I originally thought I would just crochet little blankets as holiday gifts for the four feline members of my family, but then I saw this pattern for a cute cat Nest (scroll down toward the bottom of the page for the English translation), and just had to try it out.
Although I used the same pattern for all four cat beds, they are all unique thanks to the different brands of worsted weight yarn I used to make them. Unfortunately, I didn't have any yarn that was as thick as the yarn the pattern author used (nor did I have any wool yarn I could have shrank/felted the projects down to a smaller/sturdier size with), so I just worked with multiple strands of yarn for each bed and hoped for the best.
The pattern was easy to work up. However, I did make one minor change in how I worked the opening of the bed. Instead of working it as written (i.e. cutting the yarn every round), I just worked the round until there were 10 stitches left. At that point I did a ch 1 and turned, then worked the round all the way around to where the previous round began. When back at the beginning I did another ch1 and turned again to work another round back to where the previous round ended. I repeated this until the opening was 7 rounds high, as called for in the pattern. This technique achieved the same effect without having to fasten off the yarn every round.
For the bed for my Mom's cat, Sierra, I used a size L hook, with a triple-strand of purples and white variegated yarn, paired with a strand of lavender and a strand of white yarn. And for this bed I did a 12 stitch (instead of 10 as the pattern calls for) opening, because Sierra is big and fluffy. Unfortunately even with a triple strand of yarn the bed was still too “soft” to stand up/hold its shape well. So, I doubt Sierra will actually want to go inside. She will probably end up flattening the top down and laying on top of the disk instead.
For the bed for my Sister and Brother-in-Law's cat, Tesla, I used Size J hook, and worked with a double strand of yarn - a variegated (white, pink, green and blue) paired with a pale pink strand - for the top and bottom of the bed. And for the sides of the bed I tried some solid blue slightly thicker, rug yarn (hoping that would help it stand up better). It sort of holds it's shape, but it’s not perfect - the top still sort of collapses. So, this may be another bed that gets flattened into a disk and laid on top of.
For the bed for my Dad's cat, Rio, I again used a J hook, blue rug yarn (for the sides and top) and more of the variegated (white, pink, green and blue) yarn paired with a white for the double stranded bed bottom. This one doesn't stand up at all, but this big, fat cat wouldn't fit inside of it anyway. The bed flattens out into a nice disk-shaped bed for her though.
And, last but not least, is the parents' rescued baby cat's bed. I again used a size J hook and I worked with a double strand of lavender and gray yarn. I'm not sure what, if anything, I did differently this time around, but this bed stands up the best of the four beds I made - it's nearly perfect! Maybe it's because the top isn't so heavy, since I ended at round 36, to leave another hole in the top. This playful baby cat is the only one of the bunch that is very likely to want to go hide inside her little bed, so I decided to give her two entrances/exits to go in and peek out of (which I've been told she loves to do).
Sorry, I don't have pictures of any of the cats using their new beds. They all get quite shy when my guide dog and I go over to their houses for a visit.
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