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 feel like I haven’t shared many knitting machine patterns lately, probably because I haven’t been using my knitting machines much lately. (I finally made space for them to live on the bookshelf in my office, and now that they have a “place” it’s almost like I forgot they existed for a while.)

But I did recently make a little cat bed, that surely would work for a small dog, too.

This one uses two different sizes of knitting machine: a larger one (it could be any in the 40-48 needle range) and a 22 pin.

The larger machine is used in flat panel mode to make the bottom pillow like part of the bed, while the smaller machine makes a long tube that is used around the edges as the sort of walls of the cat bed.

For stuffing I used a bit of leftover quilt batting for the pillow, and some cut up old T-shirts for the tube.

You can use any worsted weight yarn you like (I used two colors of Big Twist Pound+, which comes in huge skeins that weigh more than a pound). Acrylic or cotton yarn is nice for washablity, but you’ll be cranking for a while so make sure you use a yarn your machine likes so it’s not too much of a struggle.

You can grab the pattern for this cat bed over at Our Daily Craft. I’m sorry to report the pictured is as close as a cat has gotten to it so far, but maybe your cats like to be cozy more than mine do?

If you’re looking for more options for cute handmade places for your cats and little dogs to rest, check out this roundup of knit pet beds. I still want to knit one by hand but the machine version was definitely a faster option (especially good since my cats are ungrateful).

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