Knitted Cat Toys

Have you ever knitted any cat toys yet? It is not uncommon to find knitting pattern for cat toys in different pattern books and magazine since we have all agreed by now that there are tons of cat loving knitters out there.

However, the found I have today is a bit different. It involves felting and intarsia. I have never tried felting yet, so I guess this kit thing will be very interesting to beginner to practise their felting and intarsia skills. And most importantly, your cat will be happy too!

Check it out on http://www.knitwhits.com/online_store/for_the_home/belle.php

Kitty Knits

I have found this book today.

It is comforting to know that I am not crazy...

There are other Cat Knitters out there who love cats as much as I do! For cat sake, there is one who wrote a book about knitting things for cat!

Browsing the review of this book on Amazon, I have found one more Cat Knitter by accident, that's her review:

This lovely 80-page paperback is organized into three sections of projects: Projects for Cats (cats, of course, comes first!) -- 7 projects, including catnip mice and other toys, and beds.... ; Projects for People -- 8 lovely garments: sweaters, slippers, hats, scarves, socks, all with cat motifs of different sorts knit into them. Some have multi-color motifs, some are lace or textured stitches that are cat-related... all are beautiful (my favorite to look at are the Felted Furry Kitty-Cat Slippers, just adorable and funny); and the last section is Projects for the Home -- 5 fun projects, including a bag and a pillow and a lovely baby blanket. The book ends with Techniques, Abbreviations, Resources, and About the Author. This book will appeal to cat lovers not only for the great projects they can knit, but because it is jam-packed with fabulous cat photos! (Check out her blog on http://yarndemon.typepad.com/)

Sounds interesting, isn't it?

Ahem, 'To whom it might concern: This book is on my wishlist, so....thanks in advance.' I will be reviewing this book once I got it myself.

I TOTALLY agree cats come first and more importantly...

OBEY THE KITTY

Cat Knitter

I don't know if it is just me seeing cats everywhere but I do believe a lot of knitters are cat lovers at the same time. I just see cats everywhere in other knitters FO photos, WIP photos, stash photos, etc. I am serious, they are everywhere!

This lady demonstrating the use of Spindolyn is one...

Many other knitters as well...

Lynda from http://knittogetherkeepers.blogspot.com/

Loretta from http://circleofyarn.blogspot.com/

Astrid from http://fishwrapper.wordpress.com/

Hanna from http://www.ihanna.nu/

And there are many other famous knitters if you get to think about it. Clara Parkes from Knitter's Review and the author of The Knitter's Book of Yarn, she mentioned she has a cat if I remember correctly.

Finally, it can't be more obvious than Laurie Perry (aka Crazy Aunt Purl), her 4 cats and her book --

So if you are a Cat Knitter and would want to show the photos of your cat(s) with your knitting, or rather how they have 'helped' your knitting, ahem...Please write to me and send over your 'evidence', we might be able to get a nice gallery out of it. Thanks!

My Cat Resume

This blog is called Yarn Cat. Apparently, besides talking about anything that deals with yarn, we shall also talk about cats.
Now, imagine a classic cat lover who like cat since forever, talk about cats constantly, having more than 1 cat.....yes, just imagine for 5 seconds.....
Well, that's NOT me.
I grew up in a family where my dad kept telling me cats are the most useless animals in the world. He said if ever he has more space, he will keep a dog.
That day never happens.
And I don't even think he actually likes any kind of animal AT ALL. He is not a very loving person. He was just saying he prefers dogs.
So I grew up thinking the same, cats are useless.
My best friend Debbie got a cat when we were 17. I didn't want to talk to that cat at all, I kept thinking 'cats are useless, cats are useless...'
Then I went to France one summer when I was in the college. I stayed in my friend's house in the countryside for a week. There was this lovely cat who just kept coming to sit with me. I didn't care at the beginning, but then I watched him walking in grace. I started to love the beauty of this little creature, I started to understand why there are so many people in the world who admire this creature.
I went back to Hong Kong after that summer, still kept thinking about keeping a cat or something. But obviously, couldn't do that since I lived in the dorm in college.
Like most people, I finished my college, landed on a job that everyone think it's great, working on an office routine, planning on getting married, etc etc. But I guess deep down in my heart, I knew it wasn't the kind of life I want just yet. Especially since my trip to France, I realize the world is so big out there outside this little corner in Asia, I just couldn't take the settle down, having a big wedding, stayed in the same job forever thing. So I started to get sick, physically sick and mentally sick. I couldn't get up to go to work in the morning, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. It is amazing how mental health can actually affect one's physical healthy in this extent.
Of course, it wasn't just about the fact that I didn't like the kind of life I was having. There was also my parents, my childhood, the man that I was with who wanted to marry me but didn't understand what love really means. So I moved away from my parents, I broke up with my boyfriend, I locked myself up in the room for days, weeks, months, seeing professionals, trying to find a way out.
I remember there were days I didn't speak to anyone. I felt there was nobody who understood me in the entire world, but I got an idea...why not go to the animal shelter and adopt a cat for company?
So I went to the animal shelter to see how I felt about that. I looked through cage after cage, I couldn't make up my mind. Then there is this little creature who kept maowing at my back, I turned around, he was there....
Kept greeting me, so I thought, 'hi you little thing, what is that you are saying?'
I wanted him.
I worried that I made up my mind too quickly, so I went back there many times to make sure that was really what I wanted to do. I have finally adopted him and named him Larmlarm. Don't ask me what it means, it doesn't mean anything at all.
So Larmlarm was there for me during all the time when I locked myself up in my house. He would come and sat next to me, looked at me intensely, eyeing me with questions, like 'why do you do that to yourself?'
After a few months, I decided to move to Paris. It has never come across my mind to leave Larmlarm. He moved to Paris with me, then now Dublin. We tugged ourselves closely together every night under the duvet. Then, somebody else joined us...my man.
Without him, I wouldn't be able to go through all this time fighting against the devil in my head -- depression.
He is TRULY always there. Healthy or sick, rich or poor, sunny or rainy, he is always there. Sitting next to me or running around the house; maowing loudly or purring gently; he is always there.
I can't imagine a life without him. This little creature saved my life and for the very first time, brought me love and joy in life.

