T-shirt Yarn + DIY Cat Toys

We are over the moon excited to welcome our new kitty home! We adopted her from a great little place called Kitty City (which Riley made a really funny jingle for, but refuses to sing to you guys). Her name was Cass, but we renamed her. Everyone got to choose a name. And somehow our female cat became Delores Karl Hudson, or Karl Hudson for short. Cracks me up!

She was immediately comfortable and sweet. Mind you this was our second shelter cat in as many weeks. We originally adopted an older female we named Yeti, but she ended up spending the better part of two weeks hiding in a hole in the basement wall. We started calling her “wall kitty”. The foster folks were so sweet to come and coax her out and match us with the perfect pet.

All things for a reason, I guess. Anyway, we are loving her like crazy people. Lola wanted to make her toys so we made two and I went nuts pinning others to make real soon.

First we made a dangle cat toy with a piece of yarn and a stick. So simple and highly recommended by kitty Karl Hudson. And we made some t-shirt yarn and turned it into a really simple, crazy easy pom pom.

Here’s how to make your own t-shirt yarn for cat toys and a bunch of other crafts, too.

First line up the bottom hem of your shirt and cut it off (this is a very forgiving project) with scissors or a rotary cutter. Then cut the top portion of the shirt off – I cut under the arm holes straight across.

Next turn your shirt sideways, using one of the uncut sides as the bottom. Then fold from the bottom up leaving about an inch at the top.

Fold from the bottom again, still leaving an inch at the top. This will give you four (4) layers to cut through to make your strips.

Cut through the four layers stopping at the one inch you left at the top. I cut through with scissors, but a rotary cutter would have been easier. I cut about one inch strips, but it’s totally up to you.

Keep cutting your strips all the way to end. Remember not to cut all the way up to the top – leave your one inch uncut. Then you can open it all up to see your long strips and uncut top.

You’ll need to cut across the top and I found it easiest to lay it across a plastic bottle. You could put it on your arm, but this is way easier. Make a diagonal cut from the bottom of the first strip to the bottom of the second. Then keep cutting on a diagonal to the end.

You’ll find that the first strip is still attached so just cut it on a diagonal again and you’re all set. Sorry I forgot to snap a pic of the yarn laid out! We were too excited to make it into a toy, I guess!

After you have your yarn ready you can ~~drive your cat crazy~~ make a pom in just minutes!

First wrap the yarn around your hand, pull it off your hand and tie another strip in a knot across the middle. Then cut the loops at each end open. Then instant pom pom! You can give yours a little haircut if you want to get a tighter, more uniform pom. We left ours as is because she already wanted to play with it!

But she’s a smart one and refuses to have her picture taken in action. So here are some really bad pics of Karl Hudson staring at us, guarding her new diy cat toy!

Hope you’ll make these two (ridiculously easy) diy cat toys! And here are some MORE adorable diy cat toys from folks way more creative than me!

1. Cardboard Mice 2. Fish Head (fish heads, rollie-pollie fish heads…eat them up yum!) 3. Kitty Sushi 4. Knitted Corks