My mother wanted a cat!
The problem with cats is that they are so improbably cute in real life that an animal made from wool could never match that. I think this is the reason why almost all patterns for cats that are really lovely are quite stylised and very far from the real animal (Amineko comes to mind - my favorite of them all). But this is, unfortunately, not what my mother wanted - so I had to set out and construct a cat to her liking.
This is the result.
I am not totally satisfied; I think it sits more like a dog than a cat. This, however, is just a problem of assembly, not of crocheting. For a first attempt, it is alright - I hope.
Anyway, now that I have started this, there are certainly going to be more - hopefully in different positions.