So, the weather has warmed. The cats like to sit in the yard because the weather has warmed. This means they’re sitting in grass. Grass where, according to the vet, fleas breed. Then the cats bring the fleas in, and then they’re in the carpet, and then I have to do a lot of vacuuming. A heck of a lot. I don’t actually like to vacuum, it’s irritating. As is itching all the time!

I’ve just given the cats a comb, they’ve gotten used to being combed with the flea comb, and I do this in the bathroom close to the basin, so that if I see any flea matter in the hair in the comb, I just wash it down the sink. It’s quite difficult to kill fleas, but they will drown! Also, if you know you’ll be at it for a while, it’s better to have a bowl of warm water with a bit of soap in it and wash the comb out in that as the soapy surface breaks the adhesion of the water and the fleas can’t get out!

I always feel bad, too, when I see my cats scratching or frantically cleaning themselves. I mean, I’m their mama! Well, that’s how I see it. I feed them to ensure they’re healthy on the inside – and goodness our boy-cat is getting heavy! – and comb them to keep them healthy on the outside!

I asked some people in the know about cats and they suggested a few extra measures to get rid of the fleas, which is helpful. The cats always have flea collars on, but they’re not really that effective. What the flea collars are effective for, however, is putting them in your vacuum bag – if you’ve got a vacuum with bags – is killing the fleas you pick up whilst cleaning the carpet. Our vacuum doesn’t have a bag, however, so what you do in that case is spray the filter with a natural flea killer, which could be peppermint, clove, or cedar wood oil. There are others, but I can’t remember them right now.

Tomorrow the cats get another dose of Frontline, or Sentry if I can find it, and then we’re set!

Now for a knitting pattern! I think this is really pretty, a simple silken smoke cowl that could be a nice addition to whatever you’re wearing on those in-between season days.

I think from being on Ravelry all the time I’m running into more and more of these cat loving people. There’s something about crafting and cats that seem to go together, in spite of the fact that they can actually make handcrafting of any type a lot more difficult than it would have been otherwise. There are so many groups on Ravelry dedicated to cats it’s just amazing.

It’s a fair bet that if you ask any body on there they either have a cat, or had a cat. I mean sure, there are a few who don’t care for them, but the vast majority do! Very much so!

I love that my cats have such individual personalities! My boy-cat is such a sweetie, whilst my girl-cat is a dignified lady. They are both unique, and completely their own selves, and that’s great to have around. I love that they give me the chance to figure out how to be a good pet owner without holding any mistakes against me.

Being a good pet-owner is much akin to learning how to be a good parent. There are many similar attributes about both roles, selflessness whilst still being firm and able to direct proper behaviour. The truth is, cats are just so much fun to have around. They make terrific lap-blankets, though you’ll have to ignore the fur they leave behind and the drool, in the case of my boy-cat. If you don’t mind that, oh and the clawing from my girl-cat ‘making biscuits’ as that kneading motion is often called, then you’re set!

Okay so now for a knitting pattern. It’s got to be something Christmas related, and cat-toy appropriate, so how about these cute little Christmas Lights!? My cats would adore playing with these, I just know it!

My boy-cat, a very cute, lovable, affectionate, friendly, creature, has a nasty habit of peeing on anything on the floor, and some things not on the floor. This includes but is not limited to the following items. Shoes. Bags. Paper. Bath mats. Kitchen bench – just once, thankfully. Toilet – yeah, in the toilet, so cute! Bathroom basin – this I actually don’t mind, I just spray it down with disinfectant every day and we’re set, and no stinky litter box.

If the door to the bathroom isn’t open, then this cat will usually scratch on the front door to be let out to pee outside – always in the neighbours garden, too – or scratch on the bathroom door. We have to keep the door shut, generally, because there is this very odd set up with the bathroom window where the window pane doesn’t reach quite to the top of the casement, in an effort, we have supposed, to allow steam to escape from the shower. Judging by the peeling paint on the ceiling, this hasn’t really worked all that well.

I mentioned that he pees on paper, this lead him one day to pee on the pattern I have for my little capelettes that I make. This is a free pattern that you download and print off, then sticky tape together. This is a really annoying process, that I recently just finished going through for the second time. Now, I had the pattern pieces laid out on the floor because I was pinning and cutting from the fabric last night. I don’t have a large enough table so I use a big floor rug. It’s the best method I’ve come up with, so far. He just peed on them… so… okay, my fault, I have to admit, but goodness how frustrating!

This time, though, I’m going to pay to have the pieces printed on a large-format printer – I can have this done at the University I attend for a small fee – and I won’t be leaving them on the floor! I’ve learned! Finally!