My Knitting Resume

My knitting CV is actually pretty empty.
I remember my mum learnt knitting when I was in primary school. She learnt it from the neighbours. She successfully made two scarves - one for me, one for my sister, and one more vest for my sister. During the course, I remember she said, 'I will never do that again!' and she kept her words.
I remember she has stashed a bag of 8 red balls of something in the cupboard for a couple of years and threw those away when we moved to a bigger apartment.
My mum is not very crafty.
In fact, she just can't seem to stick in one hobby for more than a few weeks.
But I did watch her knit and learnt just by watching over she shoulders.
I made my first scarf when I was 10, it was a scout project. The lady leader taught all the girls how to knit a scarf. It was back then before gender equality thing, so the girls learn how to knit and the boys learn how to fix an engine or something, I just recall they gathered up looking at a lump of black thing with grease.
I don't know why but it was like I KNEW how to knit all along. Without really listening to the instruction, I just started up like a turbo engine. I guess I knew how to knit since the beginning, just by watching my not-so-crafty-mum knitted.
I finished my scout project, then didn't knit for a few years.
Then I was 15 and the Home Economics class taught knitting, the same story again, I just turbo-knitted a scarf and handed in for the grade, and that's all.
I never thought of learning more about knitting or knit more. I don't know why. Maybe I do, since my mum is not very crafty and despite (or maybe out of jealousy) the women who are, she kept referring everything that related to craftiness and creativity as useless or waste of time.
I did buy some yarn when I was freshman in college, I wanted to knit a scarf for my boyfriend back then. Never advanced more than 10 rows. Afterall, there were so many other things to do in college than to knit. Sports, clubbing, making new friends, travelling, just to name a few.
Then I moved to Paris, my mum sent me the yarn which was supposed to be for that scarf and that 10 rows of knitting. I looked at it and laughed and threw it to the back of the closet.
5 years passed, I moved again, to Dublin, further and further away from my birth place. I found that bag of yarn and that 10 rows of knitting while packing up. I was alone in Dublin for a few months, waiting for my fiance to join me from Paris. I got nothing to do, I frogged that 10 rows of knitting, decided to knit my man something for Christmas. History repeated itself, the scarf finished in a few days.
This time, it is different. I called my man and asked 'I kinda like knitting, but I finished the scarf already, what else can I do?' He said, 'make something for my aunt for Christmas, maybe she will like it and it is cold in her house.'
So I started searching pattern on the internet and realize there is such a 'planet' of knitting community out there, I got hooked, purchased my first knitting book, my first set interchangeable needles, casted on a few different projects, and have been knitting, crocheting every day ever since...

Welcome! Bienvenue!

Hi! It is the first entry of this blog.
This blog is going to be about knitting, crocheting, spinning, cats and other things that help me to live another life outside the office routine.
I have registered a blog many years ago to keep kind of a diary thing but at the end I wonder who will read me whining about my life, and I felt too self-conscious whenever I read back my entries, so I stopped after a few entries.
This time is different. There is a few fixed subject matters to talk about, it is not only about myself, and most importantly, there is nothing particular to be whine about in my life anymore. In fact, I believe by starting to knit, I realise there are so many things that I can do outside my office routine and life is full of possibilities apart from the classic perception of going to work, going back home, waiting for promotion.
I hope you guys enjoy reading me talking about crafts, cats and real life = life outside the office, in this rainy island in Europe.