My greyhound hates me this holiday season, because this:
I have seen different versions of these floating around on the internet for years, and I have always wanted to make one for Gareas. Italian Greyhounds ARE reindeer. Unfortunately, that same weird little greyhound body that perfectly mimics a reindeer shape also comes with a tiny little greyhound pinhead. No traditional pattern has or will ever fit him. I despairingly realized that if I were going to make this reindeer business a reality, I'd have to come up with a pattern myself.
I didn't bother writing down the stitch counts for the neck and hood as it would be rather useless to anyone who isn't crocheting for a greyhound. I stitched along and just custom fit it to his body as he napped next to me on the couch, tongue lolling out of his head. The neck was crocheted in rows of half double crochet stitches in the back loops only, which gives it that ribbed look. I stitched in rows and kept going until it fit around his pencil neck- then matched up the ends and stitched them together using a whip stitch (as opposed to crocheting in the round). When completed, the neck looks just like a cylinder. The hood part that covers the top of his head was also custom fit- I attached a new piece of yarn into the top of the cylinder at the side of his face (while he was wearing it) and chained until I could attach the chain to the other side with enough room for his face to poke out. Once the chain is attached to the cylinder at both ends, you have a sort-of circle if you look at all the chain stitches and the back half of the cylinder as one piece. Starting where I attached the second half of the chain, I single crocheted around the circle in a spiral, gradually decreasing with each row (making sure to decrease evenly on each side) until I was able to close it.
I do recognize that the above (convoluted) method to create the hood and neckwarmer are probably impossible to understand for anyone but me- but it doesn't really matter! The base is just something that's necessary to carry the important (and cute) part, which are the ears and the antlers. You can really make any kind of base to go around your dog's head- I've seen this done with simple single crocheted headbands that tie under a dog's chin, which would probably be much easier to construct. Thankfully for the cute part, I DID create patterns (and they're really easy!)
Antler Pattern (Make 2)
Size F Crochet Hook (I used Red Heart worsted weight yarn)
Notes: Antlers are crocheted as two separate pieces and then sewn together. Each row is not joined- continue crocheting in a spiral and use a stitch marker to note the end of each row.
Piece #1:
SC 6 into Magic Circle (If you don't know how to Magic Circle- YouTube, my dear fellows)
R1: SC around (6)
R2: SC around (6)
R3: SC around (6)
...and keep going until your antlers reach a height you like. I did 11 rows of 6 SCs. Once you complete your last row, slip stitch to close and leave a long tail for sewing.
Piece #2:
SC 6 into Magic Circle
R1: SC around (6)
...keep going until until this piece is a little less than half the size of your first antler piece. I did 5 rows. Once you complete your last row, slip stitch to close and leave a long tail for sewing.
Sew the short piece to the side of the long piece using the yarn tail wherever you think it looks best. I attached mine at rows 7 and 8 of the long piece.
Ears (Make 2)
Size F Crochet Hook (I used Red Heart worsted weight yarn- you will need two colors)
In Pink:
SC 6 into Magic Circle
R1: Increase x 6 (12)
R2: (Inc + 1 SC) rep x 6 (18)
R3: (Inc + 2 SC) rep x 6 (24)
R4: (Inc + 3 SC) rep x 6 (30)
Slip stitch to fasten off
In brown:
Repeat above instructions for pink, but do not fasten off.
Once both halves are completed, match the pink and brown
pieces together with right sides facing out. Hide any yarn tails
between the two pieces. Once the two halves are matched, SC through
BOTH layers in each st around with the brown yarn. Finish off and
leave a long tail. Pinch the bottom of the ear together and sew a few
stitches using the tail to keep the bottom pinched. This is the same method used to create the ears from my Amigurumi Hedgehog Pincushion- there is a picture in that post
here that helps to illustrate how to put the ear pieces together.
Now sew the ears and antlers using those handy long tails you left to whatever base you made. You've got yourself a reindeer instead of a dog!
If your pooch is anything like Gareas, he will respond to the improvements you've made to his appearance with immediate, wide-eyed alarm:
Happy holidays!
