Wooly hamster and furless otter

This is my first hamster using North Star Alpaca fiber . I think he turned out to look a bit like a "thug" but still cute to me . His base is merino and then I laid on several layers of the alpaca leaving some baby alpaca locks just rooted in on the back .

I couldn't find my animal eyes....happens all to frequently as they get sucked into the craft supply vortex to often.....so I had to resort to felted eyes but these turned out better then many of my past lopsided eyes, so it was good practice . Below is the beginning of my attempt at an otter . I used some rougher core wool to create a simple shape then covered him with some of the alpaca "seconds" which turned out to look rather flat and was more difficult to work with then roving . I think I will have to resort to hand carding this into roving .

Inspite of the generally soft alpaca. this does have a bit of VM and guard hairs and is generally hard to needle felt with out carding . I do love the baby alpaca locks but it has a bit of barn smell that I don;t think some will appreciate.....though I personally love the smell . So instead of covering with the baby alpaca I plan on using merino . Problem now is that I have no good brown colored merino because my favorite "animal color dyer" is on vacation . So....I am considering covering this "almost otter with some brightly colored merino ....maybe orange ? or perhaps I should practice a bit of patience and wait to "fur" him until I can find some nice brown ?