valry, Author at Cats Before Hats

Cat yarn bowls for knitters who love cats.

Do you use a yarn bowl while knitting? I never really did before but, lately, I’ve found that knitting bowls have become an essential tool in my arsenal. Why? One word: cats. Cats do make knitting hard sometimes, don’t they? Mine always think my yarn (and my needles, and my stitch markers…) are toys just for them and they are always eager to play. Luckily, my cat yarn bowl (because, obviously, I have a cat-shaped yarn bowl) keeps my yarn (and my project) safe and sound from playful felines.

What is a yarn bowl? Simply put, yarn bowls are bowls in which you put your yarn while knitting. They stop the ball of yarn from getting away from you, falling, and rolling away, and keep it close on hand. When I use a yarn bowl while knitting, I always know where my ball of yarn is, I know it won’t get loose and become a play toy, and I know it’s guarded from sneaky little paws.

Knitting bowls come in all kinds of materials (from wood to porcelain to ceramic) and shapes and patterns. So, if you love cats, a cat knitting bowl is the perfect choice! (Or should I say purrr-fect choice!)

Because of my love for all things cats and knitting, it’s only appropriate that I have a cat yarn bowl myself. My white ceramic yarn bowl is shaped like a cat and delightfully holds my yarn in place for whatever hat for cats I am currently knitting. If I do say so myself, mine is pretty awesome. But there are also a lot more options. Here are a few of my favorites…

Cat yarn bowls for knitters who love cats:

1. Knitty Cat Knitting Bowl from Lenny Mud

2. Ceramic Chubby Cat Knitting Bowl from Barruntando

3. Ceramic Cat Knitting Bowl from Bordo Ceramics

4. Kitty Yarn Bowl from Pioneer Road Pottery

5. Mistery Kitty Cat Ceramic Pottery Yarn Bowl from YH Pottery

6. Hand-turned Yarn Bowl with Kitties from Whimsical Wood Carving

Cat yarn bowls for knitters who love cats. - Cat Knitting Bowls and Cat-shaped Yarn bowls. — Cat yarn bowls for knitters who love cats. – Cat Knitting Bowls and Cat-shaped Yarn bowls.

Easy Cat Ear Barrettes Knitting Pattern

Do you ever wish you were a cat? They get to nap all day, don’t have to take showers, have no responsibilities, and are pretty much fed on demand. Seems like the life to me. Of course, if I can’t be a cat I can at least spend a lazy day here and there napping, not showering, avoiding responsibility, and ordering delivery. Which is kind of the same thing.

This cat ear barrettes knitting pattern is super easy and a perfect (or should I say purrrfect) quick project for lazy days just like that. I finished knitting both ears in well less than an episode of Black Mirror. And it only took so long because I kept getting distracted (by both the TV and the cats) and messing up and having to start over.

The trick to knitting these cat ears is to try to keep the yarn a bit loose. It’s a tight pattern that starts with casting on just one stitch followed by a quick succession of increases and ends by knitting straight onto a barrette. This last step makes the pattern both simple, because you don’t have to cast off and figure out how to attach it, and difficult, because have you ever tried knitting with a barrette as a needle? It’s not as easy as it sounds.

So maybe you never will actually be a cat. But you can at least knit some cat ears and pretend (purrrtend?) while napping in bed with cats. And that may just be almost as good anyways.

Cat Ear Barrettes Knitting Pattern:

Yarn

Super Bulky (Shown here, KnitPicks Tuff Puff Super Bulky yarn in Conch)

Gauge

2.5 sts = 1″ on #15 needles

What You Need

US13 needles
2 2¼-inch barrettes
A tapestry needle to weave in ends

Glossary

K: Knit
KFB: Knit Front and Back

Instructions:

Remove the spring and clip from the barrettes, set aside.
Cast on 1 stitch using long tail cast on.
Row 1: K1
Row 2: KFB
Row 3: K2
Row 4: KFB2
Row 5: K4
Row 6: KFB1, K2, KFB1
Row 7: K6
Row 8: KFB1, K4, KFB1
Row 9: K8, loosely
Switch working needle with barrette
Row 10: K8 using barrette as working needle
Cut off yarn and weave in both ends with a tapestry needle.
Adjust ear to stand upright on the barrette.
Replace the spring and clip on the barrette.

Repeat on second barrette to get two cat ears.

Knitting hats for my cats.

I knew very well that my cats would not be happy if I knit them little cat hats and made them wear them. That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to knit them little cat hats. I’m just saying they weren’t going to be happy about it. I mean, have you met my cats?

So, yeah, there was a big part of me that knew I was wasting my time in knitting hats for my cats. But I was having a hungover-day-after-birthday day watching Netflix in bed anyways. Plus both my new birthday-present-to-myself copy of Cats in Hats and a new batch of yarn came in the mail that day. So, really, it was fate.

There were a lot of patterns in the book, but I decided to start with these basic “Bobble Hats,” which were actually pretty easy to knit. Well, easy if you’re not wrapped up in episodes of Portlandia and keep losing track of where you are and having to rip everything out and start over again. Luckily. since cat heads are pretty tiny, ripping all my stitches out to start over was only like 20 stitches total. Each time.

The cats even tried to help me out. Rooney pounced all over the loose yarn leftover from casting on and Ford gnawed away at my needles as I stitched. They’re big helpers. Really.

In the end, the hats turned out super adorable. Of course, my cats would rather play with the hats I knit for them and try to tear them apart rather than wear them. To each their own, I guess.

At least it was a quick and easy project…

Supplies for this knitting project:

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Pattern: Cats in Hats: 30 Knit and Crochet Hat Patterns for Your Kitty by Sara Thomas
Yarn: KnitPicks Mighty Stitch Yarn in Marina and Mint
Needles: Caspian 10-inch Straight Needles, US 7 (4.50 mm)

Knitting hats for my cats using the book Cats in Hats: 30 Knit and Crochet Hat Patterns for Your Kitty by Sara Thomas

Knitting with cats.

Have you ever tried knitting with cats around? It can be, shall I say, a struggle. And that’s being kind. I don’t know about your cats but mine like to tug at my yarn, play with my hanks, bat around my stitch markers, and chew on my needles.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to knit with my arms around a cat who is sleeping on my chest. How many times I’ve found the project I’ve been working on on one end of my apartment and the ball of yarn that I was working from on the other. How many times I’ve just had to put down a project completely because the cats just won’t leave me (and it) alone.

I have to keep all of my yarn and accessories and projects in progress locked in a hall closet to keep both them safely hidden and the cats safe from eating the yarn when I’m not there. Still, every time I open that closet door, they make a b-line to my basket of yarn and dive right in.

That is what it’s like to be a knitter with cats.

Cats Before Hats is for those of us knitters who have to do their knitting with cats crawling all over them. It’s for those of us knitters who have had to explain on more than one occasion that yarn is not a toy. It’s for those of us knitters who are crazy enough to knit hats for our cats even though we know they probably won’t wear them (and probably will completely destroy them). It’s for those of us knitters who sometimes might want to knit a cat hat for themselves (or a cat scarf or cat mittens or really just all the cat things ever). It’s for those of us knitters who also love cats.

Pictured knitting supplies:

This section contains affiliate links from which your purchases will make us a commission.
Yarn: KnitPicks Mighty Stitch Yarn in Marina and Mint
Needles: Caspian 10-inch Straight Needles, US 7 (4.50 mm)