7.01.2006

To Fight Over, and Snooze Upon...


I haven't been able to sit still for very long lately, so I began needle-felting some cat toys. I can't really make the girls much with yarn since Isis likes to eat yarn, so I tried to felt them a fish.

Chris, my dear spouse, says it can't be a fish because it has no fins. I can't bear to be wrong, so I decided that it's a kuhli loach, a kind of bottom-feeder we had in our aquarium when I was growing up. And the girls seemed to think it was worth fighting over, fish or no fish.


Earlier, I'd been working on a catnip mouse for Rebekah's Critter Charity Drive. I found Morgan sleeping on the unfinished specimen. She looks cranky here because I'd just followed some stray yarn to her tail and pulled the mouse out from under her belly, waking her up. She must've dragged it off the tv tray while I wasn't looking and then fallen asleep on it. (At least she's not a yarn-eater like Isis.)

I was making progress on my critter blanket until my other assistant woke up and had to test it out. It's the yellow and white thing below (yes, you have seen it before). Underneath it is the familiar and much-loved orange and pink Snowball Bed from the S'n'B book. It remains quite popular among the four-leggeds in our home.


Here the girls model the felted cat-squid. This toy was destined for a new home.

So was this very strange Pippi-Longstocking-legged Jumping Spider.

You can stop now if you're tired of cats-in-projects photos, but Chris caught Morgan rolling around in the tentacle basket today.

She got all excited when he tried to take her picture...

Grrrrrr!

And just look at the mitts on this girl...

13 comments:

Unknown said...

Cute kitties and I love the idea of felted catnip toys. By the look in your cats eyes they love it. My cat Pixie is addicted to catnip. It's kitty crack, I think. LOL!

Obsidian Kitten said...

LOL! Catnip is SO cat-crack, and it grows wild around our barn and henhouse. Grey Cat rolls in it, gets stoned, and passes out; Emma eats it, gets crazy, and then passes out.

The kittens don't respond to it yet--I've read that cats won't react to catnip until they're six months old or so.

Anonymous said...

Haha I love all of your kitty pictures and I must make my kitties toys soon.

I have 2 kitties that are black and grey too. They are still kittens though.

I love your site!!!

Anonymous said...

Lovely knit cat bed. My thoughts were, why would I knit a cat bed - I AM the cat bed! VBG!

Anonymous said...

Okay -- I'm really, really slow, but I just "got" the reason for your blog name ....your cat is black! Sheesh --- am I getting old, or what!

Your friend's orchids are gorgeous.

The kitties are cute too. Love the "Hemingway" feet". :-)

BEESTLYproducts said...

the cat bed is extra cute!!! i have some furry yarn laying around (it was on clearance, i swear!!!) maybe i should give it a shot. your kitties are so cute, as always :-) i remember seeing that felted basket on knitty a while ago, it's amazing! i love things w/ a little edge that would still look cool in my slightly plain house....Great JoB!!!!

RheLynn said...

LOL at Morgan in the basket!! Great pictures of them playing and fighting :o) Isis looks very sweet in that first picture - fishy dreams :o)

There has to be something about those toys that makes kitties go crazy :o) Willow and Sally gave the whole office crew an extended performance of 'Two Cats fight on Carpet' last night.

Ever since Willow fought with a tom cat outside the office fence, she thinks she's tough stuff. ("I have Experience at this now!") She used to let Sally beat her up, now she is fighting back.

No successful yarn-eating here - they did attempt to ingest a tentacle or too before deciding it was a better toy than treat.

Oh! and Mr.J is the vegan - I'm the vegan's omnivorous cook.

Obsidian Kitten said...

What's funny is that i did NOT have an obsidian kitten when i named my blog! LOL

I did have a black cat growing up though. Her name was Panther, hehheheh.

Isis is now 3 mos. old and about 4 lbs, Morgan is a week older but a little smaller. It's hard to tell in a lot of pictures how little they still are...Morgan esp. does not look very kittenish, but rather like a miniature full-grown cat-creature. She has a strangely looooong tail...

Chris said...

Those are wonderful pictures!! I love the first picture of Isis. Oh, my, look at those paws indeed. She might get pretty big...

Carrie K said...

they're so darn cute. I love that pic of Isis in the Snowball bed - she looks so - expectant. I suppose she's going to pounce?

I haven't tried any catnip on Hezekiah, Sheba was a complete teetotaller her entire life. Wetblanket. She would back away from it and if she could, she'd've turned me in for dealing drugs.

Obsidian Kitten said...

hehheheh! i made they bed hoping they would stop using me for the bed!

and the yarn was some odd kooky skeins at Michael's on sale (i swear). novelty stuff that looked like you'd use for xmas ornaments, but i thought wd be fun to make something with (just not, like, garments)

somewhere i think i posted what yarns they were...darn blogger...i forget.

Obsidian Kitten said...

Found it. re. Snowball bed (posted May 2 '06):
"I used yarn I found in the sale bin at Michael's--yarn I probably wouldn't have thought to buy for anything else. But hey, at $2 a skein, why not? Plus, a princess like Emma demanded a little sparkle and glam. So I used:
-- Lion Brand Homespun in Coral Gables (part of 1 skein)
-- Red Heart Light & Lofty in Glow Multi (used 1 skein, which I bought when I started to ran out of the previous; btw, this is not a bad substitute for LB Homespun)
-- Bernat Bling Bling in Moulin Rouge (2 x 90-yd skeins)
-- Moda Dea Eden in Flame (part of one 83-yd skein)
-- Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Spice (1 skein)"
http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_obsidiankitten_archive.html (at the bottom)

Anonymous said...

Your kitty pics. are terrific!!! We are down to one, had 4 but 3 have sadly died in the last 3 years after long happy lives. Got here via Zen Knitz....Your blog is great, glad I stopped by.

Cheers, Geraldine