Keyboard Cat

No, not THAT keyboard cat, silly. There's a new keyboard cat in town... 

The the geeky lovechild of keyboard cat and long cat. Oh yeah, this cat has nerd to spare...

Is your desk not up to your nerd standards? Do you have lolcats on your screen but not on your desk? Incidentally, do your wrists sometimes get tired? No more I say! Down with cat-less keyboards and limp wrists. We're going to make ourselves a keyboard cat wrist rest!

(P.S. - Don't know what keyboard cat and/or longcat are? Check out http://knowyourmeme.com/ - and welcome to the internet)

So, we’re going to make the geekiest wrist rest your desk has ever seen, in a few easy steps. It’s comfy enough for any computer, and dorky enough for lolcat lovers, meme-followers, and nerds of all flavor. The kitty rest we’re going to make is like longcat's long-lost cousin or the nerdy programmer sibling of keyboard cat.

We’ll need:
-about half a yard or so of fabric
-matching thread
-scissors & pins
-a big ol’ bag of rice.

If you decide you want to go the ol’ fashioned way like me and hand embroider, you’ll also need floss, a needle, and an embroidery hoop.

We need to plan out the dimensions of our kitty. Now, kitty isn’t hugely technical. Basically, start with the measurement of your keyboard. Add the desired width of your cat (usually around 4 inches or so). Then draw a little rounded square for your kitty head, (just a little larger than the body) and a couple of legs and a tail. Don’t worry about it being perfect. Keyboard cats are known for their quirkiness.

If you're embroidering, you will also, of course, need some dork-worthy embroidery. For this occasion, I’m going to combine and separate two different designs. This is, of course, plenty easy to do with hand embroidery. If you’re doing it with machine embroidery, it’s also possible, you just have to watch which stops you sew.

In this case, I’m taking the nerd glasses from “talk nerdy to me," and the text from “adorkable," designs available on my website, if you should feel so inclined.

So, once you know the size of your cat, you can figure out how large you want your embroidery to be, and print and transfer accordingly. I’m starting with my little nerdy glasses. Be sure to leave enough space around the glasses for hooping

I started with a nice solid satin stitch for our nerdy glasses. I only embroidered up to the edge of where our kitty face will end.  I added a little triangle nose, and then embroidered his body with "I'm Adorkable". Because he is.

If you're not so inclined towards the needle and thread, you could probably just draw or pain on his little nerdy glasses.  But for heavens sake, give him something, or he'll just be a weird little blank face kitty rest, which doesn't make you dorky, it makes you creepy.

Embroidery is done! Let’s start with our kitty face.

Cut your kitty face out to size. Remember to leave plenty of space for seam allowance. Also, cut another piece to size, so you have two halves of your kitty face to stitch together. In case you’re wondering, my kitty face was a little wider than 4 inches (without seam allowance) and about 3 1/2 inches high.

Before we stitch the two halves together, we need some kitty ears! Fold some fabric in half and cut two small triangles for ears. Stitch along the edges of the ears and turn them right side out.

Put your two kitty pieces together right sides together. Carefully pin your ears pointy side in.

Sew a seam around the edge of your kitty, making sure it catches both the ears. Be sure to leave a small gap at the bottom edge of your kitty face so you can turn him right side out.
Once he’s turned right side out, behold the dorkiest kitty face you’ve ever stitched. Even his ears look dorky. That, my friends, is a feat of crafting.

Now it’s on to filling our kitty with rice. Kitties get nice and plump on a steady diet of rice.
If you need some help filling him up without a mess, try making a little funnel out of scrap paper, and filling the rice up that way. After he’s full, use a small stitch to sew the gap up nice and tight.

I have to admit, this might be the weirdest photo I’ve ever taken for a tutorial...

So, here’s your adorable little disembodied kitty head. You could stop now, but that would make you pretty weird.

Now, a kitty body needs kitty legs, and kitty probably wants a tail too. Cut some long legs and a nice long tail, making sure you leave enough width for seam allowance. You’re going to want to make these a lot longer than you need them, so you have plenty of room to stitch them into your kitty.

Stitch around your legs and your tail, and then carefully turn them right side out. Once you’ve pushed out all the edges, carefully fill each of them with a little bit of rice.

Tip your legs so the rice gathers at the bottom, keeping them clear from your stitching. Stick them back under the machine and sew them shut at the open end. When you’re done you should have four nice kitty legs and one nice long kitty tail.

So, now it’s time for our kitty body. Carefully cut out two of your body shape (around your embroidery). Make sure it’s at least as long as your keyboard plus seam allowance. Place the two layers right side together. Take some kitty legs and a tail and place them facing inwards, making sure enough of the ends are left out to be caught by the seam. Do the same at the other end with the front legs.

Pin both sides together, taking care to pin the legs in place. Sew a seam around the edge twice to make sure no rice leaks out, making sure to leave a small gap along the long edge so you can turn it right side out.

Once it’s turned right side out, you can fill the rest of your kitty with rice. Fill him till he’s nice and full, but remember, he doesn’t need to be a fat kitty, just a little bit flat kitty. Once he’s full enough, stitch the gap closed.

Finally, it’s time to stitch the kitty head in place. Place it so it just overlaps his front arms, then lift up his head a bit and whip stitch him in place.

Finally, place your kitty upon his rightful throne of dorkiness, right on your desktop. He’ll hang out in front of your keyboard, like a good little keyboard cat, until you’re ready to get to work. His dorky little face will brighten your day every time you take to the keyboard, because you have to admit, he is adorkable.

If you're nerdy enough to like this or my other tutorials, you can check out lots more in our tutorial section at Urban Threads.

Viva la keyboard cat!!