My sister wants to learn to knit, but she lives in a small apartment with two cats. Everytime she touches yarn, they come running. Putting them outside or locking them away is out of the question. Has anyone else coped with cats while knitting? What works?
Knitting with Cats
Mine don’t bother me or the yarn, except to occasionally bat at the moving yarn. They don’t play with the balls of yarn either, but do like to sit on the WIPs and finished items if they’re laying around. I suppose you could swat them if they try to `help’ but that may not work, cats being what they are.
My cats will sometimes bother moving yarn (try to catch it while I’m knitting), but otherwise they leave it alone. I did learn, the hard way, to keep my WIPs put away. Otherwise, the yarn could be wrapped around furniture when I came back. A drawer, a covered knitting box - anything like that works to keep their little paws out of the yarn.
Geez, I can’t resist…
I prefer knitting with yarn. Cats get too noisy and scratchy when you knit with them.
Okay. There. I feel much better now. lol
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Dot
Hee hee, Dot, I was thinking the same thing! 
Marie, a spray bottle of water usually works wonders on cats. Spray them whenever they get near the yarn- they’ll learn quickly not to do it.
Exactly how I train my cats. They do not realize where the water is coming from, I used it to teach them to stay of counters, tables and leave the yarn alone! Set the bottle nozle at stream (mistjust isn’t effective). It does work, aim for the nose. They really don’t like water in the face.
I have three cats, and they’re pretty good about leaving my knitting alone. They do love to sleep on the finished projects, though. When I’m not working on a project, I usually keep it in a bag or basket, and they leave it alone.
My part Siamese/tabby will hunt finished dishcloths. At night, he’ll go into the kitchen, open the cupboard door, pull out dishcloths, carry them around the house, and howl and carry on about how great a hunter he is. :mrgreen:
Marie,
I have five cats (one is still a kitten). I have learned to leave the yarn in my knitting bag. They are not quite as interested since the ball of yarn isn’t out. If it is out, then it becomes the toy. My problem is that at least one or two of them want to share my lap with my knitting.
How cute is that…I love cat stories.
the water bottle works
the trick is to keep it close enough so that you can grab, aim, and squeeze [insert smiley squerting water gun here] before they notice and dash off, then it just becomes a a game to them
and yes i too have thought about taking my needles to my cats,
right about 3:00am when our kitten, Chewy, was learning he could cry in that ever-so-siamese fashion 
I’ve heard from my SIL, that her cat (who passed away now) always sat on her knitting…
I don’t have cats, but I think that with our dog it wouldn’t be possible to knit,… he’s such a hyperactive dog…
But that reminds me of a cat at the animal shelter, it was so cute and everytime you wanted to touch it, it bit you… that was so cute 
:roflhard: I was thinking along similar lines.
My old cat doesn’t bother my knitting. My daughters younger cat did when she lived here, but I just put it all away or up where she couldn’t get it when I was done and that worked.
I’ll say it again although I know some don’t agree with me. NEVER allow a cat to have yarn. My daughter’s cat got very sick and the first thing they asked was if she’d been into yarn or string. She hadn’t, but we had to pull a long string out of her throat a few times. :shock:
Jan I totally agree about the cats and yarn…but they have such a great time with it my mantra was- never leave them unattended with yarn or better yet play with them at the same time it’ll be fun for the both of you.
My lads are getting too old to be bothered though there is some head bobbing going on as the yarn winds off the balls.
I always just kept the yarn in a bag that they couldn’t get into and the ball I was working on I kept it between me and the side of the couch.As for them sleeping on the finished garments my mindset on that is if you don’t like cat hair on your clothes don’t get a cat.
I have two cats, one is 14 years old and the other is 5 years old. At night, when I sit down to knit, I can’t use standard needles as the clacking noise drives them nuts. So, to solve the problem, I use circular needles. Neither cat plays with the yarn. The younger cat used to but she kneads herself to sleep.
When I first started knitting, my two cats would bother me a lot. I finally started blowing in their ears whenever they tried to play with it. They rarely attempt it anymore.
My kitteh is pretty good about leaving my knitting alone. However, she is naughty about other things. With her, the old spray-bottle-of-water training method has really helped me curb naughty behaviors. I suggest that your sister get one of these (usually $1.00, found with gardening supplies) and give them a disciplinary squirt if they start playing with the lovely yarn. This way, they can stay inside and learn the new rules. Do remind her to pack everything away when she is done and/or not at home. Even the most well-behaved kittehs like to tumble with the yarn when their hooman isn’t watching.
And If a normal squirt bottle doesn’t work add some white vinergar.
some cats don’t mind getting wet but they all hate the taste/smell of vinegar, and it’s nontoxic and nonstaining.
I couldn’t use spray bottles because of the hard wood floors…it’s makes them slippery! Just making noise works for some cats, too.