I had been eyeing cat beds knit or crocheted from jumbo yarn for a while on pinterest and youtube. But the cost of the yarn seemed way to high. It does look gorgeous though. I wanted to try this with a regroovenated yarn.
Step 1: Create jumbo yarn.
I cut up t-shirts in 5 inch wide strips and sewed them together. I switched to old sheets which were lighter weight, so I cut them to 6.5 inch wide strips.
Step 2: Start crocheting a circle.
I used a method that I learned from a book by Kim Werker, called Crochet Me. I found a video of Kim demonstrating the adjustable ring technique that allows you to crochet a circle with no hole in the centre.
start with a ring 
pull through a loop 
pull a loop through that loop (1 chain stitch) 
pull a loop through the ring 
pull a new loop through both existing loops making a single crochet (SC) 
repeat the last two steps for about 6 SC in the inner ring
There are many videos showing how to hand crochet a cat bed with jumbo yarn. I haven’t noticed that they start this way. I used single crochet (SC) as my repeating unit for the base and a combination of single crochet and slip stitch for the walls of the cat bed. Some videos, like the one linked above, use slip stitch, which is slightly simpler.
The basic recipe is this:
Make the base circle:
ring 1: 6 SC ( first chain counts as the first single crochet) made into the loop and join the ring with a slip stitch. The loop is tightened by pulling the tail end of the loop.
Each ring will begin with a chain stitch and end by joining the circle with a slip stitch.
Each successive ring will increase in size by 6 stitches.
ring 2: 6 + 6 = 12 SC You do this by stitching 2 SC into each SC of ring 1.
ring 3: 12 + 6= 18 SC Now distribute the 6 extra stitches by putting 2 SC in every other SC of ring 2.
ring 4: 18 +6 = 24 SC Evenly distribute the 6 extra stitches every third SC of ring 3.
These 4 rings make the base of the bed. (60 SC stitches made so far.)
Make the Wall
Then move onto the walls. No more increases in the number of stitches. I added a ring of SC stitches (24 SC) to make the first layer of the wall. Then I switched to slip stitch and went around 1 more time. (24 slip stitches) For a grand total of 108 stitches! & one finished cat bed!
Set it out and see if there are any takers
Leo tries out the bed. 
It smells like all his people. 
He seems to approve. 
Sun protection, or when or when you want to carry a cat on your head 
Also good padding for doing math homework of the patio. 
Our newest kitty, Reiko is more of a sprawler
Reiko came to us just before Christmas 2019. You will find him sprawled on the floor, on a cat shelf, sometimes curled up too. Here is a prime spot to look for a napping cat…the sock drawer.
The next bed could be made with a long string of single socks! But these ones are doing double duty as socks and cat bed, no assembly required.
Cute cat bed idea!
My doggies would love it too!😍❤
Thanks Lori!