Did you know that National Love Your Pet Day is February 20? While I had not been aware that this holiday even existed until recently, I like to look for any excuse to buy the fancy chew sticks and preferred peanut-butter treats for my two tiny terriers. Now, we’ve written about weaving for pets before. We even devoted a rather famous—some might argue infamous—issue of Handwoven to it, so I won’t talk about that here. What I would like to suggest is that if you want a pet but can’t have one, this option remains: Weave a pet.
Christina’s pin-loom bunny. Photo by Christina Garton
That’s right, weave a pet—all it takes is a pin loom, a few put-ups of yarn, and a copy of Zoo Crew. In Deborah Bagley’s endlessly delightful eBook, you can find pet possibilities galore, from the usual dogs and cats to the more exotic—I mean, who wouldn’t want a miniature elephant? While these pin-loom pets are certainly not the same as the real deal, there are a few ways in which they surpass their flesh-and-blood counterparts.
Five Reasons to Weave a Pet
Pin-loom animals are made housebroken. Your pin-loom dinosaur will never leave you a mess to mop up, and you’ll never need to walk your pin-loom bunny at 3 a.m.
You will save a fortune on food costs with these critters. I spend $50 every 45 days or so for my two terriers and $0 on my child’s pin-loom rabbit. I wove it a carrot, and it has been very happy ever since.
ADVERTISEMENTMost animals come in a limited number of hues, but with pin-loom animals, the sky is the limit. You can have purple elephants or rainbow rabbits. Technically, I suppose I could dye my gray dog’s fur, but I don’t think either of us would enjoy the process.
Got allergies? No problem! Weave your animal in allergy-friendly acrylic yarn, and you’re good to go! These beasties are 100 percent free of dander.
Washing pin-loom animals is far easier than washing real animals. I love my dogs, but giving them a bath is a bit like a wrestling match. I can toss a pin-loom animal in a lingerie bag in the washer on a gentle cycle. Easy-peasy!
Weave your favorite from Zoo Crew!
I admit, though, that I prefer my puppers to any and all replacements, no matter how much they shed, so I might consider weaving them a present. Just use felt eyes and noses—instead of buttons or safety eyes—and if you want, insert a squeaker from a previously destroyed dog toy and … BAM! You’ve got yourself an excellent pet for your pet. If you want to go even further, you can weave a pin-loom pet for your pin-loom pet. Deborah Bagley recently emailed me to say that if you have a pin loom measuring 2 by 2 inches, you can weave up miniature versions of the animals in her book. They are ADORABLE.
The best reason to make these little animals, though, isn’t a holiday—it’s because they’re great fun to weave and sew. And, really, is there a better reason than that?
Happy weaving!
Christina
Originally published February 13, 2019; updated February 12, 2026.