I saw this cute little cat applique on Ravelry, and I immediately wondered if it would be a good size to be an alternative shape for bonding squares.
The pattern is called Cat for Beginners, and it is available for free at Happy Craft HQ. No finished measurements are given, but the pattern calls for sport weight yarn and a 3 mm hook, which is between a C and D in American sizes. It's definitely to small to be a bonding square at that gauge, so I made it in Aran weight yarn, with a size I (5.5 mm) hook. It came out and acceptable size for my purposes.
Making one of these cats took about ten minutes, and I say that knowing I'm not the fastest crocheter. The pattern has lots of photos to help walk you through the process. Saying it's for beginners is accurate, but it uses a variety of stitches, including a picot. I'd say this pattern is good for a beginner who knows their stitches and is learning to follow a pattern.
BUT the pattern could use a little editing for clarity. The cat starts with 7 chains that goes down the center of the cat. The seventh chain is a turning chain, so you start with six stitches, and you work all the way around the chain to make the cat in the round. The step-by-step instructions say to sc in the chain after the turning chain and then "Continue crocheting the remaining 4 single crochets." First, that makes it sound like you only have four stitches left when you have five. Second, the phrasing suggests your working some unspecified stitch into each of four previously worked single crochet (which you can't, because they don't exist). What the designer MEANS is to sc in each of the next four chains, which will leave one chain at the end that you will use in the next step to turn the corner. All of that is more clear in the simplified instructions at the top of the pattern (they're in a pair of boxes, just under the abbreviations), but you won't see that if you're following the step-by-step guide.
In the second round, stitch-by-stitch instructions are given using abbreviations and parentheses, but the designer doesn't indicate where the stitches go. Fortunately, there are no skipped stitches, so it's easy to figure out, but you need to know how to read a pattern already to understand instructions that are only implied.
One part of that row, the space between the cat's "ears" is made by increasing, and the instructions only say "inc." They do not indicate what type of stitches to use. The pattern's glossary simply says that increasing means putting two stitches in the indicated stitch. It does not say what stitch to use for the purposes of this pattern. Looking at the photos and using a little deductive reasoning, the designer intended an increase to be two sc in the same stitch.
The tail is made by making some chains and then slip stitching across them before making the next treble. If you just slip stitch in each chain that leaves a bit of a gap between the trebles. If you read beyond the end of the instructions for that round to the photos on doing the tail, the final slip stitch goes into the previous treble the same way you would to close a picot, and that works well. It's just not obvious if you don't read the pattern all the way through ahead of time.
All that said, it's a cute pattern, and I enjoyed making it. Using picots for ears is clever. I made two of these little applique. The first I made mostly according to the instructions, but the second I changed a little to improve on the pattern a bit.
I started the second cat with a row of foundation single crochet and then working into the underside of those stitches. The difference in appearance was, I think, neutral, and it didn't make anything faster or easier, so that change didn't matter and is entirely a matter of preference.
The sides of the cat's body are made in part by putting three trebles in the same stitch. On the second side, the tail is placed between the first and second treble. I think that looks too high up, so I put the tail between the second and third treble.
Finally, the last stitch in the second round leaves the final stitch of the first round unworked, and it doesn't close the round, which felt unfinished to me. I put a single crochet in that final stitch, and I finished off by working a slip stitch into the beginning of the round.
In the pattern itself, after the second round, the page proceeds directly to instructions on how to do certain stitches and detailed instructions for certain parts of the pattern. The instructions are good, as are the photos illustrating the instructions. However, there isn't a clear demarcation between the end of the second round and the beginning of those clarifying instructions, and the end of the second round doesn't tell you that you're done.
Overall, the Cat For Beginners is a fun, quick, easy project that makes a good make-and-take for learning to read patterns, but the pattern itself could use a little editing for clarity. It's not confusing for a more experienced crocheter, but it would be for the beginner. I also think shifting the tail down and an extra couple stitches to close the second round make it better. I'm definitely adding this pattern to my repertoire of shapes to send to Today Is A Good Day.
This post has been linked to Busy Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Senior Salon, Wonderful Wednesday, The Stitchin' Mommy, and Thursday Favorite Things.
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