If you know me at all, you know I’m obsessed with my cat, Bisou, and that she’s ridiculously spoiled. She already has more beds than any cat reasonably needs, including two knit beds similar to this one. But since we just moved from an apartment to our first house, I figured she needed another one. What kind of cat mom would I be if there were rooms in our house without a cat bed?!
Bisou is a big fan of yarn, and curling up really tiny, so this knit bed is purrfect (not sorry) for her. If you’re thinking you can’t make this bed because you’re not good with circular needles, wait! I have good news—it’s knit entirely on straight needles and turned into a circle at the end. If you can knit a basic scarf, you can definitely knit this bed! Seriously, all you have to do is knit a giant rectangle, so this is a great beginner project. Your kitty (or dog, bunny or other pet) will thank you!
Supplies:
-400-600 yards extra bulky craft yarn. I used about 400 yards of this yarn in cilantro—you may use more if you have a bigger cat.
-10mm knitting needles
-A darning needle
This bed is knit with two strands of yarn held together as one (also called plying) to give the feel and appearance of bulkier yarn. Wind two skeins into one big ball of yarn by holding two strands together and rolling away, which leaves you with one extra thick strand. You can just use two strands straight from the skein, but I find that things get tangled that way. If your cat is like mine, she’ll be “helping” you roll the yarn.
Cast on 28 stitches, leaving a two-foot tail, and start knitting a garter stitch. See how the two strands together make one functional strand? Keep on knitting, and come back when you’ve done about 60 rows.
Here’s where you can adjust the size of the bed based on your cat’s size. Hold the short ends of your rectangle end to end—this is roughly the circumference of the finished bed. Start checking for size around 60 rows, and keep knitting until the bed is as big as you want it. I stopped around 65 rows because Bisou likes her beds pretty snug (she’s 9 lbs. for reference). A bigger cat might need a 70-80 row bed. When you’re ready, cast off. You should have a very long, simple rectangle like this one. Tie off and trim leftover yarn, but leave the tails you made when you cast on.
Make a loop by attaching the short ends of the rectangle to each other. Use the darning needle and one of the long tails to sew the sides together, pulling the tail tightly through the end stitches for a snug seam.
Once the sides are sewn together, stitch one more loop and pull the tail through the loop. Tighten and trim the excess yarn.
Now that you have a big loop, it’s time to cinch one of the ends (the one with the remaining tail) together to form the middle of the bed. Weave the tail through every other stitch along the edge of the loop as shown.
Cinch as you go by pulling on the yarn as tightly as you can! You want a really tight cinch with no hole in the middle, so tighten then tighten some more. Once the whole edge is cinched, make another loop, thread the tail, tighten and trim the excess yarn.
Do you have a giant beanie? Okay, just one more step!
Push the cinched part down—this is now the center of the bed. Pull the sides up and fold them over so the bed looks like this. It’s kitty ready!
Bisou climbed right in as soon as the bed was done and stayed there until dinnertime! Think your cat or dog would enjoy hanging in a bed like this? If you give the bed a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out! xo Kayleigh
51 Comments
This is so cute! Love the colour you chose 🙂 and happy international cat day, haha!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Awwwwwwww, my cat would love that!
Absolutely adorable! Well done 🙂
I can see why you would be obsessed…she’s a gorgeous cat and probably deserves all the spoils! 🙂
This is actually the cutest thing!
http://www.taintedblues.co.uk
OH MY GOD, I love this!!! I have to make a gift for a friend and this is perfect for her cat! Thank so much!
Haha this is so cute!!! It could also be a great little container to hold things (especially since I don’t have a cat) 🙂
xo
Phyllis
http://desgeulasse.com/
Knitting was one of my favorite past times in college! Staying at home and knitting was way more fun to me than the club haha. I seemed to have let the hobby die down, this looks like the perfect (easy!) project to get back into it!
I love cats but can’t have one due to S.O. allergies, but I would love to make this for donation. I’ve tried looking into it before, but can’t find a specific place to donate (I’d want to make something to their specifications, and emails/phone calls to shelters don’t get returned. I know they are very busy and operating on shoe string budgets). Does anyone know of a definitive place that accepts donations like this?
Not sure where you live – but contact Brighthaven.org. They’re a worthy animal sanctuary for elderly and special needs animals in Santa Rosa, CA! Wonderful idea!
Hi, I run a cat rescue and typically have close to fifty cats at any one time. We (the cats and I) would be incredibly grateful to have a fabulous bed like this donated for use!
If any one is so inclined you can email me directly, or go to my site to see what we are all about and contact me thru the site.
I look forward to hearing from you!!!
Where is your home. I can make some of these for your rescued cats.
Hello, I am very interested in helping, but you didn’t leave your website. Is it still possible to get.
Thank you very much
Blessed be
Our church knitting group has been making blankets for this cause. Our local shelter accepts them and loves getting them!
