08.20.14 I think I will cast this on later tonight. I have some left over yarn from an old project that would be perfect. I am also getting a new set of Interchangeable Addi Turbo Clicks today, so I will have the proper sized circular needles for this project.

I am thinking of stuffing him with grains of some sort (his name is “Beans,” after all) so he is more weighted. Since I am using thicker yarn than the pattern indicates, he will be bigger and could possibly be used as a door stop. I think that would be cute.

11.06.14 I actually tried making this right after my last update, but I really struggled with it at first. It’s crazy, this seems like such a simple little project. It’s always the things that you think will be easy that never are.

The yarn I was using was some leftover hand spun Manos del Uruguay, 100% wool, with basically no stretch to it. I was trying to knit my first attempt (and 2nd, and 3rd …) doing Magic Loop on my new Addi Turbos (sized up accordingly), but I finally had to give up!

There is no way I could start with so few stitches and then KFKB to increase. It was so, so, so tight and impossible to work, especially in the third row when you are increasing to four times the number of cast-on stitches. Since I was sizing up, I think I tried 20, then 30, then 40 cast on. Nothing helped.

I also tried casting on using much bigger needles, using much bigger needles for the first few rows, all sorts of stuff. It just wasn’t working for me.

I kept thinking I was doing something wrong, because the pattern says working these using Magic Loop is fine. And when I google this pattern for other people’s experiences, I can find absolutely nothing about this issue. I think for my yarn selection it just ain’t happening or something. I don’t know.

I even switched to some DK weight yarn and kept strictly to the pattern, needle size and everything, but it was still no go using Magic Loop.

Finally last week I got a clue and switched to DPNs. Soooooo much better. Luckily I have a plethora of DPNs to choose from. I inherited them from my grandmother, so I had just the right size on hand, which is especially serendipitous because I have never knit in the round with DPNs before, I have always used circulars. Since they were right there (thanks, Grandma! — and thanks Mom, for relinquishing them to me), I was able to give it a go.

A week later and I have now turned out 4 of these puppies — er, kitties. No stuffing or eyes/nose/whiskers yet, but I did the tail and they are roughly 2/3 done. I am making them for Christmas presents for a bunch of people. I hope to make little scarves for some of them, do stripes on some, have fun with it. I might also do an oversized one as originally envisioned, either by sizing up this pattern or getting the Pickles the Cat pattern.