Furballs come in ALL furcoat patterns

My two furballs have two different furcoat patterns.  Moo Moo was a black and white patchy and Tabby was a dark stripy.  They inspired me to named this series with furcoat patterns.  This series of furballs' furcoat pattern included five (5) ideas and four (4) already visualized.  They have the same characteristics of flat square / rectangular crown, and therefore there is absolute no gap / hole in the crown and more possibility for stitch pattern and colourwork designs.  Each crown is also made with a different technique to form the square.  They are also all from top down but the crown does not need to start with minimal number of stitches and work their way down with increases

Body is attached to crown using simple modular technique

This series is also different from my past creation as they are more focused on colourwork to bring out the charm of the design

The first design is Furballs' Stripy Tabby Hat 間條大花貓帽.  This is the simpliest in this series.  As long as you can knit in flat row and round, all focus will be on stranded colourwork.  I designed the simpliest (yes, again) in two (2) colours but if more colour is the taste, it should be easy and colourwork suggestion is also given in the pattern

The second design is Furballs' Patchy Tabby Hat  斑塊大花貓帽.  This one is not as simple as it looks especially not familiar with modular technique.  All the hard work is putting in make up the beautiful crown and then using the same two (2) colour in another pattern making the fading look and all ended in a not too common garter stitch brim

The third design is Furballs' Spotty Tabby Hat.  This one has a two (2) colour mitering square as crown and follow with modular technique to make up the two (2) colour work in body.  This one is knitted technically all in flat row.  It is more demanding in understanding the concept and technique, but a good challenge for those that hate knitting in round

The fourth design is Furballs' Ticky Tabby Hat.  This one is more focused on stitch pattern and therefore move away from the rest as it is only in one colour in the first design.  Later a colourwork version is made and perhaps could be available later.  The crown gives an unexpected delight when looking from the "sides" seeing the garter row fanning from a center point

I have two (2) more ideas on this series, Furballs' Swirling Tabby Hat and Furballs' Tortoise Shell Tabby hat but not right now.  It is my attempt to offer alternatives to the knitting hat community and hope everyone will enjoy it.

Happy knitting and Meow Meow for now

Hat Up for Santa Claws

 Hat up for Santa Claws is a collection of dishcloths that featured different kinds of hat

The name, of course, was dictated by the furball CEOs in the company, and nothing is more popular than Santa CLAWS who knows exactly what they like and want for holiday seasons.   The original idea is from Holiday Hat FurBELL (on Ravelry) published in August 2020

This collection officially started in December 2020 with the publication of Hat Up for Santa Claws.  It is a simple two (2) colour mosaic dishcloth.  It has the image of a brimmed Christmas hat with a pompom at the end.  This design has long floats (5+) on WS and nothing could not be amended with this technique (on Ravelry) I discovered and developed

I am always near to the festivity when I have ideas, and so testing and publishing for all will not meet the deadline for that year *sigh*

The second one is Hat Up for Santa Claws 2.  It is a two (2) colour mosaic coaster to go with dishcloth.  The hat is different featuring a shorter crown and with a more decorative pompom pompom

The third to the fifth one was designed last year (2021).  You can say that it was out of necessity (again) as I was trying to make some dishcloth as seasonal gifts for friends.  Thinking of something cute, decorative and usable, the hat shape came to my mind.  The image of Hat Up for Santa Claws 3 is inspired by the original Hat Up. The pompom is made with scrubby yarn, so washing and scrubbing can be both done in one go.  The pompom is sewn on normally.  If you can sew a button, you will have no problem with this

Hat Up for Santa Claws 4 came naturally after number 3 to subtlely hightlight their difference with a shorter  and rounder crown.  It has a beanie look and top with scrubby pompom.  It is constructed from pompom down to slip stitch rib brim in one pieces with no sewing required

Hat Up for Santa Claws 5 is a conical hat with a pompom on top.  It is decorative with cables (dont worry, no cable needle needed) and garter stitch brim makes a nice constrast with the knit stitch body.  Just like #4, it is made from pompom down in one piece.  No sewing necessary

These five (5) designs are not the end of this collection.  More to come and hopefully to add them in next year.  If you are interested in more hat and hat related pattern, check out our Egghead Furballs on Ravelry

