Crochet Mice

I love to knit and crochet, and I have always been intrigued by how a pattern is designed and put together. To this end, I decided to come up with my own pattern for some small crocheted mice. I really wanted to use my design to convey an element of personality and a lifelike expression. Each time the pattern changed, I created a new mouse to demonstrate the new additions.

I used the TOFT rabbit pattern as my first step. It was helpful in introducing initial information, such as the number of rounds, the correct weight yarn and the corresponding hook size. However, there were immediately several things I wanted to adapt. I wanted to make the face much more quizzical, and I also wanted to add in a neck so that the head would sit proud of the shoulders.

Cassis

I deliberately used a thicker yarn and a larger hook size for my first experiment, since that would make it easier to spot and rectify problems. Cassis's body was not too dissimilar to the Toft rabbit which was my initial starting point. However, I developed the head, making it longer it mimic a mouse's nose and giving him large folding ears. However, my first initial stumbling block was that his head was too heavy for his thin neck, so I inserted a wire spine inside his body to hold his head in place. I was quite pleased with the result of this, since it allowed me to pose his head, which gave him the spark of personality that I had been hoping to create.

Noisette

This mouse was made as a gift for Mother's Day and so included several new additions. Not only did she have shoulders, but she was the first mouse to have a complete wire skeleton in her arms, her legs, and her tail. I was very pleased with the effect of this, it gave her even more personality and allowed me to make her a selection of outfits, since her arms and legs could now be posed to hold things like books or bags.

Framboise

Framboise (so named for the raspberry red and pink yarns I used) was my second edition of my pattern. Again, she had a neck and a posable head with a wire spine running down her back, but this time, I adapted the body, which had previously been a long cylinder, to include shoulders so her arms had a natural place to sit on her body. I also increased the number of stitches across her stomach to give her a rounded belly.

Concombre

My fourth evolution of this pattern was made using yarn dyed with natural fibres: the green a weld and woad combination, and the yellow a dandelion and alum mix, both on cotton thread. Since the yarn was a thinner weight to my previous experiments, Concombre was smaller than Noisette and I used a 2.5 cm hook.

Airelle

We had now reached the final version of my pattern. I was happy with all the various additions, and Airelle (Blueberry) was a lovely final test for it. I made her for my Grandma's Christmas present, and, unlike all her siblings, she has separated toes on her paws.

Mytille

I was so in love with Airelle's colour combinations that I made her baby sister Mytille, using a 1 mm hook and very thin cotton thread. She was absolutely dwarfed by her elder sibling Cassis; a good demonstration of how far my pattern had come, capable of being adapted to all types of yarn and hook sizes.