Woolly Cat

Something's New

Well, my cat now has his very own jumper. I'm not certain it's a keeper, but he wore it, and didn't freak out too much. It wasn't even a hassle to put it on! It certainly didn't bother him enough to stop him eating, usually a good sign.

I adapted the "Feral Fair Isle" pattern by Amy Swenson from the book I mentioned earlier. Obviously, there is was no fiddling with Fair Isle for Maddy, as I opted instead to use one of the Ashord Tekapo melanges, called Storm along with the Dark Natural shade (it's a dark brown). I love my cat, but I don't have the patience to do colour work for me, let alone him.

As an aside, though the Tekapo is nice to knit with, and very economical, I wouldn't recommend knitting it while wearing white - I ended up with blue/grey finger tips very quickly, so there is obviously a lot of residual dye to wash out.

I made the smallest size included in the pattern, to fit a "dog" with a chest size of 16 inches around, which was about right for Maddy's measurements, and I shortened it a little from the given measurements so he can still lick his podgy little tummy and haunches (it's not that cold). I did use 5mm needles all over rather than doing the neck ribbing on smaller needles, seeing no way I could have got any smaller/tighter neck to fit over his head and sit against his body comfortably.

Another modification I made was to do away with the rows of ribbing around the armholes, and simply did a row of double crochet in the brown to finish them off. That was a good idea, because as it was the armholes aren't quite right, perhaps too small. It's really the arms/shoulders that make me think a style with a band/strap that goes under the tummy might be a better fit.

Now I've got a live garment to work with and compare, I think I'll have a better shot at creating something that is just right - perhaps a blend of what I have and this style.

Not that I'm in a hurry to add new projects to my list (despite my Ravelry invitation arriving today)! I've made hardly any progress of other things this week: not a single row on my blanket, or my red vest/jersey. I started the first of some wristwarmers in Sublime Extra Fine Merino in Dusted Grey, and then unravelled it after acknowledging I should have done a tension square first to check my needle size. I have wide hands, but not that wide! Also unravelled was a washcloth in 4 ply cotton for my sister, after I discovered a very small, but very noticeable error very early on in the piece. So, not a terribly productive knitting week for me, but at least I don't have to feel guilty about neglecting my kitty cat!