My Maneki Neko crochet pattern

Here is the pattern for a crocheted maneki neko. A couple years ago I saw a knitted fortune cat on Just Jussi's blog and made a few of them. Then I converted the pattern to crochet and have added my own embellishments and changes over time. Please use the pattern for your own enjoyment but not for sale or to repost on other sites.

I use my own wool handspun and so the cats turn out different sizes depending on the size of the yarn. Just match the size of your yarn to a crochet hook that makes stitches tight enough so that the stuffing doesn't show. I also stuff with wool fleece but polyfil would be fine. Sometimes I make the body striped. Just have fun and use your imagination.

The only coins I could find are probably Chinese but if you are lucky enough to have access to Japanese coins, all the better. It's fun to find different bells and beads to use. These cats are royal so need lots of fancy accessories.





Head

Make magic ring
Row 1: 7 sc in ring
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (14 sts)
Row 3: 1 sc, 1 inc (21 sts)
Row 4: 2 sc, 1 inc (28 sts)
Row 5: 3 sc, 1 inc (35 sts)
Row 6: 4 sc, 1 inc (42 sts)
Rows 7-9: Sc even
Row 10: 1 dec, 4 sc (35 sts)
Row 11: 1 dec, 3 sc (28 sts)
Row 12: 1 dec, 2 sc (18 sts)

Body

Make magic ring
Row 1: 7 sc in ring
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (14 sts)
Row 3: 1 sc, 1 inc (21 sts)
Row 4: 2 sc, 1 inc (28 sts)
Row 5: 3 sc, 1 inc (35 sts)
Row 6: 4 sc, 1 inc (42 sts)
Row 7: 5 sc, 1 inc (49 sts)
Row 8-13: sc even
Row 14: 1 dec, 5sc (42 sts)
Row 15: sc even
Row 16: 1 dec, 4 sc (35 sts)
Row 17: 1 dec, 3 sc (28 sts)
Row 18: sc even
Row 19: 1 dec, 2 sc (21 sts)
Row 20: 1 dec, 5 sc (18 sts) Leave a tail for sewing.

Legs (Make 2)

Make magic ring
Row 1: 6 sc in ring
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (12 sts)
Row 3-8: sc even. After row 8, do another 6 sts, technically half more of a row. Leave a tail for sewing.

Arms (Make 2)

Make magic ring
Row 1: 6 sc in ring
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (12sts)
Row 3-12: sc even. After row 12, do another 6 sts extra half around. Leave tail for sewing to body.

Ears (Make 2)

Make magic ring
Row 1: 4 sc in ring
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (8 sts)
Row 3: 3 sc, 1 inc (10 sts)
Row 4: 4 sc, 1 inc (12 sts). Leave tail for sewing.




Fish (optional)

Make magic ring
Row 1: 4 sc in ring
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (8 sts)
Row 3: 3 sc, 1 inc (10 sts)
Row 4: 4 sc, 1 inc (12 sts)
Row 5-12: sc even
Row 13: 1 dec, 4 sc (10 sts)
Row 14: 1 dec, 3 sc (8 sts)
Row 15: dec around (4 sts)
Row 16: Tail row- 2 sc in each st (8 sts)

Assembly

Stuff head and body firmly and sew together opening to opening. Stuff the arms and legs lightly, mostly just the paw and very little in the limb. Sew on legs straight out so the cat will sit. Sew on the beckoning arm either on the right or left. There are various interpretations of what this means. Usually the right arm beckoning is to bring good luck and wealth so I go with that. For the raised arm, the extra 6 sts go towards the bottom of the cat and on the other arm, those extra sts are at the top. Sew on the ears without stuffing. Traditionally these are Japanese bobtail cats so I don’t add a tail but you can if you like.

I embroider the faces with either crewel yarn or embroidery floss. My method for doing this is to knot the end of the yarn and go in an inch or so from the place I want the stitches to start and bring the needle up there, tugging the knot through the crocheting and into the stuffing. This has held up well for me. I end the same way by going out from my embroidery an inch or so, tying and knot and going back into the same spot to bury the knot.

The paws have stitches that go around and through to divide into 4 claws. On the beckoning hand, I fold down that tip of the paw, after it has been divided with claws and sew it down from underneath so those stitches don’t show.
These are royal cats so they need lots of embellishments such as bibs, bells, coins, ribbons and beads... whatever you like. The fish is a Lucky Tai and represents plenty.

Have fun making and enjoying your Maneki Neko! Please send me photos of fortune cats you make.

