters who want to knit one or more projects for others who love dogs.

If you’re interested in buying a copy of this book or finding more information about it, I invite you to click any of the following links:

Where to Buy This Book:

Click here to shop for this book at Amazon.

Similar Knitting Books and Related Resources

Learn Sweater Knitting Design With 6,000+ Pullover Possibilities

This is the section of my review where I’d usually refer you to similar resources you might want to consider instead of this book. But, in this case, I’m not aware of any other comparable books. If you want to knit dog-themed projects, particularly human sweaters with dog pictures on them, definitely buy this book!

But, if you would like to have the option to knit a broader variety of dog-themed projects, and you are inclined to experiment with designing the additional options, there is another book you might want to consider buying in addition to Dogs on Sweaters. That book is 6,000+ Pullover Possibilities by Melissa Leapman. Melissa’s book is remarkable because it gives you the formula for knitting exactly the sweater details you’d want, in exactly the yarn weight you’d want. One of the things Melissa’s book is missing is charted designs – but I can’t think of anything that would stop you from taking the dog charts from this book and combining them with the silhouettes you could design using the instructions in Melissa’s book.

It’s possible that doing this might greatly expand your options for different silhouettes you could use with your dog pictures.

Important Disclaimer: I haven’t tried this myself yet to see how it would work out, so I can’t guarantee it would be an easy process. But I am betting that, if you’re willing to apply some determination, you’d be able to come up with some amazing designs by combining information from both books. I highly recommend both of them.

Dogs on Sweaters is one of our top picks for the best knitting books you need to know about. Click here to find more book reviews of our favorite knitting books.

See Also: Fun Dog Crafts for Adults