Knit Your Own Cat

Knit Your Own Cat: Easy-to-Follow Patterns for 16 Frisky Felines by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne is a strange book for me to choose, if only because I am not really a cat person. I found the companion book (Knit Your Own Dog) and was impressed by how realistic the patterns are. To my untrained eye, there is not a lot of variety in feline shape, but I was excited to flip through the book to see what different breeds look like.

The patterns include:

1. Persian
2. Ragdoll
3. Main Coon
4. Turkish Van
5. Kittens* (two colors, white and tabby, are shared.)
6. British Shorthair
7. Devon Rex
8. Abyssinian
9. Burmese
10. Bengal
11. Siamese
12. Orange (street cat)
13. Black and White (street cat)
14. Tabby (street cat)
15. Black Cat (street cat)
16. Tortoiseshell (street cat)

You will notice that 5 of the cats are street cats of different patterns.

I doubt I will ever knit my own cat, but you should be able to replicate your little friend with the help from this book! Like the dog companion book, this book has an excellent index with thumbnails at the end, but there are no knitting instructions. This is also not a book for beginners!

There is more difference in the shape of the cats than I initially expected. They are also knit into different poses, curled up, laying down and standing. Once again, the selection of yarns is pretty fantastic (and explained well), and these selections are really what help make the cat.

I cannot see myself knitting my own cat as Keith may be allergic to that version. (Just kidding!) I am glad that I took the time to flip through it. I hadn't really thought about the different shapes and sizes of cats before!