The Alvar dog sweater is knitted seamlessly in one piece starting at the neck and working towards the tail. Lastly stitches are picked from the leg openings and worked in ribbing in the round.

You can choose from two versions: you can either work the main part in Stockinette stitch (easy and minimalistic version) or using a Gansey style textured pattern (slightly more advanced version). The Gansey pattern consists of only knit and purl stitches so it’s suitable even for adventurous beginners. You can also work the top of the sweater in the Gansey pattern before continuing the rest of it in Stockinette stitch.

Because every dog is slightly different in size and shape, the pattern gives you instructions on how to modify the fit of the sweater to suit your dog in the best possible way.

Sizes
1 (2, 3, 4, 5)
The chest circumference of the dog: 34-40 (42-48, 50-56, 58-64, 66-72) cm / 13.5-15.75 (16.5-19, 19.75-22, 22.75-25.25, 26-28.5) inches. Measure around the widest part of the chest, approximately one inch behind the front legs.
Length of the back: 30 (38, 44, 50, 56) cm / 11.75 (15, 17.25, 19.75, 22) inches. Measure from the withers to the base of the tail when the dog is standing. (Note: The length of the back is easily adjusted if your dog has a shorter or a longer back)

Yarn
1 (1, 2, 2, 2) skeins of Tukuwool DK (100% Finnish wool, 250 m / 273 yards per 100g), shown in colorways 37 Hiesu (light brown sweater) and 36 Yrtti (sage green sweater), or 140 (220, 280, 360, 480) m / 160 (240, 310, 400, 530) yards of similar DK weight yarn.

Needles
For the ribbing:
3 mm / US2.5 DPNs or circular needles with a cable of 40 cm / 16 inches for the neck band
3 mm / US2.5 DPNs or a circular needle suitable for small circumference knitting for the leg openings
3 mm / US2.5 circular needles with a cable of 60 cm / 24 inches for the ribbing at the bottom hem

For the main part:
3.5 mm / US4 circular needles with a cable of 40 cm / 16 inches (sizes 1-2) or 60 cm / 24 inches (sizes 3-5)

Always use the needle size that gets you the right gauge!

Gauge
18 sts and 28 rounds = 10 cm / 4 inches of Stockinette stitch or the charted pattern, both on larger needles, after blocking.

Notions
4 stitch markers
waste yarn
sewing needle