Scrap Yarn Cat Bed Project

Last year I made a cat bed for the cat using up scrap bulky yarn. It was a great project to use up those odds n ends. The cat has a history of losing interest in special items for him. If you've ever seen those fun photo collections of cats sitting in the box instead of on the cat tree that came in the box, that's Max. I had seen some lovely cat caves at a craft show and been inspired to make one for the cat but my enthusiasm level was not as high was one would expect, tampered by the nagging notion that I would put all that time, effort, and money into something he would enjoy for a few days then never use again. He does that.

So, instead of a cat cave, I used up all the bits of bulky yarn leftover from previous projects. Mostly all those fox and wolf hoods I made the winter before for Christmas gifts for the kids. It worked up fast, I didn't have to buy new yarn, and if he was uninterested I could donate it to the local cat shelter. He liked it.

He really liked it. He went a few weeks without using it here and there but he kept going back to it, so it remained.

One day I was looking at that flat circle and decided it needed structured walls. I had made an ever expanding circle for the base and worked without increases for the walls, standard fare for making crocheted bowls, etc. But the walls just flopped down and laid there.

I had some leftover foam from making camera bag inserts so trimmed that to fit the height of the wall. I created a V by starting where the base and wall bet and crocheting either 4 or 5 rows around, whatever it took to reach the top with a little leeway. I inserted the foam in the pocket created and slipped stitched around to close up the pocket. I left a small opening in front. The opening is pretty standard but also happened to be the result of how much foam I had to use.

And Mr. Max is happy. He loves his cat bed with firm, structured walls even more than he liked it with floppy walls.

Provisional Cast On Tip for Floppy Ending Stitch

The first knitting book I bought was a book devoted to casting on and binding off methods. It's amazing how many ways there are to cast on and bind off but there are definite uses for some methods.

For example, the provisional cast on for tubular ribbing to provide a beautiful rolled edge for 1x1 ribbing for hats, cowls, mittens, and etc. That one took some practice to master knitting in the round. One of the biggest issues I ran into was that the first and/or last stitch cast on was loose, floppy, and on occasion got lost because it was just draped over the needle.

I tried the provisional method using the crochet hook and it just took too long for me. My favorite provisional method is when you make a slip knot (that doesn't count in stitch count) with a piece of scrap yarn and the main yarn then hold your hand like a long-tail cast on with the scrap yarn around your thumb. I don't know what this method is called. You reach under the scrap yarn with the right hand needle and grab main yarn, bring it under scrap yarn, then up, then wrap main yarn around right needle then reach down under scrap yarn and grab main yarn again.

Fast! So fast and easy.

The one and only problem is that the last stitch is just hanging on the needle. So, my solution is to do a long-tail cast on for that very last stitch. You have to pick it out when you are ready to remove the scrap yarn but it's easy to pick it out and then you just pull the scrap yarn and it slides right through the initial loops.

Just remember to reach through scrap yarn loop around thumb before grabbing main yarn and it will lock that last stitch in place.

I have tried many provisional cast on methods and for ribbing this is the simplest, fastest method.

Another tip, use a yarn thinner than main yarn when possible. If they are the same thickness it will work fine but using scrap yarn a bit thinner gives a noticeably tighter edge that looks really nice.

Oh, and just slide that bulky slip knot created with both scrap yarn and working yarn off the knitting needle then let it dangle there while setting up your first base rows. It holds that first stitch in place without being in the way.

If you want a good casting on and binding off reference book, I highly recommend this one:

Another Simple Shawl Made with Lightweight Yarn and Over-Sized Needles

Here's another shawl scarf made using a lightweight yarn and over-sized knitting needles

This is a Paton's Divine yarn that I held onto for several years while deciding the right project to use it for. It's a super soft mint green. I used the entire skein. Again, start by casting on 3 or 5 stitches and increasing at the beginning and end of every other row. I did this in stockinette and did a M1 (make one) after a 5 stitch garter edge and before a 5 stitch garter edge on the knit side then purled between the garter edges on the wrong side.

M1 is done by using the knitting needle to reach down and grab the piece of yarn between the two stitches between the two needles, bring the strand up to the left handed needle and knit through the back. It's a nearly invisible increase. The KFB increase works here as well because it's done right next to a garter section so the purl looking stitch of the KFB pretty much blends in with the garter stitch edge.

Using size 15 needles, I knit in stockinette with the 5 stitch garter edge until I was almost out of yarn, being sure to allow enough yarn to bind off. Bind off loosely. Doing a K2tog, put stitch on right needle back to left needle, then K2tog across makes for a nice, loose bind off. Doing the passing the right handed needle's stitch over the just knitted stitch makes for a too tight bind off for this.

The Patons Divine yarn skein had 129 m/142 yds 100 g/3 1/2 ozs. The color is called Frosted Green. And for some reason it shows it as a chunky yarn at (5). But it's not chunky. It's very thin foundation with halo type clumps. There's an actual date on the skein. 2007. Yeah, I held onto that yarn far too long. It's a lovely, super, super soft shawl.