This is now the year of 2023, and here is the first design in this collection thise year:  Hat Up for Santa Claws 6 向聖誕老人致敬 六/陸. This is a k&p dishcloth with adding decorative tendril stitches.  A total influence from Hat Up for Santa Claws 4

Second one in 2023 is Hat Up for Santa Claws 7 向聖誕老人致敬七/柒.  The hat is constructed in linen stitch in two colours and this make a transition in the hat band.  Decorative motif is added in for interest and also for use in real life as a scrubby pad

Happy knitting and moew meow till we meet again

Two Furballs, Two Hearts, One Pattern :D

With the help of my two trustful furballs, I finally published my second heart shaped dishcloth. They helped by distracting my attention when I needed it most. They wanted to be fed and rubbing when I unravel my tangling yarns. They slept on the computer keyboard when I needed to do typo correction on the computer document. Oh well, the list could go on and on, but I guess that make them as loveable as ever.

The second heart involves more complicated stitches to achieve the look.  The cloth goes well with as a companion gift with a bottle of lotion, body scrub, a bar of handmade soap, etc.  I particularly like the sharp shape of the heart and blocking is not essential (that will save a lot of time, and the shape will still be maintained after usage).  It features a garter stitch construction with neat and tidy selvedge. The centre knit stitch column makes a distinct decoration for the piece.

The pattern is in both written instruction and chart. It is now available from my Ravelry store.  Special thanks to all the volunteer knit testers to make this pattern as error free as possible.

Happy knitting :)

The Rebellous One .... Black CAT or Black and White CAT

I don't have a black cat at home, but Moo Moo, the black and white one is close to it.  Definitely defying medical assumption and drink normal cow milk daily without ill effect :D

This second coaster pattern, Black Sheep (CAT) of the Family, is a technically easier  way to make the cat coasters for intermediate beginner.

The simple cast on make an easy start. One of my testers suggested an alternate crochet cast on which did well too for the pattern.  In fact, it "stabilized" the wavy edge a little bit better. So if you are a crocheter turning knitter, this cast on will be easy for you. Below on the left is the original knitted cast on and on the right is the less wavy crochet cast.

Also, the comment I gathered from last pattern, Rub My Tummy Please, was that the short rows were particularly bothersome as it was executed in such a short space of stitches, and yes, by the time you did a few turns, you lost your bearing.  That is why I suggested to place marker at the start of the rnd. And this time, I have written the curled tail slightly different to make away with any wraps or double stitch in short rows.  In a lot of cases, wraps are not totally essential.  Usually, it is that the pattern welcomed the gaps as part of it (same effect as k2tog, yo) or that the knitting is tight enough to hide the gaps. So if you try out my pattern and find a noticeable gap, switch to needles 1 to 2 sizes smaller and do it again). One of the testers also find a new way to make the curled tail too ... .I am not spoiling the surprise, so please check it out at the project page.

In order to make this pattern interesting, I added simple stripes and intarsia to the body of the cats.  There is no limitation to the patterns you can create and customized .... I made a few new one later on with spur of the moment intarsia pattern (although they are knitting from inside out, it still could be translated to pattern outside in if needed be).

For the face of the cat, I have lower down the difficulty level to knit front and back. Obviously there will be a purl bump noticeable on the RS but with all the eyes, nose and whiskers sewn on, the distraction should be enough to hide this. I also find out there is a way to do the kfb without a purl bump (I recognized it as a two rows L1R, but nobody really agreed with me :p) which you can try, but notice that it is still a directional leaning increase, so it will not be as perfect as a Lift One or Make One increase with direction in a symmetrical increase.  The simplest way to describe this modified kfb will be instead of knit into back loop in the 2nd step in executing kfb, just slip that loop purlwise ...continue knitting until the next row or round, and purl or knit the loop as needed.

The bind off of the face / head has made easier by doing a three needles bind off all the way which I think is an acceptable finish to the head.  The bind off ridge actually gives the face a simple rustic characteristic which will suit the décor of a cabin or cottage in the forest ..... big sabretooths prowling the indoor looking for treats and warm human laps to sleep on :D (Sorry, can't bear the idea my furballs are outside facing unknown danger lol)

The pattern is now available for purchase at Ravelry store.

Finally thanks to all the testers for their valuable comments and hard work :) Enjoy the knitting :D