Knitting for the Plus Sized Dog

A few weeks ago, I called into the "recession busting" segment on the Ed Schultz radio program.  It's an opportunity for an independent business to get some free advertising.  A lady in Texas, Amy, was listening and contacted me for a sweater for her dog Kali, picutred above.  What a happy, adorable girl, and a big thank you to Amy for letting me use her photos.  I'm not usually inclined to make a sweater this big.  Kali is a big girl with a 38 inch chest and 23 inches long.  Last year I knit a sweater for a large Basset hound that was a total disaster.  I thought Kali's measurements were odd, but Amy had sent a photo.  After having a look, I could see that Kali was a plus sized girl, as Amy had described.  Amy's usual strategy for sweatering was to fit the chest, then just fold the excess length back.  I used some design features from a couple of designs in Doggie Knits to accomodate a large chest.  I used chunky yarn, as I felt that Kali could carry a heavier yarn off.  I think that the sweater was a success because Amy did a great job measuring.  I guess this is a lesson that big dogs need pampering, and appreciate a custom fit, luxury sweater!

In January I attempted to be my own publicist, and sent a copy of my book and a few sweaters to Martha Stewart.  This month she had two shows related to dog sweaters.  One, specific to dogs, featured a dog knitting book, sadly, not mine.  I like the book that was featured on the show, I think it was well executed, although I'm partial to my own designs.  I'm thinking the difference is the authors of that book had support from their publisher regarding publicity, while I do not.   I don't imagine that any one from my publisher is aware of my blog, so I might be a little more free with expressing my disappointment for the non-promotion aspect of my publishing experience.  Today,  Martha did a yarn themed show that was in large part an infomercial for Lion Brand with a fashion show featuring mostly acrylic fugly scarves.  The Lion Brand studio designed a sweater for Martha's dogs.  Don't even get me started on how cotton is the wrong fiber for a dog sweater, even the organic stuff.  Another disappointment.