So, I didn’t intend to go quite so long without posting, but with the beginning of the semester, and a string of unpleasant illnesses for me, I just haven’t been able to DO very much lately. But look what I made this weekend!
So, as background, we’re big believers in Collaborative Problem Solving, and one persistent problem we have with our dear impulsive sensory-seeker is that she LOVES to pet our cats and try to pick them up and put them on her lap, and, well, our cats are less than enthused about all of that. So, during one problem-solving session where we were discussing this issue, a proposal emerged: I would try to create a weighted kitty toy that she could carry and hold in her lap, and it needed to be soft like kitty fur, so I’d make it out of minky.
This was our sketch:
As you can probably tell, the end result was a bit, um, wonkier than the original sketch, but let’s just say I would be very, very happy to NEVER SEW WITH MINKY EVER AGAIN, OMG. I was a bit crazy to commit to this project knowing that my sewing machine is currently non-functional – this is 100% hand-sewn, including the inner pockets containing the weighted beads. I probably stabbed myself at least 100 times in the process.
Here’s a closeup of the kitty’s face. I used scraps of minky for the eyes and nose, and couching to do all of the rest of the embroidery, because it was the only way I could figure out to make the embroidery actually stand out on a minky background. I couched down a double-thick line of Lett-Lopi (in grey for the whiskers, and red for the mouth and other features) using embroidery floss (white for the whiskers, and hot pink for the mouth and other features). This was incredibly hard to do because of how slippery the minky was. Hence the wonkiness. But hey, it’s kind of charming, and the recipient?
She could not possibly be more delighted with her new weighted kitty, who she has named “Sweetie Heart”, and she says she wants to throw me a “thank you party” for making it for her. That’s pretty darned gratifying! (I still would like a LONG moratorium on minky-based sewing projects.)
In the end, Sweetie Heart weighs about 5 pounds, and is stuffed with a combination of poly pellets (which are inside pouches that are also made from the red minky) and regular poly filling, and I have to say, it feels pretty darned amazing on my lap, too:
When this kitty is on my lap, I feel this incredible sense of calm and peace in my body. I don’t think M got her sensory processing disorder from nowhere – I’m definitely an SPD person, too. And feeling the incredible difference it made to have this in my lap makes me wonder if I should get myself a weighted lap pad to use while I’m working. I’d also love to have a weighted blanket for sleeping, too. I think I’ll let someone else make those, though!
whit::knits 
What a good idea. One of my grandchildren is ADHD with sensory motor issues and something like this might be very helpful.