A Gift For My New Buddy: Rat Hammock

**UPDATE**

Here's a picture of Beans on yet another rat hammock!!! I wanted to share pics of my buddy using his new cage decor. LOL Thanks for looking!!!

I recently decided that another addition to my already wonderful family would be a great thing. I brought home a rat! I purchased everything he would need to keep him comfortable in his new home, but I wanted to make him something special and something he could use. So, I came up with this rat hammock. Unfortunately, the rat pictured here had an upper respiratory infection and I returned him to the store so they could treat him and he could get better. I went to a different store and fell in love with another rat who I've named, Beans. LOL He's not tan like the one pictured. He is black on his face and somewhat down his back and the rest is white. Anyway, I made this hammock up on the fly and thought it was pretty neat and I wanted to share. Hope you like it!

Here it is again in the cage with the first rat playing:

I'm hoping to get a picture of Beans playing on it. He's up there all the time. I have been playing with him rather than taking picture though. LOL He plays up there a lot, but I think he'll sleep up there if I get him a friend. In the wild, rats live in large colonies and they should be bought in at least pairs if not more. I'll be on the lookout for a playmate for my buddy.

I'm also in the process of designing a hanging bag for him. A lot of people buy these for their sugar gliders, ferrets or other small animals. He already has a big house to sleep in, but it's transparent and I think he might be a bit more comfortable if he can't be seen.

If you can use something like this, here is the pattern:

You can increase or decrease the number of stitches and rows to accomodate cage and animal size.

Materials:

F Hook
Worsted Weight Yarn in MC (Navy) & Small Amount of CC (White)
(Cage Size: 17" Tall x 18" Wide)
(Finished Hammock Size: 15" Long x 8 1/4" Wide)

Rat Hammock

-With MC ch 36
Foundation Row: Sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across (35 sc) ch 1 turn; (NOTE: ch 1 does NOT count as 1st sc!)
Row 1: Sc in 1st st and in each sc across (35 sc)
Row 2: Repeat Row 1 until desired length is reached
FO MC
(For this particular cage size and animal, I finished off with close to 60 rows)

Border

-Attach CC with a sl st in any corner, ch 1, sc, ch 2, sc in same st (corner made)
-Sc evenly down side and repeat corner twice; sc evenly down last side and sl st in beg ch 1
FO

Ties

Cut 12 strands each of MC & CC to lenth desired (I didn't measure, but I would say they were about 26" - 27" long); take 3 strands of each through each corner, pull until both ends are even with each other, wrap around and make a knot up close to the hammock. Make two braids at each corner; 3 of each color; 1 strand of each for the 3 parts of the braid. Tie knot in end of each braid. You will end up with 2 braids at each corner for ties. Trim ends. Tie up in your furry friend's cage and enjoy watching him/her play!

Thanks for taking a look! If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me @ angel_eyez20*at*msn*dot*com.