Last year I knitted a
Mouse Mat for Cat from the book Pet Heaven: the Animal Accessory Bible by Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir. It was a fun quick knit with chunky yarn. I used Lion Brand Thick and Quick, which was a pleasure to work with. I gave the mouse mat to my dear Mother-in-law, who has 20 or so cats. The only thing I changed about the book's pattern was to make 'x's for eyes, instead of using buttons.
It was so much fun, I decided to make one for my cats. I needed it to be bigger to fit extra large Sasha. I also wanted to make it look more like a rat. I started off with the tail, casting on 2 stitches and knitting until it was about 4 inches long, then increased in one or two stitch increments until it was 16 inches. I didn't keep notes, so I can't tell you exactly how many rows, but this pattern is so easy you can just eyeball it and knit until it looks right to you. I made the body a bit longer, maybe by 12 rows. The head is longer and narrower than the original pattern. I beefed up the ears, by sewing the fronts and backs together with the chunky yarn, and also used it to sew the ears to the head, spreading the bottoms out, so that they wouldn't flop over like the first one I made.
Sasha decides to give it a test run. She's watching me while I knit the ears. That was fine, until the moving yarn was just too much for her, and she pounced on it.
It looks more like an opossum than a rat. What better to dress this faux dead 'possum than faux tire tracks? I used some black Wool-ease and used masking tape to keep the tracks somewhat even. They aren't perfect, but I think it looks pretty cool. Knucklehead is not so sure.
Lenny Bruce shows the possum some love.
OMG! There's a dead 'possum on my pastry table!
Okay, I will deign to sit on this ridiculous looking thing for two seconds. Now, give me treats.
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