Monkey Fist Mouse - Cat Toy

This is a quick little cat's toy that is a relatively easy project to complete. It's a good instructable for kids and can be made in bulk to sell at markets etc.

• Rope
• Bell (Optional)
• Catnip (Optional)
• Marline Spike
• Knife
• Coloured Thread
• Needle

I'm not going to go super deep on how to tie a monkey fist knot as there are loads of really good videos on this, so I'll just cover this from a high level and link to a really good video.

Great Monkey Fist Video - "The Weavers of Eternity Paracord"

The first stage was to cut a length of rope, I cut a length that was about a metre long, this left plenty of rope to play with that I could trim to the final length later.

You can either tie a knot at the end of the rope or place something else that is round inside. In this Instructable I made two different types, one with a bell and the other using a knot. Once I finish growing some catnip I plan on making a small pouch of leaves and placing it inside the monkey fist.

Using your fingers as a jig make three passes around the knot or bell, it can be a bit fiddley at first but keep trying and you'll get it.

Next change direction and do another three passes around the rope and between your fingers.

The large stage is to do the final three passes around the second loop and under the first loop.

Now it's time to tighten everything down, start at the knot end of the rope and pull everything through one loop at a time. Don't worry about pulling it too tight the first time around, I like to tighten it a little bit and then tighten everything down really tight the second time.

It can be hard to pull the rope through, this is where a Marline Spike comes in handy, I ended up taking an interlude to go make one to help with this step.

If I'm honest, I'm not very good at needlework and it shows in this step. I tried to sew on a nose and eyes along with some whiskers. It adds a little colour and makes it look nicer.

Now you want to tie off the tail end of the rope and stop it fraying. This is pretty easy, take some thread and a needle. Make one stitch through the rope to secure the end and then wrap the thread around the rope and finally use the needle to poke the thread under the wrap you just made and cut it off.

Finally, trim the rope and fluff the end out.

You can now get your quality control inspector to verify the mouse toy is acceptable for use.