How many is too many cats?

I just finished making this big litter of cat heads in different colors. They are cute hanging on your keychain, backpack zipper pulls, cell phones or can even be made into pins or magnets. Or, you can use them for juggling.

Here's a free pattern for them:

Juggling Cats

You need:
Lily Sugar and Cream in colors of your choice.
“G” crochet hook
Polyfiber stuffing
Optional craft eyes (6 mm)
Yarn needle

Body:
Using white yarn color for face:
Make magic ring*, ch 1
Round 1: sc 6 into a magic ring, pull tight.
Round 2: sc 2 into each sc around (12 sc)

Change to yarn color for body:
Round 3: (sc 1 into next sc, then sc 2 into next), around (18 sc)
Round 4: (sc 1 into next 2 sc, then sc 2 into next) around (24 sc)
Rounds 5 to 9: sc around (24 sc)

If you are using plastic safety eyes, place them now.
Round 10: (sc 1 into next 2 sc, sc2tog) around (18)
Round 11 (sc 1 into next sc, sc2tog) around (12 sc)
Stuff with polyfiber.

Round 12: (sc2tog) around (6 sc)
Join with sl st to next st. Fasten off, pull tight to close and hide yarn end.

Ear - (make 2):
Make magic ring, ch 1
Round 1: 4 sc in magic ring (4 st)
Round 2: (sc 1 into next sc, sc 2 into next sc) twice (6 st)
Round 3: (sc 1 into next sc, sc 2 into next sc) three times (9 st)
Join with sl st to next st. Fasten off, leaving long end of yarn.

Tail
Ch 12
2 Sc into 2nd ch from hook, 2 sc into each ch until end
Fasten off, leaving long end of yarn.

Assembly:

Sew ears on top of face. Sew tail on back of body. Embroider some whiskers…and play!

* Don't know how to make a magic ring? Do a search on YouTube to see a demo...

Sanrio Piano Time

Okay, the sun is up so I took my Sanrio family out to the piano. I actually use this room as my studio so it's got balls of yarn around everywhere. As you can see, Charmmy Kitty is huge! She's about 12 inches tall and the biggest amigurumi project I've ever made. She took me 3 days to make. In case you don't know, Charmmy Kitty is Hello Kitty's pet. (It seems a little weird to me for a cat to have a pet cat, but okay.) The rabbit with the pink hoodie is My Melody and the colorful rabbit with the stick like body is Usahana. Of course, there's Hello Kitty herself and I made a black Hello Kitty with a pink strawberry body.

Hello Kitty Strawberry!

I thought I'd try making some Hello Kittys for a change. I found a cute book of Hello Kitty amigurumi and am giving it a go. The first one I made was Strawberry Hello Kitty. It looked small in the photo, but when I made it, it came out quite large. It measures 10 inches tall. I liked how this Strawberry Hello Kitty came out so I also made a black one with a pink strawberry, a very large Charmmy Kitty, an Usahana and a My Melody. Later, I'll have to take a photo of this group, but they are too big for my photo box, so I need to do it later when the sun comes up. Okay, back to making more Hello Kitty...

Cactus Kokeshi Dolls

Is it just me or is cactus really popular right now? I see cactus gardens popping up all over. I saw some really cute cactus plushes and decided what the heck, why not make a cactus kokeshi doll. So I did, and here is the result.

Then people started asking for a pattern, so I wrote one up.

Hmmm...cactus. I really should start my own cactus garden outside too...

Big Max, a dog

I made this pup, and thought long and hard for a name for him. Finally, I settled on Max...well BIG MAX, because someday he's going to grow up to be a big dog. At least that's the way he thinks and feels. He already thinks he's the alpha dog in the pack.

So I wrote up a pattern for him because I bet there are a lot of people who have their own Big Max's at home and want to crochet up a dog just like him.

Check out this little Rottie, who also expects to grow up big...

Mei Mei a Chinese Kokeshi Doll

I'm not sure if it's appropriate for me to say Mei Mei is a Chinese Kokeshi doll. There must be a different word in Chinese that's equivalent to the kokeshi doll, but I don't know it, so go with me here.


I just think her hair style with the long strands in the front and the bun in back looks Chinese. At least that's the way I remember them from Bruce Lee movies. No negative connotations here because I am a big martial arts action fan. I love Jet Li.


Getting back to Mei Mei... She was created because I had a request for a Ni Hao Kailan doll. Do you know her? She has her own cartoon. In fact, here is a picture of the finished doll.

Yes, she is wearing headphones. No she doesn't wear them in the cartoon. That's just the way my friend wanted it.

Getting back to Mei Mei. After making Ni Hao Kailan's hair, I decided to try it out on my little kokeshis and it worked out great. So I wrote up a new pattern for it and it's available in my Etsy shop.

Check it out!

Who is Mugsy?

The first time we saw Mugsy, he was a mess. He's a stray black cat that lives in our neighborhood. Part of his ear looks like it was bit off. He was thin and scraggly, so his silhouette looked like a Halloween cat. Still, you can see that he was muscular. He was a scary looking cat. We thought he was terrorising another little stray cat outside, so we gave him the gangster name, "Mugsy".

We'll as time went on, we softened up around Mugsy and he started to grow on us. As it turns out, he is a very gentle guy around us and our other stray, although it seemed like he was getting into cat fights somewhere else in the neighborhood. He'd show up now and then with more battle scars.

So now, wheneever I make a black cat, I think of Mugsy. I even named my new pattern after him. Amigurumi Mugsy is about 5 1/2 inches tall and 4 inches wide. He's also fun to make, and fun to look at.