I'm allergic to cats (and any other furry or feathered animal), so I can't have one of my own.
But, recently I decided that I wanted to make Oddball Pet Snuggles for animal shelters. Now, a group of us in the
Knitting Help Forum are taking turns knitting sections of cushy little blankets for the pet cages.
When we each finish knitting our section, we mail the project to the next knitter on the list. We usually include little gifts in our Oddball packages. Since most of our participants have pets of their own, we will sometimes be sending treats to the pets instead of to the knitters.
I needed to send out 3 pet snuggles to the next knitters. All of them have cats as pets, so I decided to make catnip toys for their kitties. :)
Since I've never owned a cat, I had no IDEA what catnip was. I went to Walmart to see if I could find some in the pet section. Lo and behold, there it was!
I already had everything else I needed to make the toys, including a free pattern I found online called "
Catnip Mice". So, I gathered everything together in one spot, so I could get going on making them all: Polyester fiberfill, Catnip, Jingle Bells, Yarn, Knitting Needles, Scissors, and a Tapestry Needle.
Before I sat down to knit, I put the tea kettle on, and made myself two cups of black tea. I needed the strength! I made one cup of Earl Grey, and one cup of English Breakfast Tea.
After a few sips, I got to knitting. Pretty soon, I had the body of my first catnip mouse ready to be stuffed.
I put in one jingle bell, then a little fiberfill, then some catnip, and a bit more fiberfill. Then I stiched it closed, and arranged the tail to look like a mouse.
Not bad! But, I did NOT enjoy making it with two needles. And I wasn't thrilled with the look of garter stitch either.
So, I got out of my comfy knitting chair and found some double pointed needles in the right size. Then sat back down, took another sip of tea, and started in on another mouse.
Much better!
By now, I knew how to make catnip mice with my eyes closed, so I chose another color of yarn, closed my eyes and started knitting. (tee-hee)
It turned out even better than the one before! Hey! Maybe I should ALWAYS knit with my eyes closed! Ha!! (just kidding, of course....) :P
Pretty soon, I had four little catnip mice, ready for battle with some kitties.
After making those four mice, I decided to try a different pattern I found online, called "
Kitty Beanbag Zoo". It took a LOT longer to make than the mice, and used a lot more yarn, and a lot more catnip. I didn't really like the look of it either. So, I decided to just make one of those.
(I added a tail to mine, so it kinda turned out looking like a stingray!)
After that little tangent, I decided to veer back onto my original path....and made some more Catnip Mice. Besides....they were quick and easy. ;)
After just a couple hours, I had 11 catnip toys, ready to go!
It was fun. Now back to my regular knitting.
