One of my favourite things about the Christmas break is that I get the opportunity to get lots of crafting done. Indeed, I'm finding that returning to work this week has seriously impacted my knitting and sewing productivity :0
This delightful black cat was one of my favourite seasonal projects. It is my second kit from The Little Knit Kit Company in Wales and was a Christmas gift from my good friends, Nic and Ian.
Like the Seaside Cottage Kit I knitted previously, the kit came complete with yarn, stuffing, thread and all the bits and bobs to make the kitty. It also came in a brown paper bag, which I just love!
The kit is intended for children and the cat's body is made from two simple garter stitch rectangles. The ears are made from two knitted squares and a further rectangle completes the tail. I was super-impressed by the quality of the yarn, which was nice and thick and made a great, firm knitted fabric. The texture of the finished cat is just wonderful.
Although you get some needles with the kit, I used my brand new 4mm Signature Arts stilleto tipped knitting needles that I bought from Yarn Box.
If you are wondering if it's worth paying £35 for a pair of knitting needles, my answer would be a definite yes in this case. The Signature Arts needles look and feel beautiful and are really easy to knit with. If only you didn't need them in so many sizes...
Having knitted kitty from rectangles and squares, the trick with the sewing up and stuffing was to get some roundness in there. The two end pieces of the rectangles are gathered to make a head shape. The kit suggested pulling the collar ribbon tight to make the neck, but I actually used a piece of yarn to do that and then covered it over with the ribbon and of course a little bell. The tail sewed up nice and thick without any stuffing and then I sewed on the ears.
This kit was a delight to make and the finished cat is supercute. Best of all, Nic and Ian bought me another kit, this time to make little knitted critters, so I've got that to look forward to as well.
All the best for 2011
Melx
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