We love our cats (Minerva and Monty) here at The Yarn Queen. We love them so much, we have been compiling a list of patterns for cats that we can make for them. In fact, we may have gotten into some Raveloops that were, fortunately, disrupted when our cats demanded petting food!
But here’s the thing about compiling knitting and crochet patterns for cats. Some of them are for things they will love (cat caves, cat kickers, and so forth). But some are for things that we will love, but our cats might not appreciate. Is it worth spending three days to knit your cat a shark sweater so you can snap an Instagram photo five seconds before your feline friend claws it to bits? Yes, we would argue, it totally is.
(And if you want to make something with cats on them, we have a great roundup of Cat Knitting and Crochet Patterns!)
Free Patterns for Cats Your Cat Will Love
Cat Toy Mouse
Does your cat love toy mousies? Make them one with love using this free Cat Toy Mouse pattern from Daisy and Storm. Because it takes only 18m of DK or light worsted weight yarn, it is great for using up scraps, and you can add stripes if you want to use even smaller bits and bobs. It is all in one piece except for the ears.
Three Toys You Can Make From Scraps
I Knitted This has a free YouTube tutorial for three toys you can make from scraps: a ball, teaser toys for cat wands, and a fish. These are quick and easy ways to give your cat a toy they will love. (Or ignore…they’re cats, after all!)
Kicker Cat Toy
Many cats love kickers — and they will love them even more if they are made by you! Crochet Cryptid’s Kicker Cat Toy crochet pattern works up quickly. You can stuff it with things like polyfill, catnip, or a combination. It’s worked in the round, so stuff as you go. The designer uses Lily Sugar n Cream, which is exactly what we would recommend for it.
Free Patterns Your Cat Might Hate
Sauron Ribbed Button-Up Bowtie
Catventurous Crochet offers many free video tutorials for crochet patterns for cats on her YouTube channel. The Sauron Ribbed Button-Up Bowtie is an adorable bow tie that buttons on to your cat’s neck. It calls for a DK yarn and is a perfect way to use some yarn scraps! She also offers a Shishi Button-up Cat Sweater Video Tutorial and a Darcy Cat Flower Crown tutorial, as well as many others. (And Melba is a great meow-del!)
Triangle Cowl for Tiny Creatures
The Triangle Cowl for Tiny Creatures knitting pattern by Sylvia McFadden is adorable. According to some pet owners, it has also made their cats calmer! And it’s a perfect little project for a yarn scrap. Reviewers say the pattern is clear and very easy.
Knitted Alien Cat Hat
CraftFoxes has created a Knitted Alien Cat Hat pattern that will make your cat look like an adorable space alien. It even has openings for the ears! You will need 32 meters of worsted weight yarn in colour A and a scrap of worsted weight yarn in colour B. This could be an opportunity to use up some leftovers, but if you want to buy yarn for it, we would direct you at Wool and the Gang’s Shiny Happy Cotton because it has the kind of bright colours that will make your cat look like the alien it sometimes seems to be.
Paid Patterns for Cats Your Cat Will Love
Five Quick Crochet Cat Toys
Rachel Choi has created five quick crochet cat toy patterns. There is a basic ball, a ball with string, an adorable fish, a cute mouse and a creepy spider. These are a good fit for Lily Sugar n Cream yarn.
Cat Pod Crochet Pattern
The Cat Pod Crochet Pattern from Alley Cats and Angels is the snuggly home your cat will love! You may have seen stylish versions of these for sale at very high prices — now you can make your own! This is an easy pattern to make. It will also add a lovely note to your home decor. We would recommend Urth Monokrom Worsted for the colour variations. Note that the yarn will be doubled in order to give the cat pod the strength it needs to keep its shape. All proceeds from the pattern will go to the animal rescue organization Alley Cats and Angels of North Carolina.
Cat Bed
If your cat doesn’t want a closed bed but does want to stay warm, the Cat Bed knitting pattern by Sarah Taylor is a cozy cat cuddler made with super chunky yarn. It works up quickly and includes instructions on magic loop for the decreasing stage. Some people who have made it have stuffed the edges with polyfill to give a little more cushion and make them stand up even straighter. If you used Malabrigo Rasta for this, it would be cozy for your cat and an eye-catching addition to your household!
Paid Patterns Your Cat Might Hate
Cat Shark Sweater
Sarah Petersen’s Cat Shark Sweater knitting pattern will turn your household menace into the silent killer of the deep! At least until they start meowing for food. There is a size small, to fit a 10 pound cat, and a size large, to fit a 14 pound cat. Petersen says it will easily slip over your cat’s head. (If you have a diabetic cat that needs to wear a glucose monitor, this could be an adorable way to keep them from tearing it off!) Make it sturdy with Urth Yarns Harvest Worsted.
Bumblebee Cat Sweater
The Bumblebee Cat Sweater pattern uses a combination of knitting and crochet to dress your cat up adorably. The pattern comes with instructions on how to create custom measurements for your pet (cat, dog or other creature), so you can make it a perfect fit. Reviewers say this pattern is very clear and fairly easy to make. And since they include photos of their cats in the sweaters, it apparently isn’t difficult to put on, either. Use worsted weight scraps in yellow, black, and white (for the wings), or, if you don’t have any scraps and want to go big, use Urth Yarns Harvest Worsted.
Note: As always, our project list exceeds our time available, and we haven’t made all of these patterns. Therefore, we can’t guarantee that every pattern is perfect, although we do read reviews, comments and posts on each pattern before we include it. If you spot any issues with these, please let us know!
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