“Florio lived around the corner. He was a young, golden-haired cat who was as handsome as a prince.”
- Jenny and the Cat Club by Esther Averill, 1944

My daughter has been a lover of cats since she could talk. Anything and everything cat related is her passion. She has been asking me for quite some time to knit her a cat, preferably a ginger one (like our family cat), and so when I received this Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label yarn in March (a club colourway called Fiesta), I knew it would be perfect for a little stuffed cat. However, any fingering weight yarn would do nicely.

As I was knitting it, I recalled a character in a book of my daughter’s named Florio, the beautiful ginger cat. The name seemed fitting. I made a scarf for Florio, but if you read the book, the main character is a black cat named Jenny Linsky who always wears her trademark red scarf.

The toy is knit seamlessly on double pointed needles, but magic-looping would also be an option. I rarely use double points but for small diameter projects like this I prefer them. There are a few short rows on the backs of the arms to make them curve in towards the belly, but it is not necessary to do them. I also added a homemade bean bag to the bottom, to make Florio sit nicely, however this is also optional.

The pattern has been tech edited and test knit.