After getting a slew of forgettable errands done, I sat down with yarn and yarn needle and got to work.

I like embroidering the faces for two reasons: first, it gives them a lot of personality; second, you don’t have to go myriad craft stores only to find they don’t have the eyes and noses that you need, and since you have to embroider the mouth, I figure why not start when I am going to end up?

The first thing I did to cut six lengths of worsted weight black yarn that were about 32″.

Then threading one of these lengths onto a yarn needle, I worked from the back of the face toward the front. I used about one-half of the yarn for the nose and mouth, and the other half for the pupils of the eye, and while it makes for long ends, those long ends make it a lot easier to maneuver in what is a tight space.

Eventually, I got all of the noses and mouths done.

The eyes, however, were another story.

While I did not feel bound to regular cat colored eyes, I did discover that from a design perspective, there were parameters I needed to consider.

First, the color of the embroidered iris could not be too dark, because then the embroidered pupil would not have enough contrast, and that contrast is part of what give the eyes so much personality.

Second, the color of the embroidered iris had to sufficient contrast with the color of the cat face to not have it all blend in.

As it happened, the colors of some of the cat faces provided their own unique challenges, and — having tried it on at least one cat — I can attest that pink cat eyes look kind of weird, and not in a good way.

Eventually, however, I got most of the eyes sorted out, and tomorrow when I have the light of the new day, I feel confident I will get something acceptable worked out for the eyes of the Red Heart Super Saver Accent paradise kitty in the bottom left-hand corner:

In addition to completing five of the six scrap cat faces, I also crocheted a second tail (bringing the total to two):

As well as this ear:

Which looked like this when put together with the cat it is intended for:

As for the scrap cats, they are taking the long view while I work to get them all done: