Crochet Cat Beds Nightmare

I needed a break from knitting my Spirogyra fingerless gloves. I snooped around in Ravelry and found a crochet pattern for cat beds that used a large hook and yarn scraps. I thought I'll kill two birds with one stone and use up the leftover cheap acrylic yarn from previous projects while taking a break from knitting. Sounds easy enough.

Well, it turned out to be a very frustrating experience. I crocheted like crazy the whole night and finished the first cat bed just before bed time. I followed the pattern and the sides turned out very floppy. So in the morning, I undid the sides and recrochet it, turning the work every few rounds hoping that will stop it from flopping inwards. It was still floppy! Not happy, Jan!

I was determined to get this right. I still needed to make another cat bed since I have two cats. I spent nearly the entire day crocheting it. This time I modified the pattern using smaller hooks. The details are in Ravelry so I won't bore non-crocheters here. The cat bed turned out much better. The sides had a lot more structure and it could stand up on its own rather easily.


I didn't enjoy this experience. I saw the cats sleeping soundly in the beds and realised that they didn't really care whether the sides were floppy or not. I obsessed about getting the beds picture perfect and in the end, my wrists are slightly sore and I feel I've let myself down because I didn't exercise self-control. My mind was too fixated in getting the job done rather than being in flow. I think the cats slept better than I did last night. Lesson learnt.

Cuddle Bed Pattern (pdf)