Anyone with a crochet helper in the form of a cat?

[eurolyons]

So, I do have pictures pending of this, but I'm trying to make a Christmas card holder featured in www.freepatterns.com and I have a new helper...Serenghetti, Diva in Training, who is a five month old female kitty has discovered the true meaning of yarn and crochet hooks and wants to be a part of the action.

 

With the yarn I'm working on, fine...she can be a part of the action...it's not the $8.00 a skein specialty yarn...but man, she's a riot...I've tried distracting her with her cat nip fuzzy mouse that I made her...nope...I've tried giving her her own yarn and crochet sample, nope...I've tried bribing her with extra food...which is on the other side of our flat...nope...she apparently can sense when I pick up the crochet hook and in Warp 11 speed, she's right by my side for a crochet lesson...I'm just not sure if she's trying to teach me the newest kitty crochet technics or if I'm suppose to be teaching her.

 

It's been fun...have got the scratches to prove it...('cause you know she does that whole, leap and pounce routine...ouch on bare feet...)

 

So, anyone have any pet helper stories to share?

[carrieanne]

Oh yes, BEFORE it was always Ruthie Ann, my spoiled black cat. If I am sitting down, SHE is on my lap. Yes, with yarn on her head....soon, she'll roll over and start to notice the yarn moving, then...ugh....

Recently we got a puppy. I figured hed have NO intrest in anything like that. WRONG!!!!!!!!!! He seems to be jelous (sp), of anything other than spending time with HIM! His favorite "game" now consists of running in the arn area, and grabbing the nearest skein , as I chase him. He has been a tangled mess of yarn several times, and now all yarn MUST be put up....PETS!!!!!!

[Cuddlefish]

I've had cat helpers from time to time. There's nothing you can do, you'll just have to cheat it. Let it lie on your lap, and then crochet with a minimum of movement behind its back. Never let it see you pull at the thread, and by no means let rolling balls of yarn bump around on the floor! And for a while, you might have to consider sticking to sturdy projects, like ragrugs, just until it's grown too big and lazy to chase the yarn the whole time.

[eurolyons]

Yeah, as much as Serenghetti can entertain herself, I do think that the crocheting is one thing that is patently obvious that I'm not paying attention to her...and oh how could I...

 

Ironically, there is yarn on the coffee table, on the cat tree beside the couch (yes, I'm using it as an end table) and in bags by the coffee table and they hold no interest for her...but the minute I pick up the crochet hook and the yarn in question...she's on it!

 

Thanks for sharing Carrieanne...

[Cuddlefish]

Serenghetti is a beautiful name. I had a Malaika at one time. She was no angel, though.

[eurolyons]

Thank you Cuddlefish...she's fitting into her name nicely...I waited almost all night for the little beast to go to sleep...she's like a toddler..."No Mommy, I want to stay awake..." zonk...for 2.5 seconds...and then any movement I made, she woke up...any other time...out like a light for several hours...

 

Right now, she's so zero'd in on the crocheting...

[FelixLake]

When we were cat sitting our sons 2 'boys', they were all over my crocheting. Buddy just wanted to play with the yarn and Dizzy wanted to play with the hook. If I left a hook on the coffee table, he was able to pick it up with his claws and play with it. Our 16 year old cat is not in the least bit interested in my crocheting. It is 'beneath' her.

[eurolyons]

Felixlake, our late Yoda was the same way...yarn, crocheting...sure mac, whatever...snooze...

[fairietat2]

I was showing guests at my house I project I was working on when my cat Sloth ran over and bit ahold of the slack between the project and the skein of yarn. By the time I had gotten it out of his mouth he had chewed completely through it. I was pretty peeved about that. Word of advice to all: Lion Brand Microspun is not safe from cats!

[DesertCrocheter]

Umm, it's not just kittens, I'm afraid. My sweet Russian Blue, George, who is 15 or 16 years old (maybe even older, we don't know, but since he was an adult when we adopted him and that was April 1993, he's got to be at least that) loves to pounce and chew on yarn, too. Lately he's been enjoying sleeping on a pile of yarn I've been dyeing to make tote bags out of. All 3 cats are adults and love the yarn. Thank goodness the dogs don't care for it! Patty

[eurolyons]

Hi Desert Crocheter and fairetat...another poster earlier said her dog was all over yarn...I guess it depends on the dog or cat...Yoda was 16 and could care less about yarn...but I've had other cats that were adults that never stopped trying to get involved with the process...

