Day 8 Challenge: Cookie Cozy

Cookie (short for Cookiepuss) wasn't my first family pet, but he was the first pet that I felt truly bonded to.  We adopted him from the ASPCA when I was around 10-years-old.  At the time I considered myself more of a dog person and wasn't entirely thrilled about getting a cat, but was super happy to have a pet. 

Cookie is THE reason I now consider myself to be a cat person.  He was cute, friendly, cuddly--but not suffocating--and somehow he always knew when someone was having a shitty day and knew exactly what to do to make it just a little bit better.  He was already a few years old when he adopted him, but we had him up until the end of my sophomore year of college. 

Even though he's gone now, he still lives on in my art.  He'll pop up in random doodles or beside drawings of me as my little sidekick.  It's my way of keeping him alive.

For the challenge I wanted to make an amigurumi version of him, but after doing the mermaid cozy, I thought it would be really cute to make a Cookie one for myself. 

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had basically NO white acrylic yarn in the house.  What the heck!  This wouldn't be a problem if I was still in NYC, but now that I'm in Poughkeepsie, finding a craft store is like a day's adventure.  JoAnn's and Michael's are okay, but I'm used to paying half the price for the same materials and it's really difficult for me to travel there (since I can't freaking drive). 

So, for this project, I had to choose between putting off a project I really wanted to do now or find a way to make it work.

I opted for finding a way to make it work.

Instead of making the whole cozy Cookie's body, I decided it would be more of a Cookie motif.  I decided the actual cozy would be this nice blue colour I have but rarely use. 

After I made the blue cozy, I added a top pocket in white for Cookie's body and a flap which would be his head.

I knew before I started that I wanted his tongue to slip through a hole in the flap's mouth to act as a button and secure the cozy close.  I used a coarse pink yarn for the tongue so it wouldn't slip open easily. 

Next I added Cookie's patches, face, ears, and tail.  I thought about adding little arms and legs but when I tried it out it just looked sort of silly. 

Lastly I added a strap so I could wear the cozy easily. :)

Overall, I'm happy with the outcome.  I mean, I ended up not being as thrilled with it as I thought I would be--but I think it's because it took me much longer to finish than it really should have with everything that was going on this weekend.  Also, it isn't quite as detailed as the mermaid one so it wasn't the best follow-up project.  I think I'm going to have to let it sit awhile until I decide how I really feel about it.


Its saving grace is the fact that it's my little Cookie. <3  (I hope Biscuit isn't too jealous :P)