Forest Wallhanging

I've had this idea hanging around my brain for awhile and started on the sample last fall. It took me awhile to think about how to do it and there are still some things that I wish I could either figure out still or think of a better way to get an effect. My objective was to do a weaving that was basically tapestry but the warp would show and there would be dramatic slits so that I could show a woods scene and have depth and a sense of light.



The warp on these are mostly handspun wool with some cotton mixed in if it was a color I wanted. If the yarn was thin, I doubled it as warp end and it is a pretty varied mix of plies and singles and colors sett at 9 epi. The finished piece is 21" x 18".
On the sample, when I wanted a slit opening to be wider, I drew in the weaving part which was the tree trunk and that just made wider slits. That worked ok but on the second one, I didn't tighten up on any of the woven areas and just left blank warp. When I took the weaving off the loom, I tucked the uncovered warps back into the weaving with a needle and this worked better. Next time I do this, I'll use an all wool warp because wool works sticks to itself better and is easier to work back into the weaving and stays put. I steamed the piece heavily with an iron and press cloth when it was finished.

This is a detail of the work. You can see that I used a lot of colors and types of yarn.



When I took the weaving off the loom, I turned under the top and bottom edges to accommodate dowel rods to stabilize the hanging. It is pretty light weight on its own. I knew that what was behind it would be an issue but I didn't realize how much until I held it against our antique white walls and saw it needed a better color. And you can see on the sample that the white doesn't help it out very much. I pulled out my fabric scraps not thinking there was anything useful there but hoping to get an idea of what would work. I had this fabric I used left from another project. It was the exact size I needed and I just turned under the edges. I only had 2 choices of how the watercolor darker parts of the fabric showed through because there was just the right size of cloth and I thought it worked perfectly this way. I could have shopped for hours for the right thing and not found anything that worked so well. And then I would have agonized on how to place the background so this was one of those very happy coincidences that happen every now and then.

This is the first sample I did.



I need to find some fabric backing for it since I think that even though it was meant to be a sample, it turned out pretty well. Now I'm thinking that my next experiments will be trying to some sort of doublewoven weaving so that as I weave the front tree panel, I can weave it a background as I go and I'm also considering something similar using supplementary warp on my tapestry loom. Not sure which one will be first to try.



My inspiration were a number of photos like these woods that I took when I was in Washington last summer and then I did a number of drawings from them.

These are a couple of my new amigurumi. The bunny was on the last blog but insisted on appearing again since after all, it is his season.

New Year...Start Up the Blog Again

One of my resolutions for this year was to post to my blog again. I now have a wonderful, super-powerful iMac and broadband so it should all work a lot better and quicker for me. This post is mostly photos of what I finished up last year. It's not a complete list because there were a few things that got away without having their photos taken.

These are some photos of the finished saddle blanket. This is the first one that I've ever woven and I was pleased with the end piece. The yarn is all organic and naturally dyed by Thirteen Mile Farm here in Belgrade. It was a fun project to work on and I liked doing it at the time but I don't think I'll be doing another one. My heart is still with tapestry weaving.





The horse, Squire, looks like his saddle blanket is comfortable to him.



Here is the only tapestry that I wove last year. I had another tapestry on the loom for a long time and it just wasn't working for me so scrapped it and used the rest of the warp for this one. Right now, I'm working on 3 small tapestries for the small format exhibit in Florida this summer in conjunction with Convergence. I can only send one but decided to warp the loom for 3 so that I could send the best one hoping I got a decent one. So far I've finished two, love them both and can't decide which one is better. I'll be thrilled if I have a problem picking from the three which is best. Photos of these will be coming in the next week or so.



I made this doll for a good friend for Christmas. When I was in Washington last summer, I did a lot of hiking and the woods were so lush and overgrown, it seemed they just had to be inhabited by fairies and elves, or Smurfs. I was sure that I would see some little forest folk peaking from behind a leaf. That got me thinking of dolls and some little forest people so I made this doll. Her body is an inkle band, her head and limbs are crocheted and her skirt is weavette squares. I figured out a way to weave small beads into the squares to look like dew drops. She has a wire armature inside which I had to figure out how to do but it was well worth it to make the doll poseable.



In the evenings when I'm too tired to work on anything else, I've started making these little crocheted amigurumi. I am having so much fun. I hadn't crocheted in years and I'm enjoying that but I also like making the little animals. Mostly I use patterns out there and change details and features, etc. It's great for using up all the odds and ends of yarn too. Mine are all wool and I stuff them with wool too, so they are very cuddly. I've made several more but they've gone to live at other homes.





I love cats and really love making fortune cats, Japanese maneki neko. The first ones I did were from a knit pattern I found online but I converted it to crochet to make it easier for me. It's fun to decorate them with coins and bells.