Mouse Mitten - a Mitten for Your Mouse

As the cold weather comes, hands can get pretty cold even when you are warm at home.
Staying in front of the computer for a long time is one of the activities that make hands colder, especially the one that you use the mouse with...I am sure this happened to all of you! Plus if your hands are cold most of the time no matter what (like mine!), you are reading the perfect Instructable for you! :D

This gave me the idea to crochet this mouse mitten and although it had been on my mind for a while, I didn't make it.
Now the cold is coming and my hands are getting cold again so I thought it was about time to try and make a mitten for my mouse! 

I've seen some mouse warmer pads online and they inspired me to make this mitten. 
I know mine is not nearly as good as those ones, and it's quite different too, but believe me, it still keeps you warm! :D
Other than being perfect for this time of the year, I am sure this will be a great Christmas gift for someone you know!


I hope you enjoy this Instructable, and If you do, I would really appreciate your vote. Thank you! :)

The pattern I made for this mouse mitten is very simple and can be adapted to any kind of cotton/wool or size you want.
Here is what I used:

• white wool
• crochet hook n° 8 - 5mm
• *pink cotton n° 5
• crochet hook 2.5 mm
• 2 black buttons
• needle and thread
• pieces of velcro
• double sided tape
• tape measure
• your computer mouse, of course!

*You are probably wondering why I used thin cotton with thicker wool. The reason is very simple: I didn't have pink wool at home :D But I was still able to make it work so don't worry if, like me, you don't have something...there is always a way to do everything!
This is the same reason why I used a bigger crochet hook than the one needed for the wool I used...that was the only big one I had. Oh well, I will get more soon anyway! :)

List of stitches:

• chain stitch
• slip stitch
• single crochet - sc

The first and most important thing you have to do before starting to crochet, is measuring how large your mitten has to be.
To do this, I used a tape measure. You can use whatever method you prefer.

Keeping my hand on the mouse, I positioned the tape measure starting from the bottom of one side of the mouse, I went up to the highest spot of my hand and went down again to reach the bottom of the other side of the mouse.
The highest spot I am talking about should be about where your knuckles are.

Once you know how much space is taken by your hand on the mouse, you can decide how large your mitten will be.
My measure was about 22cm.

The sizes and number of stitches or rows that I am going to write from now on are all based on my measures. You can adjust them to your own sizes.

I started making 30 chains because that was for me the equivalent of 22cm (8.66 inches).

Once you have your chains done, add one more chain and make a sc in each chain.
Remember to skip the first chain and start making the first sc in the second chain from hook.

When you reach the end, chain 1 and turn.
Keep making a sc in each stitch of the previous row.

Make a total of 14 rows.

Starting from the 15th row, I decided to decrease every 4 stitches.

In case you don't know how to decrease, I will do my best to explain it now with the help of the pictures:

• insert the hook into the next stitch and yarn over once (picture 1)
• draw up a loop, for a total of 2 loops on hook (picture 2)
• insert the hook into the next stitch and yarn over (picture 3)
• draw up a loop, for a total of 3 loops on hook (picture 4)
• yarn over and draw through all 3 loops to close the stitch (picture 5)

Decrease done!

Make one in the 5th stitch after making 4 sc.
Keep doing this every 4 stitches until you reach the end.

Row 16: one sc in each stitch of the previous row
Row 17: a decrease every 4 sc
Row 18: a sc in each stitch of the previous row
Row 19: a decrease every 4 sc
Row 20: a sc in each stitch of the previous row

Rows 21, 22, 23, 24 same as row 20 (but you can decrease some more if you want).

Now place your mouse on the mitten you are working on and see if it's the right size. It should be about as long as the mouse.
If it is not, keep making other rows.

Finally, insert the pink cotton* (or wool), secure and cut the white one. Make 2 more rows in pink with a sc in each stitch.

*Since my pink cotton was much thinner than the white wool, I made 2 sc in each stitch instead of one.

Fold the mitten in 2 now and join the pink side making a slip stitch in each sc of the previous row.
When you reach the end, secure and cut the thread.

Turn your mitten upside down so that the inside part will be on the outside and vice versa...you are probably starting to recognize the nose of the mouse :)

You need to attach the eyes now!

Take your 2 black buttons and simply sew them with needle and black thread right above the nose, as you can see in the picture.

While trying the mitten on my computer mouse, I noticed that the nose part was too long.
For this reason, I decided to fold it in half, more or less, and sew that part with white thread to secure it.

I decided to use velcro to attach the mitten to the mouse. This way it will be easy to put it on and remove it anytime.

Cut 4 strips of velcro (or 2 long ones). They need to be long enough to cover the 2 opposite sides of your computer mouse.

Now, working on the inside of the mitten, sew 2 pieces of velcro all along one side of the mitten, and sew the other 2 pieces on the other side.
Velcro is composed of 2 parts, so remember to separate them when you sew, you need to sew one part of the velcro only. The other part will be attached to the computer mouse.

You are almost done...

Reassemble the 2 parts of the velcro together.
Cut some pieces of double sided tape and stick them to the free side of velcro.

Now you can finally attach the mitten to the sides of your mouse, trying to keep it as close as possible to the bottom.

Remember: the nose part of the mitten must be placed where the buttons of the mouse are, not the opposite.

Now you can finally use the mouse with the mitten on it and keep your hand warm! 

Isn't it cute? :)