Crochet Cat Couch

I think I’m a very, very slow crocheter.  Back in September, I decided I was going to make my sister, Gabby, a crocheted cat couch.  She first asked for it in 2020.  In 2021, I told her it was beyond my skill level.  In 2022, when The Crochet Crowd released a left-handed tutorial, I decided to give it a try.

My original plan was to give it to her when we had our early Christmas celebration in November.  That didn’t work out.  My next plan was to give it to her at Christmas since we were planning to go to her house.  That didn’t work out either. 

We finally made plans to go stay with Gabby and Amy this past weekend, so I got to work on the cat couch in earnest. 

I had done the gauge swatch back in November. 

I also made the dust ruffle and got started on the couch. 

The pattern was largely a repeat of single crochet, double crochet.  It sounds simple, right?  For some reason, I couldn’t manage to remember the stitch and count the stitches.  I pulled out a few rows, then started relying very heavily on stitch markers. 

It was VERY slow going.   It took me days to finish one side of one cushion.  I also learned that I HATE slip stitching, which the pattern has a decent amount of.  I’m convinced it’s called slip stitching because of how often the hook slips out of the yarn when you do it. 

I’m in a few crochet groups on Facebook, and quite a few people who make the couch say they’ll never make another one.

I looked on Etsy to price them.  They’re all over $100.00, and some are close to $200.00.  I understand why!  I did notice, though, that some seemed to be based on a different pattern.  So, I started looking for more tutorials.  I found this one that I liked.

I finally decided to cobble together my own pattern based on these two tutorials and started over on the couch.  I kept the dust ruffle, though.

I didn’t tell Gabby I was working on it.  I wasn’t sure I’d succeed in making it. 

Fortunately, it worked.  I’m sure you can tell that there are a lot of mistakes.  I have ideas on how to fix most of them, and I think the next couch will look a lot better. 

I was running out of time and energy, so I didn’t make any throw pillows.  And I went really simple for the blanket.  It’s just a continuous granny square based on this tutorial.  I think it might have been a little neater if I’d used a smaller hook.  Next time!

When we got to Gabby and Amy’s. Gabby was cooking dinner, so Amy helped us carry stuff in.  Actually, she helped Nick carry most of the stuff in while I was in the kitchen with Gabby.  As soon as they brought the cat couch in, Amy told Gabby she had to come see what Nick had just brought in. 

Gabby was very excited!  She said she didn’t think I’d ever make it since I had told her it was beyond my skill level.  She and Amy both say it looks nice and looks like something they’d be willing to pay for from a store.  I’m not sure about that.  It’s definitely cute, but there are mistakes and things I could have done better.  But, I’m very glad they like it.   And, honestly, I’m still kind of proud of it, even though it’s not perfect.  It’s the biggest crochet project I’ve done thus far. 

More importantly, their cats like it.

Dobby is their most adventurous cat and he was on it within a few minutes.

I also need to make one for our cats.  Caroline was very interested in it.  She was even on it while I was sewing on the dust ruffle.

Gabby sent me this picture today of another one of their cats, Flitwick, on the couch.  It’s definitely cat approved!

Lefthanders Day

Today is Lefthanders day!  As a lefty this makes me very happy.  According to this site, we have the right to declare the area around us to be a left-handed zone today.  Yippee!  Fortunately for me, my husband is also a lefty, so our house is already a left-handed zone.  I just wish the rest of the world was a little more lefty friendly.  So here’s to all of the lefties in my life:

My paternal grandfather:  He seems to be the one who got the whole left-handed thing started.  He’s the first lefty in the family anyone is aware of. 

My dad:  He kept the left-handedness going.  He also adamantly refused to allow anyone to try to turn me into a right-hander.  He put a stop to it when he caught my mom switching my toys, bottles, etc to my right hand when I was a baby.  Because of this he ended up being the person to teach me how to write, hold silverware, and tie my shoes.  No good deed goes unpunished, right?

He also went to my school at the beginning of every year and told all of my teachers that I was left-handed, and that my being left-handed wasn’t something that needed to be changed.  He said if they had a problem with that they could take it up with him. Since my dad sort of looks like an extra from The Godfather no one ever seemed to have a problem with it, except one very foolish P.E. teacher, but that’s another story for another time.

My husband:  They always say girls marry men like their fathers, so I guess it comes as no surprise that I married a lefty.  There is some debate as to whether or not my husband actually started off as a lefty.  There aren’t many lefties at all in his family, and he has an impressive scar on his right hand from getting it slammed in a car door when he was a toddler.  So there’s a theory that he became a lefty while his right hand was healing. 

I choose to believe that he’s probably a true lefty, and just did things right-handed in very early childhood because he was surrounded by right-handers.  The right-hand injury just gave him the chance to become the lefty he truly is. 

Either way, I’m glad he’s a lefty, and that we can arrange things in our house to suit both of us being left-handed.  It’s also fun to find each other left-handed gifts.  We’re also in good company, since some very interesting historical figures were also left-handed. 

So what about you?  Are you a lefty?  Are there any lefties in your life?