Puppies! (and a scarf)

The finished scarf

The final in my series of animal inspired scarves is this beautiful Weiner Puppy Neck Warmer by Randomheartx at Craftster. After seeing this scarf, I was actually inspired to start making scarves for my nieces. (I am including my modified pattern in the post.)

I love puppies and thought this was just cute!

However, I can rarely do something without adding my own twist to it. And that’s just what I did. Though, my final scarf looked a little like a mouse. The intended niece even asked me if it was a rat. I managed to convince her that it was a puppy because of the collar!

I’ve largely followed Randomheartx’s pattern, but just added a few more rows and changed stitches a little bit for texture.

My modified Puppy Scarf

Craft: Crochet

Level: Beginner/Easy

Body detail

Materials:

2 skeins of brown 8-ply wool

A little bit of a contrasting colour for the collar

Buttons/safety eyes for the eyes, nose

5 mm crochet hook

Tapestry needle

Note: You can use any weight of wool/yarn as you like. Local shops here do not really know the different types and stock them mostly as 4-ply/8-ply etc. Luckily, the yarn I got for it was the softest thing around and even though it was a little wide, the scarf sat just beautifully around the neck.

Stitches/Abbreviations used:

Stitch (st)

Single crochet (sc)

Double crochet (dc)

Decrease/Stitch together (2tog)

Fasten off (FO)

Gauge: Gauge is not important in this pattern we can adjust the length of the feet accordingly at the end. The length is determined by the number of rows that you crochet. Decide for yourself what length you want your own scarf to be. Mine was about 4.5 feet (138cms).

Pattern

We start from the base of the face and continue in one piece till the tail.

Face

To begin: Chain 2

Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook, ch 1 and turn (1st)

Row 2: 2 sc in 1 sc, ch 1 and turn (3st)

Row 3: 2 sc in 1 sc, sc in next 1, 2 sc in last sc, ch 1 and turn (5st)

Row 4: 2 sc in 1 sc, sc in next 3, 2 sc in last sc, ch1 and turn (7st)

Row 5: 2 sc in 1 sc, sc in next 5, 2 sc in last sc, ch1 and turn (9st)

Row 6: 2 sc in 1 sc, sc in next 7, 2 sc in last sc, ch1 and turn (11st)

Row 7: 2 sc in 1 sc, sc in next 9, 2 sc in last sc, ch1 and turn (13st)

Row 8: 2 sc in 1 sc, sc in next 11, 2 sc in last sc, ch1 and turn (15st)

Row 9: sc in each sc across, ch2 and turn (15st)

Row 10: dc in each sc across, ch2 and turn (15st)

Repeat Row 10 till the scarf reaches the desired length.

You are now ready for the puppy’s bottom and tail

Bottom & Tail

Row x: dc 2 sts tog, dc in next 11, dc 2 sts tog, ch2 and turn (13st)

Row x1: dc 2 sts tog, dc in next 11, dc 2 sts tog, ch2 and turn (11st)

Row x2: dc 2 sts tog, dc in next 11, dc 2 sts tog, ch2 and turn (9st)

Row x3: dc 2 sts tog, dc in next 11, dc 2 sts tog, ch2 and turn (7st)

Row x4: dc 2 sts tog, dc in next 11, dc 2 sts tog, ch1 and turn (5st)

Row x5: sc in each sc across, ch1 and turn (5st)

Row x6-13: sc in each sc across, ch1 and turn (5st)

Row x14: sc in 3 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, ch1 and turn (4st)

Close up of the face

Row x11 x15: sc in 2 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, ch1 and turn (3st)

Row x12 x16: sc in 1 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, FO (2st)

Ears – make 2

To begin: Chain 8

Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each sc across (7st)

Row 2-7: sc in each sc across, ch 1 and turn (7st)

Row 8: sc in 6 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, ch1 and turn (6st)

Row 9: sc in 5 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, ch1 and turn (5st)

Row 10: sc in 4 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, ch1 and turn (4st)

Row 11: sc in 3 sc across, sc next 2 sts tog, FO (3st)

Nemo's stamp of approval on the collar!

Strap

On the back of the scarf, there is a strap to tuck the tail in.

To begin: Chain 6

Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each sc across (5st)

Repeat Row 1 till the strap is two rows longer than the width of your scarf. FO

Collar

Pick a contrasting colour and repeat the instructions for the strap (Chain 6, sc in each across) until it is long enough to wrap around the widest part of the scarf. FO

Stitch the two ends together to create a band.

For the eyes and nose, I used fancy buttons and stitched them in place. I used white thread for the eyes and black thread for the nose.

Sew the ears in place. Note: The ears have to be pasted at an angle.

Attach the strap to the back of the scarf and make sure to go over the collar. This allows the collar to move like on a real puppy and also keeps it in place.

And you’re done!

Get back to me if you have any questions.