This is Daxter.
I bought the yarn and decided to knit Daxter last summer as a gift to my son for Christmas, but following a rapid and shocking series of events last September Daxter left us; it was only 24 hours after the first hint that something was horribly wrong. I put the yarn away, but a few weeks ago I took it back out and started on it again. (I blogged a little about the early efforts here). Okay, this wasn’t all smooth sailing… the pattern by Claire Garland (called Cat) was really well written and had lots of picture support. There was also video support for how to complete the cat once the knitting was done. It was about 40 pages in length, however, so I worked off my computer for the first time. I may have lost my place a couple of times while scrolling up and down through the pattern… I wasn’t completely happy with the colors of the yarns that I found. It’s hard to make a completely realistic cat.
Sigh. Never, ever, in the history of cat knitting was there a more wonky looking cat. There were strategic snips and frogging as I attacked the cat parts that annoyed me the most. I ordered new eyes with my son selecting the correct color and shape. I replaced the eye socket with light colored mohair. I took apart, ripped out and reknit the ear on the left. The first nose had to be replaced twice. Sometimes you can overthink these things: I went out and found some cheap eyes that I could use for right now while we wait for the better ones. I embroidered on some stripes to match Daxter.
Here is the finished (almost) cat.
Last night I took the cat up to my son’s for New Year’s and we settled him onto the loveseat in the office where Daxter used to hang out from time to time.
Happy New Year, everyone.
I will be knitting more cats (and maybe a wild rabbit) this year. May you all also find a project that gives you joy in the coming year.
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Very cute and lifelike! Good job!
Thank you. I’m now getting ready to knit MacKenzie and maybe a pink/purple cat like the Cheshire cat!
I once dreamed my long-hair gray tabby was actually turquoise with purple spots.
Oh, now you need to that that!!
Oh he came out great! You did a beautiful job:) I’ll bet MacKenzie wants one next.
Absolutely I have to knit MacKenzie!! It’s hard to settle on mohair yarn combinations…
He’s turned out better than I’d expected, really very clever and the upside down photo looks very real cat like. What a lovely way to remember Daxter forever now.
I know. I read in despair about how bad he looked, but once I started sewing and got things fixed that I had done wrong the improvement was dramatic. Yay!! Now I’m looking at MacKenzie and wondering what I have in the stash that I can use to knit him.
Really good.
You really captured the spirit of Daxter. Very well done. Love it!
And thank you for all of your posts. And a good New Year to you and your family, including MacKenzie!
Thank you! This was a challenging project because I wanted to capture Daxter, and I have to admit the wonky stage almost pt me off. I’m so glad I persisted. 🙂
So glad you enjoy the posts. They help me stay connected to the world.
OMG – he looks amazing! What a nice thing for you to make for your son 🙂
Thank you!! He looks great in his new home.
He’s so cute!!
Thanks. He is fun to hold… just like a real cat.
❤️
I’m sorry to hear of Daxter’s unexpected death. What a shock. I’m glad you persevered and made a wooly replica of your son’s feline. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s quite impressive.
It was a lot of fun to knit; less fun to do the finishing work to close the seams and stuff it. Nevertheless I just started knitting a MacKenzie cat last night!! It is pretty darn addictive and she just published a pattern for a kitten!!
I just saw it! Wow!