The Tail of the Cat and the Yarn

We all know cats love yarn, and anyone who crafts with yarn knows that cats are their best ‘helper’. I have had multiple strands of yarn unexpectedly cut by sharp teeth or tangled in kitty paws and balls of yarn gathered under couches by my roommate’s cat.

While I was crocheting a new doll with yarn that was slightly soggy from having been chewed on, my roommate’s cat discovered something even more fun than chewing on yarn: the doll’s head. I do not know if it was the shape and size of the toy, that it was made of yarn, or the slight morbidity of it, but the little crocheted head seemed to be the perfect cat toy.

So, I had an idea, a slightly dark, but funny idea: crocheted heads of famous people (real or imagined) for cats and other pets to enjoy. I went to work, first by ruining my Google search algorithm by searching for people who had been decapitated. Luckily someone had already created a comprehensive list on Wikipedia. I chose only those people who were famous for losing their heads (“let them eat cake” anyone?) or fictional characters.

At that point in my life, I had been crocheting for almost ten years, but I had never designed my own crochet patterns before. I relied on the work of talented individuals on the internet. These little heads turned out to be the best way for me to start designing patterns, as the main “body” of the toy was just a sphere and the real work went into designing hair, hats, crowns, etc. to identify these little spheres as famous figures. I designed snake hair for Medusa, a braided beard and tricorn hat for Blackbeard, a blood-stained crown for the guilt-ridden Macbeth, a stylized updo for Mary Queen of Scots to name a few. It was a fun, new creative process that I had not pursued before in my other crocheting projects.

After making a few heads as gifts for friends’ pets, I then started an even more ambitious endeavor: I opened an Etsy Shop. It was in the naming of my shop that I realized it was the perfect opportunity… for puns. I spent perhaps too long on a shop title before deciding on one: Heads Will Roll. I discovered more opportunities for puns in creating Instagram posts and business cards to support my shop.

I was also able to collaborate with a friend who is an artist to create the shop logo. He drew a really cute logo with the shop’s name in bubble letters and three heads rolling around: Marie Antoinette resting at the top of the H, Macbeth in shock as he is about to tumble off the top of the W, and Medusa coming to rest at the bottom of the R, her snake hair still flying in the air. The logo perfectly fit the theme of my shop and was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with a friend and collaborate on a creative project.

I expanded my shop as soon as I thought of more puns: an ear of corn, a head of broccoli, a head of lettuce, a head of cauliflower… you get the point. I had moved onto vegetables and called it the organic section. I am continuing to add new heads to my shop as well as other food-based puns (for example angel-hair pasta and lady fingers).

I enjoy designing new toys. Even more so, I enjoy the cute pet pictures that customers send me. It is so fun to see little crocheted balls bring such joy to people and their pets.

Of course, all these toys would not be possible without a good pair of scissors. I cannot count the number of times I have brought my crochet supplies over to a friend’s house for a movie night and have forgotten my scissors and I thought to myself, “Well, I guess I’m not crocheting after all.” Now both of my crochet bags have their own pair of scissors so that I never go without them.