frantic kneading

I know what kneading is, but I have only ever experienced it before with de-clawed cats (not mine)

Now I have my own clawed cat, and he does the kneading motion, too. But sometimes he is almost frantic. As in, this is not a "nice" thing but "I feel the need to scratch." Mom is my new scraching post!! He does it on my back, my clothed legs, etc. It doesn't really hurt, but I don't like the behavior too much.

He is almost 8 months old, has his own real scratching post and a bunch o toys.

Is this a normal "knead?"

One of our cats, who is going to be 1 year old in Nov, is very systematic in his kneading routine. Every morning, at least five times, he walks up to my chest and kneads and purrs with that characteristic spaced out look for two or three minutes at a time. Occasionally he'll knead at the back of my legs, but that's rare behavior for him. He used to knead even when he spied me hanging out and watching tv, but he appears to have abandoned that lately. His brother from the same litter does not exhibit this "need to knead." Both get regular check ups and are healthy. Just like some cats like water or have other habits/preferences, I think kneading is another one of these differences among cats!

Here's one possible explanation for the kneading behavior:
http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/whydo.html
or
http://www.crazyforkitties.com/fow/fow2.shtml

Tola constantly kneads. She even does it on the hardwood floor, so it's kind of more of a march. She is one years old, but had a tough time, maybe that's why. I think it's so cute!!

P.Kitty kneads regularly, too, on a balled up wool afghan. He'll get all four paws on it and knead for a good five minutes. He gets a real funny expression - we say he is in the "kitty zone" 'cuz he looks so intense and focused. Seems to soothe him. Maybe you can start substituting something you don't mind him kneading when he kneads on you, and keep redirecting him to that...

Many years ago we had a cat that did this.....he`d kneed on the bedspread while he suckled the little tuffs that were all over it....and he was`nt a kitten either...he did it til he was a big cat...until my Mom finally got a new bedspread.....then for days he would get up and rub his face around on the new one, hunting for the nubs and crying.
Linda