Cat Hats

My sister gifted me this great book, Cats in Hats by Sara Thomas (available here via Amazon).

This book is so much fun. Unfortunately, my cats are not exactly of the docile type (they do not love the cat hats as much as I do). That said, they have been happy enough to at least pose for a few photos before squirming away.

At lot of the patterns included in this book could be made using leftover yarn, and really take an hour or less to complete. So it’s easy to pump these out in one sitting.

The book has both knit and crochet patterns. I’ve really only tried the crochet patterns because I think those work up faster.

The basic idea is that you start from one end, leaving a yarn tail, and increase the number of stitches as you go from row to row. Once you have a decent triangle shape, you skip a number of stitches in the next row to create the first ear hole. Then you continue on to make a rectangle shape for the middle portion. From there, you make the second ear hole and then begin the triangle on the other side, decreasing the number of stitches as you go from row to row. At the end you fasten off the yarn, leaving a second yarn tail in order to tie the hat. Depending on the pattern, you will knit or crochet a separate piece (for example, a cone-shaped piece for a party hat), stuff it with poly-fil fiber, and then sew it onto the base of the hat.

The patterns are pretty simple and easy to follow.

Santa hat cats

Cat hats also make cute stuffed animal accessories, if your cats don’t appreciate all of your hard work but you still want to showcase the adorableness.

If you have spare bits of yarn leftover from bigger projects, and a willing cat, this is a fun, creative way to keep yarn from going to waste! It’s really easy to adapt or modify these patterns, so I’m pretty sure the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!