This was supposed to be a dishcloth, but I just kept going and it ended up a hand towel. It’s really cute, even with all the mistakes in it. I hope someday to be a more “perfect” knitter, meanwhile I’m just enjoying the learning curve! 
I have a friend who has two cats who have EVERYTHING a cat could ever want. She’s even built them jute-covered climbing posts so they can literally “climb the walls” at her house! One of her cats plays “fetch” with a little catnip mouse that she tosses for him, he runs to get, brings it back to her and drops it into her hand for her to throw again. It made me think of my Labrador JR who LIVED to fetch - sticks, tennis balls, frizbees (although those he couldn’t resist chewing up), you name it, he’d fetch it. So, I decided it might be fun to make Mr Magoo (her fetching kitty) a felted kitty toy. To be honest, I didn’t MEAN for it to end up the size of a tennis ball - he is, after all A CAT - not a Labrador! But, I had so much fun with the process, that I ended up making it tennis ball size. OOPS!!
Here’s how it looked when I started. Just a little plastic ball and a wad of carded Corriedale…
The second step in the fuzz-ball making process. Lots of soapy water, a straw for “drainage” and scrubbing fleece. After this, it was put into a stocking, tied tightly, then thrown into the wash and dryer. Took the straw out, and began the needle felting (see below).
Felting needles - fun noise with the bell inside this ball as I felted it the ball jingled!
Added a little bit of brown fleece to make it appear like a “real” tennis ball. I didn’t get a picture of the actual finished project, because I handed it to my husband to deliver to her because I kept ADDING more fleece to it, and I didn’t want it to end up SOFTBALL size, so needed to get it delivered before that happened. It looks similar to this picture - but I added one more layer of white just to soften the effect of the lines.
Well, it’s kind of hard to see, I guess, but it’s that little thing hanging from the do-hickey on my sink! It works great! Washes and dries just great in the laundry and is just the right size for cleaning pots and scrubbing out the sink. (Pattern is below with the pics of how I made it.)
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