I have a very large 9-month-old half rag-doll kitty named Boomer. He still needs shots and we are moving soon. Every time we have tried to bring him and his brother (they’re not genetically related) to the vet, he paces his carrier, pants, and howls in distress. He is normally a very quiet cat. We’ve sprayed the pheromone spray on his towels and covered his carrier but he needs more. I read that if you swaddle them like a baby, it helps reduce stress. This is meant to be more of a recipe rather than an instruction manual as I am designing this for a kitten who weighs 13 pounds. Gauge is not critical. This is knit bulky but can be knit in any way.
Materials:
Lion’s Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick or Another Bulky yarn
Size 13 Circular or Straight Needles or needle size needed for yarn. The buttons must slip through the stitches
Measuring Tape
Tapestry Needle
Buttons
Instructions:
Knit a swatch at least 1x1
Measure gauge in one inch
Now measure from your cat’s back legs to their neck. My cat is 10 inches
Now take your gauge, say 2 stitches per 1 inch, and multiply the number of stitches per one inch by the cat’s number (2 x 10) the number you get (20) is going to be how many stitches you cast on.
Now we measure more.
Measure the circumference (all the way around) of your cat’s widest point between his front and back legs. Now take this number and add three. This is how wide it will be. We will abbreviate this TI
Say if my cat was 19 inches, I would add two and I would get 22 inches.
Now we measure from his back legs to his front legs and add an inch. We will abbreviate this LI
Now the fun part:
CO the number of stitches needed.
Measure from the center of your cat to the start of his leg and add an inch.
K until the piece is that long. I got 6”. I’ll put it in a photo to show you.
Measure the red line
Now measure the front of your cat’s leg and add an inch. I got 4”.
Now do the same math that we used to figure out how many to cast on. (2 x 4 = 8)
*K until the LI is reached in your row.
BO the number of stitches you found. 8 for me.
K until the end of the row but count how many were left on your left needle first.
K the number of stitches left on your left needle. CO the number of stitches you BO. For me 8.*
Now measure how far apart your cat’s legs are. I got 4” but I added a half-inch for security.
K until you get that far from the first leg hole. Make sure that the first leg hole is farthest away from the tip of your left needle and repeat the steps that you took to make the first leg hole. They are the steps between the *
K until you reach the TL. Don't BO yet.
Put it on your cat. The edges should overlap by a few inches. If they don't, knit until they do.
BO
You're going to have ties and buttons to make sure that it is secure.
Place a few stitch markers on the bottom flap at the halfway point of the overlap. These will be where you put the buttons. Place three on the top flap at the end of the overlap. One will be two or three inches from the top (the place by the neck), one in the middle, and one in the back. These will be where you will place your ties.
Put buttons in the places where the buttons are supposed to go on the bottom flap. I recommend putting five. One near each of the ties and two in between them.
For the ties, you want them to be strong so you can use ribbon, you can crochet a chain or you can braid it as long as it's sturdy. I will post a how-to crochet a chain tutorial if you need it.
If you crochet or braid, Make sure to leave a three-inch tail on one end.
The braid/chain should be seven inches plus the tail. 10 inches in total. The ribbon should be 10 inches.
Pull three inches from the bottom of the flap to the top. put this tail over a stitch and back down. Tie it to the other seven inches near the stitching. Now repeat this for other ties and do it for the bottom flap in reverse (top to bottom)
You have done it. Add pheromone spray and voila! happy cat!
link to my channel. How to Crochet a Chain in the description.
Photos to better explain the process are in another post on my blog.