NB: Please read all instructions through and assemble the equipment before beginning. The template this time is not to scale. It is for reference only. Cast on 15 stitches and knit stocking stitch (stockinette) until your rectangle of knitting measures 50cm long. Fold it in half inside out and sew the side seams to make a sort of bag. Turn the right way out and fashion the ears with a running stitch IMAGE 1.

TIP: There are some dashed lines on the template and these tell you where to make the running stitches to divide off the individual parts.

The ears do not have any stuffing but we will come back and make them a bit fluffier in a later step. Measure down about 12cm and make a mark with a stich marker. This will be the neck portion and will be defined with another running stitch when we get to that bit.

Firstly though, stuff the head well with polyester fibre IMAGE 2.

When you are happy, use a running stitch and your darning needle and thimble to secure the neck portion IMAGE 3.

TIP: Don’t sew it off too tightly, just enough to keep the head neat and to form a neck.

Take a bit of black wool top and needle felt it about 2/3 of the way down the face IMAGE 4. Again, the template shows you and you can mark the area with an water erasable pen. Keep adding black wool and felting until you have a nice rounded oval nose.

For the mouth and chin just under the nose, begin with the palest pink IMAGE 5 and finish with white and pale grey, building the chin out a bit.

When you are happy, carefully brush the chin to make it fluffy with the Claw and mat cleaner tool IMAGE 6.

Make two little black eyes with the black wool top and add a small white highlight IMAGE 7. Stuff the body now and make a running stitch around the base opening but do not draw it in just yet (we may need to get in there and adjust things yet). To make the arms and legs is a matter of using some long threads, your precision stiletto and some stuffing.
Have a look at the template and you will see the long stitches and the direction that they go.

Begin the stitch, pinch the arm or leg and push more stuffing into the space as you need to IMAGE 8.

Repeat for the other arm and the legs. Finish with some black claws made from the finer yarn IMAGE 9.

To make his ears lovely and fluffy, thread the darning needle with a length of grey wool and make loops about 5cm long with a little back stitch at the base of each one to lock it into place IMAGE 10. Grey goes on the top two thirds of the koala’s ears and a few loops of white on the bottom.

Cut the loops into strips and unravel them with your fingers. Brush them out with the Claw and mat cleaner tool to make them fluffy IMAGE 11.

Trim them to size so that they are in proportion to the koala’s head IMAGE 12.