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Giveaway: Knits for Kitties

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Knits for Kitties review

Congratulations, Teresa W.

Last week I told you about the fun cat-toy-knitting book, Knits for Kitties. My cat is old (almost 15!) and not all that playful anymore, so I don’t think I need this one and wanted to pass it on to another cat loving knitter who might want to make some toys for their furry friends!

If you’d like a chance to win this book, leave a comment on this post before the end of the day Sunday, November 13. I’d love to hear about the special cat or cats in your life. Did you know it was recently National Cat Day? I thought that was every day!

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing, and good luck!

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Comments

  1. My daughter has three cats-each of them with individual personalities-one’s playful. one has an I could care less attitude and one is so loving! I always enjoy my visit with them-and my daughter, too!

  2. My Granddaughters cats are pretty spoiled, but we haven’t knitted them anything! Sweet of you to pass it on! We are new to knitting!

  3. Yes, every day is Cat Day! One of our cats lived 20+ years. We have two cats, both were ‘driveway drop offs’. Life would not be the same without them ! I have been knitting a couple of years and this would be super fun – knit for our pets ; ) Thanks for the opportunity to participate.

  4. I have two cats of my own, 12 and 15 years old, and they still play a little. I volunteer for a local shelter 3-4 days a week and also make cat toys for the cats and kittens in the shelter. Many times I will include a cat toy in the adoption bag so my fur babies will have something familiar to play with when they get home. During Spring, Summer, and Fall I foster kittens in my home, crocheting and knitting toys for them also. I would love to have new ideas for cat toys to knit and crochet for all my fur babies!

  5. Ei have four beautiful babies and while getting up in age (the oldest is 13) they all love to play. But I am not finding anything they like. I would love to be able to make them something to play with

  8. I have two kitties who would appreciate this book! One climbed into the engine of my car in a parking lot last year. The vet aged her at just five weeks old when she found me! The other was about four months old, born in a feral colony but was sick and decided he didn’t want to be a feral and stayed on my porch shivering until I let him in. He’s the biggest mamas boy there is!

  10. I have a cat who is also getting older, although she still loves lots of attention. She thinks every day should be cat day.

  13. I just recently adopted 2 kittens and I know they would love to have some new toys! This would be a fantastic book!

  14. Our cat love to get video calls. Our 4 year old granddaughter always asks to talk to him & he watches her on the video call & sometimes will talk back to her. Our granddaughter lives in Washington state & we live in Michigan.

  15. I love my cat! I was the midwife at her birth and she had me the very first second of her life. I swear in the evenings while I crochet I can see into her soul through her eyes.

  17. A dozen driveway drop-off cats live in our garden. We feed them secretly at night because feeding stray cats is considered littering in our area and a $100.00 fine is levied.

  18. As far as cats are concerned it really (inter)national cat day everyday and to be worshipped accordingly. Our guy is 12 but still loves to chase things on a string though for much shorter bursts really need anything new to keep him interested he’s getting a tad “fluffy ” in his old age plus we’ve got some friends that I think could benefit from some knit gifts for their kitties

  19. Charlie and Turbo are brother and sister from the same litter and just had their 12th birthday. Turbo loves to play fetch (I think she must have been a Lab in a previous life). Although she doesn’t chase after the Mouse as quickly as she did as a young kitty, she still brings it to me and drops it at my feet many times throughout the day, demanding that I throw it for her (in fact, here she comes now, with her “I’m a great hunter” yowl, around the knitted mouse in her mouth LOL). Her favourite mouse right now is one I knitted and felted for her. Charlie also fetches, but his toy of choice is a plastic zap strap. >^..^<

  20. I have one very special kitty named Matsu who is a beautiful tuxedo and now 8 years old. Slightly on the spoiled side I say but he disagrees. Loves sleeping next to the wood stove during the winter and spends the summer watching the Koi in the pond. Loves to play with pipe cleaners that we call “snakey”

  21. I would love to knit some new toys for my two cats. They love their little fabric mice (my dog does too!) and they’d be perfect projects to use up the little odds and ends in my stash.

  22. I am new to having kitties. We now have two brothers. They are lots of fun and very different in temperament.

  23. I have 3 cats, all fight over toys just like children would! This would be a lovely book to win. Thank you.

Have you read?

Knit a Garter Stitch Blanket with a Twist

When I first started knitting again after a long absence from the craft (which has now been almost 25 years ago!) I really didn’t like garter stitch that much. I found it super boring, somehow even more boring than knitting stockinette stitch in the round, even though it’s exactly the same thing.

Over the years I’ve softened my opinion, and even grown to like garter stitch. There’s nothing wrong with being plain, and actually the texture of garter stitch is more interesting than stockinette.

Also there are fun things you can do with garter stitch to make it more interesting if you want to, such as adding stripes, working on the bias, or doing fun effects to change the look.

That’s the way with the Bernat Twist My Way Garter Knit Blanket. Using combinations of casting on and binding off creates what they call a Swiss cheese effect along two sides of the blanket. This is a lot of fun in the self-striping ombre yarn they chose for the pattern, but it would also be fun in a solid color or making your own stripes.

Despite the dramatic effect, this pattern is rated easy. It’s worked from side to side (if you consider the “cheesy” edges the top and bottom) and has an eight-row repeat that involves binding off and then casting on again to make the holes. They’re kind of like giant buttonholes.

Once you get the hang of it it’s a pretty easy repeat to remember, and it will be smooth knitting as big as you want to make it.

You can download this pattern from the Yarnspirations website for free, or you can buy a kit direct from them that includes the yarn you need (and knitting needles if you need those, too). Bernat Sport Ombre Twist, which is what is used in the pattern, comes in 12 self patterning colors and is a DK weight acrylic yarn.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]