Last year, the amazing Slither of Snakes people raised money for Alzheimer’s Research with a world record attempt for the most knitted, crocheted, and stitched soft toy snakes. This year, it’s a Kilometre of Cats and Kittens, and they need lots of volunteers to help!

Libby Swindells created very clever, very simple, patterns for knitting, crochet and sewing:

U CAN KNIT A CAT

U CAN CROCHET A KITTEN

U CAN STITCH A CAT

You just need to make squares and then stitch, stuff and embellish!  The knitting pattern has pictures to help you with making up that are also applicable to crochet and stitching.

Head to the Kilometer of Cats and Kittens Facebook page for more information and to connect with other makers.

Ta dah! Crochet attempt number #1. Kept it simple with the kitten size in a plain DK yarn.

I embroidered the eyes for this one.

Showiing the stitching underneath. Took me a few minutes to figure out the legs. The pictures in the knitting pattern help.

Rear view.

Promised myself I’d try out the pattern 3 times before I started tinkering. HA.

Attempt #2. Cat size version in a fun DK sock yarn. Urge to tinker rising despite fact that squares are a bit wonky. Guess I usually crochet in spirals, not squares.

Ok, I crocheted this one closed instead of stitching. With my handiwork, this is neater and stronger. And faster.

This little guy gets some gold safety eyes. Experimented a bit with shaping the ears. Didn’t exactly work.

This kitty is made to the cat pattern, but in a yarn finer than DK. It’s self-striping dy choice SPARKLZ. Yeah. His head’s on a bit tilted, but it gives him some life.

Squares a bit wonky here, too. Flu probably doesn’t help. The metallic bits are as much of a fraying, tangly pain in the bum as all metalic yarns.

Remember in woodwork being told to make your glue lines work for the design. Kind of like the way the joins here emphasise the stylised form of this cat.

Amazing what a difference the yarn makes!

I’m an abysmal knitter, but this seems like the perfect project to improve with.

Look at the state of this. If you look closely you can see the holes. Also, stitch count varies from top to bottom!

This project reminded me:

• I’m nowhere near as good as I’d like to be at crocheting in straight rows and keeping a stitch count. But, the wonky squares still make cute cats. (Also, I know nothing about tension, blocking, and so many other things…)
• How much I learn when I use other people’s patterns. There’s something really appealing and fluid about the way folded knitted or crocheted fabric forms shapes. It can be less stiff than amigurumi.
• Different yarns give drastically different results in size and look (and pain-in-the-bumness to work with).

I’m interested in the idea of working with the underneath join, too, although I’m not sure how yet.

Also, this has been an absolute lifeline for me over the last week or so. Having some disgusting lurgy on top of the ME/cfs has made me feel very low. I can work on this project, one stitch at a time, and feel like I can still contribute. It definitely helps.

I’ll be finishing a few knitted kitties, then I’ll try and come up with an amigurumi pattern. In the spirit of the project, I’ll keep it as simple as I can so everyone can give it a go.