Cat teaches mice tatting!

Just read the poem below and you can see that a cat can teach mice to tat!

Martha Ess's mouse (with a lopsided neck!)

Jane's cat (teasing the mouse!)

The
Old Gumbie Cat

From Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S.
Eliot

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;
Her
coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.
All
day she sits upon the stair or on the steps or on the mat:
She
sits and sits and sits and sits - and that's what makes a Gumbie
Cat!

But when the day's hustle and bustle is done,
Then the
Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.
And when all the family's
in bed and asleep,
She slips down the stairs to the basement to
creep.
She is deeply concerned with the ways of the mice -
Their
behaviour's not good and their manners not nice;
So when she has
got them lined up on the matting,
She teaches them music,
crocheting and tatting.

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name
is Jennyanydots;
Her equal would be hard to find, she likes the
warm and sunny spots.
All day she sits beside the hearth or in the
sun or on my hat:
She sits and sits and sits and sits - and that's
what makes a Gumbie Cat!

But when the day's hustle and bustle
is done,
Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly begun.

As she
finds that the mice will not ever keep quiet,
She is sure ist is
due to irregular diet
And believing that nothing is done without
trying,
She sets straight to work with her baking and frying.
She
makes them a mouse-cake of bread and dried peas,
And a beautiful
fry of lean bacon and cheese.

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her
name is Jennyanydots;
The curtain-cord she likes to wind, and tie
it into sailor-knots.
She sits upon the window-sill, or anything
that's smooth and flat:
She sits and sits and sits and sits - and
that's what makes a Gumbie Cat!

But when the day's hustle and
bustle is done,
Then the Gumbie Cat's work is but hardly
begun.
She thinks that the cockroaches just need employment,
So
she's formed, from that lot of disorderly louts,
A troop of
well-disciplined helpful boy-scouts,
With a purpose in life and a
good deed to do -
And she's even created a Beetles' Tattoo.

So
for Old Gumbie Cats let us now give three cheers -
On whom
well-ordered households depend, it appears.

+ + + + + + + + 

Which leads me to say that in September I have offered to help at a Craft Day when, along with other crafts, people will be invited to learn  tatting.  Not sure I will be any good at teaching but will have a go.  After all if a cat can teach mice there is hope for me!