Does anyone else have this proble?? Every time I start to knit, my cat’s eyes dialate and then she jumps up and attacks my yarn. It has to be the working yarn. I can’t leave a big tail for her to bat at (she figured out that trick real fast). She doesn’t care for knitted toys with or without catnip. I have sunk to having my daughter crochet something to distract her, so I can knit.
Not with a cat but with our new puppy. From the day we brought him home…
Knitting on the couch has become a challenge. Who woulda thunk?!
But she’s sooooooo pretty!! Can’t you forgive her?? :teehee: Ours just eats paper from the office shredder box! Cats are such characters! What is yours named? samm
Her name is Blackberry. For her habit of grabbing your pants leg as you walk past. She is the prettiest, friendliest cat I have ever had. And her belly fur… 
has to be the softest thing on the planet. She was dumped, locked in a carrier with two siblings and left for dead. 
Everybody got a home, though. :cheering:
My cat doesn’t go after the yarn while I working with it (she likes to wait until I’ve put my work down and then she makes a bed out of it), what she does is as soon as I start working on something she will come from where ever she may lounging and she will start rubbing her head and body against my hands until I pet her or feed her or do whatever she wants. :gah: She drives me crazy :gah:
Nadja xxx
yes i do have a similar problem. my cats like to try and attack the needles though, more than the yarn. one of my cats will try to chew through any yarn left out so i have to make sure it is safely put away, especially if it is a work in progress.
you gotta love your kitties though… 
Hi
It could be that as your cat picks on the working (moving) yarn, it is probably triggering her hunting instinct.
Next thing, you might find that she’ll be stalking it and making wierd chirruping noises.
Only thing you can do is distract her with a moving toy or something that swings slowly, so that she can bat it or ‘hunt’ it.
Sounds as though she’d make a very good ‘mouser’.
All the Best
Limey
Beautiful cat.
Maybe she just wants to be in on the action. They are wonderful pets.
Marilynn
YUP! this sounds familiar, except I have 3 cats all attacking the yarn at the same time, so I usually have to knit when they’re outside or asleep. 
Cassie, my shelter found cat, loves yarn. It can be still or moving… she doesn’t care… she wants it… So… I took some fleece… long strip… about 24" long… about 6" wide, and made a loop at the top… cut along the length to make ti look kind of like fethers… she attacks it.
Now if I’m knitting and she deceides she wants my yarn… I made a very short one I put on a dowel rod, which I stick under the couch cushion next to me.
Just a suggestion…
My cat Gideon does the same thing… and I can think he is sitting there being all good and then comes a wet chewy end of yarn… and then realize he is sitting there still chewin on the other half… 
I pretty much have everything on my lap now or beside me in the chair… no baskets or anything in the floor with the working yarn traveling up to my seat… before I started knitting everthing on circs it was a battle with the straights… a cat hanging off the other end can really slow you down… He was found by a dumpster last winter with his brother locked in a dog carrier… my brother found them they were soo cold… he took them to mom and I got to choose which one I wanted… he is very gently and very loving…
I would also squirt him with a water bottle if he got into my knitting when I left the room or if I seen him chewing on my yarn… he still comes after it just ducks runs away when he sees mommy get the bottle out :teehee:
~ WHO ARE THESE IDIOTS WHO LOCK PETS INTO CARRIERS AND LEAVE THEM FOR DEAD~???~!!! :grrr: :grrr: :grrr: :grrr: :grrr: :grrr: :grrr: :grrr:
I just love my kitties as a matter of fact my beautiful calico was adopted from a cat rescue organization and I her she is such good company. My black cat (the quintesscential black cat) was dropped off at the vet’s office and my SIL worked there at the time and was told she was needed to be adopted or would be destroyed… so I have cat number #2… :doh:
Anyhoo… I my kitties they keep me company… as far as staying away from the yarn by all means find another toy they can play with and I do believe in using the spray bottle with H20 to nail them if they won’t stop :roflhard: but I do think it may be just animal instinct to prowl at wiggling objects. Trying putting the yarn in a plastic ziploc bag and maybe a shorter working yarn to diminish the temptation~!! :eyebrow:
Hi
I’ve been having a think about how you can stop the kitty from attacking your yarn.
We have a spray over here called ‘Repel All’ - it’s mainly used to keep cats off soft furnishings - not quite the same thing as ‘Bitter Apple’ or our ‘Bitter Bite’.
Get a piece of cloth and spray it with the ’ Repel All’ and leave it aside for about 10 minutes - by that time most humans won’t be able to smell it (you obviously don’t want kniffs around your knitting) but your cat will still be able to detect it for at least 12 hours.
Put the cloth at the side of your knitting or wherever it is that Blackberry launches herself from to get at your yarn.
It also helps if you could get a length of aluminium foil, glue it to some cardboard and position it where your ball of yarn is. Cats hate treading on that stuff and together with the nasty niffs, should at least make her think twice.
All the Best
Limey
Thank you for all your advice, but, I think, well… :whistle:
The truth is, I don’t really mind that much when she attacks my yarn. She’s never bit it in half and never even made it gooey. She just gets it in her mouth and tugs on it, lets go and then attacks it again. I think she thinks I knit to play with her. I do know, she loves me and I am her favorite person.
I did spray her when she drank the tree water at Christmas. I was afraid she would chew the light wires.
Chalk it up to Cat Idiosyncracies~!!
That’s why we 'em~!
Ainee
She’s beautiful! I’m glad the carrier was discovered in time.
I’ve got a couple who used watch intently if they were in the room. I changed from having the yarn in front of me (on the couch) to having it at my side (in the chair). They don’t seem as interested anymore.
:verysad: I wish I had a cat…
I have a very “special” so you would say cat… not the smartest or most graceful, but we found him outside in our lilac bush, i think he was the runt and momma left him behind… he has turned into quite the playful hunter and every once in a while i will be knitting and end up with the wet soppy end of some yarn… :wall: I only get mad if it’s the cabled scarf I have frogged 1500 times and am starting again… :verysad:
Im actually surprised at how little my cats attack my working yarn… The fat one uses the yarn as a pillow, and occasionally stares at the yarn leaving the skein… like so
… and the other one attacks my needles… but only every so often… surprising since they are both very playfull and prone to tweaking out…
Cats just ROCK… I love cats… If I had a house im sure id have at least two more… (good thing my S.O. loves cats too…)
I wish I had a kitty too…but dh is allergic… :pout: