No, this isn’t a new backdrop for a photo session. It’s fleece fabric, and my human is going to make some nip knots out of it. Nip knots are fun, simple cat toys. My human is going to sell her books and some cards at a small event tomorrow, and she thought she’d toss in some of these too.
Because we cats know more about catnip and cat toys than humans do, I thought it was important to supervise. Binga is just there because she thinks she’s important.
So do you want to learn how to make nip knots? I will give you a quick tutorial. They are inexpensive and make awesome donations for cat rescues. Or you can add them to gift wrapping when you are giving your cat a present.
Anyhow, first you need fleece and catnip — the good quality catnip, that you can smell from across the room!
In fact, it’s best to make sure the catnip meets with your cat’s approval. Don’t cheap out on the nip. You can cheap out on the fleece by getting scraps or ends from fabric stores. Fleece is good because it doesn’t fray. Cut a bunch of rectangles from the fleece — 4″ by 7″ is a good size, and gives you enough fabric to tie the knot.
Next you add about a teaspoon of the good, high quality catnip. Place it near the edge facing you, like you would if you were making a burrito. Hey, wouldn’t it be awesome to make a catnip burrito? Maybe I will do a tutorial for that next.
Make sure your work gets approved by the resident felines.
Next, tightly roll up the catnip-filled fleece rectangle.
Then you take the two ends of the fleece and tie a knot.
Pull the ends of the fleece, to keep the knot tightly tied. And voila! You have a nip knot. Once you have the fleece cut to size, each one takes less than a minute to make. If you want to get fancy, you can snip the ends with pinking shears for a nice effect.
It’s important to have your cat check the nip knots for quality. You don’t want to hand out nip knots that are below standard.
If you live with more than one cat, that’s great! You can have multiple quality control supervisors.
Sometimes one cat needs to supervise the other supervisor, to make sure she knows what she is doing.
Put your nip knots in a sealed bag, and store them somewhere dark and cool to keep them fresh. You can also add more catnip to the bag to marinate them.
So there you have it! Now you know how to make nip knots.
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A craft that my cats will love and is just about the limit of my crafting ability. Lol. Thanks for the idea.
These are awesome Summer. Hopefully our rescue will be fully operational soon. I can make some for my girls for now
This is awesome. Can’t wait to make one Summer
Great idea!
How’d you guys do at the event? Did your hooman sell lots of toys?
Purrz!
Selina
We don’t remember now, but she probably wound up selling more nip knots than books!
This is soooo cool! <3
Thanks for the tutorial, Summer. Even our human might be able to make these! We will have to snoopervise her efforts very closely…
Thanks for the tutorial, Summer. Those look so easy to make. Mom used to make catnip pillows for our rescue/TNR group to sell, but they haven’t done any events in a long time. She loves this idea. Easy peasy! XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy
What a fab toy! Even our mom could do that!
That is way better than the old socks and nylon hose we used to see petcretary use to make similar items,MOL!!!
Hello Boodie, so nice to see you. Glad you all enjoyed the nip knots.
Ms summer, Ms Binga and Ms Boodie! I must say, you are all such beautiful lady cats! And you get along so very well I marvelous, have just discovered the heady effects of catnip. My Mommy put some on the scratcher that has the rollie ball and I must say, I was totally blissed! Your human is a jewel to makes such lovely things for you (and other cats).
You are blessed!
Purrs
Marv
Brill – totally BRILL! Outstanding supervision, as usual, Summer.
Those nip knots are awesome, Summer and Binga. We are glad you two were there to supervise your human!
Oh, guess what? Our humans are going to see the Amazing Acro Cats in Brooklyn tomorrow!
The mom tried to make these one time and somehow screwed it up. There was catnip everywhere. We didn’t mind though. 🙂
Neat toys! Do you run a stitch through the ends or do the knots just stay tight on their own?
They just stay on their own. Of course, I don’t know any kitties capable of EXTRA rough handling.
I wish I could have cats around right now just so I could make these for them.
Pretty Cats!!
Pretty colored toys, too!!
Pretty cats are pretty cats!!
What a pawsome idea! Love the colors of the fabric too. Now mom can start making some for us and kitties boarding at the hospital she works for. Thanks for the fabulous idea. Purrs
Those are SO cute…and totally something I could do too!
What a neat thing! So simple, yet so effective! Those would make great birthday & holiday favors for furry furr-iends and shelter kitties! I need to get Mom on that project right away, too! Hugs!
Wonderful idea! Will shar with our. Rescue.
Could you list a couple of your favorite nip? Mom is going to do catnip mats for the rescue charity. She is terrible at sniffing out good stuff.
Thanks this is an awesome idea. I will have to make these for my furrbabies.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh a trio of quality control experts!! We love it and the nip knots are fantastic. We know the event will be a big success and the knots are a great extra touch
Hugs madi your bfff
Those are wonderful easy-to-do cat toys ! Purrs
Those nip-knots are a great idea. iCat gives them two paws up!
Cute & easy….great idea!
Such an easy but effective toy. I think I will have to make some for the local shelter.
BTW, I love how good you are for having a bath, Summer. I never bathed Eric or Flynn, but I think Eric would have enjoyed it as he loved anything to do with water.
That is a great idea! And you always say your human can’t do crafty things- she showed you 🙂 Nice to see Binga and Boodie too.
That seems simple enough. Maybe I’ll whip up a few this weekend.
Awesome nip knots! I agree with the good quality nip! I am fussy about what nip I put in my kitty toys and buy it in quantity when I get it!
Love seeing Boodie! And Binga of course! Summer, you know you’re the star but we love seeing your girlfriends too! Smooches to all of you!
ok, nip-knots, yadda, yadda, yadda BOODIE!
Those are pawsome. And really, someone has to be boss… we have to admit, Binga has that stern thing going on.
We are going to have to get the peeps to do some for us! Thanks for the tutorial pretty Summer!
So that’s how they are made! We bet our human could even make these! Good to see this great project even brought Booda out!
TOTALLY COOL!!!!!! Mom is gonna make me some!
Love, Teddy
Now this has to be the BEST nip toy I’ll see this side of Christmas, and so easy to make too!
Toodle pip and purrs
ERin
Thanks, Summer. Those are great gifts. Happy Caturday!
We were very surprised when we started reading this post. From comments you leave on other blogs, we figured that your human isn’t the very handy type. So that she was actually doing something herself that she intends to give away was very confusing.
But now we see. Good advice! Our silly human grew about 30 catnip plants for us, but turned out that neither of us gets effected av catnip. Now she’s a lot of dried catnip plants and she doesn’t know what to do with them – so this would actually be a nice gift to other kitties!
I will have to get my human to make some up. The other ones I had got ‘lost’.