DIY magic carpet cat hammock

I made a cosy magic carpet hammock for our cat Ananas, right under our coffee table!

He was hesitant to crawl in on the first day, but now it’s definitely his go-to cosy place. Even when we have guests over, he loves sitting at the center of the group, yet sheltered underneath the table.

How to make your own DIY magic carpet cat hammock

Supplies

an old towel you can fold in half or into a third (like I did), make sure you use one that will look ok in your living room if you plan on hanging it in plain sight
some zpagetti yarn or other yarn that is strong enough to hold the whole thing (including your cat) up
a crochet hook
a pair of scissors (a knife is optional)
a big comb for making the tassels, but you could just as easily use your hands
elastic bands for tieing the tassels
a coffee table you can hang the hammock from
if you can’t attach the hammock to something underneath the table, you will have to put 4 sufficiently strong hooks into the bottom of your table or into the sides of its legs

Directions

Fold your towel and lay it out underneath your table. Make sure each corner of the folded towel is about 10 cm away from its closest table leg. If necessary, fold your towel differently or consider using a different towel. You could also cut off a strip of towel, but I wouldn’t recommend it, as the cut edge might fray when you wash your hammock or when the loose strings meet your cat’s claws.

Once you’ve found the right ‘fold’, put holes through the corners of your folded towel using your knife or your scissors. Make sure to stay at least 3cm away from the edges of your folded towel.

Now, crochet through the holes to strengthen the corners of your hammock. I used this video tutorial to freshen up on my (limited) crocheting skills. I used ten slip stitches on each corner. Make sure they are tight enough not to show the towel through the crochet.
Leave 10cm on each end of the zpagetti to tie together and use to hang the tassels from.

The tassels underneath give the hammock a magic carpet look. You could make the hammock without them if you feel like you don’t need it to be as bohemian.
I used a big toothed-comb and wound the zpagetti around about 5 and a half times at the length I had in mind. Then I tied one side of the wound up yarn to the loose ends of the crocheted corners and cut open the other side. I didn’t use zpaghetti to bind the tassels together and went for yellow rubber bands instead. Using yarn might have looked a bit sleeker, but I figured it wouldn’t be as cat proof or as colorful.

For tieing the hammock to the table, make 4 braids of yarn, each about 60cm long, with knots on the ends.

Wrestle the braids through the stitches of the crocheted corners, on the opposite side of the tassels.

If there’s nothing underneath the table to tie your hammock to, attach 4 sturdy hooks to it.

Hang the hammock underneath your coffee table using square knots and you are done!

To attract the interest of your cat, you might want to throw some toys or treats into the hammock, but make sure not to force him into it (confession – I tried, did not work). Ananas wasn’t that interested in the hammock on the first day, but we suddenly noticed him balled up in his hammock when we were watching television on the next *aawwws all over.