Someone pass the whipped cream . . .

. . . 'cause I'm about to have myself a big slice of Kitty Pi!!!

I recently completed this very popular cat bed pattern for my sweet Gracie. I was really going for comfort and stash busting with this project, so I used lots of scrap wool left over from a recent frenzy of felted projects. The pattern for this bed is a knitting pattern, but after reviewing pictures of other Kitty Pis on Ravelry, I decided that a crocheted fabric would be less floppy. I'm stoked about how it came out. And Gracie quickly staked it out as hers.

This is how she looked at 3:00 a.m. this morning when I took the first picture. (How do they sleep like that without a chiropractor?)

This is such an easy project. (hint, hint, to all the newbie crocheters in my SnB - time to let go of the dish cloths!) It's basically just single crochet (or knitting) in the round with a standard formula for increases in each round to expand the diameter.

When you're ready to make the sides, you just do one round of single crochet in the back loop only of each stitch. This magically turns the fabric at a right angle. (I still get excited every time this happens.) Then it's just round and round and round in regular single crochet . . . until it's tall enough to suit you or you just can't take the excitement anymore.

How big to make it? Well, you just have to wing it. All wools felt a bit differently, but my rule of thumb is make it about 1/3 bigger than you want the final piece to be. As for the felting process, again, it's part magic and part luck, but here are some good instructions for felting.

So, if you gotta kitty or even a cold-natured, not-so-big doggy, consider giving this pattern a try.