Ta-dah! My First African Flower Kitty!

I absolutely love the African Flower animals, and expanding my repertoire - and this week I got to make my first African Flower Kitty!

There was no HeidiBears cat pattern available (sadly), but Jo's Crocheteria helped me out with Luna the African Flower Cat. 

My talented mother dyed this stunning purple yarn - it almost glows! I am happy with the way it came out, although there are always things to do better next time :P 

The pattern was quite challenging to decipher, especially without any photos of what the body looked like without the hind legs attached. So, if you want to make this kitty for yourself, here's a legless picture to help you out! 

I ended up having to talk through the instructions with my mum who is much more spatially talented than me, but we got there in the end!

I made a few little changes - I added a mini African Flower triangle nose, some whiskers (just black cotton knotted on each side of the nose) and did something different for the eyes. Rather than the closed eyelashes specified in the pattern, I used Repeat Crafter Me's Black Cat Hat eye pattern! I do like an awake kitty better than a sleeping one ;)

It's now off to its new home, and I already have another order lined up! The rest of this week is going to be sanding down the WIP list - and next weekend we are off to Yass for a baby shower. I'm so excited!!! 

To finish, this is the most common cat angle we get to see around our house... :P

Crochet for the new Kitten!

Good evening!

It is no secret I am a bit of a cat lover. A little less than a year ago, our beloved cat, Findus, who lived at my parents' place, died. You might remember me donating money for a yarn shop in Peru in his honour last July. We all still miss him heaps and whenever I am at my parents' house, I still look out for him.

This weekend, my parents decided to adopt a baby kitten. So, next Sunday they will pick up a little Norwegian wildcat/forest cat - the little boy kitten has no name yet as there is a bit of a name ranking game going on. I haven't seen the little one in person yet (thus no proper pics for you) but the few pics I got on my mobile look adorable! Very cuddly and playful.

As you might guess, the whole family is busy preparing for the arrival. My sister had the idea that I could (=should) crochet things for the new family member and I am quite fond of the idea. As I only got the news about the new kitten last night, I had no time to start the crochet magic bbbuutt I can show you my top three favourite patterns for cats I found online!

1. A Cat Cave

Pic by Eilen Tein

Cats love good hiding places and this pattern from Eilen Tein/Hanne Katajamäki looks pretty perfect to me. Plus I have tons of spare t-shirt yarn which will be perfect for this cat home.

2. Amigurumi Sardines Cat Toy 

Pic by Lion Brand

I've never seen a toy like this in the stores, so this looks like a great idea! Yummy fish without the smelly fish breath after the kitten plays with it!

 3. Tons of crocheted mice

Pic by Melbangel

Findus simply adorrreedd his pet mice but he usually clipped off the tail within seconds. So, the new kitten shall get crochet mice with sturdy tails instead of the store bought ones. This pattern looks perfect for left over yarn, don't you think?

Do you crochet for your pets too?

Take care

Anne

Yarn in honor of Findus

Hello all!

Yesterday something happened which shocked me to the core: My cat Findus died aged 16 years. He lived with my family since he was less then 4 weeks old and really owned us. 

We were lucky to have him this long since he almost died several times (he had an autoimmune illness) but that doesn't make the loss any easier. Earlier this week my mum took him to the vet because he was eating less and breathed really hard. The news weren't good: There was water in this lungs. He went home with my mum that night but had to go back to the vet last night where he had to be put down. The decision wasn't an easy one but as a pet owner you have a great responsibilty for you pet. And we didn't want to let him suffer and "drown" or starve because he couldn't breathe or eat. My parents and my sister were there with him til the end. I just wish I could have been there too!! Because I had a bad feeling beforehand I did skype with him earlier the day though and was able to tell him I love him. 

Anyway, I spent the night thinking what I could do in honour of him. When I feel sad I usually buy yarn but I figured that this time I should do it for someone else. On the World Vision homepage I found the Micro Credit Project of Judith Monica Herrera. She lives in Bolivia and needs a micro credit to expand her yarn store which feeds her family and allows her child to go to school. The project can be found here. 

When I saw the project I decided to donate some money to her yarn store in honor of my beloved cat Findus. I bet he would have loved that (oh, well, he would have loved the yarn to play with... or to eat... or to chew on... or all of it really).

 

These micro credits are a really good thing to support. More information can be found here (German) and here (English).

Take care

Anne

A new housemate: Amineko Cat

Hello all!

About a year ago, I received a wonderful gift in the mail: My friend Anne from Manly/Australia knew I was having a very tough time and send me a crochet book.

Aren't these cats adorable?

Since then I wanted to make one of these but only now (a year later), I got around to it. Anyway, may I introduce you to my Amineko cat? I went in spirals instead of closed rounds. The pattern asked for the later but I misread. Well, that is, I didn't read that part. I figured that it would go in spirals since is was an Amigurumi. I don't think it makes much difference and there is no seam. A win-win situation!

