Decorate the dog with a handmade collar

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, November 26, 2005

Did you practice your macrame knots and crochet stitches as mentioned in last week’s Craft Corner column? Well then, let’s get to it.

This week we’re featuring three simple-to-make dog collars – perfect for your pooch’s holiday season: two knotted and one crocheted.

Our samples, as modeled by Rodney David Bowie – Bowie for short – are made of a heavy, braided, macrame cord and an extra thick yarn.

Bowie is a 55-pound mixed breed with a neck measurement of between 17 and 18 inches, and the collars he’s wearing are about 1 inches wide.

Use one of your dog’s old collars to plan the length and width of the new collar you’ll be making.

Let’s begin with the simple crocheted collar.

Pick a yarn and crochet hook that will give you a tight pattern using chain and single crochet stitches. As mentioned above, we used an extra heavy yarn and a Size K hook, but a Size L hook will also work and is easier on the hands as it’s a bit looser.

To make the collar, crochet a base of chain stitches the length your collar will be plus 4 inches. For example, Bowie’s finished collar length is 18 inches, so our base chain is 22 inches.

At the end of your base chain, turn and single crochet in the second chain stitch from the end and single crochet in each chain stitch across, then turn and single crochet in each single crochet space across and end off.

Separate a breakaway collar fastener and loop one end of the crocheted band through one piece of the fastener, overlapping it two inches; do the same with the other end of the band and other piece of the fastener.

Use a piece of the same yarn to stitch the overlapping folds into place and secure the end by running it between the fold several times.

For the knotted collars, you’ll need a cork bulletin board to use as a work surface and some T-pins to hold your work in place.

To make the knotted collar using heavy macrame cord, we cut two 12-foot lengths of cord and folded them in half, giving us four 6-foot lengths to work with.

The closure used is called a slide loop clasp and is an original design found in “Hemp Masters: Ancient Hippie Secrets for Knotting Hip Hemp Jewelry” by Max Lunger (Eagle’s View Publishing Company, $13.95, paperback).

Begin the collar by making the closure: Pin one piece of cord at midpoint to the cork board, and drop the second piece of cord about of an inch below and underneath the first piece and using the two bottom cords (knotters), tie three square knots over the top two cords (carriers).

At this point, switch the knotters and carriers so that you tie two square knots over the old knotters with the old carriers. Using the new carriers, tie a half knot at the base of the last square knot, then continue using the new knotters to tie three more square knots over the new carriers (and over the half knot).

This will give you the slide loop clasp, and you work it by gently pulling down on the top three square knots to expand the beginning loop, which will then close around your bead or knot at the other end of the collar by pulling the three square knots back up again to close the loop.

The rest of the collar pattern is simple: Switch the knotters and carriers again and tie five square knots and repeat the same pattern until the collar is the length you need. Our sample has four groups of five square knots.

To finish, tie an overhand knot, using all four cords, at the base of the last five square knots. The overhand knot will tie off the collar and also be used as the other end of the closure.

To make a variation of our knotted collar, we used an extra heavy yarn (which resulted in a narrower collar) and began with the same slide loop clasp, followed by the same knotting pattern; however, when switching the knotters and carriers, we slid a wooden bead onto the carriers, then tied the five square knots below it.

Instead of a knot at the end of the collar, add a bead at the end of the last batch of five square knots and tie an overhand knot at the base of the bead to hold it in place. The bead will take the place of the knot used in the first version to close the collar.

Note: When cutting lengths of yarn or cord for macrame, it’s always best to err on the side of too much than too little. We recommend about 6 feet per cord (12 feet folded in half) for making collars. You can always cut off the excess.

If you should run short, don’t panic or give up. Simply check out a good macrame book (such as the one mentioned above) or online instructions for adding new carriers and knotters. It’s a pretty simple process, but space prevents us from giving the instructions in this column.

And a final note: The collars described in this column should be used for “dress up” only, not for controlling or restraining your pet.

Contact Jonetta Coffin at jrocoffin@aol.com.