Quick Pet Toys to Knit

Following up on the challange given to me by Heather, our Needlework Editor, I did a search for projects that were:

1. faster to knit and

2. toys for her cats – she has a few ya know

So, my friend google found 1, 410,000 pages for me that contained the words “knitting pet toys”. I love google, don’t you? I can find many things with this wonderful tool, it really is a knitters friend. But, I digress.

One page I found at Knitty.com has patterns of wonton and eggroll shaped, knitted cat toys. This is really appropriate because Julie Falatko, the creator, makes these toys for her own pet cats. Cute

Lion Brand yarn has a free pattern for pets that is a Christmas ornament.

When knitted and filled with catnip, these toys should provide you and your pet hours of fun. Pets love to eat yarn, so you must play with your animal when you use these toys.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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