Stash Busting Crochet Cat Toys

Last Updated on October 21, 2020 by lydiaf1963

If you knit or crochet you have a stash of yarn. These quick and easy crochet cat toys are great stash busters. They don’t require a lot of yarn and you can complete one or more while watching television in the evening. They’d make great gifts for the cat lovers in your life or you could drop some off to the local shelter.

My husband, Rick, has a soft heart for animals. If there’s a stray around he will feed it, especially if the stray also purrs. At one time we had almost 20 neighborhood cats showing up at meal time. Over the years the numbers dropped as between Rick and the neighbor the cats were taken to the vet to be spayed or neutered.

We were adopted by a couple of the cats. The one in the photo above came to us as a kitten. She grew into quite a huntress. Over the years she “gifted” me with mice, birds, crickets, moles and once a baby squirrel. I ended up taking down the bird feeders because they gave her too much advantage. She would leap from the roof of the car to knock a bird out of the air. Even though I’m sure the mouse in the photo was a regular visitor to my pantry, he survived this particular encounter. The cat did not approve! Our huntress died a few years ago, but we still talk about her fondly.

When we’re in Spain Rick feeds the feral cats living in the park close to our apartment. One winter he built kitty condos to protect them from the weather.

My sister has taken over as the family “cat person” in the states.

Over the summer a mama cat chose her porch to have a litter of kittens and my sister ended up not only adopting them but she has screened in her porch to help protect the cats from a neighborhood dog. I’m making some toys to send to her kitties.

I was inspired by this pin from Dabbles and Babbles which uses a toilet paper roll to stabilize the cylindrical shape. A crochet curlicue with a tantalizing bell dangles from one end. It’s the perfect size for pouncing upon and it is light enough for your cat to carry or bat the toy around.

You can visit Jamey’s blog for more detailed directions. I’m going to give directions you’ll be able to adapt to any yarn.

You will need:

• yarn
• a crochet hook suitable for the yarn
• an empty toilet paper roll

To make:

• Loosely make enough chains to fit snugly around the toilet paper roll.
• Join in a ring using a slip stitch. Chain two, place a marker, then double crochet in each stitch around. Finish the round by slip stitching into the top of the chain two.
• Chain two, move the marker, and double crochet in each stitch around.
• Continue in this manner until your tube is long enough to cover the toilet paper roll. The number of rounds will depend on the yarn and hook size you’ve chosen.
• Slip stitch around all the stitches, then chain enough to measure 4 or 5 inches. Double crochet in the 2nd chain from the hook, then two more double crochets in the same stitch. Work your way back towards the tube, placing 3 double crochets in each chain.
• When you reach the top of the tube slip stitch to join, then fasten off and weave in the ends.
• Attach a bell to the end of the curlicue.
• Slip the toilet paper roll inside.

Notes:

• You could try other stitches or patterns. Single crochet will give a tight tube, for example.
• Depending on the yarn and how tightly you crochet, you may find you don’t need the toilet paper roll for support.
• If you find your tube is a little large, work a couple of evenly spaced decreases.
• If the roll tends to slide out, you can run a piece of yarn through the stitches on the ends, like a drawstring, to cinch the ends tighter
• I wouldn’t recommend using a bulky yarn for this.

I’m glad I got a chance to make a couple of these crochet cat toys, thanks to the monthly Pinterest Challenge! Each month we choose a pin and bring it to life. It’s lots of fun and this project brought back memories. Of course I thought about our cat buddies but I also remembered a summer when I was a young teen (before I was able to drive) when we made granny squares and curlicue book marks.

TO JOIN NEXT MONTH’S #PINTERESTCHALLENGE, CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP ⇒ November Pinterest Challange

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For more Pinterest inspired projects from this month’s Pinterest Challenge hosts, check out the links below ↓

My Pinterventures •  Eye Love Knots •  Faeries and Fauna •  Life Beyond the Kitchen
Across the Boulevard • Purple Hues and Me •  Intelligent Domestications
My Family Thyme • Mom Home Guide  • Our Unschooling Journey 
Our Crafty Mom •  Sum of their Stories  •  Farm Girl Reformed
Decorate and More with Tip  •  This Autoimmune Life  •  Sew Crafty Crochet
Domestic Deadline  •  Cookies Coffee and Crafts •  My Sweet Things
Christina Faye Repurposed •  Blogghetti  •  Teadoodles •  Our Good Life

 Now, let’s see what the other hosts have created ⇓⇓