Knitted Tooka Cat
So, I knit, and one of the main reasons I do so is so I can make things that do not otherwise exist. For my birthday this year I decided to treat myself by buying a Loth Cat pattern with the intention of using it to create other types of Tooka Cats (because I love these weird little guys).
The pattern I bought was from https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/JessWorks, though it appears to no longer be listed there (or maybe it's just not showing up for me, lol). This is the first time I've bought a pattern, and I was very happy with how easy it was to follow. I used the White Loth Cat version of the pattern as it was the most straight forward. Any issues I had with making it were purely user generated and not a fault of the pattern.
Obviously this is not a White Loth Cat, but my aim when working on this little guy was basically to figure out how to use the pattern to make a Generic Tooka so I just chose some colours that went well enough together from my scrap yarn. Still, I think it turned out cute, even with the very yellow eyes!
My original plan when I started this project was to follow the pattern as closely as possible. Unfortunately that was my first hurdle as I don't know how to knit in the round and couldn't figure it out after a few restarts. So I converted the pattern for flat knitting which surprisingly mostly worked out okay.
Things I'd do differently next time I make this (and there will be a next time as I have bought yarn specifically for Tooka making) would be:
1. Changing where I start the colour change for the face, because it's lower down on the head than I'd like and causes the face to be looking down slightly. I did it in the short rows but next time I'll start it a row higher and might finish it a row earlier too.
2. Figure out how to do some shaping of the face to give it a bit of a muzzle as the way I did it caused what was supposed to be the muzzle to now be the top of the head. Like, not a big muzzle, but a bit more definition to that area of the face.
3. Change the way I do the top parts of the legs. The legs are completely closed up before being attached, and I found trying to sew what were essentially two balls to each other kind of annoying. Next time I'll adjust the pattern so the top parts of the legs have only the outside half as I find that easier to sew on to and personally feel that helps them look like they're part of the body.
4. Change the way I do the face details, or at least use a thinner black thread next time. I'd also love to try out safety eyes as I feel they might match the look of TCW's Tooka eyes better.
Anyway, I'm mostly just writing this as I think this guy turned out cute and because I hope that writing out my plans will help me remember them, lol. Also, if you have any name suggestions I am all ears because I feel this little guy deserves one and I just can't think of any at the moment.
