Simple Cat Toy

My sister-in-law came home from a vacation and found her neighbor's cat shivering on her doorstep. It was very cold (we had an ice storm that night) and she was so upset that she brought the cat in and has decided to keep her. She said that the neighbor had told her that she could if she wanted. So she got her a litter box, some food, a couple of bowls. She came to our house for the monthly meal and was talking about how she needed a few toys for the cat and I told her that she didn't need to buy any. I had printed a couple of patterns in the past, but I couldn't locate them and I needed to make a few fast. So I decided to make a couple of ball shaped toys for her.

Here is how I made them:

1st I used stuffing (like for toys) put into a container filled with cat nip.

Hook was a G/4.25 mm

I used Sugar N Cream yarn to make the toys, but you can use worsted weight acrylic yarn for it, too.

Using a magic circle start (makes the center tight)

You want 12 hdc (Half Double Crochet)
Connect and chain 2 and put a hdc in same stitch and then 2 hdc in each hdc. This will give you 24 hdc.
Connect and ch 2 up, Next hdc put 2 hdc and then 1 hdc, repeat around until the end. You will have 36 when finished.
Connect, ch 2 up. Place 1 hdc in each and then connect.
Connect, ch 2 up. In next hdc, hdc 2 tog (Half Double Crochet 2 together) and then 1 hdc in next, continue to end. 24 stitches.
Connect. At this point you can stuff with the cat nip scented (and cat nip) stuffing. At this point, you will ch 2 and then hdc 2 tog all the way around, you won't connect, but continue to hdc 2 tog until you have 2 left and then close and pull the tail through the ball. Creates a way for you to dangle the ball. Or you can sew in the end.

You can see one in front of my black and white cat.