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Sunday 2 August 2009

Nibbles the Mouse - Free Knitting Pattern

Today I decided to make a mouse, for no other reason than I just wanted one!!
He's started off with an i-chord for a tail with the most amazingly pink wool I have ever seen; knitting with it nearly made my eyes bleed!
Abbreviations:
Inc Increase
K Knit
P Purl
St-st Stocking stitch
K2tog Knit 2 together
B&T tightly Break off yarn leaving a long end for sewing up later, thread it through the stitches on the needle, pull to gather tightly and fasten off.

Materials required:
3mm [no 11, USA 2] knitting needles, stuffing, 2 shades of pink and one white DK, [ 8 ply]
3mm DPNs for knitting the i-chord.
1 Pair of 7.5mm eyes.
Knit an I-chord for the length of tail you’d like; mine is 5 inches long.

Change to white and knit 1 row, increasing at the beginning and end. - 5
Next Row: inc1 K1 inc1 K1 inc1 - 8
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: inc all sts - 16
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: inc all sts - 32
Next Row: St-st 9 rows
Next Row: K7, K2tog, K14, K2tog, K7 - 30
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K7, K2 tog, K12, K2tog, K7 -28
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K7, K2tog, K10, K2tog, K7 - 26
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K7, K2tog, K8, K2tog, K7 - 24
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K7 K2tog, K6, K2tog, K7 - 22
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K3, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K4, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K3 - 18
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K2, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K2 - 14
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K2, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K2, K2tog, K2 - 11
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: (K2tog) twice, K3, (K2tog) twice - 7
Next Row: Purl
Next Row: K1, K2tog, K1, K2tog, K1 - 5
B&T Tightly.
Using mattress stitch, start at the tail end and begin sewing up your mousey. The seam runs along the top of the mouse, hence using mattress stitch to hide it. Leave a gap for the filling, see below:

At this point, you'll need to decide where you'd like your eyes. Place these before adding your remaining stuffing:

Once you are happy, add your remaining stuffing and close up mousey.

Next, he'll need to be able to hear.....

How he survived this one I'll never know!!
Ears:
Make two alike:


Cast on 10 stitches with pink
Next Row: Knit
Break yarn, leaving a long end. Thread this end through the stitches on needle, draw up tightly and fasten off.
Place the ears where you'd like them on the mouse, mine are placed 3 rows behind the eyes, but it's up to you; move them about until you get the face you like :-) Once you are happy, sew them down.

Super! - All he needs now is a little nose so he can find the cheese, I used a lighter pink wool than the ears and just sewed up and down to create a little nose.


And there you have it! One super-sweet, super-cute mousey!
Bring on the mices!!!!
Kat x

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is super cute (found it on Ravelry).

My four year old son has just demanded I make it for him.

drfrygeyfduyfgidvd7ifuetf7rfgr7ff712345678910

(that was a message from the 4 yo!)

Unknown said...

I also found this on Ravelry-- and immediately cast on to make one for my old roommate. Just wait 'til I tell her there's a mouse in her room!



...She'll be so excited to have a pet, she might be disappointed when it isn't alive... At least he's cute. And mine has a purple tail and ears because I have no pink.

Chillikat said...

Excellent folks, I can't wait to see them :-)

Unknown said...

Oh no, mousey is sitting in the box of FOs waiting for more yarn ends to be stuffed with.
He was easy and enjoyable, except the yarn kept snagging on the needles, it was so humid.

Unknown said...

I finished him!
You can see him on my Ravelry projects - I daren't post him on my blog for fear he might be seen ahead of time. Christmas gifts, and all that, you know...

Anonymous said...

I just found this recently and wanted to let you know that it's the first pattern I've been able to semi-follow (Though I changed it up a little), because you made it SUPER easy AND super easy to follow! Thank you!

Geraldine said...

This is a wonderful mouse pattern! I've been looking online today and there's so many mouse duds out there! Sweet. Thank you.

If you'd like to see who I'm making this toy for, you can see the wonderful Mr. Cheddar at:

www.myreallifereviews.com

he is a celebrity blogger! :<)

Geraldine said...

Here's the actual post, now on my blog:

http://veggiesyarnsandtails.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/mr-cheddar-and-i-weve-been-searching-for-mice/

thanks again!

Unknown said...

I have made two so far. For the first one I used leftover yarn from a sweater I just completed for hubby ... it was completely ignored by all four cats. :( Refusing to give up, for the second attempt I decided to use a completely different color. It was this one which taught me to never make cats toys which match the carpet. The second moused caused fights between them - they all wanted the contrasty, red one but refused to play with the one which blended in with our carpet. Now to make three more so the cats don't have to share. ;)

Beth R. said...

Two questions. (1) Is the increase used here "knit into front and back of a stitch"? and (2) If you start knitting after making the icord tail and end at the opposite side, leaving a long tail to sew it up, then how can you start the mattress stitch to sew it from the tail side if the yarn from the B&T is at the opposite end? If I get that answered, I can make a bunch of these.

Aunt Mercy said...

I’m just learning about I-cord. I have using it on a huge shawl, no problem. But I have no idea how to mak a mouse tail! Can you point me to an on line video, please!

Thanks Mercy T.

Unknown said...

Mercy - if you got to YouTube and search 'knitting icord', the first video that comes up is really clear, straightforward and short. Actually, here's the link:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0jKRZ5sWx0&t=143s

Hope it helps