Dotty Cat Bed
Dotty Cat Bed, before felting:
Maybe you noticed that the exterior bottom is in reverse stockinette? I flipped the whole thing inside out once I finished with the sides, so that the visible portion of the bed bottom would be in prettier stockinette. It’s not a very noticeable difference once the bag is felted, though.
Wool of the Andes felted like a champ!
Pattern: A fusion of the dotty pattern + inspiration from the Wendy Knits Kitty Pi + the maths.
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, which is surprisingly nice given the price.
I first fell for the dot pattern after I saw it in the Mason-Dixon book (remember the bench cover? yum), but it’s also in the first Barbara Walker Treasury. This wasn’t purely a project to pamper my cats – looking back in the old archives, I realized that I had purchased the yarn in order to teach myself Continental knitting. I figured that I wouldn’t be so bummed about wonky tension if I was felting it at the end. Did I knit continental? Yes, for about a half-row. Learning new things is hard! Actually, by the time I figured out the original plan, I was slogging through the zillion rows in the bottom and really just wanted to get the damn thing done.
The pattern looks like the Kitty Pi, but is knit a bit differently. This bed is knit from the top-down, decreasing to form the bottom. I also used my own logic for creating the bottom decreases, which turned out almost-correct.
I heart the little dots! My swatch felted more in height than in width, so I modified the stitch pattern a bit to create circles when felted. The stitch pattern is super, super simple, with great results.
Yeah, the bottom isn’t quite flat. There are two reasons for this: my decrease method (dec 8 stitches every third row) didn’t quite match my swatch shrinkage, and I’m a dolt and computed the swatch shrinkage incorrectly. I did figure out the correct way to decrease – decrease 8 stitches every third row twice, then decrease 8 stitches every other row once.
Too bad that decreasing every third row didn’t turn out – I did three-row stripes on the bottom, and it was really easy to remember to decrease when I change colors.
The cats haven’t snuggled up to the bed quite yet. I can’t blame them, it was still slightly damp yesterday. The bed causes Blackie to yawn meanly, and Joe keeps running up to it and ATTACKING it.
I’ll probably write up the pattern at some point, if I can decipher my (very!) vague notes. And if any cats learn to love the bed, there will surely be photographic documentation on this here blog!
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It’s so cute!! I hope the cats warm up to it… maybe put some treats in there. :)
The bed is gorgeous! I love the colors you used.
AHHH! I LOVE IT!
The fact that you designed all that and did the math and the colorwork is amazing. I would not have the cajones to attempt something like that. It looks fantastic. I hope the kitties like it! If they ignore it, like mine ignore anything I’ve actually paid money for for them, I’m sure some catnip will do the job :)
I have a question about your experience with Wool of the Andes, but I’m realizing it will be lengthy, so I will just email you. Congrats on the FO! It looks awesome!
That is such a beautiful cat bed! It looks amazing.
Wow! That looks so good! It makes me want to get a cat just to have such a cool bed for it :-)
I love the bed! It’s fantastic!
It looks great! I hope the cats take to it soon, how couldn’t they?
Well I love it, and if I were a cat, it’s exactly the sort of thing I would choose to sleep in.
That looks great! I was inspired by Dotty too — I used the stitch for the shell on Sheldon the turtle (last issue of Knitty)!
that came out great! i love the dots!!!!!!!
GAH!
This is fabulous – truly.
I love the patterning, the colors, simply everything about it….
Dots! you figured out the maths to end up with round dots! amazing! This turned out great – I love the photos of your cats. mmmmm felting…
Ohhh, that is GREATNESS! I so want to make one for Abby (even though her history with cat beds is dubious) . . . maybe she would be enticed by the dotty pattern?
ooh, i would love a pattern! i was gonna make a kitty pi for my monsters, but maybe i will wait…
try putting just a little catnip in the bed. works for my cats every time.
Soooo cool! I love it! Especially the picture of Joe eating it. :)
Holy cow, that’s beautiful! I can’t believe you went to that much trouble for a cat, but now I wanna make one. I have been thinking about it for a while, but I was going to use leftovers in a random striping, but this is very cool. Nice job. Lucky kitty.
A great use of this pattern. I really like it felted (I’ve always passed over the stitch pattern in the book as something usefull only for a washcloth.) It would be great to have the pattern if you get the chance to post it. Hope the cats warm up to it. Even if they don’t, it’s pretty to look at just as it is.
It turned out great! The dot pattern came out so clearly after felting. You know, a smaller version of this bed would make a really nice centerpiece bowl.
So cute! The colors, the dots!
That looks like one unhappy cat! (maybe they’re getting a wiff of the wet sheep thing and dont dig it) Great job anyhow, and I’m with ya, love the dots!
WOW! I love that! Love the dots and it felted so nicely!
Wow! I really like the dotty colourwork. You have got lucky cats! It is a lovely bit of knitting.
Please please give out the pattern, its so frabulous I want to knit one too!
That kitty bed is fantastic. I love the dotty fabric, too, and how clever you were to think ahead of time so they would be circles after felting.
Perhaps a little catnip bribery?
OK, that’s a great little bed. I love the dots too!!
That looks fantastic – great job. The colors are fab, and I love the mix of dots and stripes. I’m sure the kitties will groove on it eventually – maybe then they’ll stop attacking your new rug? :)
That almost makes me want to knit a felted cat bed, and that is saying a lot.
I love those colors! Thanks for giving me some ideas..hehehe!:o)
That’s the best pet bed I’ve ever seen! Amazing work :)
Dotty is fantastic! That is one lucky kitty!!!