DIY: Giant Valentine’s Cat Toy Round-Up

How cute are these?!  Here are heaps & heaps of Valentine’s Day DIY projects for your cat.  Be sure to add some catnip to their stuffing.  All of these patterns are free.  But don’t be a tool and use patterns to make things to sell if the author asks you not to.  And please support the people providing all these patterns if they have etsy shops, stores, books, or patterns for sale.  These people totally rock for providing these patterns for free!

 

Row 1

  1. knitted & felted hearts
  2. more knitted & felted hearts also available in German and French
  3. crocheted heart

Row 2

  1. hand-sewn felt hearts
  2. crocheted cupcake (I would leave off the beads)
  3. hand-sewn felt cupcake (I would avoid using glue and sew everything, if you do use glue make sure it’s non-toxic)

Row 3

  1. knitted cupcakes 
  2. knitted chocolates
  3. crocheted chocolates

Row 4

  1. hand-sewn felt chocolates & heart box
  2. knitted strawberries
  3. crocheted strawberries

Row 5

  1. hand-sewn felt strawberries
  2. crocheted rose with leaves
  3. knitted rose with leaves

DIY: Over 30 Different Cat Toys To Sew, Knit, Crochet, or Assemble

Here are a ton of DIY cat toys!  One of my pet peeves (groan!) is ugly pet toys .  I like them to be colorful, cute, and/or funny, and the easiest way to achieve that is to make your own.  The great thing about DIY cat toys is they take very little fabric, yarn, etc. and they’re usually quick to make.  All of the toys below will make nice gifts for kitties and their people.  Have fun!

Adorable hearts, cupcakes, strawberries, roses, & chocolates.



Kitty fortune cookies.


 

No-sew feathers and fish.


 

 

Suede mouse.


 

 

Beautiful birdies.


 

 

Easy to sew mouse, fish, & sausage.


 

 

Supper fuzzy mouse.


 

Adorable sushi—nigiri & futomaki.


 

 

Feather spinner toy & wand.


 

 

Felt bird, mouse, & fish.


 

Cute mice, olives, & owls.


 

DIY: Cat Toys To Sew, Knit, Or Crochet

Fun toys for the kitties you know.  Mice, olives, & owls—Oh my!  Just add some catnip to their stuffing and you’ve got some sweet gifts!

Very dapper mice to sew for the discerning feline.  And a great way to upcycle out-of-date menswear hanging in the back of a closet or at your favorite thrift store.   You can hand stitch these or use a machine.  I wouldn’t use beads for eyes—just embroidery floss.  You’ll need:

  • Assorted menswear fabrics (such as wool suiting, cotton shirting, corduroy, and cotton velvet)
  • Iron
  • Fusible webbing
  • Sewing machine and sewing supplies
  • Loop turner
  • Fill
  • Catnip
  • Embroidery floss
  • Embroidery needle

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Festive stuffed green olive to knit for the martini loving cat. (via i-like-lemons)  These are super cute.  These can be left as-is or you can lightly felt them.  You will need:

  • 2yds (1.8m) sport weight or baby weight wool. Mary Jane used Jamieson and Smith 2ply jumper weight #83 dk olive, FC11 bright olive, and #9436 Dale of Norway Baby Ull pale olive (Baby Ull, a superwash yarn, won’t felt much, but it will get fluffier)
  • 1.5 yds (1.4m) Jamieson and Smith 2 ply jumper weight #125 pimento
  • 1 set dp needles size 2 (3.0mm)
  • catnip
  • 1 crewel embroidery needle

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Soulful owls to crochet for the serious cat.  You can make him just the size you want.  If your cat might eat off the eyes, use yarn instead of safety eyes.  You’ll need:

  • < 25g of scraps of wool, in at least two colors
  • 17mm color safety eyes (x 2)
  • catnip
  • A 3.5mm crochet hook, a little stuffing and a needle and thread

DIY: Crochet Frisbee

Crochetfrisbee
You can find the pattern for this one here on Zelna Olivier’s blog. 


I freakin’ love these crocheted frisbees!  A while back at the dog park, I saw a guy throwing one of these for his dog.  I couldn’t tell how it was made, but I could tell it was soft, so it couldn’t hurt the dog when she caught it, and is was floppy, because after she caught it, she had a blast shaking it as she brought it back to her person—very fierce!  A crocheted frisbee is also great for the less athletically inclined—if your throw goes wild, it won’t hurt any dogs or people who get in the way. Now, people from the Pacific NW tend to be pretty reserved and I never know how someone will react when I speak to them.  I grew up in Texas where it’s rude not to acknowledge people in public and even after 25 yrs. this reticence of PNW native can be startling. This guy, however, was happy to let me check out the frisbee and to tell me about it.  He got his at a toy store because he immediately knew it’d be great for his dog and that he could always take it with him since he could fold it up.  I also like that you can throw it in the wash. You can have a lot of fun with the colors you use, so be creative! Crochet Frisbee I (this pattern was developed for Handmade Especially for You a charity that organizes knitters & crocheters to make handmade scarves for abused women.  One of their members realized a soft frisbee would be great for kids also affected by abuse since it could be used indoors, for instance in a shelter.) Crochet Frisbee II Scalloped Frisbee (this is really a potholder pattern, but I thought it’d make a neat frisbee too!  photo is via Oiyi’s Crafts)