Cinnamon the Sock Cat

Made available June 10th, 2016

PDF of pattern available

Ever since I started to knit socks, I really wanted to make an animal from “thin” a.k.a. fingering weight yarn. After years of designing animals with the most common weights of DK and Worsted, I finally sat down and thought back about making that “sock weight” animal. I love cats, and socks and cats is the seamless combination.  

This pattern is a perfect way to use those extra sock (or any yarn weight) scraps every knitter has lying around the house. Cinnamon only takes up ~20 yards of fingering/4ply weight yarn and a couple hours to complete, so he’s easy to make as a quick gift. Also, I utilized using short rows for the head, this is ideal for the seasoned sock knitter that’s looking for a break from knitting straight-up socks, but still needs to use up the leftover sock yarn in their stash.

As an added bonus, Cinnamon’s collar doubles as a hair tie holder! (I used a hair tie holder as the collar in the pictures.)

Supplies:

• Yarn used: Dream in Color Smooshy [100% superwash merino; 450yds/411.5m per 113g skein], Campfire Connections colorway, 1 skein (or a very small amount of that one skein)
• A set of US sized 1 (2.25mm) Double Pointed Needles (DPNs)
• Polyfill stuffing
• Small scrap (6 inches) of pink fingering yarn or thread for the nose
•  yarn scissors and darning needle
• (Optional): Poly-fil poly-pellet beads to use for the bottom of the body.
• (Optional): 4.5mm plastic safety eyes. I used this size and from the etsy shop 6060 eyes, since plastic eyes this small can be very hard to find in-stores. If you don’t have plastic safety eyes that are small enough, I would suggest making eyes using some black, brown, green, blue, or eye-like color and sewing on French knot or some basic knot eyes.

HEIGHT OF FINISHED PRODUCT:

About 3 inches (sitting down)

Abbreviations:

m1l: make one left

w&t: wrap and turn

PATTERN:

MAIN BODY/HEAD:

CO 6, separate onto DPNs to knit in round

1. K all sts

2. K1, m1l around (12)

3. K all sts

4. K2, m1l around (18)

5. K all sts

6. K3, m1l around (24)

7-8. K all sts

9. K4, m1l around (30)

10-17. k all sts

18. k2tog, k8 around (27)

19. k all sts

20. k2tog, k7 around (24)

21. k2tog, k6 around (21)

22. k2tog, k5 around (18)

23. k all sts

24. k3, m1l around (24)

Stuff what you have so far

Now, work flat, picking up wraps along the way

-k7, w&t, p6, w&t

-k8, w&t, p10, w&t

-k12, w&t, p14, w&t

-k12, w&t, p10, w&t

-k8, w&t, p6, w&t

Now back to knitting in the round

25. k all sts

(picking up wraps as usual, as you place the first four sts and last four sts from the needle that you knitted flat onto the third and second DPN needles respectively. The beginning of your round should be the right edge of the top of the “head.”)

26. k10, k2tog, k8, ssk, k2

27. k all sts

28. k1, k2tog, k2, ssk,k2,k2tog, k8, ssk, k1 (18)

29. k all sts

30. k2tog, k2, ssk, k2tog, k8, ssk (14)

31. k all sts

32. k2tog all sts (7)

Cut yarn, stuff head, insert plastic eyes, then thread through remaining sts tightly.

EARS (make 2):

co 8, separate

1. k all sts

2. ssk, k2tog, ssk, k2tog (4)

3. k all sts

4. k2tog around (2)

cut yarn, thread through remaining sts

Close up photo of Cinnamon’s face for reference

ARMS (make 2):

CO 6, separate onto DPNs

1-10. k all sts

11. k2tog all sts (3)

cut yarn, thread through remaining sts

LEGS (make 2):

CO 6, separate onto DPNs

1-12. k all sts

13. k2tog all sts (3)

cut yarn, thread through remaining sts

TAIL:

CO 4, knit in i-cord for 1.5 inches or as long as you like. J

Then, cut yarn, thread through remaining sts

Finishing: Attach the ears, arms, legs and tail to the main body/head. Then sew on the nose using the scrap of pink yarn. Enjoy!

***Please do not reproduce this pattern for personal profit of the pattern or finished piece. Thank you.***