From The Knitting Fiend website

As to knitting Basil, I think he’s a fun project for learning short rows. Short rows are easy, but for some reason provoke anxiety with beginning knitters. The advantage of learning on the rat is that you’ll probably use cheap yarn, and you don’t really need to worry about messing up a whole sweater with badly worked short rows.
When teaching yourself short rows, just remember: Yes, you do work as described. Turn the work before you finish the row.

Materials

• leftover yarn in your choice of weight
• needles suitable for your yarn choice
• small amount of pink yarn for eyes