I thought it might be time for a round-up of all the little jumpers I have so far designed for the hairier 4-legged people in our family. It’s been a while since I did, and the woolly family has grown since then, so let’s gallop down Memory Lane with a quick refresher of the story so far. (I’ll add links to the patterns in case you fancy a go yourself).
It started with the Juno Jumper. Don’t let her looks fool you – she was a) a princess and b) feisty as all hell. But butter wouldn’t melt in this shot, huh? We lost her this January at the ripe old age of 15, and the memories of her life: growing up with the boys, leading the charge on our weeks-long summer hikes in the Yorkshire Moors, sitting by the birthing pool in the kitchen when our Ted was born… they came flooding in. It was a shocking loss.
So. The next milestone was when I was asked by Lovecrafts.com to design and knit some little sweaters for Simon Cowell’s pups for a Christmas ITV special, which is where the Yorkie Christmas Jumper came in. (Have the pic of the man ‘imself, just to maximise my 15 seconds of fame 😉 )
And then, of course, I felt that Juno also needed a Christmas sweater, and the Juno Christmas Jumper was conceived.
And look, I’d kind of got the bug, ok? But I had guilt. After all, Juno wasn’t our only furbaby. We have an enormous, gentle, but seriously-terribly-not-very-bright chocolate Lab called Aphrodite, or Aphy for short.
As a speedy aside, I recall one visit to the vet when I mentioned her, ahem, shall we say, slight deficit in the brains department? And the vet said “Yes. That’s chocolate labs, for you: heads full of fluffy pink balls”. At which point I decided it was best to just accept that she would never be graceful, would always fall over her own feet, jump at her own passing of wind, would never learn that Juno didn’t ever want to be her best friend, and that anything edible in the house that wasn’t under lock and key would be consumed. And some things that aren’t edible, too. Like Jenga. Most expensive dog chews I ever bought…
But I digress. It was Aphy’s turn, and she got The Lab Coat. Complete with buttons because I was worried about small holes and gangly legs:
And… because I had some of the yarn left, and because I felt a bit matchy-matchy, Juno needed one, too. But in reverse, of course. So… And Juno Too!
So: if you share pictures of your Alice in Knittingland dog sweaters on instagram or Facebook and tag me, they will appear in my stories and go into my highlights. I just LOVE seeing your furry friends in their new threads, and the many interpretations and iterations of my designs.
Happy knitting <3
