Needle-Felted Sock Monkey

Materials:

38" of 18-gauge wire
assorted felting needles
unspun brown wool yarn
unspun wool yarn or raw wool bat: white, red, black
2" thick closed-cell foam pad or sponge
scissors
wire cutters
cellophane tape

Steps:

1. Cut 18-gauge wire in these measurements:

• one 11-1/2-inch piece of wire
• two 10-1/2-inch pieces
• one 5-inch piece

3. Coil both ends of the 5-inch piece of wire to form the monkey's tail.

4. Coil only one end of the 11-1/2-inch piece of wire. This will be the legs. Fold the wire in half and make a V shape bend (figure C). Place one coiled end of the tail in between the coiled ends of the body wire. Insert the uncoiled end of the leg wire into all three coils. Place the bend of the V at the connection.

5. Fold a 60-inch piece of unspun wool in half again and again until it is about as long as the body part of the wire armature. Lay the wool folds on top of the body and begin to wind the brown unspun wool around the body. Wind up and down until the desired thickness of the body is achieved (figure D). At that point cut or pull the wool strand off. Lay the body on the foam piece and punch with the felt needle many times until the wool is felted together and so that the yarn will not unfurl (figure E).

7. Wrap the ends of the limbs and tail in white wool and needle punch to give hands, feet and tail tip.

8. Wrap the top of the body or "head" with white wool and needle punch in place (figure G).

9. Make two ears by rolling the brown wool in a small coil about the size of a dime and needle punch just under the white cap on both sides of the head (figure H).

10. In your hands, make a tiny pea pod shape from the white wool and needle punch into the front center, under the ears and above the arms. Make a smaller red wool peapod and needle punch onto the white. Especially punch the center of the red to accentuate the lips of the sock monkey (figure I).

11. Roll two small black pea-size balls and needle punch between ears for the eyes.

12. Roll two smaller black balls (very tiny) for the nostrils and needle punch into the top white shape of the lips (figure J).

13. Roll one very thin line to form the black wool that is about as big as a toothpick. Pull off two 1/2-inch pieces and needle punch above the eyes, into the white skullcap for the eyebrows. Be sure to give a nice eyebrow arch so that the sock monkey doesn't look mad! (figure K)

Tip:

Felting needles are sharp! Be sure to always work on the foam or sponge. Think of the felting needle as a sculpting tool.