FO: Shih Tzu Snuggy Bed

This is a felted kitty bed pattern (free). But I thought…hmmm…[B]some cats are bigger
than a Shih Tzu! This could work for my Katie! [/B]

Anyway, I made small changes with regards to my yarn weight, and my needle size, and my number of cast on stitches! You can’t really tell if you’re on the right track with felted projects when you’re winging it. But, as it turned out…I was right on track! BTW, here is a photo of a sweet kittie, sitting in her kittie bed! You should look at all of the 140 projects over at Ravelry! Most are kittie beds, and they are adorable! Hilarious!

Here is a chihuahuain her kittie bed!

The bottom of Katie’s bed is 17" across. The sides are 14" full height, but when turned down the sides are about 7" tall.

Before I go on too much…here are my Ravelry notes if you care to knit (and felt) one of these kittie-doggie beds for your loved one! I wrote out all my numbers abd modifications for the doggy-sized kitty bed.

[COLOR=Black][B]BTW: this is knit entirely with STASH YARN![/B][/COLOR] :wink:

I knit it in November, but had to wait until our Seattle area got a full week of hot weather!
I want it to DRY (not mold!) before the millenium is done! Now’s the time to knit [B][I]and felt[/I][/B] a bed like this!

Still outside, drying…

Yesterday, we pulled it over the top of an upside-down (new) garbage can [U]for shaping[/U][I]. My main concern was pressing out the ripples in the center of the bed (the tan area).[/I] After I stretched the bottom out as much as I could…I put a big square piece of wood on top of it, then a 25 lb barbell weight, and then a 15 lb crock lid. Let it all sit there like that from early evening until this morning. Removed all the weights this morning, and let it begin drying:

Below: this will be the center of the bed. In this photo, it was still pulled down over the garbage can. I couldn’t get all the ripples pressed out with the weights, but I notice that other Ravelers have the same issue. I guess it’s part and parcel of the knitting design, and the rapid decreases. The rippling was much much worse right out of the washer.

Unfelted:

My Shih Tzu, Katie…the recipient of this felted doggy bed. Maybe I’ll place it on my bed, maybe I’ll dragit along in the cab of our truck in cold weather, maybe I’ll take it back and forth to our mountain property for her. Undecided…

Ahh, but the real question is will she lay in it!? My animals never cooperated. They much rather lay on a pile of warm, fresh from the dryer, towels. Or any blanket, or my pillow. :lol:

I love it though! It came out great and I hope she uses it!

That is so cute, and I’ll bet Katie will claim it as her very own too. Each dog we’ve had, not many as they lived a long time thankfully, was always eager to use their bed. Well, not at night, my bed was always ‘their’ bed but during the daytime or evening, sort of like, “don’t mess with my own little bed.” By the way, is there a foam form underneath?

How perfect! i hope Katie loves calling this cozy bed, home. Very handsome pattern and color combination.

To answer a couple ues of questions:

Katie will nest in anything! Her donut bed (all curled up), the hounds bed (where she’s seen sleeping on her back, fully stretched out) or in the flat bed with the bumper rim.

There isn’t a foam insert for the inside-bottom of this felted bed, however I’ve thought about it. How would I knit a disc for the inside? Could I knit two discs, whip stitch closed, leave a 4" opening, stuff it with fiber-fill, then complete the whip stitch closure?

I wouldn’t feel the need to felt the ‘pad’…what do you think? When she nests, she digs a lot. Shih Tzu’s are notorious diggers. Lhasa Apso’s, too.

I could just as well give her an old sweater in there!

Oh, wait! What if I knit two large wool squares, felt them, dry them…then CUT THEM into the circle shapes for the bottom of the bed, using a fancy stitch to lash them together all around the perimeter? This seems easier than trying to knit circles.

What does everyone think? Input please!

Oh good! Glad she’ll use it!

I’d probably just get something to put in it…one of those round fleece things or something like that that is washable. An old sweater, towel, anything she loves. :thumbsup:

My original intention for this little bed is to put it on top of our bed, at the foot, where Katie sleeps. In winter, I put my KP City Tweed log cabin blanket on top of our bed. Katie gets into her 5-minute nesting mode, and she snags my log cabin! [B]Bah![/B]

Jan, I think you’re right…I’ll just toss in an old PJ top of mine, and see how she gets on. Shih Tzu’s run [B]hot[/B] with all their winter coat. Katie’s curly hair is 2" deep!

My dog used to nest by digging, spinning and generally making a mess of the blanket I put on the bed for her, too. :lol:

I’m only 5’0"…so I’m hoping I’ll have the extra 17" necessary for this little bed. Should be okay. But the main thing is…it’s not heavy like most dog beds of a similar size. I’m excited to try it when the weather cools down in September.

I would place a round piece of foam inside and cover it with a removable cover (like a pillow sham) that you can remove and wash when needed. You can buy foam at a fabric store and cut it the desired circle. If there is an upholstery shop near you they probably have a large enough scrap that will work and well cut it for you.

If she’s going to be using this mainly on the bed, then how much of a cushion does she really need. I mean, is your bed really really really hard? If not, I’d say just leave it as is.

Super job on this. Would love to make one for my cat but with a top and a hole that she could crawl in. You know how cats love claustrophobic places! Ick!!

I’m going to take the advice of my KH friends and just leave it be, no cushion for now. Katie likes to lay on her back and wiggle around, bicycling her legs in the air, I think to scritch her back! So the bottom of this bed, with the felted waves of slight ripped will do the trick!

Thanks for the input!