This lovely lady was inspired by a friend’s farm sow, Lady Penelope – she is a good step up from easy projects, as there aren’t too many fiddly bits. Don’t be afraid to add extra wool if you feel she’s not puffed out enough.
40–50g dark pink or flesh-coloured merino roving
2 × size 40 triangular needles, for shaping
1–2 × size 42 triangular needles, for surface finishing
Small amount of dark turquoise merino roving
2 × 3mm black glass eyes or seed beads
Pink silk thread or thin embroidery floss
Small amount of dark brown or black merino roving
Finished size: 10cm tall
1 Take a good length of dark pink or flesh-coloured roving measuring 30 × 4cm and another smaller one measuring 15 × 4cm. Lay the smaller one on top of the longer one, place an egg-shaped ball of fluffed up wool in the middle and fold the lengths over.
2 Spread and pull the wool around the filling to shape a fat teardrop as you work it with two size 40 needles. Leave the top wool loose for the head.
3 Shape the flat, oval base by cupping it in the circle of your index finger and thumb, which act as a template.
4 Once you have a lopsided bulb shape with a flat bottom, pull some of the loose head wool down leaving enough for a thin snout. Use one needle to sculpt a friendly nose and smiling mouth.
5 Now look carefully at your work and decide if you need to add any extra wool to the chest, which should be puffed out, or to the bottom, which should be of ample size. When you are happy with the basic form, work the entire body until it firms up.
6 Using a tendril of wool and one size 42 needle, add a curly tail. Double the wool over so that the tail has a thicker base and shape it on the felting mat. When it’s formed, use one needle to fix it onto the body, making it wriggle perkily up the back.
7 Make tubby legs from four lengths of wool measuring 12 × 1cm each. Double each length over, so that you have a pointy end for a trotter. Shape them loosely on your mat and then add them to the body. Attach the two back legs around the bottom edge of the body near the tail.
8 Then add the front legs, pointing down over Penelope’s chest to the ground.
9 Add the ears by taking two equal-sized small amounts of wool and needle them directly onto the head, shaping them as you work.
10 Now cover the body in thin layers of wool to smooth and finish off the surface. This will also solidify the body. Try to keep the layer fibres lying in the same direction, preferably from head to tail. Use two size 40 needles to fix the wool, then use just one to smooth it down. As you layer, take care to clearly define the lines of the features with precise, firm needling.
11 When you are happy with your piggy, decorate her with the dark turquoise wool. Use one needle to twizzle the wool in a circular direction for each spot that you add.
12 Sew in the eyes using the sideways method and stitch two tiny vertical slits on the nose (see here).
13 Using one size 42 needle, cover each trotter with the dark brown or black wool to indicate hooves.
14 Finally, still using the size 42 needle and the same colour roving as for the hooves, add a short tassel to the tail.