Problematic

We have a difficulty. Obviously, Maud cannot play with yarn. As Awwfancy stated, it would be bad for her, and expensive for us, both in vet bills and in shredded kid mohair. Also, I've never really been the sort of person who thought cats needed toys or beds or special food--growing up, our cats lived outside, ate the Costco bags of food, and were yelled at if they scratched the car.

But I love to knit, and I love to knit things for people I love and I love Maud. So I have printed up patterns for little mice, and even (yes, it's true) a felted cat bed.

Apart from the whole "my God, I'm a cat-spoiler and next thing you know I'll be referring to myself as her mommy" thing, there's the "but I thought we didn't want her playing with yarn" thing. While a felted cat bad will (hopefully) bear very little resemblance to loose yarn, a little mouse, when played with for a while, probably will just become a ball of twisted yarn loops. Much like the contents of my bag-o-projects.

So really, for consistency's sake, I ought to not knit her anything. But I can't help it--and neither can Boy. He shares the impulse to make something for someone, and frankly that's always something to be encouraged. And what's more, he wanted to make an i-cord--so here we have the added benefits of a) a project small enough that he'll actually finish it before getting bored, and b) learning to be comfortable with dpns.

I do realize that an i-cord is basically just a fancy string. Sigh.