 

Serenghetti right now is asleep next to the Christmas card holder project...and I'll keep in mind about the Lion Brand Microsoft...

[Katchkan]

My Bilbo Kitty thinks that Anything crochet is great. He is a definite ham and loves attention. Good or Bad. He spends a lot of time in my lap and crocheting can get interesting at times, Be glad when he gets a little older and lazier,

You can check out Bilbo's crochet lessons on this Post

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14989

As I said he is a ham. He always knows when there is a camera around.

[crochetfun]

Kittens are naturals at yarn. What I did not expect was that my (Meyer's) parrot would get interested. All was well as long as she was satisfied with sitting on my shoulder, observing the yarn and the hook, but...

 

She decided to make her way down and much to my surprise , was determined to wrestle the hook from me. I thought it was a one-time thing but no. I just can't have her flying around while I'm crocheting. She gets really adamant about that hook. (she damaged one enough so that I can't use it)

 

One of my dogs (over-sized Maltese) has his own issues with yarn. If I am not careful, he'll ingest large pieces (footlong). I know this can be a problem, I have heard about animals needing surgery after eating yarn, so I'm extra careful about it.

[mamaoso]

We have 2 dogs Oso and Maggie. Miss Kittie came a month or so ago. She thinks she is one of the dogs. You can not have bare feet around Miss Kittie she will grab your foot and start to chew the nail on your big toe ( hubbie has pierced toes )...If you have sock on then you are okay. As for yarn most of the time the skein may be in her way as she flies by and knock it down. But there are times she will grab and run..She is really good at the hit and run.. Ask Maggie .... Grabs a piece of yarn and runs..Then I wonder why the yarn doesn't come out of the skein freely and it's raped around the leg of the coffee table...Though Maggie likes to hold the skein down. Her big paw nothing comes out. Like Hubbie says "You got to love em."

[Stacey]

Oh, yeah. Lena mostly wants to sit on whatever I'm working on, and God forbid I should get out the lap desk and try to use it for my project, because it belongs to her! No matter how quiet I am when I get it out, she just *knows* and comes running as soon as I get it set up.

 

Kittycat wants to play with the yarn, though. He seems to view it as a prey animal He'll lie near me and get all wild-looking and stalk the yarn and bite it (and make it all icky and wet), and there's no deterring him really. Usually if he starts getting too crazy I'll get DH to get out Kitty's yarn (he has his own big long piece of yarn to play with, but I keep it put away so he doesn't try to swallow it if he's unsupervised--I caught him trying to eat a stray yarn scrap once and have been super careful with scraps ever since) for him to chase around (for Kittycat to chase, that is, not DH lol) to wear him out a bit so he's not quite so rambunctious...

[Wenzee]

My two kitties are SO good when it comes to leaving mommy's crochet yarn alone!

They tried to play with it when I first started crocheting, but all it took was a few stern "NO's" and they gave up on it.

I find it very interesting that they love laying by me while I'm crocheting. Usually the chair contains me, my yarn, and two kitties - LOL. It gets crowded but I love it. They just lay by me and watch me for awhile and then usually curl and fall asleep. I don't know what it is about crocheting that draws them, but something sure does!

[stormy]

Chuckie was a "big" help to me this morning!

 

I took a few pictures, I'll post them when they are uploaded to the computer.

[Hooker]

What I did not expect was that my (Meyer's) parrot would get interested. All was well as long as she was satisfied with sitting on my shoulder, observing the yarn and the hook, but...

 

She decided to make her way down and much to my surprise , was determined to wrestle the hook from me. I thought it was a one-time thing but no. I just can't have her flying around while I'm crocheting. She gets really adamant about that hook. (she damaged one enough so that I can't use it)

 

I have a lineolated parakeet and I wouldn't dare have him on my shoulder when I was working on a project! Not only is he a total imp (he'll try to wrestle the pen out of your hand if you are writing), but I would be so afraid of him pooping on my yarn and me not finding out until I put my hand on it. Ick. He's pretty much "potty trained" as a parrot can be, but if I lose track of time, who knows what would happen. I also know he would have a ball with the yarn. He's great at knots though, so maybe I could have him work those out for me! Ha Ha!

