Mice and Ducks

Earlier this summer, I was in a knitting slump. I was doing a lot of sewing, but wanted something for at the TV, and I had no orders, no needs, just some WIP that I was procrastinating about. I thought for a bit, and came up with the idea of doing felted mice. I had received a gift of a CD of a friend's music, right around Christmas. I wanted to pay him for it but he refused. I told him since he used his talents to make it, I would use my talent to make something in return. At first I was going to make something for him, but thought his wife might think that's odd. I couldn't think of anything for the two of them (except a sweetheart mitten), and then I remembered they have cats!! Something for the cats!  As well, we were going to a luxury cottage, courtesy of my SIL, and she had two cats--that had moved in with her MIL, so I thought this would be a nice, little "thank you" gift. I know it doesn't seem anywhere close to an equal comparison. I was also planning a poncho for her daughter....the thing was, she was going to rent the cottage anyway and invited us, and her parents to come too, as long as we paid for all the food. So, I guess, paying for the food, and our nights we cooked, were really the thank you.

I looked through Pinterest and Ravelry, and finding a simple felted mouse seemed a bit harder than I thought it would be. In this case, Pinterest is a bit of a waste, since it was hard to narrow the search. However, many free patterns don't get posted to Ravelry because the creators think they're not "real" patterns.  I used THIS pattern.  This pattern also looks really nice, and I wonder why I didn't find it the first time!

I started off using the yarn I had bought last September from a woman in the area. I had been using it for mittens and they weren't all that soft and some of them had felted with washing, some not so much. I didn't want to do just solids, since I had so many colours, so I just went with contrasting.

Although two row stripes are easy, since these were done on circular needles, one row stripes could also be done. I could have even made two at one time on one circular. I just changed colours as I got bored. But still tried to maintain some sort of aesthetic LOL.

 

These are unfelted. Pretty boring, I thought. But I kept going. And going. And going. 

 I ended up with 15 in the first batch!  When I felted them (I don't think I did all 15 at once), I used a zippered mesh pouch, in with my regular laundry. However, the tails all got very tangled and some had to be amputated.

 Awwww. Aren't they cute?

 I decided to crack open some Patons "Classic Wool" for a few. I love using it for felted slippers, but I had quite a bit of very small balls, with no "matching yarn". The two on the upper right are Classic Wool. I used the same needles and same stitches, and look how tiny they came out to be. I will say, the other ones seem a little big, they average about 11cm/4" long (not including the tail) and are quite fat.

Then I started thinking...what about the dogs in our lives? My SIL had just gotten a dog. My parents were looking after our dog during the cottage trip, and they also have a dog. I had made Skippy a duck, in April 2010, according to Ravelry but I can't find it on my blog.

He really enjoyed it, but eventually chewed the head off. The squeaker has stayed inside, but I haven't tried to wash it, and it's super gross.

Yeah. Super gross.

I struggled with figuring out the feet for the duck. I started out doing the i-cord legs but couldn't really get the flippers to work out. I never thought to look at pictures or check the one I had made. When we went to my parents, my mom got out one I had made for their dog, and the feet were so different!

 I thought I had ended up making five. Willie, Molly, Belle, and there's two left. I suppose Skippy should get one of those.

I just found three unfelted mice that had gotten "put away" when I was cleaning up one day. I'm not sure if they're included in the yarn totals. Let's say they aren't, and I'm going to add them in now. The mice...Actually....I just saw another large pile of felted mice that need sewing up! So I will include those three with them. 15 mice= 199gr. Oh, let's call that 200gr. 5 ducks = 146gr.

Yarn In: 2242gr
Yarn Out:  346gr + 2570gr = 2916gr
Balance: 674gr more USED than bought
Costs:   $57.30/241 days = $0.24 per day