KrisMouse tutorial

Oh man, I'm tired today. We spent all day yesterday shopping and waiting in line at the Verizon store. Came home at 2 so we'd be here for the kids, then left again at 5:30, dropped off Hally and her friend at Girls Scouts and headed for Wal*Mart. Got home around 9. And after all that, I couldn't get to sleep, so I only had about 3 hours of sleep! Okay, that's enough whining.

I promised you a tutorial for the KrisMouse, so here it is. If I don't explain something clearly or you have any questions at all, just drop me a message and I will answer the best I can.

You will need 4 ft. of fat macrame cord. Mine is a woven nylon type that is really strong. Cut one piece 12 inches and one piece 36 inches. Fold the short one in half and the long one so that one end is about 4" longer than the other. Loop the short one around the long one.

Now, for ease of keeping things in place, pin them to a piece of foam core as shown. Pin the center where the cords meet, and then about 2-2 1/2" out from that pin on the two arms of the long cord.

If you have ever done macrame or made macrame friendship bracelets, this will be a walk in the park for you. Take the right arm of cord and cross it over the two legs of the short piece and under the left arm. Then take the left arm under the legs and up through the loop formed by the right arm.

This ties one half of a square knot around the short pieces. Now you have to tie the other half of the knot, and if you've ever been a scout, you know that a square knot is right over left, left over right. So you're going to start with the left arm this time, taking it over the legs and bringing the right arm over it, under the legs and up through the loop formed by the left arm.

You have now made one whole square knot! Cinch it up real tight, keeping your loops pinned down, so you don't lose them.

Now you have to make two more whole square knots the same way.  If you don't do them right, you will know it. They will look funny and they won't lay flat. If you always remember to start your knot with the right arm, you will soon get the hang of it.

Here's what it should look like when you have them done. (Kind of looks like a little man with his arms behind his head, doesn't it?) One end should be longer than the other because it will be the tail. Now, I want you to take hold of the two legs with one hand and hold the knotted section with the other and pull on the legs. This will pull the top of the short piece down into the knots and form the loops into ears! Pull on your loops to even out the size of the ears.

Now you will need your hot glue gun and I recommend you have a glass of ice water near, because the glue can bleed through the cording and burn you, and if you have ice water handy you can just plunge your finger into it and stop the burning instantly! OK. You will notice that one of the cords is coming out of the front of the knot and the other is coming out of the back. Turn the mouse so that the longer cord is coming out of the front of the knot facing you. This will be the back of the mouse. You are going to put some hot glue at the bottom of the mouse and pull the SHORT end over it to the long cord.

After the glue cools, clip the end of the short cord off right next to the glue.

Now put two lines of hot glue on the back and fold the legs up onto it and hold them until the glue cools, then trim them close to the glue.

Now for the finishing touches. Glue a piece of magnet strip to the back. This will cover up the ends of the cord that you cut off.

Turn it over and glue two little googly eyes and a tiny pom-pom nose to his face. Lastly, tie a bow on the end of his tail and fluff out the end, and !Voila! You're done. You have a cute little KrisMouse to perch on your fridge to remind you that the best things about Christmas aren't always the big things.

I hope you were able to understand these directions. I tried to teach as if you knew nothing, so some of it may seem a little redundant, but better too much info than not enough.

As we move into the Thanksgiving season and look forward to the Christmas season, I am reminded of a quote from Hamilton Wright Malvie...."Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." I love this time of year and the feelings of live that curl their way into the hearts of even the toughest of us. Just imagine the state of the world if we had these feelings all year round! I hope you are all getting into the spirit of the celebration ahead. Until tomorrow,