Catastrophe Throw

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!