Looks like I will make more of these cats too. I ordered cotton yarn (4ply) and will transform some of it into cats. First my finger needs to heal though. I cut stuff for pizza and well, slicing the onion didn't work out as I intended too. Sighs.

How did you spend your weekend?

Take care,

Anne

Cuddle Kitten (Pattern)

Cats...

I love cats. A lot. I wish I could have one but this little flat of ours wouldn’t be the right place for one sight. Anyway, who says I can’t have a crochet one – or even many? I could become a crazy crochet cat lady I reckon…

Last year, I discovered the owl pattern from BunnyMummy and fell in love with it. I made at least 30 owls since them. Most of them left home to become gifts but some are still here (as you can see in this post). The pattern was later adapted into a bunny by Janette from The Green Dragonfly. The bunnies are adorable too and of course I made a couple… How could I resist? 

To make a long story short, I always thought an adaption of the pattern would make a lovely cat and so last weekend I sat down and gave it a try. I think I came up with a kitten I like…

I named the following pattern the cuddle kitty after “my” cat in Australia (that is: Michelle’s parent’s cat Lena) who loved cuddles! This crochet version fits into a hand perfectly. I usually fill the cats (and the owls) with cherry pits or beans. They sit better this way and they are very nice to hold in your hand as a stress reliever!

Anyway – to the pattern! Remember: The original idea / parts of the pattern came from BunnyMummy!

Pattern 

Cuddle Kitty

Yarn weight is not important in this pattern but you need lighter yarn for the eyes.

The pattern is written in US terms.

Body (make 2)

1rd: Work into a magic circle. Chain 3. 13 dc in circle. Close with sl st to top ch 3. Bind off.

2rd: Work in the spaces between the stiches of round 1. 1 sl st to join new colour. Chain 3, 1 dc in same space. 2 dc in each space around (13 times). Close with sl st to top ch 3. Bind off.

3rd: Work in the spaces between the stiches of round 2. 1 sl st to join new colour. Chain 3, 2 dc in same space. 3dc in each space around (13 times). Close with sl st to top ch 3. Bind off.

4rd: Work into the stiches of round 3. Start between two three dc clusters . 1 sl st to join new colour. Chain 2. 2dc in next stich, 1 dc in each of next two stitches, then 2 dc in next stitch. 1 dc in each of next two stitches, then 2 dc in next stitch. 1 hdc in next stitch then 1 sc in each remaining stitch around. Close with a sl st to top chain 2.

5rd: Ch 2, 1 hdc in each of next 11 st, 1 sc in each remaining stitch around. Chain 1, close with sl to chain 2.

6rd: Ch 2, 1 hdc in each of next 11 st. Chain 1, close with sl to the next stich. Bind off.

Ears (2x)

Same colour as Round 4 from body

Work in rounds – don’t close!

1rd: Work in magic circle. 4 sc in circle.

2rd: 2sc in each stich around.

3rd: (1 sc in next 3 stiches, 2 sc in next stiches) x2

4-5 rd: 1 sc in each stich around.

Eyes  

(2x, green or yellow yarn)

Make sure to use lighter yarn!

1 rd: Work in magic circle. Ch1. 2 sc, hdc, ch1, dc, ch1, 2 sc, hdc, ch1, dc, ch1. Close with sl st.

Embroider eyes by stitching black lines to the middle of the eye (I did 3 lines).

Finish

Sew eyes to the body.

Sew a snout on the face (see picture) with some pink yarn. As you can see on the pictures of the two different cats, you can give the kittens different personalities by sewing the snout and the eyes into different places.

Hold the two body pieces together (wrong sides should face each other). Sew together and stuff.

Sew ears to the head part. Form a little half circle while sewing one to give the ears texture.

Whiskers: Cut 4 strings of black yarn. Pull underneath the snout and cut to desired length.

Done! :-)

Did you find any errors or have troubles with anything in the pattern? Please drop me a line, so I can fix it! Thanks!

Take care,

Anne

Welcome Spring!

Here in Germany, we are blessed with beautiful spring weather. This weekend we had stunning 20 ° C degrees and perfect blue skies. The change came pretty quickly - on Tuesday my car windows were frozen in the morning and since yesterday it's t-shirt-weather! Fingers crossed that the weather will stay like that! The birds are chirping like crazy, one smells the first bbqs and most people have a smile on their faces! :-)

I spent most of today on the balcony, playing with some yarn. Some animals decided to visit me there...

First the owl family came out to play (Pattern by the wonderful Jacquie from BunnyMummy):

This one was a daredevil and sat on the edge of the balcony. Not afraid of heights at all! Must be the sun which made her so brave...

This one however was quite shocked by this and decided to hide in the bush... Flying isn't his thing at all (but shhhh don't tell the lady owl...)

Then they got visited by the cuddle kitten...

First the owls were very afraid of the kitten but in the end they became good friends and exchanged cuddles.

And since Easter isn't far away anymore the egg family came out too. They enjoyed the sun but as you can see, some of them got really hungy...

How did you spent your weekend?

Take care,

Anne

P.S. I am currently working on a pattern for the kitten...