At this time of the year I am
normally looking for Christmas presents.
I often try to buy something with a cat on it for some friends of mine
who love the furry creatures. It is hard
to find something new that they haven’t got – so I decided that I would knit
them one of my throws.
I have lots of books of patterns – including designs that have cats on them – so I have collected together some of them and added a few ideas of my own. I spent ages thinking and not enough time knitting – but I think I am sorted now – and I can just get on with the knitting.
I am using Rowan Pure Wool
Superwash Worsted in various colours – but I have tried to pick – “cat colours”
and a few contrast colours that my friends like – particularly blues and
burgundy. I think I am using 5.5 mm
needles – I am actually not sure – but it doesn’t matter as long as I keep
using the same circular needle to knit the whole throw.
I thought about knitting
individual squares – but I remembered how much I dislike sewing squares together
– so I have decided to knit 6 strips of 6 squares. This means that I have to pay attention to
the placement of the colours – so the same colour is not used in 2 adjoining
squares (or squares that will be adjoining when the strips are sewn
together). I am also trying to spread
out the colours across the throw – so that the design looks balanced.
The first square come from the book Cat Knits by Marna Gilligan. It is a repeat pattern which is used in the book on hats and a jumper.
The second square I invented but it was inspired by a design in the book Cats Knits by Melinda Coss.
The third square comes from The Sasha Kagan Sweater Book.
The fourth square is inspired by a design in Melinda Coss’s book.
And the fifth square is largely copied from Nicky Epstein’s book Knitting Block by Block.
I have knitted many more squares
but I haven’t photographed them yet. I
will try to show you more of this throw later in the month. I have decided to call it “Catastrophe” – let’s
hope it doesn’t turn out to be one!
