Aren't these guys a bunch of cuteas? Ha ha ha get it? Cuteas?
All puns aside, I love these little kittens in a cup! They were very easy to make, and they're adorable for a little tea party or decor around the house. I quite enjoyed designing them, and I've made a few for friends already! I guarantee the little ones will love these adorable kitteas. The free pattern can be found below:
Materials:
Three colors of worsted weight yarn (one for the cat, one for the drink, and one for the cup)
A G/4.25mm crochet hook
Two 6-8mm safety eyes
Scissors
Yarn needle
Terms Used (US):
Rnd # - Round
Row # - Row
St - Stitch
MR - Magic Ring
Ch - Chain
Sc - Single crochet
Inc - Increase (2 sc into same st)
Dec - Decrease (Sc 2 sts together)
Hdc - Half double crochet
Slst - Slip stitch
BLO - Back loop only
FLO - Front loop only
(...) - Total number of sts in a Rnd/Row
*. . .* x # - Repeat the things between *. . .* the set number (#) of times times.
Notes:
Difficulty: Easy to intermediate
If using different brands of yarn, the cup might turn out larger than the cat. To fix this, simply add more rows to the "drink" portion without changing the number of stitches.
Make sure the cat's head is firmly stuffed and rests on the cup's stuffing. If the cat is not stuffed firmly, the stuffing may fall into the cup, resulting in a flat cat =(
Cup
Work in spiral using the "cup" color.
Rnd 1: 6 sc into MR (6)
Rnd 2: inc x 6 (12)
Rnd 3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)
Rnd 4: *2 sc, inc* x 6 (24)
Rnd 5: BLO *3 sc, inc* x 6 (30)
Rnd 6-7: Sc all the way around (30)
Rnd 8: *4 sc, inc* x 6 (36)
Rnd 9: Sc all the way around (36)
Rnd 10: *5 sc, inc* x 6 (42)
Rnd 11-16: Sc all the way around (42)
Slst and fasten off with a really really long tail, which will be used for assembly.
Head
Work in spiral or joined rounds using the "cat" color.
Rnd 1: 6 sc into MR (6)
Rnd 2: inc x 6 (12)
Rnd 3: *sc, inc* x 6 (18)
Rnd 4: *2 sc, inc* x 6 (24)
Rnd 5: *3 sc, inc* x 6 (30)
Rnd 6-9: Sc all the way around
Swap to "drink" color. This begins the “drink” portion.
Rnd 10: FLO *4 sc, inc* x 6 (36)
Rnd 11: *5 sc, inc* x 6 (42)
Swap to cat color. This begins the “cat’s tail” portion.
Row 1: Ch 14, turn (14)
Row 2: Hdc into 2nd st from hook, sc, sc the next three sts together, sc x2, 3 sc into next st, sc, sc the next three sts together, sc, slst into the 2nd st from the base and fasten off. (10)
Use the yarn tail to sew the cat’s tail on a little more securely.
At this point, you've completed the two main components of the kittea cup!
Ears (Make 2)
Row 1: Ch 4, turn (4)
Row 2: Ch 1, dec x 2, turn (2)
Row 3: Ch 1, dec (1)
Fasten off with a long tail for sewing.
I like to weave in the tail along the side so it meets up with the original tail as pictured below. At this point, you should have all the components pictured in the right-most picture below.
Handle
Work in a spiral
Rnd 1: 6 sc into MR (6)
Rnd 2-14: Sc all the way around (6)
Rnd 15: Ch 1, sc the opening together to close it, then fasten off with a long tail for sewing. No need to stuff.
Assembly
Make sure you have all the components pictured here:
Attach safety eyes to head between Rnd 6 and Rnd 7, about 6 sts apart.
Attach ears to the head between Rnd 2 and Rnd 6. The lower corner of each ear should be about 3 sts from the eyes in order to be parallel.
Stuff the head.
Stuff the cup, then place the cat on top, lining up the cat’s tail with where you fastened off on the cup. Make sure that the stuffing in the cat’s head is sufficient, then sew the “drink” to the cup. I don’t know the name of the sewing stitch I used, so I made a diagram below. You can sew through the cat’s tail.
Sew the handle to Rnd 6 on one end and Rnd 14 on the other end.
Embroider the cat’s face.
Sewing steps for sewing the cat to the cup:
Thread the needle with the cup's long tail from earlier. Insert the needle into the next st to the left, from the inside of the cup. Pull the needle all the way through.
Insert the needle into the underside stitch of the cat/drink. Make sure you line up the cup with the cat to your liking BEFORE this step. Pull the needle all the way through.
Insert the needle back into the stitch from step 1, once again from the inside of the cup. Pull the needle all the way through.
Insert the needle into the frontside/outside of the cup on the next st on the left. You can also thread the needle through the underside of the next stitch on the drink/cat at the same time. Pull the needle all the way through.
Insert the needle back into the same cup stitch in the previous stitch, once again from the inside of the cup.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you reach the end of the cup, then fasten off and secure as necessary.
And now you're done!
I think this pattern would make for a great gift for kids. They're simple yet adorable, and they're also easily customizable! I think it could be cool to add crochet fruits or drink toppings to add some additional personality. I think one of my favorite parts is that you can mix up the different color combos to imitate different drinks! For example:
Now onto the Project Media process segment!
The Project Media theme this month was tea and coffee. Originally, I just wanted to make a tea amigurumi. After all, that seemed like a simple project that fit the theme! It probably would only require a crochet circle sewn onto a semi-sphere, along with a handle. But I figured people have already done that before, so I tried to think of more ways to make the idea more original.
The second idea I had was to add a crochet whipped cream on top, similar to hot cocoa. I figured I could just crochet a cream that looked like the poop emoji. That was when the third, less gross idea appeared: a cat in a cup! I think part of the inspiration came from a set of stickers I saw a while back, which also featured cats in cups. I settled on this idea pretty quickly and got to work.
All the pieces of this pattern were simple. Something I learned in my drawing classes was that art can be broken down into simplified pictures with basic shapes. Most stuffed animals, whether sewn or crocheted, can be broken down into basic shapes as well! The cat and cup are semi-spheres, the ears are triangles, and the handle is a rectangle (or more of a tube). These happen to be common shapes for amigurumi, so designing the components for this pattern didn't take very long.
I think the most time-consuming part of this process was the assembly. I personally prefer the crochet portion because I can multi-task, while during sewing, I have to pay more attention to where my needle is going and securing everything. I also struggle a bit with embroidering, so making the face was as little difficult. However, that didn't stop me from making more kitteas, and I still intend to make more!
My favorite part about designing this pattern was the customization. I had fun trying to think of color combos to represent different drinks, especially considering my limited knowledge on drinks. I wanted to find color combos that could accurately represent drinks while still presenting a visually appealing product. It was an interesting challenge, and I had quite a bit of fun with it!
That concludes this post! This is also the end of this month's Project Media theme of tea and coffee! Thank you for checking out this post, feel free to check out the other Project Media posts I've made in the past, and stay tuned for a sneek peak of next month's theme on September 30th at 6:00 p.m. CDT! (That also happens to be my birthday ^~^).
Thanks again for reading! Have a splendiferous day!
- Jonalie <3
Sooooo cute!