The thing about crochet, as opposed to knit, is getting a nice clear straight pattern is pretty near impossible, since the stitches form diagonal lines. This can be a good thing, sometimes, but when you’re trying to make a cat, well. That’s just not going to work.

However, there is an easy workaround. By crocheting a simple back and forth panel of single crochet, you can create a canvas for a cross stitch image of your choice. This can be done with any weight of yarn and made to any size, using any cross stitch pattern. I’ve included instructions for the cat pillow, but you could also cross stitch a hot air balloon, if you like. Just make sure that you’ve made enough stitches/rows to fit the number of stitches required by the cross stitch pattern.