Saturday, 19 January 2008

• From cute to the macabre...

  

  Death of Rats! Be afraid, be very afraid....mwahhhhh.

  I first saw a Craftster post about the D.o.R and I immediately had to make one. No rhyme or reason to my need but it only took me one night. There are also a few other D.o.R.'s posted on Ravelry.

  Here's my version of the Grim Reaper to rats. It's the size of a white mouse and can fit in the palm of a hand. The scythe is made from a bamboo skewer with a silver cardstock blade attached with twine.The original pattern has a fabric robe but I decided to knit mine. The knitted robe is based on the simple top-down hooded raglan formula .. I started out knitting flat and then joined to work in the round.

  This piece goes very quickly because the rat is so small. This is very sketchy from memory so please don’t be disappointed if it’s wonky.

  This is worked from the V neck down (back & forth and then joined to work in the round under the arms) and then the hood is picked up and knit flat. Sleeves are picked up and worked in the round. I used dpns but use whichever method is comfortable for you. (magic loop or 2 circulars, etc.)

  Use the appropriate size needles for your yarn.
  4 stitch markers

  Cast on enough stitches to go around the neck of your rat. Mine was something like 9. Do not join. Place your markers after the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th stitches. You are working back & forth and increase before & after each stitch marker. I used kfb. You will be creating the raglan seams.

  Continue increasing before & after the markers until the armhole is big enough. Then you will join, remove the sleeve markers (put sleeve sts. on scrap yarn) and begin working in the round all the way down until the robe is the length that you want. I put 3 rows of garter stitch at the bottom to keep it from rolling. Bind off.

  Pick up neck stitches and knit up until it’s the height of the head. Increase as needed to make a fuller hood. Use 3 needle bind-off to create the hood.

  Pick up sleeve stitches and work in the round increasing randomly every other row to create a bell sleeve. End with some garter stitch to keep from rolling.

  There is just something about this project that appeals to me. Hhm, I think the upcoming Lunar New Year beginning Feb. 7, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. 

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