Tiny Knit Dog "Pattern"

Today's project, was trying to come up with a little knit puppy to go along with the kittens I made for the girls a few weeks ago. The pattern for the kittens came from, Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke. It's a book I've become quite fond of, as I've been knitting my way through an entire barnyard of animals, in preparation for a birthday, coming up later this month.

Unfortunately, it does not contain a pattern for a puppy, so I was on my own. Below is the an idea of the pattern I came up, though I have to admit, I have a tendency to fumble, and bluff my way through my knitting projects. So, I might call this a suggestion for how to make a tiny knit dog, rather than an actual pattern.

Body:

I started out by making the body, much the same as for the kittens. I cast on 16 stitches, and then knit every row, until I had a rectangle, just shorter than a square.



Then, I sewed the corners closed, to make legs.


I stuffed it with a couple of cotton balls, and sewed it shut.


Head:


For the head, I cast on 2 stitches, in black, and knit one row across in black. Then, I switched to white yarn, cast one extra stitch on, and knit across the row (3 stitches).





I continued casting on an extra stitch, and knitting across the rows, until I had seven stitches on the needle.





I knit six more rows of seven stitches, and then began decreasing, by knitting two stitches together at the beginning of each row, unit I was down to three stitches.





I switched back to black yarn, leaving enough white tail to sew the white sides together.





I knit the first two stitches together in the next row, and then cast off the last row of two stitches.





I folded the head in half, stuffed it with a cotton ball, and sewed it together.

Ears:

The ears were made by casting on three stitches, and knitting four rows of three, then knitting the first two stitches together in the final row, and passing the yarn through the stitches as I removed them from the needle.


I sewed the ears to the head, and the head to the body.



Tail:

Then, all that was left was the tail, which was just like the ears, except I folded it lengthwise, and sewed it together, before sewing it to the dog.

I wasn't entirely sure about the results, until one of the girls came through the room, and asked if she could have the dog. If it's recognisable enough to pass the kid test, then I guess, it's good enough for me. Now it's back to the farmyard, I still have a few ducks, a donkey, and a cow to complete, and precious little time left before the birthday arrives. But, the puppy was a fun distraction, for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

It's great to be a homeschooler.