This design uses silvery-grey wool, as if the hare is sitting in a patch of moonlight.
50g pale grey merino roving
2 × size 40 triangular needles, for shaping
2 × size 42 triangular needles, for surface finishing
Small amount of white merino roving
2 × 4mm black glass eyes or seed beads
Thick black cotton thread
Finished size: 12–13cm tall
1 Begin with a length of grey roving measuring 40 × 4cm. Tear it in half, place the two lengths together and fold them over. Insert a small ball of grey wool inside the fold, fluffed up from a 20 × 4cm strip. Pulling the sides of the outer wool around the filling, work the wool with two size 40 needles until it resembles a long bulb shape with a flat base. Leave the top loose.
2 Take a small ball of wool and pop it into the top, enclosing it.
3 Shape this into a long-nosed head and then work on the whole body, pushing it into a slight curve, as shown. Do not overwork the wool as there are more parts to join. It should be firm, but have a soft, mottled surface.
4 Make a little tail and attach it to the bottom of the back.
5 For the feet, take two equal amounts of wool measuring 10 × 2cm each. Fold each piece in half and shape into long back feet, and then fix them to the sides of the bottom.
6 The finished length of each foot should be 4–5cm long.
7 Take two more short pieces of roving, each measuring 12 × 2cm. Fold each piece in half and shape the ears before fixing them on to the back. Each ear has a little bobble on the end and is about 6cm long. Use the tip of one size 40 needle to clearly make the defining line between ear and body.
8 Cover the hare in thin layers of wool. Start with two size 42 needles, then go down to one for a fine, tight surface. Where possible, make sure the covering fibres follow the same direction as the body fibres.
9 Add a front bib using a small amount of white roving.
10 Finally, sew in the eyes using the sideways method and stitch a broad, sky-pointing nose with black thread (see here). When the whole animal is finished, carefully cover the surface with fine layers of wool, paying special attention to the joining areas. Leave your hare in a puddle of moonlight and it may begin to dance...