Sew Help Me!
If you have sewing or knitting skills, we have some projects that we need some help with. Thrift stores and yard sales are great places to pick up fabric and yarn, but if you’d like us to provide them for you, please email or call us and we’ll be glad to provide you with supplies. Let us know if you have any questions! To become a regular crafting volunteer please email VolunteersHCH@gmail.com.
Crochet projects
We seem to never have enough handmade items at our events to keep people happy. If you’re crafty and would like to donate your skills, feel free to make any of the below for us.
Items can be delivered to the shelter or mailed in. Here’s a list of ideas (with links to free patterns) but feel free to search the web for others as we’re happy to accept anything you craft!
- These simple Cat Koozies are some of our “Best Sellers” at any events we take them. People seem to really love them. Here is a video tutorial showing how the basic shape can be obtained. Decoration can be as simple as you see in our photo (buttons and some embroidery thread) or as fancy as your heart desires.
- Here’s a link to crocheted cute drinks coasters that is both quick and super adorable.
- And how about these hilarious cat butt drink coasters? Here is a great tutorial on how to create them. Some make the tail curly to be more reminiscent of a cat swishy tail (available in this second set of instructions), but we love the straight Happy Tail too!
- Or how about creating a wonderful beanie hat?
- Or a combo hood, scarf and mittens for our cold Colorado winters?
- Or how about crocheting an afghan for one of our silent auctions? Supporters LOVE to bid on silent auction items and also participate and purchase handcrafted items at our pop-up bazaars. If you feel ambitious we think this pattern is adorable! Who would not love be buried under a meow-tain of kitties?
- Or how about this beauty? This is a simpler and larger size pattern sure to make anyone smile.
Condo Hammocks
These are hammocks we hook inside our condos and decompressing crates/pods to provide the kitties with lounging and comfortable napping surfaces.
- Condo hammocks are 35 x 14 inch rectangles and are made of two layers (a fleece or flannel one for comfort and warmth and a canvas one that does not stretch and holds shape (see reverse below).
- The canvas side has webbing straps at each corner which are used to hook the hammock to the condos. These straps are stitched about every inch with a loop that extends one inch outside the edge of the hammock.
Biscuit Hammocks
Our friends at the Biscuit Factory Cat Lounge have a shelving unit that would be purrfect for hammocks.
- The dowels are 24″ apart, so a 14×18 inch hammock made like the condo ones should work well. We can use the webbing to attach them to shower curtain hooks.
Buddy Blankets
These blankets gather each cat’s unique scent while at the shelter and are sent home with them at adoption. Having their own little buddy blanket helps reduce new environment stress and anxiety. Blankets are roughly 18″ x 24″ and can be made using any recycled yarn you have laying around the house.
Low on supplies? Consider Who Gives a SCRAP-Colorado Springs, a thrifty local non-profit whose mission is keeping unused crafting supplies out of the landfills. These blankets can be made in ANY CRAFTING STYLE. You can crochet them or knit them, they can be stitched cotton patchwork quilts or fleece, anything goes as long as they are washable.
These are great for a novel knitter or crocheter to hone their skills on…perfection not required! Thank you for cuddling our kitties with their own blanket.
Cat Toys
Our felines love kick toys! These are made out of recycled fleece and this easy pattern can guide you thru the process. We have organic locally grown catnip and can provide some for you to stuff the toys with. Extra bonus for our kitties!
Super easy beginner project for kids and adults alike are these cat toy rings. These guys are a cool up-cycle project to keep plastic out of the landfill and create a perfect little batting toy that can be steeped in catnip for extra fun. As a bonus point if the cats fall in love with these rings, they can be sent home with them once adopted as an extra comfort item. Here are the directions on how to create these cute rings.
Other Cat Toys
- This kick toy is also super easy to make and as you can see cats can really hug them and go nuts with them.
- And how about these cute crocheted jelly fish toys?
- Cats always seem to love these curly and jingly simple batting toys. Here is a simple tutorial on how to create some. And here is even a video tutorial on how to crochet curly short toys that we can steep in catnip and the cats can take to their new adopted home when they leave if they love them.
- How about these mousies? Aren’t they the cutest thing? These can also easily be steeped in catnip and sent home along with the cat if they become a favorite toy. Here are instructions on how to create them.
- And how about these crochet ball used recycling tee shirt yarn material? This is a wonderful up-cycling project and cotton is a wonderful natural fiber so we like it twice. Here are the detailed instructions on how to create these balls. The filling could be catnip as well.
- And how about these adorable fishies? They look so cute and can be stuffed with catnip too. Wonderful batting plush little toys that can be taken along to the cat’s new home as an additional comfort item. Here are directions to create these sweet little guys.
Mending
We always have a bag of beds and such that haven’t survived either our washing machine or the mauling of little teeth and claws. If you enjoy sewing and mending, please reach out to us and we can set you up with some extracurricular cactivities.
TNR Trap Covers
We are very involved in Trap Neuter Return in our community. We support and help colony managers feed an estimated 800+ fixed and stabilized community cats a day in the Pikes Peak Region. Stabilizing colonies and fixing feral cats is the only way to reduce suffering and hardships for cats born outside. This is achieved thru the TNR program. If you have basic sewing skills we’d love some new trap covers, a cover reduces stress during this scary procedure for feral cats. Above you can see basic shape as well as dimensions. If you are interested in finding out more about TNR or becoming a TNR volunteer, check out this Kitten Lady video.
Huggy Beds & Felted Cat Beds
These are beds made from upcycled sweaters, very easy to make with no crafting experience needed. PLEASE NOTE: children’s or small women’s sweaters fit better in the colonies than larger sweaters do. Wool blends are great as they hold up better than synthetics do, as long as they’re felted (pre-shrunk). Tap here for our Huggy Bed instruction page.
Our beds have to withstand washing in hot water and drying (though we try to hang them dry, it doesn’t always happen), so these pre-shrunk beds should be perfect.
Knitting projects
- Or how about a warm wool shawl? The pattern and instructions are available both in German and English (scroll down for the English version).
- We are in love with this tiny window cat knitted figurine. The instructions and patterns (along with many photos uploaded by crafters) can be found here in many colors and yarn styles.