[The Fargoan]

My cats Orion likes laying next to my leg, underneath the afghan as I'm working. Sometimes he wants to be on top, but then he's too attracted to the mvoing yarn, so I move him back under the afghan. My only complaint is how HOT I get when I'm working:sweat But he's so cute I don't complain to his face

[Cathy W]

Violin Strings...umm...I mean Jericho...loves the yarn. He loves it so much that he keeps pulling one particular ball of #3 thread out of the stash to bat around. He seems to be better at defeating my security measures on the stash than I am at coming up with new ones...so about once a week, I wake up to find purple string trailed around the house, and need to rewind the ball. Again. He seems to have a thing for Bernat Matrix, too. Plain ol' acrylic worsted, not so much. Fortunately, he's not a chewer.

 

Her Majesty Queen Isabella will occasionally step in to save Mommy from the Evil Yarn Beastie, regardless of what type of yarn it is. She seems to be attracted by me pulling more out of a pull skein, but not always. Spooky is a chewer, but not motivated enough to actually go after the yarn most of the time; I'd need to leave some right there by his food dish.

[eurolyons]

Hello ladies...

 

Well, we went out to dinner tonight, because we also went to the laundromat to wash our comforter that Serenghetti had 'marked' the other day, 2nd time in so many days, anyhoo, while the comforter was washing, we went to TGIFridays for dinner then back to the laundromat to wait for the comforter to dry...meanwhile, of course I took my Christmas Card holder project and because I didn't have little Miss "Must-Attack-Yarn" I was able to get it half finished...which tells me that if I hadn't had Serenghetti "helping" me it would have been done today...oh well, wouldn't have had as much fun maybe...

 

I loved reading about all your helpers including the dogs and the birds...love it...keep 'em coming...

 

P.S. Tomorrow is our 4 year anniversary. I made my wedding dress and Yoda, our beloved that passed this summer, was a help too...he'd sit on the pattern pieces, but not on the outer fabric that made up my dress...

[viggie]

I have a big 20 pound long hair. He's not fat...he's just that big! He likes to lay down right over the skein like he's the chicken and it's the egg. I can usually nudge him around so he's next to the skein and I can actually pull yarn out...lol...but kitties like to be right in the middle of everything.

[eurolyons]

Lynn, you so have that right...I went to bed around 3:45 a.m. and told DH, my God she's like a toddler, doesn't want to go to sleep because I might be crocheting without her...

[MarvieN]

Most of the time my four behave themselves. Tuxedo can lay in my lap, with yarn draped over his head or body and he won't attack it... but bring out their yarn string and he goes nuts lol. Tiger lays beside me and will pop out a paw every so often to catch the yarn, but he listens when I tell him to knock it off. Goofball used to come up, grab the yarn in is mouth and leap off the couch, running as fast as he could go lol. He doesn't do it now though. Then there's BB, our only female. When she's in a mood, she'll get up on the couch, eyes all dialated, tail swishing and twitching and I know my yarn is in danger. She'll smack down with her claws extended every time I pull the yarn from the ball, she bites (I agree, ewwww wet yarn) the stuff, tries to take it with her, and when all else fails, she lays right on top of the ball. Then she gets all po'd when it stops moving rofl.

 

Every so often I'll wake up to find yarn dragged all over the living room, wrapped round the table and such. Always fun lol.

 

Otherwise, they are pretty good. I wouldn't trade my babies for anything.... though I have been tempted on occasion to lock 'em in a room rofl.

[eurolyons]

Serenghetti does what BB does, grabs the yarn and jumps off the couch...with all her toys around the living room, I really do feel like I've got a toddler running around the place...she's only interested in what ever yarn I'm working with...she doesn't mess with any of the yarn in the bags on the floor by the couch...thank goodness...

 

Thanks for sharing Marvie!