Catnip Empanada

Super-easy cat toys with a small, fabric sachet filled with catnip inside. It only takes about 30 minutes to finish one. And after the cats tire and the catnip high wears off, they can use it as a pillow!

Materials:

• Lily Sugar'n Cream or similar worsted kitchen cotton, about 20 yards per toy
• Crochet hook, size I or J (specific gauge isn't important. You just want a sturdy fabric.)
• Loose catnip
• Thin cotton fabric

Catnip pouch:

Kittens and some adult cats don't respond to catnip, so you can leave out the catnip sachet. They'll still have fun!

Cut fabric into circles about 3" (7.5cm) in diameter. Fold in half and sew about 2/3 around edge. Put a few pinches of catnip in and finish sewing sachet closed.

Empanada:

Note: I vary the placement of the increase in each round so the finished disc won't look too hexagonal.

6sc in magic circle

Row 1: Inc around (12st)

Row 2: (Inc, sc) X 6 (18st)

Row 3: (2sc, inc) X 6 (24st)

Row 4: (inc, 3sc) X 6 (30st)

Row 5: (2sc, inc, 2sc) X 6 (36st)

Row 6: (inc, 5sc) X 6 (42st)

(Fold the disc over the catnip sachet here to see if it's large enough. If not, work Row 7.)

Row 7: (3sc, inc, 3sc) X 6 (48st)

Slip st in next sc, then chain about 20 stitches for the tail, adjusting if you want a longer or shorter tail. (It's less dangerous to wave the toy in their face with a longer tail.) Work sc in each chain back to disc.

Make sure you've secured the starting end of the yarn.

Here you can either FO, leaving a long tail to sew the two halves together, or fold the disc in half and slip stitch the edges together. The cats really don't care. After finishing the seam (make sure the sachet is inside!), securely sew the yarn end in.

Spoon isn't unexcited by the catnip. He already had his excitement for the morning.

August 2009

This pattern for "Catnip Empanada" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Finished objects made from this pattern are for personal use only (to keep or to give as a gift). Neither the pattern nor finished objects made from the pattern are to be sold without written permission from the author. Please contact me by sending an email to gmail.com user knittincrap if you have questions.