Highland Falls knitter’s hobby making dog sweaters
Did you happen to notice that the Hudson Valley had its first freeze warning this week? Chances are, you probably pulled out a sweater or jacket to wear if you had to be outside.
Hmmm… do you have a dog? There’s a good chance that if you were chilly, your dog might have been too, especially if he or she is a tiny little thing.
If he or she doesn’t have a sweater and could use one, this story is for you!
Highland Falls’ Joyce Ross is a knitter. She’s been knitting since sixth grade, when her Home Economics teacher taught her. For decades she’s been knitting scarves, hats, headbands, sweaters, shawls, afghans, and baby clothes.
Then, about three years ago, she saw a pattern for a dog sweater.
“That looks cute,” she says she thought. So, she made one for a friend’s dog.
From that experiment, she’s now worked small and medium sized dog sweaters into her repertoire, and, in fact, has created a little business selling them. She’s mostly knitted the dog gear for friends at this point, but has sold some at craft fairs, and via her Facebook page, All I Knit is Love. (Check out the page for very cute photos of dogs wearing her works!)
She’s loving doing it.
“We were in Florida several months last winter, and someone with a small dog asked me for one,” she said. “I’m a fast knitter, and made one in about five hours.”
She makes them with a wash-and-dry acrylic (because dogs can be … messy!) in great colors. And the dogs who get them will never know all the interesting places she’s worked on their sweaters.
“I knit everywhere,” she laughs. “Airports, even the Daytona 500, every country we’ve ever been to…”
An interesting fact about Joyce and her husband Phil — when they travel, and they do pretty extensively, his first job in every new country is to find her a yarn store. Phil is also her chief ‘counter’ when she’s knitting more complicated patterns, but she admits he often annoys her (on purpose!) by messing up her counting.
She doesn’t care, because, as she’ll tell you, she “can knit with my eyes closed” and does it nearly every day as a way to keep her hands busy.
“It kept me busy during COVID. I find knitting to be very therapeutic and meditative,” she says. “It’s very zen-like.”
“I really don’t knit things that are exceptionally complicated, because I would never want to find knitting not relaxing,” she says
Both Rosses are retired from the medical profession and she says she’s not looking to make a fortune with her new business, but loves to create the sweaters to make people — and their dogs — happy.
The family dog Lila, 16, has been an obedient model for Ross in recent years, although she’s just as pretty out of a sweater as she is in one.
She still knits other things — “I find myself making a lot of baby things for my kids’ friends these days,” she says, and still, after nearly 50 years of knitting, delights in finding super-soft and colorful yarns. She shows off a pretty yarn bag full of yarn friends recently gave her as a birthday gift, noting she takes her knitting “everywhere” with her.
“It’s just a fun hobby,” Ross says.
If your pup is chilly and needs a cute custom-knit sweater, reach out to Ross via the Facebook page (All I Knit is Love) or via cell at 845-325-2994. She also sells some of her knitted gear at the West Point Spouse’s Club gift show (near MWR on post).