The Story of the Stupid Alien Christmas Tree Cat

The final version of my Christmas Tree Cat should be featured above, and at the bottom of this article.

As a doctor I couldn’t resist writing up a little “Surgical Report” on this project below.

AMIGURUMI EMERGENCY SURGICAL REPORT

The usual preop checklist was performed. The identity of the patient was confirmed, but there was no mistaking his identity; he was obviously in need of an operation.
Plenty of stuffing was on hand in case there was stuffing loss.

INDICATION FOR SURGERY: Major abnormalities including smaller eyes than the pattern indicates, ear position low, causing patient to look like a Yoda/The Child/Grogu wannabe; lumpy, soft, asymmetrical body shape; lack of proper decoration. Lack of expression.

PROCEDURE: The patient was prepared in a clean setting. No anesthesia was required. Vital signs, such as there were, were stable.
First, the inferior (bottom) closure was opened, and the stuffing was removed. Then a larger pair of eyes was transplanted. Next, an ear lift was performed, repositioning the ears into a more typical cat configuration. Firm stuffing was inserted from top to bottom, with a bag of granules added at the inferior aspect to promote stability afterwards.
The remaining yarn was used to fashion two feet and a tail, however, the patient looked better without them, so they weren’t included.

The rudimentary garland was unraveled and reused to make a new, improved garland. Christmas lights were added to the garland, the star was crocheted again from another pattern. The face was appropriately sutured, and all elements were fixed in place. No instruments were left inside—the count was normal. There was no significant stuffing loss. Patient sent to Recovery Room without complications.

TIME: Time wasn’t recorded, but estimate is two hours.

RESULTS: The procedure went well. The Christmas Tree Cat is expected to make a full recovery.

For more details–

I hadn’t done any amigurumi for a few years, but I was surprised at what I’d forgotten as I tried to make the Christmas Cat Tree by Kamila Krawka. I counted the rounds of work differently than she did, so the ears were in the wrong place. And I understuffed it. I didn’t like the ornaments when I made one, because they were only flat disks. I tried an old-fashioned Christmas tree lights garland, but they looked lumpy. I made little ornament balls, but they stood out too much. So I went for half spheres, which seemed just right. In this pudgy cat, the feet and tail are just assumed to be one with the green fur, as it were. I named it the Stupid Alien Christmas Tree Cat.
One of the problems, I think, is that the designer did something I’ve done sometimes when creating a pattern. I’ve worked a few rows, unraveled back a few rows and crossed out notes, and tried variations until I get the look I want, but sometimes how I finally did it is a little lost to me. Her description of the size of the eyes and the instructions on the star don’t match her photos. Here’s the link of what her original looked like: https://www.etsy.com/listing/650371812/crochet-pattern-no-1816-christmas-cat
It was frustrating, and there was some trial and error, but in the end, the result was so satisfying, that I’d like to make more.