I am in the process of adding to the Pride rainbow. This is not out of arrogance, or intellectual presumption, or a spiritual epiphany. I was simply out of the appropriate colours of yarn. Let me explain.

I had ordered a craft kit that included yarn to make a wall hanging of a rainbow but after I received it I thought it was missing some essential colours and decided to reimagine the project. Instead, I thought I would turn it into a cat bed. Now, that might seem to be an idea completely out of left field, but not so much when you realize that I was thinking of my youngest child who has four cats.

I didn’t have enough yarn to make four cat beds, but I thought I could make one and, since my child is a member of the LGBTQ2+ community, I thought I would make a rainbow cat bed. I found a pattern online that was appropriate for the yarn I had bought, and immediately the choice was made. I was going to make a cat bed.

The project began well. I enjoyed figuring out how much yarn to use, how to divide the colours into the project’s base, and then working out which colours to use for the cushion that would surround the base.

The base came together well and used up a large proportion of the available project yarn. I still had some leftover yarn that coincided with the colours of the LGBTQ2+ panoply, and so I confidently began to work on the cushion. It didn’t take long, though, for me to realize that I was going to run short of the preferred hues.

As I pondered this dilemma, and weighed the likelihood that my yarn would meet the demands of the pattern, I realized that I would need to add to the existing supply. Fortunately, waiting in the wings of my craft storage cupboard was a new arrival: a supply for a different project. Bingo! Problem solved, sort of.

The new project provided two colours of yarn; one was within the LGBTQ2+ range and one was not. I would need both and, with very little hesitation, I decided to add beige to the rainbow.

I can hear you gasp! I know, I know. Beige is simply not appropriate in any rainbow, but hear me out. Maybe it should be. It could be the colour that represents supportive, straight, parents. It could be the colour for allies. It could be the colour for distant relatives who really don’t care what is your gender or sexual identity. Yay for beige!

Anyway, my pride pet bed will, when it is finished, include beige.  Live with it. It comes with love. Beige love. Lots and lots of love, some of which is beige.

*****

Edit to show the finished article. For this project I used the pattern Kitty Bed by Ashley Dunham, MoonunitDesigns.com available on Ravelry.