Wool and cats in the same room^^ = Binch’s nightmare ;-)

So I’d be curious to know how the cat owners among us are doing.

We have quite a few little animals—for once, I don’t mean the crocheted ones ;-)—and three weeks ago, an injured stray cat joined us. Of course, he’s in the house—we do want to be looked after properly and aren’t allowed out with the big ones yet.
 
He’s doing really great and has been leaving the yarn right where it belongs. Namely, on the open shelf, even though he walks around in it. I’ve taught him that he’s not allowed to play with the yarn I’m currently working with. 

Now you’re probably thinking: what’s her problem^^

So here it comes: 
Stray No. 2 has been with us since Friday. She’s a lot smaller than our black puma and spent two days hiding away in my daughter’s room. Well, that daughter isn’t home during the week, so I’m the cat sitter now, and I’ve got the little crumb used to being together with the puma. They’re finally playing together. Well, it took a little while, and I’m totally scratched up.

So here it comes: Mum goes upstairs with Junior to do homework, comes into the study, and I thought I’d be struck by lightning.
1. PC—file destroyed—Madame Crumb, aka Hela, dashed across the laptop and deleted it. Yesss, I should have saved it—sigh—somehow she’s totally addicted to the laptop 

2. The puma somehow managed to get the lid off my “I’m currently working on this” box; it wasn’t sitting properly on top, but it’s still a bit heavy for a kitten... and what do the two of them do? 
They most likely grinned, looked at each other, and agreed: we’re playing yarn winder. Unfortunately with the piece I’m currently knitting—yes, I was clever enough to hide it (you may laugh)—somehow that didn’t really work out.

Lots of love, and Sabine wishes you a woolly day 

Wow, there’s some real action going on over there!
We also have two house cats, Norwegian Forest Cats. Because of their loooong and fluffy fur, the two of them are strictly banned from the living room and our bedroom. So nobody gets near the yarn. I mostly work in the living room, too. But if I happen to be crocheting in the kitchen, it can happen that my ball of yarn suddenly goes for a walk or that there’s a good hard tug on the working yarn :) Stitch markers are interesting too; you can really bat them all over the place—or rather, the tomcat can—or, ideally, even under the fridge.

My cats only liked playing with the yarn at the beginning; I scolded them, and since then they leave it alone. 
Sometimes they just sit next to me while I crochet and watch, as if hypnotized, as the thread moves.

When they play with my stuff, it’s more likely to be some needles or other accessories.
And finished amigurumis. 

By the way, I’ve already crocheted toys for the cats (some misshapen blobs made from leftovers), but they don’t care about those; they’d rather have the ones I’m busy with too ;)

Nothing will probably help except keeping an eye on them and scolding them when you’re there. 

I know the thing with the laptop. Luckily, I’m generally careful about that; I still have that ingrained from my bachelor’s thesis...
As soon as I leave the laptop for even 30 seconds, I save the file... Also whenever I’ve finished a section or something.
But my cats also manage to delete something while I’m working on it... by jumping onto the keyboard or onto my hand that’s resting on the mouse...
Then I always tell myself: "...Don’t get upset, you love your cats after all..." :D 

I used to have two Persian cats, too, who would sweep through the apartment with my yarn. But since I hadn’t done much crocheting or knitting back then, it wasn’t such a big deal to me at the time. But now I’ve become a dog person, and he absolutely loves playing with yarn—especially the new, untouched skeins that are innocently waiting to be put away or started on. But it is pretty funny when a 34-kg German Shepherd scurries through the apartment with a tattered ball of yarn in his mouth and paws...

My two cats sometimes lie down on the couch next to me when I’m crocheting or knitting… they also like to watch the moving yarn… BUT one glance from their human is enough, and they know they’re not allowed to touch it.
But I’d rather not think about what would happen if they got their paws on the yarn and I wasn’t there ^^.

Thank goodness I’m not alone.

The big one leaves the yarn alone, but baby cat Hela is immune to scolding... Knit three stitches, untangle the cat, set her down, and start all over again???? 

I always have to lock my knitting projects away securely. Otherwise, my two would have a field day with them.
If I don’t pay attention to who’s sitting nearby while I’m knitting, it’s happened repeatedly that the yarn suddenly gets wet and a bit—well, slimy—and wraps itself around my finger. Nanny would then, once again, have gleefully slurped on the yarn and pulled it through her teeth.  Great!!! But I really freaked out when I discovered one morning that the knitting I’d accidentally left lying on the couch the night before had been attacked by the cats. Half of the pocket I’d painstakingly knitted into the traditional jacket had simply been chewed off. Unbelievable!!!! But true.

@ Sabine:
Have you ever tried using a water spray bottle?
I know it’s mean, but it helped with our cat and the Christmas tree. He gave it a wide berth after that!

@ruthk, I threatened her with a ban from the bed, and look.
Tomorrow I'll keep the spray bottle next to me, good idea 

Oooh, be careful. My crazy Maine Coon cost me 3,500 euros this summer. She ate wool and plastic. Intestinal blockage and emergency surgery!!! Ever since then, she’s banned from the living room and from watching me craft... 

I guess I’m really lucky with my two “little rascals.” :-) They don’t steal my yarn until the ball is nothing but a few loops. When I’m crocheting, they watch to make sure I’m doing everything right.
When they were little, I’d grab the water bottle and say “NO” really loudly. In a real schoolteacher kind of way, *laughs*. The two of them picked that up very quickly.
Now, a single “NO” said in the right tone is often enough, hehe.
I just have to make sure the (plastic) doors on my yarn cabinet are closed. Otherwise, they’ll open them up and it’s yarn bowling time. With several kilos of yarn, that’s a real challenge.
For all their other mischief, all you can do is... pick it off!!!!
I hope you all have a wonderful time with your little darlings.

Right now, I’m also dealing with a little wool monster. Our new addition, Junior (16 weeks old), loves it when I’m crocheting. As soon as the yarn or the hook moves, he’s unstoppable and is all over it in a flash. Since he loves water, even the water bottle trick doesn’t work. So I only crochet when he’s asleep or outside—he’s been allowed to go out recently.

Fortunately, he’s not interested in my other yarn, which is also stored on open shelves. But I have to be careful with the computer, too—he likes to lie in front of it, and there have already been times when strange phrases suddenly appeared in a pattern because he was lying on the keyboard.

It’s very tedious right now, but I’m hopeful that he’ll calm down just like our other two house cats. :-))

@stjerne61,

The water bottle got her so worked up today that she wanted to attack the yarn.
I know now what’s really bothering her: when I’m knitting, I’m sitting in “her” sleeping spot^^ — my work chair. Ever since I’ve been letting her sleep there, meaning I move over a little, she still sometimes tries to nibble on the cable of the knitting needles, but she responds right away to a little nudge and lets go.
The yarn on the shelf is still of no interest — thank goodness! But if I wait for the kids and cats to be asleep at the same time, I’ll never get any work done ;-) and I’m already terribly behind with everything. But that has more to do with family illness. Things are pretty chaotic here right now even without baby cats. I just hope our house tigers will settle down eventually; luckily, the other cats are always outside (before anyone complains: they have their own warm cat room and can come and go whenever they want).

glg, Sabine