I was sitting here minding my own business, knitting of course! I got up and went into the bathroom. The front pouch of my knitting bag was left open. When I came back I noticed one of my circular needles laying on the floor outside the bathroom door. The cat, ever so gently (not a tooth mark in the thing), removed one of my circs (the one I had ready and waiting to start the second leg of my Teddy All-In-One) from the front pouch of my knitting bag, brought it and dropped it near where I was ummmm located at the time.
My DH said to go on my knitting site and ask this question “I have a cat that steals knitting needles, what should I do?”
I think my cat is a better knitting motivator than even this site… LOL
I’ve heard of cats bringing “treasures” to their owner, i.e. dead birds, frogs, etc., but your cat really knows a treasure when he sees one. either that or he wants a sweater and is just gently hinting.
Pauline, either that or she was just damned lucky! I would have been a bit upset if she had ruined one of my nice new set of circs.
The funniest thing is she has only once before ever touched my knitting and that time I took the needle and gently tapped the end of her nose with it. This is the first time she has bothered since then, and that was five years ago! Perhaps she’s in menopause?
Yea I agree just because you had gone to the bathroom … That’s no excuse!!!
I have to admit my kitty has never touched my needles but yarn… now that’s a different story!!
Nope, she wasn’t. She knows when I am knitting she can sit near me, or behind me, or even beside me, but never on me. When I am knitting I don’t want to tempt her to play with the yarn, so I have told her not to come too close. She is usually pretty good actually. This is only the second time in five years that she has attempted to come close, play with or interfere with the knitting things. She’s a good girl.
My cat will grab the needle that has the stitches on it and pulls [I]that [/I]one out… I don’t know how she knows which one to pull but she does… And yarn? Forget it.
Cute, my little guy loves to try and chew my needles. One circular is scratched now and when I am knitting socks he can’t sit near me or he’ll try to eat the needles everytime.
I think your cat assumed that he or she had a mouse with a very long tail and was bringing it to you as a gift. Sure, it didn’t smell like a mouse, but, presumably, that cat isn’t exposed to mice, and even cats like to pretend sometimes!
“My cat will grab the needle that has the stitches on it and pulls that one out… I don’t know how she knows which one to pull but she does… And yarn? Forget it.”
I’m in the process of training a new rescue kitten (‘Moses’ was dumped starved and dehydrated in my driveway–which ties into a highway, GRRRRRRR!) to leave my yarn alone. I’ve always had cats, and kinda consider myself more of a cat than a person at times, and they CAN be trained.
Anytime one of mine does something he’s not supposed to, I loudly announce “CAT!” in a sharp and harsh voice. It usually startles them and distracts them. After a few times, they don’t think the object they are wanting to mess with looks like fun anymore. If they persist, I lightly toss my keys (12-14 on a ring) so they land right behind kitty, who jumps half out of its skin. If they are misbehaving really close at hand and a loud hiss from me doesn’t impress them, a light slap on the forehead (it only takes a very, very light slap) does.
—NEVER spank a cat on its butt–grab-@$$ is their favorite game and they’re seem to think you were just playing really aggressively to reinforce your position as top cat. Cats do slap one another on the face when really PO’d so they understand perfectly that you’re not kidding.
My cats are forbidden to get on the stove, counters, table, or coffee or end tables. With this training (usually ony takes one rap to the forehead) they do not go there. Period. If one jumps onto the couch beside me to get into my lap and finds I have a bowl or plate in my lap, they immediately back off, usually to the next cushion on the couch.
Knitting is a bit more tempting to a playful cat or kitten because it wiggles so nicely while being worked, but they still learn if you keep after them.
I once had to tap Tara on the end of the nose with the knitting needle (note I said tap and not hit) and it cured her. She has never touched the actually knitting since that day, a day after I got her (six years ago it will be on December 15th). This incident is the first time she has ever touched the needles. Perhaps she DID think it was a mouse, who knows, but she had to dig down into the front pocket of the knitting tote bag to get it so I think she was just “motivating” me to get back at it. She is a treasure. She sits and watches me make that yarn wiggle but never touches and usually just falls asleep watching.
She was saying come on back in here & knit so we can cuddle.