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How to Knit a Felted Cat Bed

Wendy Johnson, the talented woman who designed this pattern, has a wonderful two-page viewing gallery of knitted cat beds in all kinds of colors and variations - as varied, in fact, as the pampered cats occupying them. Wendy's Kitty Bed Gallery is well worth a visit, especially if you plan on trying your hand at knitting this felted cat bed!

Lucy's Kitty Bed -- a Felted Cat Bed for the Kitty Who Has Everything!

by Wendy Johnson

I think of this as a Kitty Pi, because the shaping is based on the increases used in Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl. Think of it as a pie shell with your kitty as the filling!

You can use any bulky weight 100% wool yarn that will felt.

Materials

Noro Big Kureyon (bulky weight wool, 176 yards/skein) -- 2 skeins (I used less than half of the second skein
Eyelash yarn (optional, for trim)
US size 11 (or larger!) dpns and 24" circular needle
 

Directions

With Kureyon, cast on 9 stitches on dpns

Knit 1 round

Knit 1 round, increasing by knitting into the front and back of each stitch -- 18 stitches

And here's what it looks like at this point:

Knit 3 rounds

Knit 1 round, increasing by knitting into the front and back of each stitch -- 36 stitches

Knit 6 rounds

Knit 1 round, increasing by knitting into the front and back of each stitch -- 72 stitches

Knit 12 rounds

Knit 1 round, increasing by knitting into the front and back of each stitch -- 144 stitches

You can switch to your circular needle at this point.

Knit 30 rounds (or enough to get the prefelted diameter you want)

Next round: (Knit 10, knit 2 together) 12 times

Knit 9 rounds straight.

Next round: (Knit 9, knit 2 together) 12 times

Knit five additional rounds holding one strand of eyelash yarn together with the bulky wool, and cast off on the 5th round

Here it is after knitting -- it's about 28" in diameter, not including the sides.

At right, you can see the side view:

Weave in all yarn ends.

Felt the bed by placing it in a zippered pillowcase cover and washing it in the washing machine on a hot wash/cold rinse cycle with a bath towel in the washer for added friction, until it reaches the finished size you want. I ran mine through two cycles, then I stretched it over a Tupperware pie carrier with a bath towel folded up and taped around it (photo at left).

And put it on top of a box (see photo at right) and left it to dry.

The finished size is approximately 17" in diameter.

Note: I was a bit over-zealous in my blocking the first time around. But that's the beauty of felting -- after going through another cycle in the washer, it's at the size I want now -- about 15" in diameter.

© 2003-2010 Wendy D. Johnson  - Permission to redistribute for non-commercial use is granted provided that this copyright notice is included.

You may view Wendy's knitting blog at: WendyKnits.net