PlanetJune Craft Blog

Latest news and updates from June

Crinkle Ball Cat Toy

Today is Maui’s birthday! As the most important member of our household, and to celebrate his bravery at coping with a hugely traumatic trans-continental move last year, I wanted to get him an extra-special present. Unfortunately, the pet shops here are lucky to have a ball and a mouse as their cat toy selection, and Maui already has loads of each of those.

maui helping me choose appropriate yarn colours
Maui also likes to supervise when I’m designing – here he makes sure that my yarn ball doesn’t get away from me while I crochet succulents

The balls I crocheted for my Yarn Over vs Yarn Under comparison had a dual purpose – I added some catnip as I stuffed them, so they could double up as new toys for Maui.

crocheted balls
Maui won’t care if I crocheted these with YO or YU, as long as there’s catnip inside!

But that wasn’t good enough – he already has crocheted balls to play with, and I wanted to give him a really special treat. So I put on my creative thinking cap and the result was pretty amazing – I think I may have created the best cat toy ever! It turned my 8-years-young lazypuss into a kitten again, and held his attention for far longer than any store-bought toy has.

crinkle ball cat toy tutorial by planetjune

If you have, or know, a cat, and you like to craft, you must try this. It’s really easy, it only takes 5 minutes, you’ll have a valid excuse for eating chocolates while you craft, and you’ll have the happiest cat in the neighbourhood! The foil makes an irresistible crinkly noise when the ball is played with.

crinkle ball cat toy tutorial by planetjune
The ball on the right has been thoroughly quality-tested by Maui, and after half an hour of kitty football, stalking, pouncing and batting, being carried by mouth, dropped into shoes and being fished out again, you can see that it hasn’t fallen apart at all!

Note: this is my first donationware craft tutorial. As I’ve had requests for PDFs of other tutorials, I’ll also be converting some of my older tutorials to donationware, as I find the time, so there’ll be a handy printable option for them too. As always with my donationware, the full tutorial is available online for free, whether or not you choose to pay for the PDF version!

Go to the Crinkle Ball Cat Toy tutorial >>

9 Comments »

  1. Ellie said

    The pom-pom maker and yarn was $14 and a normal crinkle ball costs $2.50, so my crinkle ball set paid for itself in about 6 crinkle ball. These instructions work great! My 2 cats love these! Even my lazy old fat cat!

  2. Else T said

    June, these are so fun! Now that I am a cat auntie to three kitties, I’ll keep these in mind for future gifts. Thank you!

  3. sue said

    Well as soon as I’ve got someone to go to the shop and get some sweets I shall be making this for my three moggies. Brilliant idea! I’ve already done the ball stuffed with catnip which is very popular.

  4. Chelita said

    🙂 Cute.

  5. Corvus said

    Ooo. I bet my Mishto will love these.

  6. ~Lori said

    Wow, are his eyes really that gorgeous emerald green? What a handsome boy, in any case!

    Happy Birthday, Maui!

    • June said

      Yes, the photo isn’t retouched – Maui really does have those beautiful eyes! The green yarn in the photo does help to bring out that colour though, in the same way that wearing green brings out the green in hazel-eyed people – his eyes aren’t always that bright. I took that photo because his eyes just looked too dazzling to ignore at that moment 🙂

  7. Lindy said

    Happy birthday to Maui! So pleased he loves his lovely new toy:) It sounds great!
    Love, Lindy xx

  8. Very clever, June. I’ve been missing my cat quite a bit lately, so I love it when you share pictures of Maui. I’ll be bookmarking this for when we finally adopt another cat.

RSS feed for comments on this post

Leave a Reply to Lindy Cancel reply

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment here! I read and appreciate every comment. I only respond to questions here on the blog, so please return to this page to see my reply, or check the box below to subscribe to new comments by email.

Please note that I can only answer questions related to PlanetJune patterns and tutorials (see details), and I can only respond to questions or comments written in English. Thank you :) - June

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Quick Links: Crochet

    navigation: arrow

    buy crochet patterns and accessories from my online store

    'Everyday Crochet' and 'The Essential Guide to Amigurumi' crochet books by June Gilbank

    Crochet video tutorials and step-by-step photo tutorials

    Free PlanetJune crochet patterns

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Quick Links: Crafts

    navigation: arrow

    Punchneedle Embroidery information, ebook & patterns

    Papercraft ebook & tutorials

    Free PlanetJune craft projects & tutorials

  • Blog Post Categories

  • Blog Archives

  • Welcome to PlanetJune!

    June Gilbank

    Hi, I'm June. Welcome to my world of nature-inspired crochet and crafting. I hope you enjoy your visit!

    If you'd like to get in touch, you can contact me here.
    crocheted Canadian flag by PlanetJune
  • A fanned-out pile of the books Everyday Crochet and The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, with text 'The answers to all your crochet questions at your fingertips - find out more'
  • Support PlanetJune!

    Want to say thanks? You can send me money in seconds at paypal.me/planetjune (over $20) or paypal.me/planetjune2 (under $20) or send me a donation through my shop.

    Or simply click through from my links before you shop at Amazon, Etsy, KnitPicks, LoveCrafts or Crochet.com, and I'll make a small commission on your purchase, at no cost to you! Start here:

    ♥ Support PlanetJune ♥

    Tip: This link is also in the footer of every page!

    Thank you so much for your support!