The cat in the knit hat

It’s not enough to knit sweaters for our children and grandchildren — no. Dexterous fingers need more. They need to knit something smaller, faster: They need to knit hats for cats.

What started as a lark — and to honor the grandmother who taught her to knit — has turned into steady work for Sara Thomas, author of “Cats in Hats: 30 Knit and Crochet Patterns for Your Kitty” (Running Press, March 2015).

Thomas hopes the book, with quick knitting and crochet patterns for a dinosaur, chicken, bunny, turkey, cupcake, extraterrestrial, banana, Santa, elf, lion, baby bear and more, will free up time so she can knit and crochet something else.

“As much as I love the cat hat, I do want to do other things,” admits Thomas, of Nashville, Tenn.

Her two cats, Dorothy and Sinclair, are first to try out her admittedly kitschy creations. Dorothy has proven agreeable, but not Sinclair.

“Sinclair does not enjoy modeling the hats … in fact, he likes to attack them,” says Thomas.

A patterns book of hats for dogs isn’t out of the question. And Thomas also would like to rework her grandmother’s vintage patterns for a book: “She was a beautiful knitter who grew up in Germany, so I’d want to make the patterns era-appropriate.”

But first? She’ll probably embark on a holiday-themed book that puts more cats in outlandish hats. She has learned that hats for cats sell.