Crochet Catnip Toys

Living in a house with four cats can be pretty crazy.  Add two kids and a husband to the mix and you have a full house for sure! But what can I say? I love my house full and will take the crazy that goes with it, even if it involves tons of late night meows, kids dressing the cats up (okay and mom too…), and constant dinner pleas from our furry feline friends. I’ve always been a cat lover. My whole entire life I have always owned at least one cat. And with owning cat comes the importance of understanding your cats need and along with their bottomless foot refill requirement, 18 hour nap necessity, and continual praise comes the need of toys to keep them entertained. Now if you’ve ever owned a cat you definitely know how that goes. You can find the most interesting, involved looking mouse toy equip with lazer and remote control and it won’t even be enough to get your cat’s attention! Feather toys? Forget it. The feather will be eaten and promptly thrown up. Am I wrong? I can’t tell you how many toys we’ve gone through with our kitties. Occasionally there’d be a winner amongst the dozens of store bought toys, but there was never anything that stuck with every single one of our four cats. That is… Until I decided to make my own.

These cat toys are so great! I don’t know what it is about them that keeps my cats glued to them, but it does! I like to think that it’s the amount of love I put in every stitch or the fact that they watch me making something and know it’s something special for them (heh, yeah right). Realistically it’s likely the fact that I put a whole bunch of their favorite catnip in each toy and there’s something great to be said about their ability to grip onto the toy better. My cats are not declawed so they are really able to grab hold of the toys and toss them around! It equals hours of feline fun in our house!

So let’s get down to it and make up some toys! I have two designs that I’ve come up with as I found that out of my four cats two of them preferred the ball shape and the other two preferred the fish shape. You might find that your cats also have a preference!

Materials:

• 3.5mm crochet hook

• Worsted weight yarn

• Polyfill stuffing

• Catnip

 

• Embroidery needle

Fish

6sc in a magic circle

Round 1: *sc in 1^st st, inc in the next st*; repeat around (9)

Round 2: *sc in 1^st 2 sts, inc in the next st*; repeat around (12)

Round 3: *sc in 1^st 3 sts, inc in the next st*; repeat around (15)

Round 4: *sc in 1^st 4 sts, inc in the next st*; repeat around (18)

Rounds 5-8: sc in each st around (18)

Round 8: dec around (9)

Stuff the piece with polyfill stuffing here and add a bit of catnip to the stuffing.

Round 9: dec around 4 times (5)

Round 10: inc in each st around (10)

Round 11: inc in each st around (20)

Round 12: sc in each st around (20)

At this point the back fin will be formed. Fill it entirely with catnip, no stuffing. You will now fold the piece in half and sc both sides at the top together to seal it. There should be a total of 10 sts across. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Ball

6sc in a magic circle

Round 1: inc in each st around (12)

Round 2: *sc in 1^st st, inc in the next st*; repeat around (18)

Round 3: *sc in 1^st 2 sts, inc in the next st*; repeat around (24)

Round 4: *sc in 1^st 3 sts, inc in the next st*; repeat around (30)

Rounds 5-7: sc in each st around (30)

Round 8: sc in 1^st 3 sts, dec the next 2 sts together*; repeat around (24)

Round 9: *sc in 1^st 2 sts, dec the next 2 sts together*; repeat around (18)

Round 10: sc in 1^st st, dec the next 2 sts together*; repeat around (12)

Stuff the ball full of polyfill stuffing and a mixture of catnip.

Round 11: dec around until piece closes. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Your cats will go absolutely nuts over these catnip toys and if you’re a crazy cat lady like myself, it’ll provide quality entertainment for an indefinite amount of time. These toys are also long lasting and durable! And hey, if your cat is a little rough with them, it’s no issue at all to work up more! They work up very quickly! Your cat will be very thankful to have an owner that crochets them goodies! They may not always show it, but you can bet they’ll be dreaming of chasing these toys around the house in their little kitty dreams during one of those 18 hour naps.

All designs & pictures are copyrighted by To Craft A Home 2017. Pattern is for personal use only and can’t be resold, republished, or redistributed in any way. You may sell the finished project if you so desire, but please give credit and link to my website http://tocraftahome.comand https://www.etsy.com/shop/ToCraftAHome.