This is a great simple project for novice needle-felters. They are quick and easy to make, so why not create a colourful troupe of darling rainbow mice to entertain you on rainy days?
10g merino roving in the colour of your choice
2 × size 40 triangular needles, for shaping
1–2 × size 42 triangular needles, for surface finishing
Awl or similar pointy tool
15cm waxed cord or twine, to match the body colour
Darning needle or bodkin
1 × 8mm bead, to match the tail and body colour
1 × 4–5mm pink bead
2 × 4mm black glass seed beads
Scraps of flat felt, to match the body colour
Small amount of white merino roving
Finished size: 5–6cm tall
1 Take a length of roving for the body, measuring 20 × 4cm. Pull the fibres apart gently so that it flattens out a little. Take another small amount of roving – about 15 × 4cm – tease it into a ball and wrap the longer length around it.
2 Shape the wool into a little flat-bottomed cone, using two size 40 needles. Turn it as you work, so that you get a nice roundness, not a flat pancake.
3 When your mouse is roughly 5cm tall and firm to the touch, take a pinch of roving and spread it out very thinly. Wrap this around the mouse and use one size 40 or 42 needle to neatly cover the surface.
4 Use an awl or similar tool to drill a tunnel from what will be the front tummy area to the tail. Tie a knot in the end of the wax cord or twine and use a darning needle or bodkin to pull the cord through the tunnel until the knot doesn’t show.
5 Thread the round bead onto the tail, tie a knot to secure it and trim the end. Sew the smaller pink bead on the tip of the cone, to make the nose, and add the eyes using the sideways method. Cut two identical ears from flat felt. Each one should be shaped like a round teardrop and measure roughly 3.5cm long by 2.5cm wide.
6 Drill holes in the top sides of the head with the awl or similar tool, just behind the eyes, and poke the pointed bottoms of the ears into them. Secure them with a few invisible stitches inside the felt, bringing the thread up into the body and through each ear and then taking the thread out at the bottom of the body.
7 Use a little pinch of white roving and needle a round tummy patch directly onto the body. Sew simple stitches around the edge. Give the mouse a final tidy-up with one needle and award yourself a pat on the back.