The Cat’s Playfulness

However you exert your wits
To find a plaything meet for kits,
You’ll never choose a better thing
Than ball of worsted, wool, or string.

A cotton reel is very well,
A bell-rope answers for a spell;
But, mark my words, a costly ball
Of Berlin wool is best of all.

They chase it up and down the floor,
Unwinding more and more and more,
They twist it all about the chair,
And bite and knot it everywhere.

Till what with twist and roll and pull,
You can’t distinguish kit from wool,
And only with another skein
Can knitting be resumed again.