Make a Sock Into a Tiny Dog Coat

I figure that there may be other folks who find themselves in same the situation that I faced last week when Winnie came here.  She needed something to wear to keep her warm, the roads were too icy for me to go out to get anything, and it takes time that I didn't have to knit or crochet a coat for her myself.  After thinking on it for a minute, I realized that she is about the same circumference as a sock ... and I certainly should have an orphan sock in the laundry room that could do the trick.

Before I get to the tutorial, here is an observation ... I took this photo of Winnie a few minutes ago, as she was sitting and being completely adorable.

This sweater that she is wearing was given to us by a friend who used to have a tiny poodle.

It's too big for her, but it does the job for now.

Striking resemblance, don't you think.

This is a photo from a post I did in 2010 about catching mice.

Anyway, back to the sweater....

I used to wear these socks a lot.  They were always a bit baggie on me, though they were warm and comfortable inside boots, and good for wearing around the house.  This sock has been in the orphan sock pile for a LONG time ... so I didn't feel too bad about sacrificing it for the benefit of a tiny, cold little dog.

I cut the sock off at the heel, to have as much length as possible to keep Winnie's back warm.  (Discard the foot portion, unless you can think up some other use for it.)

I measured the distance between her front legs and cut two small slits in the sock.

The leg holes needed something to keep them from unraveling ... I decided that crochet may be perfect.  With some cream-colored yarn from my stash and a small crochet hook, I loosely worked one row of single crochet around the slits to form finished arm holes.  (For those of you who don't crochet, overcasting the edge with blanket stitch would work just as well.)

That's all there is to it!  The tail of the sweater raveled a bit, but it wasn't bad enough to worry about.

This boot-sock-turned-dog-sweater served Winnie well for a few days, keeping her warm during our arctic cold spell last week.  Just like these socks did when I wore them, the sweater is all stretched out now and needs to be washed and dried before I can use it on her again.

In a day or two, Winnie will have a new sweater ... I'm knitting one for her.  I looked all over Pinterest for a pattern, and I only found one that was free and was practical for a dog this small.   I'm still having to modify it a bit.  I will show it to you when I'm finished.