The pattern for this post has to be humorous to suit my chagrin at this entire situation of my boy-cat and his pee-ful ways. It also has to be kitty-oriented. So here’s two. My knitting pattern is this kitty beret, because if he pees on my stuff one more time, I’m going to make him wear it. The other pattern is one is one that is actually for crochet, but it’s cute and in keeping with the topic at hand. POOP!

In recent months, I have noticed that the boy cat has been getting much, much heavier. There has always been this funny disparity between them were the girl cat is much smaller, but must have been more dense, because even though the boy cat was noticeably larger, he was only a little heavier. That, however, has changed. The boy cat has gotten much wider in the mid-section, and much, much heavier. He now weighs about 7 kilograms.

The funny thing is, I haven’t noticed him eating any more, I haven’t been going through more catfood, but the girl cat does seem a little thinner than she used to be. She goes through stages of being kind of fat, and then other stages of being quite sleek, but I much prefer when she is fatter. Picking her up and holding her is so much easier than with the boy cat, because he has gotten to a point where if you pick him up and sit with him for a while, he begins to weigh on your arms much, much quicker, and you have to rest them on something – like the arm of the couch – or pop him back on the ground.

I really love having cats, and my fiancé and I both adore the two we currently have. The girl cat is quite a baby in a way, she loves to be held. No, she demands to be held. If I am working too long at my computer desk, she will get up on the desk and stand on my keyboard in an effort to get me to pick her up, and sometimes when she is meowing to be picked up – something she does a lot! – when I bend down to pick her up, she shoots her arms – or front legs if that’s the way you see things – up at you so it is easier to get under her armpits to pick her up… just like a child. She’s very sweet, and she loves to rub on my fiancé’s legs when he’s just gotten out of the shower. The boy cat is also very affectionate, he loves to rub on your legs and on your face. He will sit with you, so very happy, to the point where he dribbles from his nose because he breathes too fast. There’s nothing wrong with him, because he doesn’t do this when he’s asleep, but when he’s awake, he breaths really quickly so his purr is kind of like a prfft, prfft, prfft and sure enough, he’ll dribble from his nose. He also has underdeveloped vocal chords, so his meow is more like a high pitched muiii, it is so cute!

Today I have to include a cat-oriented knitting pattern, so how about this groovy toy from Knitty?

I think to start this entry we have to go with a Maneki Neko; a Japanese ‘Beckoning Cat’.

The story of the Maneki Neko goes something like this. An old monk who lived in a run down temple could barely afford to feed himself, but he nonetheless kept a cat, and fed the cat as best as he could. One day, when the old monk was completely out of money, and the cat meowed for food, and the old monk exasperatedly said to it ‘I can’t afford to eat. How can I afford to feed you?’. The cat went away to think about this, and the monk felt bad for his outburst with the cat.

The cat went out to sit by the front gate of the temple. There was a terrible storm that day, in which a young noble man who was out walking had been caught in, and had taken shelter under a tree. Through the rain, he saw the cat beckoning him, which happens to be the same motion a cat uses to clean it’s head. The young noble man walked over to the cat, and just as he reached it, the tree he had been standing under was struck by lightning and collapsed. The young noble would surely have been killed were he not beckoned over by the cat.

The young noble man went inside the temple, looking for whoever owned the cat. When he got inside the dilapidated old building, and found the hungry old monk, he told him of how the beckoning cat had saved his life. He then decided to become the patron of the old monastery, and told many people about the amazing Beckoning Cat that saved his life, and told them to visit the temple. After this, the monk was able to afford rice again, and able to buy fresh fish for the cat. They lived on happily like this for some time, until eventually the cat got old and passed away. The monk and the noble man made a statue in honour of the cat, and people from far and wide still go to see it.

I’ve always loved the Maneki Neko story. Next up are some scarves, this first one I have made, and I love how the pattern of the Cat’s Paw Lace Scarf turns out. Then there is this groovy scarf, though you need to know what ‘Longcat’ is to fully appreciate it’s awesomeness! The Longcat Scarf has a great double knit look, and would be extra warm!

Now I have to move onto patterns for cats. Getting a cat to do anything it doesn’t want to do can be torturous, to the owner, not the cat. So how this knitter got this argyle vest onto their cat is rather beyond me. Now, kitties need a place to nap, as they sleep approximately 18 hours a day – that’s not a joke – so this dotty cat bed is a nice place for any cat to nap. Lastly, kitties need to play in the 6 hours they are awake each day, so here are my two favourite knitted cat toys. One is a very cute bumblebee on an i-cord, and the other is a really cute felted fish, though I wouldn’t include catnip as I don’t like drugging my cats.