This pattern is based off of Darby’s original cable sweater, but has been sized up to fit a 5 lb dog. This revision has not been tested, but it is just my 5 lb dog sweater pattern with a cable tossed on the back. Here is the original picture for reference.
size 8 needles, worsted weight yarn
gauge: 4 stitches to the inch
Cast on 40, place marker and join, knit in 2×2 ribbing for about 3″
Time to increase for the chest, you will now be knitting in stockinette, and you will be starting the cable down the back of the sweater. The increases will be on either side of the stitch marker, which will be the center of the sweater, in between the front legs. Also, we will be placing stitch markers on either side of the cable so we know where and when to cable.
Row 1 of increases: Knit 2, knit front and back (kfb) of 3rd stitch (or yarn over if you prefer) knit 12 more stitches, place marker, purl 1, knit 6, purl 1, place marker, knit 12 more stitches, kfb, knit 2.
Continuing with the increases as follows. on each of the next 9 rows kfb of the 3rd stitch from the beginning and the 3rd stitch from the end. At the same time, on row 5 and row 10 your going to do a 2×2 cable cross over. The instructions for this are on the original pattern page here.
After those 10 rows of increasing you should have about 60 stitches. Now you are ready to make holes for the front legs.
Legs: knit 7 stitches, cast off 8 stitches, knit 30 stitches, cast off 8 stitches, knit 7 stitches
Knit 7, cast on 8, knit 30, cast on 8, knit 7 stitches
Continue in stockinette, and doing the cable cross over every 5th row until the body is of a length you want (I’m guessing about 6 or 7 inches from the arm-holes) Knit 1 ” of ribbing
Pick up the sleeves and crochet or knit in 1×1 ribbing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
autumnblossomknits 
Cute pics of Darby. Happy to hear that you are alive and well. You are still our “kid” and praying that God is blessing you and that you are well and happy.
hi, the Darby cabled sweater pattern is just what I was looking for. My daughter has a4 lb. Chihuahua and this is perfect. Thank you for sharing. I want to knit it in the round on circular needl, do I follow the same directions. thank you again. Colleen
Hello Darby,
I just adopted a little 6 lb tri-paw. He’s missing his front left leg. I would love to modify your cabled sweater pattern for his little body. any suggestions?
many thanks,
Carolyn Dougherty
Seattle, WA
Yes, measure his neck and multiply by 4 or 4.5 (if you are a tight knitter) that number will be what you cast on with. Make a nice long ribbed tube for a turtleneck and then start increasing like I did on mine until it is as big around as his chest ( right behind his front leg) then cast off maybe 8 stitches to make a leg hole and on the next row cast them back on again to close up the hole. Knit until you think it is long enough (taking into account he is a boy and they can make a mess of the bottoms of their sweaters when nature calls) and add ribbing at the bottom edge.
That’s a cute sweater for a little tiny dog. But why this one (with single cable) started with 40 sts around, and the orig. pattern (Darby’s) started with 24 sts? Both used the same US 8 needles.
Thanks for the pattern. I am looking for a dog sweater for a little tiny my nephew’s chihuahua (although I don’t know how tiny is she .. can they get tinier than this?)
When I started knitting Darby was smaller and my knitting was looser. As my gauge improved and I started accommodating for different size dogs I altered the number of stitches. The pattern you are looking at is for a 5 lb dog and must have a larger neck than the sweaters made specifically for Darby, who only weighs 2 1/2 lbs. Darby is a super tiny little girl and there are pictures of her as a puppy where she was smaller than a can of Coke!
Hi…Darby sure is a cutie…bet he would love my female Chi..her name is channel like the pricy perfume lol
You are such a awesome person to show your chi patterns…I made the Martha Stewart dog sweater for Channel..but no matter how I tweeked it..it was still too large…ate her little body up lol…
I am anxious to try your patterns.
Check out my blog for some of my knitting, crocheting, quilting and painting..it is actually the kewlest knitting site I have found.
Thank you again for being so generous with your beautiful patterns.
Camilla
I am making this for my moms little dog, and she is very skinny around the tummy area. Do you have any suggestions for a decrease after the leg holes so it will fit tight around her tummy? Thanks!
What is an SSK – I’m a Canadian, never have heard of this abreviation before.