This was my second design after I discovered the joys of needle-felting – I only made it once, and I’m delighted to share it with you, so many years later.
25g pale blue merino roving
2 × size 40 triangular needles, for shaping
1–2 × size 42 triangular needles, for surface finishing
Small amount of white or cream merino roving
2 × 4mm black glass eyes or seed beads
Thick pink silk or cotton thread
30–40cm length of 1cm-wide satin ribbon, preferably wired, in the colour of your choice
Finished size: 7cm tall
1 Take a fat length of pale blue roving measuring 40 × 6cm. Fluff it up into a large, loose ball, separating the fibres, and, using two size 40 needles, shape it into a sphere. Turn the ball as you work, or you will end up with a pancake.
2 As the sphere forms, make a flat bottom for the kitty to sit on. Tuck the edge of the bottom under, to make the body more ball-like.
3 Take another length of roving and measure out 18 × 4cm. Make another, smaller sphere. While it is still soft, needle-felt it to the top of the body to form the head (see here). Work at the neck indentation, so that the head and body are clearly defined, like a simple snowman.
4 Carry on working so that the wool compresses. Squashing the kitten as you hold it will help make it tubby and cute. Add extra wool to the tummy if you feel it needs it. Make two tiny triangle ears on your mat, using scraps of wool and one size 42 needle, and fix them to the head. They should be fairly wide apart and pointing down.
5 Shape a stubby little tail and fix it to the back Then take two equal short lengths of wool measuring 12 × 1cm and fold each length in half. Make the legs on your mat, then attach them to either side of the bottom of the kitten.
6 Cover the whole kitten neatly with thin layers of wool, using one size 42 needle. This will hide any joins. Where possible, make sure the covering fibres follow the same direction as the body fibres.
7 Add a white or cream bib to the tummy, then sew in the eyes, using the front-facing method, and stitch a little pink nose (see here). Make your kitten even more adorable by making a circus ruff to go round its neck (see here) or finish it off with a narrow piece of silk ribbon.