Picture courtesy Mary Anne Dinsmore
Pitch and Putt, the cats, spend their days being chased away from yarn and knitted objects, looking for a place to curl up. This project is for them -- their very own felted cat basket. If you don't have cats, it would make a perfect container for your current sock project.
Materials:
3 - 4 oz skeins Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% wool, 15% mohair -- 125 yards/skein)
1 - 4 oz skein Lamb's Pride Worsted (85% wool, 15% mohair -- 190 yards/skein)
Size 11 needles (straight)
Size 13 needles (circular)
Size J crochet hook (optional-see instructions)
Gauge: 2 1/2 to 3 stitches/inch using size 11 needles and bulky yarn
Base -- you'll be knitting a circle which I'll call a "pie".
You'll be knitting one pie wedge at a time on straight needles until
you complete a circle. (Remember that your cast on tail is on the OUTSIDE
of the pie, not at the center -- it
will help if you get confused on the first wedge.)
1. With size 11 needles, cast on 30 stitches WITH BULKY WEIGHT
2. Knit 3, turn
3. Knit 3, turn
4. Knit 6, turn
5. Knit 6, turn
6. Knit 9, turn
7. Continue to follow this progression, knitting 3 additional stitches each time before turning.
8. On the next to the last row of the wedge, you will knit 30 stitches, turn
9. Last row, slip 1 stitch, knit 29 stitches back to the outside of the pie.
10. Begin again at step 2.
11. Repeat this sequence until you have enough wedges to make a pie – from time to time, lay your knitting out on a flat surface and check.
12. When your circle is done, bind off the last row of the last wedge. (I used almost all of two full skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky on the base.)
13. Seam together the first and the last wedge. When you come to the end of the seam in the center, snug up the small hole. (Neatness doesn't count here -- the felting will hide the seam)
14. My circle was 22 inches in diameter. (If I had stopped here and felted it, I would have had a furry placemat about 15 inches in diameter after felting.)
15. With one strand of bulky yarn and a size J crochet hook loosely single crochet 106 stitches around the edge of the circle -- about every other garter stitch ridge. This made the circle cup a bit around the edges.
16. With size 13 circular needles and one strand of bulky and one strand of worsted, pick up and knit one stitch in each single crochet chain. (You could skip the single crochet step and simply pick up the stitches directly on the circle. I wanted to see how much the circle cupped and the single crochet allowed that.)
17. Join and begin knitting in the round -- alternating rows of knit and purl to create a garter stitch band. Continue to knit for 3 inches after the single crochet round.
18. On the last row, k2tog, k3, k2 tog, k3 around.
19. Bind off.
Fling the thing in the washer and felt until it is the size you like. I used the hot wash/cold rinse cycle and ran it through two 18 minute cycles.
The resulting basket came out an oval shape which I liked but I could have tugged it back into a circle. The opening measures 12" by 7" and the base measures 15" by 12" and will fit a teen-aged sized cat.
I'm letting it air dry so that it doesn't get any smaller. As it dries, the cats are circling it expecting to be chased away. When it's ready for use, I'll spray a little catnip on it and they can have at it.
To adjust for larger cats, increase the stitches in the wedges by increments of 3 -- e.g. 33, 36, 39, etc. and increase the number of picked up stitches. The mohair in this particular yarn created a very "hairy" basket
Added notes from other knitters:
I have only read the pattern but already have an alteration. When I get to the top, I will ST and then fold over the edge, reach into a row somewhere down the line and knit the edge to it, creating a roll. This will felt and hold the thing open somewhat.
The last two baskets I've used two different colors to make the wedges that form the bottom of the basket. I like this look a lot, as Arlene says, it makes a circus Big Top look to the basket.
Sandy had said to pick up stitches from around the edge at one stitch per two garter stitch ridges. This last one I picked up stitches at three of five ridges (pick up 3 stitches, skip one ridge). There seems to be enough of a cup formed by the sides of the basket with this many stitches and when I picked up fewer stitches, I thought it cupped too much.
I do the sides of the basket in stockinette for 3" then do 5 rows of reverse stockinette to make a roll of fabric from the natural curl of stockinette/reverse stockinette fabric. I bind off the stitches and attach the end of the reverse stockinette band I just made to the last row of the purl side of the stockinette fabric. I bind off and attach at the same time so that there isn't any hand sewing to be done at the end. This row of reverse stockinette makes a band across the top of the basket that gives a wee bit of structural integrity to the design.