Cats love sweaters

… almost as much as they love sarcasm.

Pattern for a custom fitted long sleeve turtleneck cat sweater. Since this pattern is meant to be custom fitted to your cat using the yarn and gauge of your choice, there is a little bit of math involved. If you find that your numbers don’t work out perfectly, don’t sweat it! Just fudge them a little, don’t let math get in the way of the funny. Also, cats are bendy, squishy and generally confused by being measured, do the best you can. Close enough is close enough, the ribbing is pretty forgiving.

MATERIALS
– Any type of yarn will do, just choose your needle size as appropriate to the yarn weight.
– Set of double pointed needles or circulars
– Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

ABBREVIATIONS
CO = Cast on
BO = Bind off
K = knit
K2T = knit two together
SSK = slip 2 stitches individually as if to knit, then knit those 2 stitches together
sts = stitches
2×2 rib = all ribbing in this pattern is *K2, P2* repeat to end of round.

DIRECTIONS
Knit a gauge swatch
CO 20 or so stitches and knit a few rows in stocking stitch then measure the gauge and jot it down.
__ Stitches per inch
__ Rows per inch

Measure the cat
__ Length from collar to start of back legs
__ Length between back and front legs
__ Distance between front legs
__ Width of front legs when looking at the cat in profile
__ Circumference of belly
__ Circumference of collar
__ Height of front legs

A little math
__ A = Circumference of belly x Stitches per inch, rounded to nearest number divisible by 4
__ B = Length between back and front legs x Rows per inch
__ C = Distance between front legs x Stitches per inch, rounded to nearest number divisible by 2
__ D = Width of front legs x Rows per inch
__ E = (Length from collar to start of back legs – Length between back and front legs – Width of front legs) x Rows per inch
__ F = Circumference of collar x Stitches per inch
__ G = A–F
__ H = If G/2 is greater than or equal to E, H=1. Else H=E/(G/2), rounded to the nearest whole number
__ I = (Height of front legs – 1 inch) x Rows per inch

Belly
CO A and join for working in the round. Knit in 2×2 rib for B rounds.

Divide for arms
Continuing in 2×2 rib, work back and forth on C stitches for D rows, this will be the material that runs between the cats front legs. It will be referred to as the chest piece. Cut yarn leaving a tail to weave in later.
Join yarn and work the rest of the stitches in 2×2 rib for D rows, this will be the material that goes over the cats back.
You should now have a tube that splits for the arms and is of equal length chest and back.

Join for neck
Resume knitting in the round in 2×2 rib, complete 1 round.
Continue knitting in rib while decreasing for neck. To decrease: K2tog right after chest piece and SSK right before chest piece every H rounds until F stitches remain.
Knit ribbing for 1 more inch, BO loosely.
You can stop here and weave in ends for a nice fitted cat vest, or continue on to the sleeves…

Sleeves
Pick up and knit D stitches along each side of an arm slit starting at the point closest to the cats bum (total stitches = D x 2). Knit 1 round in 2×2 rib. Continue knitting in rib while decreasing every other round by K2tog at beginning of round and SSK at end of round until (2 x stitches per inch) remain, then continue knitting in rib until I rows total for sleeve have been completed. BO loosely.
Repeat for second arm.

Finishing
Weave in ends. Wrestle the sweater onto the cat. Laugh and laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

Crazy Aunt Purl had a cat sweater sweepstakes, see the gallery here!

 

Howdy to the folks who dropped by from Cute Overload! For those curious, both models in these photos are female, with all their claws, there seemed to be some discussion 😉