Knit a Sweater Covered in Dancing Cats

I fear that my preference for cats over dogs is reflected in how often I write about knitting patterns that include cats (fairly often, including a vest, a stack of nesting cats, a set of cat socks with matching sweater, a different sweater, a pair of mittens, all in the past six years or so) than I do about dogs (there’s hats for dogs, and mittens with dogs, but that post is from 2014).

And here it is again, as I write about the Crazy Cats Pullover from Maschenwunder Manja Vogelsang.

But how could I resist it? Are these silly cats dancing? Falling down? Performing some sort of ritual? Who can say?

Do I also very much want to knit one of these sweaters for myself? Yes, I do. Or for my cat-loving daughter. Or both.

I don’t know why this pattern popped up in the popular patterns on Ravelry again a couple of years after it was first published, but I’m glad it did!

The sweater is worked from the top down in one piece with a circular yoke covered in cats. It calls for sport weight yarn and there are seven available sizes.

The actual chest measurement of the finished sweater ranges from 35 to 58.5 inches, or 89 to 149 cm. Since that smallest size is billed as extra small, it’s clear there is meant to be a good bit of positive ease in the design, but the pattern notes don’t say exactly how much.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry, where it is available in English, French and German. Because it’s been out for a while there are lots of good projects to look at, including lots of different colors, a cardigan conversion and more. Though this neon version from the designer is pretty great, too.

[Photo: Maschenwunder Manja Vogelsang]

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I don’t even know what to say about this amazing knitting pattern. The Bestiary Scarf from Monstra & Mirabilia is so full of details it’s a little intimidating to talk about.

It features, as the designer describes it, an “artistic encyclopaedia of Western mythical creatures.”

The pattern includes a dragon, harpy, Medusa, chimaera, centauress, phoneix, kraken, mermaid, sew serpent, cyclops, wyvern, Pegasus, amphiptere and amphibaena. (It’s a good thing there’s a photo of the proejct with everything labelled because I definitely didn’t know the names for everything.) It’s also designed like a landscape, with water and land creatures toward the bottom ends and sky creatures toward the top.

The dragon is at the center and is worked sideways so it will show as upright when you wear it.

The scarf is worked in double knitting, so the colorwork appears in the opposite colors on the other side.

It’s worked in light fingering weight yarn (on size 0 US or 2mm knitting needles) and the colorwork is shown in charts. The pattern also includes some video tutorials and written instructions to help you along. The designer says the pattern is for intermediate knitters, and “advanced beginners may succeed with patience and the help of the video tutorials.”

When I was an advanced beginner this kind of a pattern would have brought me to tears, but if you love a challenge, and a project that you’ll wear and get tons of astonished reactions every time, this is the project for you. And of course if you have a few double knitting projects under your belt and are comfortable reading charts, this project shouldn’t be hard, but that doesn’t mean it’s fast. But lots of great things take time, and that’s never stopped us before, right?

You can get a copy of this pattern from Monstra & Mirabilia on Ravelry.

[Photo: Monstra & Mirabilia ]

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