Comfort For Critters accepts donations of cat beds. Mostly they send flat square blankets, but may also accept these. comfortforcritters.org. If you visit the shelters in person, they will be happy to tell you what kind of cat beds they can use. Foster based rescues also love cat beds. My husband and I have made many cat beds for our local humane society and a foster based rescue. The cats like them, and the beds go home with them when they get adopted.
This is just too adorable! I love it <3
https://www.myblackcloset.com/
C U T E !!!!
Bisou (love the name, btw) has the same coloring as my cat Mazi. I think she’d like her own bed in each room too so I just might have to make this one!
I love this!
You are so talented x
Keep up the amazing work
-Daria
https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/daria-edu-19010657
http://dariaed.com/
Bisou is very photogenic!
It’s just super cute! Now I just have to get a cat so I could make this!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
This cat bed is so adorable! You make making it look so easy. I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling at how cute this bed and your cat are in these pics!
-Noelle
Elle-no.com
This is too cute guys! Seriously love it so much!
What a great idea! My cat would love this 🙂
Natalie Ann xo | Petal Poppet Blogs xo
As a spinner, I wouldn’t exactly call holding two yarns together ‘plying’. Plying involves putting twist into the strands, which adds strength.
Hi, I am in the process of making this and my cat can’t wait! Just a note about the row count: 120 rows would actually be the minimum size. In garter stitch, each line on one side counts as two rows because there’s a corresponding line on the other side.
Yes, agree about the row count being 120. I’m in the process of knitting, nearing 60 rows, and it just didn’t look long enough. Had to check in to see that it actually looks much longer in the photos, and am glad I read this comment.
Agreed. I think it should be a minimum of 120 rows
This is a very cute, and simple to understand, cat bed tutorial. Thanks! I have been thinking of making some beds for ours and I know the little female would love this.
But Heather, above, is correct… plying is a spinning term where two or more strands wrap around each other while also twisting the opposite direction so as to add stability and strength. Knitting with two strands doesn’t have another name… it’s just knitting with two strands.
Super sweet idea! Love the green color as well ^_^ good job!
Xx http://icepandora.blogspot.com
Great pattern! I have been looking all over Ravelry for a good cat bed pattern for our Garden Nursery cat “Waffles”. He was a stray, but not any more. He sleeps in the dirt in one of our greenhouses and I want him to have a snuggle bed, especially with Winter coming. Thank you!
Wow! This seems really easy (which suits me 🙂 and already I am thinking of Christmas gifts for 2 special kitties – so I had better get busy. Thank you for this lovely pattern Kayleigh
Will it still work if do 1 yarn not 2 for 120 rows how many inches is that? After making bottom do u fold over the top sry for questions I have 80 case on my needle I thought 23 was to small plz let me know ty
How long it this?
Can you tell me approximately what width the rectangle measures?
Mine turned out to be a long thin tube,very deep maybe a kitten could fit what did I do wrong cast on60 stitches
The directions said to cast on 28 stitches, not 60.
I will give this knitted bed a try but I mostly knit toys
If I have trouble. Is there any way that I can get some help? I am not a very experienced knitter, so I may need help.
This simple to knit cat bed is so nice – I love the color you chose, too! I have a very tiny dog, I’m going to knit it for her. Thanks for the fun to make project!
Thank you for the clever pattern.I think most knitters could adjust it to preferred size but one complaint .I can’t mail this or get a print version.I really wanted a share it with a friend
This is too sweet to pass up….. so today I went out and bought knitting needles US 15….. Wow…I’ve never used such chunky needles before….can you tell me how wide your 28 stitch piece is/was?? I have two cats and they are each 25 lbs (Big Boys) … trying to gauge how much larger my bed needs to be….
So lovely! I wanna to make one for my dog. diy knitted
Cast on 28 stitches. She was counting every garter bump as 60 rows. It should be 120 rows.
would make a great gift for local SPCA …
thank you for the pattern!
Our cat is quite large so I cast on 30 stitches and knitted until it was about 40 inches long. I used chunky yarn doubled as suggested and it took 6 x 100 gram hanks.
Rather than the number of rows, could you provide the lengththe piece should be before casting off?
I was wondering if this can be made on a knitting machine?
Can someone give me actual dimensions? There isn’t a gauge and I’m trying to use up old yarn and I also want convert to crocheting! Thanks!!
Great Idea!! I’ve never been a cat person,(More of a dog person) regardless, we live way out In the country in Oregon. It’s wet and cold and people abandon cats out here, which is a horrible epidemic and a miserable life for the poor cats. I’ve been feeding them, (We go through 30 lbs. of cat food a week) catching wild cats, fixing them all, and tending to all their needs. We now have 16 very happy pet, indoor, outdoor, cats and I love them all!! I guess I’m a cat person! I better get knitting! I plan to make them all one of these adorable beds!!!❤️????❤️
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!!
Hi there – I love this kitty bed pattern actually I will be knitting a rectangle on my knitting loom but I have a question. After I connect the two ends together do I then connect one of the long sides and that is the one that gets cinched for the bottom correct? Then the open side is the one that gets tucked down – is that correct? And your kitty is so cute!
Thank you so much for this! What a great & simple idea!