crochet cat - free tutorial

a little crochet cat

a cute little darling

In this tutorial, I want to show you how to crochet a very easy cat.  It is a quick project to use up some stash, as you will not need a whole skein to make this.  It is also an easy project for beginners.
I found my inspiration on the blog of marmalade rose, she makes a lot of pretty things !

the translation in Dutch is added in colour. 

These are the 3 pieces you need to crochet :

a tail, a body and a head

Here it goes :

first make the body.
CO 25 chain stiches and crochet 24 single crochet stiches.
crochet 34 rows in sc.

Maak eerst het lijfje.

Haak 25 kettingsteken, en haak er 24 vasten in. 

Haak 34 rijen in vasten. 

then make the head
 CO 16 chain stitches
1st row : crochet 15 sc
2nd - 9th row : repeat row 1
10th row : decrease a stich at the beginning and at the end of the row : 13 sc
11th row : repeat decrease : 11 sc
12th row : repeat decrease : 9 sc
13th row : repeat decrease : 7 sc
14th row : now increase a stich at each end : 9 sc
15th row : repeat increase : 11 sc
16th row : repeat increase : 13 sc
17th row : repeat increase : 15 sc
18 - 26th row : crochet 15 sc

Maak het hoofdje : 

haak 16 kettingsteken

rij 1 : 15 vasten

rij 2 - 9 : herhaal rij 1

rij 10 : minder een steek aan elk uiteinde : 13 vasten

rij 11 : herhaal minderingen : 11 vasten

rij 12 : herhaal minderingen : 9 vasten

rij 13 : herhaal minderingen, 7 vasten

rij 14 : maak nu een steek bij aan elk uiteinde : 9 vasten

rij15 : herhaal meerderingen : 11 vasten

rij16 : herhaal maarderingen : 13 vasten

rij17 : herhaal meerderingen : 15 vasten

rij 18 - 26 : haak telkens 15 vasten, haak af.

Now crochet the tail. 
chain 3, join into a round.

In 2nd row, make 2 stiches in each stich, you have 6 sc.

Continue to crochet these 6 stiches in a spiral until the tail measures about 5 cm.

Fasten off leaving a sewing length.

 

Haak nu het staartje. 

Zet 3 kettingsteken op, sluit tot een rondje.  Haak in elke steek 2 vasten.  Haak verder in deze 6 vasten in een spiraal tot het staartje ongeveer 5 cm is.  haak af en laat een beetje draad over om aan te naaien.

Sew the body together like this :

Naai het lijfje samen zoals volgt : 

put a pin in the centre

fold over from the corner, form a leg and sew

do the same on the other end, turn inside out

this is how it should look, leave the belly open

fill with some stuffing, close the belly.

Add the tail on one side. 

Naai het staartje aan 1 kant vast

Sew the head like this

Naai het kopje zo :

fold and close both rounded sides

fill with stuffing and close this part too

mark the place for the ears, and sew

add a face (2 black beads for the eyes, and a mustache !)

Now sew the head to the body.  It might be a bit tricky to hold in place.  I sewed first with some big stiches and then returned to fasten tightly with small stiches. 

I'm a pretty present

or just a cute object

have a lot of fun making me !

If you have any questions, or if anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to contact me on email : breien_en_haken@hotmail.com !

knitting loves crochet

Some time ago, I bought this book because I fell in love with the beautiful top on the front page.  It is partly knitted, and finished with crochet borders. 

I have made one for me, but I choose purple. 

the knitting stich of the book was quite heavy for the cotton I had, so I knitted it in plain stockinette stich (jersey)

Now all we need is a bit of sunshine so that I can wear it...

a cat nap

Last weekend there was a flea market in the neighborhood.  Look what I bought for my 2 darling cats : a new sleeping place. 

This is a 2-storey apartment.  One cat can sleep downstairs, and the other one holds residence on the first floor.
 
In cat psychology, the superior cat (the one who can sleep on the heighest place) is actualy superior (the alpha cat).  Little white princess Misty is clearly the superior cat here.... 

a room with a view for Spirou

death of a star

Through all the information about the horrible deaths in Norway, another news item caught my ear : Amy Winehouse is found dead in her appartement....
It made me feel so sad. 
Such a troubled young person, I can't stop wondering about this frail little singer with the enormous voice that captured so many people's hearts.
Underneath all that make-up was a gifted young girl, with one of the best voices of this decade. 
It makes me sad when I think of all the beautiful potential songs we are missing out on now that she's no longer around to sing them.
Fare well Amy, rest in peace.

some new summer dresses

The sun is supposed to shine, but instead it's a becoming a typical Belgian summer : gray and dull weather, rain, clouds, and temperatures not rising above 18°C.  Only the brave are on the beach, and fully clothed as well.   
To keep my spirits up, I have made some summer dresses, in flower power colours.  Sitting here, at my kitchen table, sewing and ironing, it feels like a winter holiday. 
Who or what do we have to offer to the sun goddess so that she will remember to shine on our little spot on this earth ?
Any suggestions ?

Here are the dresses, in different stages of completion.

I bought 2 patterns from burda

Love the fabric, makes me feel rock 'n roll

dress nr 1 is finished !

dress nr 2 is lined with cotton, I can wear it now.

I like the little bows at the top

cut on the biais - flattering for any girl !

fimo necklace #005

 A funky necklace, to wear in the sunshine.  Next week, when all the rain has gone....

This new fimo necklace was inspired by the book from Sophie Arzalier.

I used fimo balls, in various marbled colours, and I made small cube shaped beads to, with a fimo cane.  A super technique that I want to experiment further with.
I used a lot of left over beads, that matched in shape and colours.  It is a long necklace, I can twist it around my neck about 3 times.  Or let it hang long, depending on what I'm wearing.
The basic colours are pink, light green and light blue. 

colours are too blue, due to bad camera...

I made it extra long, lots of beads went into it

I can wear it 3x around my neck

a summer feeling created by a funky colourscheme

gebreide sjaal met regia wol

I have knitted another scarf, in Regia handdyed wool.
the pattern is from Veritas.  It was very easy to knit and I like the strange shape.

In het magazine dat de winkelketen Veritas samen met het magazine Libelle maakt, stond een mooie rode sjaal. Het bijzondere aan de sjaal was het asymetrische : de ene kant is veel langer en smaller dan de andere kant.

Hij is afgewerkt met een mooie open ajourrand.  De wol is van Regia, eigenlijk is dat sokkenwol, maar je kan die dus ook voor ander mooi werk gebruiken. 

een heel mooi kleurenverloop

hier hangt-ie op de waslijn, om het model te tonen

de ajourrand wordt achteraf aangebreid