Another Felted Kitty Bed

Since our "Quality Control Kitty", Sluggo seemed to approve of the kitty bed I knitted and felted for one of the grand kitties, I decided to try yet another one.

I knitted the green and gold one in Lion Brand Felting wool with two strands of yarn and was quite pleased with the way it felted. It only took one 15 minute cycle in the washer.

For the next bed, I used Plymouth Galway Chunky and used only one strand of yarn. It felted very nicely, as well, however, it did come out a bit smaller in size despite using the same number of stitches. Fortunately, Sluggo loved it too.

I love this quick project and whenever I run out of grand kitties to knit for, I have found it's a cute little basket for balls of yarn!

The first bed I knitted for Big Boy, Spike in the double stranded Bartlett Yarn did not seem to felt as easily and I put it through two cycles of the washer. It probably could have used a little more felting, but I didn't want it to get too small for Spike.

Here it is stretched over the pan and sitting by the wood stove drying.

You can still see some of the stitches, but hey, Spike won't mind a bit!

H (hubby) painted a cute sign for our gathering at Shirley's Yarn shop.


The ladies in the group all approved!

The pattern for the kitty bed is quite simple. You'll need:

10 1/2 circular needle size 36 inches
10 1/2 circular needle size 24 inches
10 1/2 inch DPN's

300 - 400 grams of chunky wool

CO 170 sts on 36 inch circular

join, being careful not to twist sts. Place marker

knit in garter stitch for about 8 inches, then start decreasing every 24 sts or so til you need to switch to to the smaller needle and then switch again when you need the DPNs. Continue decreasing til you have 6 sts left. Using a darning needle, weave in ends. Felt til you're happy with the size.

Hugs,

Knitty Giddy

Felted Kitty Bed

The Holidays are finally over and as I had knitted both boys, the DIL and Grand Kids all a sweater, I decided last week that I needed a new, quick project. While surfing the web for something to catch my attention, I noticed that little Sluggo, our tuxedo cat was comfortably ensconced in his wicker basket, but Big Boy, Spike had no such container in which to snuggle!

BINGO! Bright idea came to me. I would knit and felt a comfy bed for him. I pulled my stash out from under the bed and began to dig through to see what wools I had that might felt nicely.

I had some squishy Maine wool from Bartlett in several different coordinating colors, so I decided I would use it. I then thought I would like to make it really comfy by knitting it with a double strand of yarn. It only took two nights of knitting until I finished my experimental pattern and I meant to felt it the next day, but Spike took an immediate liking to it, so it is now his favorite napping spot on the couch.


Well, since he seems to be taken with it, and the fact that I have four grand kitties, I decided my next few projects would be pet beds. However, I really needed to make the felted ones a wee bit bigger with a taller rim and I felt I should write down the pattern for future use or in case anyone else wanted to make one of these really easy beds.

Rummaging through my stash again, I found some wool I had purchased for a song at Ocean State Job Lots, one of those "better buy it when you see it" stores. They were only $3 a skein and I only needed 4 skeins for the project. Perfect!

Another couple of busy nights in front of the TV produced this beauty destined for Grand Cat, Baby Snakes, who looks just like my Sluggo.

The next day, I felted it in the washer and then had a dilemma. How was I going to shape it while it was drying? I rummaged through the cabinets until I found just the right size aluminum pan......


and draped it over the top, gave it a good stretch all around and let it sit in front of the wood stove to dry.


Voila! I'm now just waiting for it to dry completely before I send it to Baby Snakes.

This is a really quick, fun project for some well deserving pet.

Hugs,

Knitty Giddy