Scrappy Crocheted Chunky Cat Bed

I wanted to make a cat cave for my cat. He loves boxes. Paper bags he’s sort of meh about. Sometimes he wants to explore a paper bag but then again he will often ignore them. But boxes are his passion. Some would call boxes his obsession.

So, the cat cave. They look very intriguing if you adopt a cat perspective. You know, when you look at it you are convinced that the cat will spend many glorious hours luxuriating in cat cave heaven. I just could not figure out how to crochet one and have the sides stay upright, to hold the ceiling off the floor.

There were the wool felted ones that looked quite insanely elaborate, expensive, and time consuming and even messy. Anyone who owns a cat knows—if you spent 40 hours making something for your cat you will be lucky if he enjoys it for an hour.

Yeah. So I wanted something quick and to the point. I decided to use up leftover yarn. Again, tough to bring myself to go out and spend a bunch of dough on something I have no idea if he’ll like and use or not. I bought him a cat bed for Christmas one year and he used it for two weeks then never again. The following year I gave it away.

It’s a simple, straightforward pattern. Using chunky yarn and a large crochet hook (J) I chained 4, slip stitch to join and worked 12 sc in loop. It’s a constantly progressive increase to keep it flat. So, second round, 2 sc in each sc, third round 2 sc in every other st, fourth round, 2 sc in every third stitch, then 2 sc in every fourth stitch, and so on until you have the diameter that you want.

My cat is a large boy. Everyone asks if he’s Maine Coon. He really looks like he could be but his mom was a petite Siamese stray. A blue point Siamese. Dad could have been Maine Coon, I guess. He’s 14 pounds of cat under all that hair.

So, when you get your desired diameter (I worked to 18”) do a few rows of straight sc without increases. This creates the sides. I did about 3”. That’s about five rows. You’re pretty much making a crocheted basket with short sides.

I finished it with the crab stitch (aka reverse sc st) and he loves his crocheted chunky cat bed. I made it in February this year and he might go a week or two without using it but he always goes back to it. He just loves it.

The cat hair means it's a well loved and used cat bed. Yeah, whenever I ran out of one yarn I just started the next, using up as much as I could. The cat does not mind at all.

Since I used leftovers I don’t know how much yarn it took. If you want to make it and need to buy the yarn I would say to expect it to take at least 6-7 skeins of the 4 oz/113g 64 yd/59m chunky style. It will vary with how big you want the bed to be and how high the sides. There’s not a lot of yarn on those skeins. Better yet, go ahead and use up the odds and ends from other projects.

Giraffe Print Canvas Tote

So, I found this lovely giraffe print canvas to make a laptop case and had enough leftover to make a cross body bag and a tote. The tote was supposed to be a purse but I did not measure, just used up what was left over. It's a lovely tote so I am glad that it worked out that way.

The brown microsuede is a perfect match for the brown of the giraffe print. I used it for an accent edge at the bottom and also for the straps.

This is the W gusset. It's another method to create sides and base of bottom. Instead of marking number of inches, lining up seams, sewing triangle, and cutting excess fabric/interfacing you just fold the fabric into a W and sew it one time. This results in a triangle of fabric on the outside of the bag, a nice design feature.

I like contrasting fabric edging internal pockets. Not only does it give the interior a pop of unexpected color, it makes it easier to see pocket edges inside bag.

They are simple to do. For the welt zipper pocket, sew a rectangle of complementary colored fashion fabric to end of welting fabric, big enough to cover the exterior welt. For the patch pocket, I cut a 3" strip and fold it into thirds and stitch it onto top of pocket before attaching to lining. In this bag I actually used the complementary fabric for the pocket itself and the lining fabric for the trim.

I mostly edge the pockets for stability and using different fabrics is just for fun. And it does make it easier to see inside bag.

This is a simple tote bag, just rectangles sewn together. The key is the heavy stabilizer interfacing and the fun is in all the little details.

Giraffe Print Canvas Cross Body Purse

Several months ago I bought a fun giraffe print canvas fabric to make a laptop bag. The colors were just delicious and made me happy. That's what often motivates me to select a fabric, that it tickles my happy bone.

Since the fabric was quite wide and I bought over a yard to make sure that I had enough, I had a lot leftover. So I made a cross body purse. It is the same dimensions as the cross body purse I made a few years ago and have been using since making it but I went for a bit deeper width.

Notice the welt pocket? That's for the phone. I made it large enough to accommodate even the largest phones on the market now.

With the leftover fabric after making the laptop case and cross body, I made a full-sized purse. More to come on that.