Cats in Hats: 30 Knit and Crochet Patterns for Your Kitty

As any cat owner will appreciate, the most impressive aspect of this book is that in nearly all the photos of the cats wearing hats, the cats are not visibly angry. Thomas presents some undeniably cute ideas, such as a “Punk Mohawk” hat that turns the wearer into a feline rock musician, and a dinosaur hat with stegosaurus-style spikes. There are seasonal ideas here too, including a pumpkin hat and a bunny. A sense of repetition sets in after a while, though—there’s only so much space to work with on a cat’s head, so the unicorn, shark, party, Santa, and banana hats are essentially the same, just done in different colors. The book has an attractive design, with written patterns (along with a handful of charts) and basic instructions. Thomas also gets points for including knitting and crocheting in the same book, along with guides to the yarns and cats that featured. The natural instinct will be to display this as a joke item, but the book appears to be sincere. Still, how many cats are going to wear these hats willingly? Full-color photographs. (Mar.)