Knitting

Patterns, projects and techniques

Cat Knitting Patterns

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I almost titled this “knitting patterns for cats” but the projects shared here make cats, they aren’t strictly for your cats. Unless you turn them into cat toys, which is entirely your business.

If you have a tiny bit of DK weight yarn (though of course you can use other weights to make other sizes) and a few minutes to spare you can make a mini cat with this free pattern from Ravelry. Designed by a person cleverly named A knitter, this pattern takes about 20 yards or 18 meters of yarn, and you can make them any color you like. It calls for tiny doll eyes, but you can embroider the eyes just like you do the whiskers if you want.

The tiny car in a life preserver pattern from Anna Hrachovec is another cute and quick pattern that would be great to stitch up as a gift for the cat lover in your life. It’s made with 20-30 yards (18-27 meters) of fingering weight yarn, and of course you could knit the kitty without the life preserver but I don’t know why you’d want to resist its cuteness. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Getting a little bigger but still very cute in a different way, we have these pocket buddies from French Lavender Home on Etsy. The pattern uses worsted weight yarn and you can change up the colors and details to make them look like cats, dogs, foxes, bears… They’re worked flat and the little sweaters are part of the body, but there’s also an optional hat that’s worked separately. This is a great little skill building project because it includes duplicate stitch, stranded knitting and cables, depending on how you style the sweaters.

Gathered has an adorable cat knitting pattern that includes a little pair of overalls. There are different coloring options so you can make one to match your pet, or just use the yarn you have on hand. It calls for DK weight yarn and was designed by Sophie Jordan for Simply Knitting magazine.

Ginger and Smudge are sweet pudgy cats designed by Fluff and Fuzz. They’re shown striped but you could make them solid if you prefer, or add some duplicate stitch to the face to match your feline friend. These are worked with DK weight yarn and stitches flat for ease of knitting.

If you’re looking for the purr-fect knit cat, though, it might be these from Dot Pebbles. They’re worked with mohair blend yarns for the pettable fuzz factor, and they’re worked flat but joined as you go to make an interesting knit. And who can resist those little faces?

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Have you read?

Book Review: Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit & Crochet Blankets

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four. 

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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