Letters
Knitting A Mouse: Part 6 of 10
Dear Ann,
It’s been a good long while since I’ve knit a toy. I’m enjoying many things about Alex the Mouse. I love the yarn: Socks Yeah! I enjoy knitting to the tidy gauge I’m getting on US 1 double-point needles. I like the way the needles have bent gently to fit my hands. And I absolutely love the neatness of the pinhole cast-on, this month’s special feature for A Year of Techniques. It worked perfectly from the first try. I learned it from watching the video, barely glanced at the photo tutorial included with the pattern, and now I’ve done it three times—to cast on the head and the two feet. It’s so satisfying to pull on the tail of the yarn and see the hole draw closed, like magic.
Here’s the thing about knitting toys: you have to be strong for the number of parts involved, the curl of the pieces, the overall dangliness. It’s a mess. In the case of Alex, not only do we have two ears, but each ear has two parts, a front (fancy) and a back (plain). They are not knit as one double-faced piece. But here’s the good part: they are to be joined with an i-cord edging. I’m looking forward to that.
(There’s nothing here that a little steaming and stuffing won’t fix.)
Right now, I’m on Leg Number Two. Part 6 of 10. (Eleven if you count the tail. I’m not counting the tail.) I’m in the home stretch. The legs are longer than the arms, and the shaping is more involved (kind of a candy cane, or ladle). There will be Kitchener to graft the tops of the feet of our Alex. I may need you to hold my hand for that part.
We are entering the second half of May. Time to finish up Alex and clear the way for June’s project. How’s everyone else doing? Is your Alex starting to look mouse-like?
Fight Toy Fatigue! We’re almost there!
Love,
Kay
Soldier on! I say cheerily, then hang head and admit I’m about 8 inches into the Brambling Shawl of April…sigh.
A person cannot knit ALL the things. Much as it pains me to concede this.
I am doing a tiny hippo for a nephew who prefers a hippo to a mouse. I modified it to use the pinhole cast on because that will look nicer than the one in the pattern. I kind of like that toys look wonky and curled up and sort of nasty while you knit them because it makes the magical tricks of assembly so very satisfying!
Maybe there’s a reason it’s “A Year of Techniques,” rather than “A Year of Projects!” I recognize that you’re leading the troops, so yes, soldier on, but I’m focusing on the satisfaction of learning some cool new knitting chops. Even as a looooong time knitter.
I’ve always found the pinhole cast on uncomfortable and fiddly, but no longer. My toy knitting days, however, ended when my youngest grandson got his. Three boys, three toys. (Though I admit, Alex is adorable.)
I’ve done lots of intarsia, so I didn’t jump in to the Brambles, but I did cast on a Zauberball helical stripe cowl, and while I put it aside for some summer scarf and sweater knitting ( and I left it in my city place, part of establishing a knitting beachhead there), I’m delighted with the technique.
Hope I can keep my Zen focus when June’s technique is announced!
I sat out intarsia due to my AHEM abundance of experience with that technique, but I think you have the right attitude. I’m delighted at how easy it has been to learn the helical stripes and the pinhole cast-on.
I am genuinely impressed. Carry on, intrepid rodent-knitter!
Toy fatigue! I know that feeling all too well, having knit my daughter many a cuddly thing over the years. My crowning achievement was a 2 foot tall, multi-color giraffe. I’m always happy she loves these gifts, but even more thrilled when they are finished. The fiddly-ness wears on the knitters soul! Glad to have this adorable mouse pattern though, and since “mouse” was my childhood nickname in our family, the rodent is certainly on my knit list. Just not happening in May 2017 as we’re in the middle of moving. 😉
Knit on, knit on… and soon you’ll have an adorable buddy to grace your home.
I have to figure out who will be worthy of this epic FO!
The icord knitting for the ears is going slow as is the stuffing. I found that Bombella offered good information when she said to stuff slowly with small amounts of fluffed stuffing. I am doing the head for the second time. Can’t wait to finish.
Part 6 of 11?! You’ve totally got this! And those pattern-y bits are so cute – your Alex is already looking awesome! I’m fighting the urge to cast-on right this minute.
It is awfully cute and I can’t wait to get out my Clover Clips and i-cord those front and backs of ears together. That will be my favorite!
You win. I started the first part and haven’t done any more. I like the knitting ok, it’s just that I have several other projects that I have an actual use for that I’m working on now. Next week I am flying to Chicago (from California) so I might take Alex along to work on the plane.
This photo helps! I’m making in the same color scheme – happy to see the colors knitted up and looking so awesome together.
I started knitting a toy kangaroo for my daughter when she was 1. I finally got around to finishing it for her cousin/nephew, who my daughter was by then old enough to babysit. I consider this a success. And I learned I don’t knit toys. Pinhole cast-on, though – that’s a win!
6 of 10. Not 11. Sorry. I forgot you aren’t counting the tail.
Kay, you can write an interesting post about ANYthing! I’d love a of techniques to learn how to do that! YouTube just hasn’t been helpful.
Oh lord…I have not even STARTED!!! I keep looking at the yarn, waiting to be cast on, but I’m still trying furiously to get my Colorwash scarf finished. I’ve figured out that I am a VERY SLOW knitter…oh well!
I am slow as well. But I like to think of it as contemplative. I am thinking deep thoughts as I knit. (Or watching a Uefa cup soccer game on TV with one eye and following a baseball game on the MLB app on my iPad with the other!)
Gosh I thought I was the only one. I was struggling the other day to do the cast-on for the leg, and tossed it aside for a break. But not a break from knitting – I’ve knit 5 dishcloths to fill the void.
Right there with you. And a modification ahead as I want to embroider his eyes so Alex is baby safe.
Keep going Kay! You’re doing brilliantly!
Use a Russian lacemaker’s join instead of Kitchner. Ever since Walkbout Knitter Heather taught me the Russian join, I never Kitchner anymore. Easy, quick, looks good, strong tight join, no Kitchner nonsense..
Julie in San Diego