No I've not turned into a crazy cat lady dressing up cats! These jumpers are for poorly kitties.
A local cat rescue sometimes has to shave cats because they arrived with their fur too matted and in poor condition to be able to groom it out, so once the cat is shaved they feel the cold and the little jumpers help keep them warm while the fur grows back.
I used Velvet Kerfuffle's pattern on Ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mock-turtleneck-sweater-for-cats as the basic pattern but did add a curved edge at the end just to give a little more coverage when the kitty is curled up. I did this by stopping one stitch short at the end of each row as I turned until it was down to about 10 stitches.
The turtle neck might not be ideal for a small kitten so I'm going to make some without the roll neck and see how they look.
They are made with a large hole for the front legs, this is better than have two small individual leg holes as it is less restrictive. The cats back legs and tail then stick out the back. The mock crochet ribbing around the neck is not tight but flexible enough to hold it in place.
I didn't have a toy cat to try it on but here is what it looks like on the toy rabbit I made last year! :)
The pattern is really easy to follow and I made this in a few hours one afternoon, it is all worked in UK double crochet. I used Cygnet Chunky yarn and a 5.5 mm hook, it took just under 100g. For a smaller cat or kitten double knit would probably do with a 4.00mm hook.
Happy crocheting!
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