Little Oombawkas | Mini Meow CAL | Introductory Post
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Crochet your own little Oombawka with my free step-by-step tutorial. You can make your cat like mine, as a fluffly little cat OR leave yours unbrushed for a traditional amigurumi cat!
Fluffy Little Cat Pattern: Little Oombawkas.
Mini Meow CAL
make your own little toy amigurumi cat
Introductory Post
Resources and Things You Can Do To Get Ready
- Add this CAL to your Ravelry Queue and join the Crochet with Us Ravelry Group
- Pick your yarn color(s) and safety eyes and get ready for our first post
- Create a Project Page on Ravelry
- Share your progress on Instagram using #MiniMeowCAL2015
- Join the Crochet With Us Group on Facebook for assistance with the CAL – it is a lovely group filled with helpful and caring Crocheters who are happy to help each other.
Supplies
Hook: 5.5 mm (I)
Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky (Super Bulky 6) 108 yards for 1 cat (you can use multiple colors if you wish!)
Eyes: 12 mm safety eyes
- Stuffing (Polyfil/Fiberfil)
- Dog, or Cat, Wire Brush
- stitch marker – I use locking stitch markers (safety pin will work) – you do not want the stitch marker to fall out when you are brushing the cat!
- scissors, yarn needle and embroidery thread for the nose (or lighter weight yarn)
Gather your supplies and meet me back here for the Mini Meow CAL!
Share your Photos and Projects Here
Special Stitches
sc2tog – *Insert hook into the next st, yarn over and pull up 1 loop**. Repeat from * to ** 2 times. You now have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over the hook and pull through all 3 loops to complete the sc2tog stitch.
To read more about this design see below!
Little Oombawkas…my fluffy little cat pattern
This is how it all began for me…
and now I am ready to share this story and the pattern I designed specifically to make Mini Me-ow‘s for my sister Caitie’s Business – Heart’nsoul Persians.com.
A few years ago my sister saw the little bear I designed (Bearison) and asked me if I could try to crochet yarn replicas of the different cats she breeds. I was hesitant at first because not only did she want them to be crocheted – she wanted them to be ‘hairy’ because all her cats are long-haired cats.
It took quite a bit of trial and error to find the yarn and brushing tool which worked the best for this project. I must mention here – because I like to go for inexpensive options first and did with some painful consequences – do not use the cheap wire brushes for the barbeque when brushing out the yarn – I purchased one for a few dollars with a square wood handle and ended up with blisters and bruises on my hands. Sometimes it is worth paying a few dollars more and after my hands took more than a week to heal – I was ready to purchase the $7.00 dog hair brush with the wiry bristles. It works perfectly and is not too rough on the yarn, or more importantly on my hands.
I’ve decided to share this pattern as a Mini Meow CAL. I hope you join me and you never know – you may decide you want to make these as presents. Everyone I have given one to has loved it and my children have quite a few they play with together at home.
Please note: I receive many requests to make these cuties for people from around the world. Although I no longer crochet custom orders – perhaps this pattern will come in handy for those of you who want a Little Oombawka of your own – or even for someone who wants to make these and supply them to people who want handmade kitties of their own.
As with all my designs – you are always welcome to follow my pattern and sell your finished product – I only ask you do not sell or share my original pattern – what you make is yours to do with as you wish 🙂 If you sell your finished products online, I would love to receive a link to my website (or free pattern) and in return I will link to you in my pattern for those individuals who are searching for the product rather than the pattern! Please use your own photos to represent the items which you sell. When I sold these kitties – depending on the color details requested I charged between $20 and $30 Canadian per cat. I did custom orders based on photographs for people – for their pets.
Here are some of the kitties I made with the original pattern and yarn (Bernat Softee Chunky Bulky [5]):
If you do find a different yarn works well for this please leave me a comment with the brand and type!
I am always looking for other options – just in case the yarn I am using is discontinued again; my original design used Bulky Weight Yarn (Yarn Class 5) and last year I had to rewrite it for Super Bulky (Yarn Class 6) when the original yarn was discontinued.
Yarns I have tried which I did not produce a good result when brushed are:
- Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (Lily Sugar’n Cream) (rips and falls apart – becomes very dusty and messy)
- Patons Shetland Chunky
- Patons Astra
- Red Heart SuperSaver
- Bernat Super Value
- Loops & Threads Impeccable
- Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice
- Baby Yarns (DK weight – or Light Weight [3])
If you are going to try something different it needs to be at least a Bulky Weight Yarn – unless you are not going to brush it out!
P.S. In case you are wondering…
my daughter, Darla, called these little kitties “oombawkas” when she was a toddler…and this is why I chose to name my business and online website Oombawka Design.
Hi Tahlia, I have never tried Lion Brand Thick and Quick for this – it might work! I would try brushing out a small sample to check so you don’t waste too much yarn if it isn’t suitable. I have trouble finding safety eyes here too – unless I order them online – we can find black ones usually in a couple of our craft shops and brown but other than that I always order off Etsy or the one Gentleman I found who sells them in bulk for a very good price (but I purchase large quantities at once from him.). Let me know how the Thick and Quick works if you try it! All the best, Rhondda
I’ve been wanting to join in this CAL but we don’t have Bernat Softee Chunky here in Australia, a woeful lack of cat safety eyes and I haven’t been able to get to the shop. Lion Brand Thick and Quick looks like the closest thing I can get, has anyone tried that one?
let me know if you have any questions along the way!!
I am excited to share the design 🙂 please let me know if you have questions 🙂
Absolutely adorable! Excited Will go along as best i can as still busy in in canning and Christmas presents. Do want to do this though! Thank you!
Sharon
these are so cute! excited to make one, I have brushed out amigurumi before and people are amazed that it is crochet. I love the effect. love it!
Thank you Sheryl 🙂 Have fun at school!
This looks very nice and cite to do. I will follow along as I am in school 5 appx days a week as a gma for a first grade class. But I will be watching. Looks very interesting. Have fun everyone