Seven Blind Mice

 Fourteen Ears, Seven Tails, and Zero Eyes

"Seven Blind Mice" is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Ed Young. The characters are seven differently colored mice who are sightless, which is an important part of the story. 

Seven Blind Mice
 by Ed Young

Each mouse goes out one day to explore by touch a large, mysterious object that has appeared, and each comes back with a different interpretation of what the mystery is depending on the part of the object it explored. Finally in the end, the mice put their experiences together to discover the real identity of the object, an elephant.

I knitted the mice out of very small quantities of feltable wool. The pattern, called Knit Felted Catnip Mice, is by Jen Kuback on ravelry.com . It is as easy as pie to knit. I skipped the catnip.

Each mouse is 3-3 1/2 inches long without tail after felting.  I don't remember what size needles I used. If they are too big, more time agitating in hot water will shrink them some, but you may have to experiment if you are looking for a particular size.


The mice are designed to be stuffed and sewn shut, but I left the hole open before felting to make them usable as finger puppets for children. I also didn't add eyes since the mice in the story are blind. To make a mouse with eyes, you can add a stitch or two of a contrasting color before felting, or sew on beads as long as child or pet safety is not a concern. These little colorful mice are very popular with kids and quick fun to make. Now I just need to knit a big elephant to go with them.

Extreme Knits
This section of my post is dedicated to sharing examples of extreme knitting that make me wonder about the designer's sanity. I just am speechless about this one. I feel so inadequate in every way just looking at it. This knitted skeleton was part of a display created by Ben Cueva. See it at http://bencuevas.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/transcending-the-material/.

Created by Ben Cueva

It is an incredible work of art and just blows me away.  See the little facets on the vertebrae? I'm pretty sure I would have left them off.

from chiro.org

Knitted Flowers

Lovely Lavender

My vision was to create a huge bunch of lavender that would last forever, unlike the real thing. Everyone would be impressed by my masterful knitting skills and sheer diligence. Well, we all know how that went, now, don't we? 

After considerable effort, I did manage to knit a few lovely specimens of lavender, and I'm pleased with the final result, if not the quantity. 

First I had to find the right colors of yarn in the right weight, and to determine what size needles worked best. It took a few tries to get good at making a single stalk of lavender, then I had to figure out how to get each one to stand up on its own. 

After unraveling many attempts, I first knitted the 3 light purple ones and tried various means of providing support. I found that I had to knit the icord stem around a piece of wire, so I knitted 3 more in the darker purple color for a change. They worked beautifully, but now I just can't find it in me to make 9 more. Surprise, surprise. 

100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet

I relied on the clever patterns of Leslie Stanfield in her book, 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet: A Collection of Beautiful Blooms for Embellishing Garments, Accessories, and More. There are many types of flowers to make, and the author has the patterns organized in  sections by knit or crochet and by difficulty level within each section. I did not find the lavender difficult to knit; in fact it went pretty quickly with a minimum of sewing up. Sport weight yarn and #2 bamboo needles worked the best for me, and I used picture wire I had laying around the house for the stems. Florists' wire would probably be perfect.


For a little more inspiration, here are more pictures of the real thing.I wish I could provide a simulation of the fragrance, but the instructions in the book didn't cover that.

Extreme Knits

This section of my post is dedicated to sharing examples of extreme knitting that make me wonder about the designer's sanity. Instead of baking, how about knitting...wedding cakes! These are probably not as difficult to make as real edible wedding cakes, but I'm sure they last longer. More's the pity.

by Alan Dart

Knitted Wedding  from Nina Pope's Photostream

In contrast, this darling little cupcake is one I'm reasonably sure I could accomplish if my fingers didn't cramp up. This picture was found on ravelry.com, is by Anna Hrachovek, and is available in her book Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi: More Than 40 Itty-Bitty Minis to Knit, Wear, and Give.