Sunday 8 April 2012

Mini Crochet Creatures - Tiny Two-tone Turtle


These tiny turtles are great to use up scraps of yarn, and can easily be made as keychains. Using two colours and spike stitch makes a really pretty design on the shell. Why not make lots of them! For general instructions and abbreviations, please check this earlier post

Tiny Two-tone Turtle



You will need:
Small amounts of yarn: two colours for the shell (C1 and C2) and light brown for the body.
Black yarn for eyes and mouth.
Small amount of stuffing.
Small split ring approx 1" (2cm) diameter.
3.5mm (E) hook.

Special stitch instructions:
3 dc pop: popcorn stitch for legs. Work 3 dc into 1 st, take hook out leaving loop, put hook through 1st dc & pull loop through.

Spike stitch (spike st): instead of working the sc into the top of the stitch in the previous round, work it right over that stitch and into the stitch from the round before.

Start using C1.
Round 1: Ch 2, work 6 sc into 1st ch - 6 st.
Round 2: 2 sc in each st around - 12 st.

Change to C2.
Round 3: [2 sc in next st, spike st over next st] 6 times – 18 st.

Round 4: [2 sc in next st, sc in next 5 st] 3 times – 21 st.
Change to C1.
Round 5: [Sc in next 2 st, spike st over next st] 7 times - 21 st.
Change to light brown yarn.
Round 6: Work in BLO for whole round: Sc in next 2 st, (*tail: ss in next st, ch 2, ss in 2nd ch from hook, ss back into original st), sc in next 2 st, 3 dc pop in next st, sc in next 3 st, 3 dc pop in next st, sc in next 2 st, [head: 3 dc in each of next 2 st, take hook out leaving loop, put hook through 1st dc & pull loop through], sc in next 2 st, 3 dc pop in next st, sc in next 3 st, 3 dc pop in next st - 20 st.
Round 7: Sc in each st around - 20 st.
Round 8: [Sc2tog] 10 times – 10 st.
Round 9: [Sc2tog] 5 times – 5 st. FO, leaving a length of yarn.

(*To make tail with split ring attached: ss in next st, ch 3, put split ring onto hook, ss over split ring in 2nd ch from hook and pull split ring over the end of the hook. Ss into next ch, ss back into original st.) Continue with round 6.

Use black yarn to sew eyes and a tiny mouth on the turtle's head, stuff and use length of brown yarn to sew up hole at bottom.

25 comments:

Beansieleigh said...

I was just about to make some turtles, but I think these little guys would be a cute addition to the little ones I hope to make this week! Thanks so much for sharing your pattern! ~tina

Lily said...

I just came across this pattern and now I am trying to make a turtle myself. But I have a question to Round 6 about the Popcorn stitch: After pulling the the loop through the 1st dc, I went on with the sc in the next st - but this looked a bit strange because the sc is much smaller than the dc/the popcorn stitch. I now have decided to make ss's down the Popcorn stitch and then looked better. My question: What have I done wrong?

(I'm sorry for my bad English - English is not my mother tongue)

x VickeryPokery x said...

Ah, these are lovely :) I whipped one up this afternoon and he's really sweet - thank you for sharing the pattern :)

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks for the nice comments! Lily, it does work to do an sc after a popcrn stitch, even with a bit of difference in height. It makes the popcorn stick out a bit more. See what it looks like when you do the next round, because that can change how things look.

Anonymous said...

It's so cute !!! Wonderful ...
Kisses from France ;-)

LucyRavenscar said...

Merci beaucoup!

Julie Davies said...

Many thanks for this and all your other small 'no sewing' patterns that I found on Craftster. I've signed up to my son's Summer Fete in June to make some 'pocket money' buys for the kids, having been inspired by you! (Though it's coming around a bit too quickly!)

Best wishes, Julie

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks Julie, and good luck with fete! I know I always end up making everything at the last minute.

Betto said...

Hello Lucy.
I like your blog, it's amazing.
I translated your pattern.
I made a turtle, and it's posted in my blog.
http://bettotejidos.blogspot.com/2012/09/tortuguitas.html

Best wishes, Lucy.

LucyRavenscar said...

Hi Betto!

Thank you! Your turtles are very cute, I really like the colours you used. If anyone wants a translation to Spanish, I'll send them to your blog!

Sunni said...

Hi Lucy!

I love these turtles, but I can't seem to figure out round 7: How do I deal with the tail, legs, and head? How do I get underneath them so I can later close it off on the bottom? The way I did at first seemed like it would lead to the limbs all getting buried inside the turtle.

I wonder if I'm so confused that you can't even imagine what my problem may be ;) but it looks fine before I start attempting this row.

Thank you for all your great patterns. I'm particularly impressed by the ewok in your Star Wars collection!

LucyRavenscar said...

Hi Sunni,

It could be that you've ended up working inside out, and that could be making the popcorn stitches not work properly. When you work crochet in the round the right way round the part you're working on should be close to you, and the rest of the piece should be further away. If you're working inside out then it's the other way round. Check what the stitches on your shell look like and compare them to mine to be sure.

Otherwise, each popcorn stitch you did on round 6 is a single stitch and you can work into the top of it as normal. With the tail, work into the first ss you made, but not the second.

I hope this helps!

Lucy

Sunni said...

Oh! I had been pulling the popcorn stitches together over the top, sticking the hook through the underside of the first dc instead of from above. I feel silly!

I'm so happy that I figured it out and don't have to give up on having an adorable two toned turtle of my own.

Thanks for your time!

LucyRavenscar said...

No problem! Now you can make a whole army.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this wonderful pattern... I will be making these as doorgifts for a stitching meeting in the coming months.

Usha
usharaneem@yahoo.com

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks Usha!

Amy said...

I have made some of these too, with slight variations. See pictures on my blog: http://ipinky-promise.com/index.php?id=2

LucyRavenscar said...

Hi Amy, your turtles look good, I love the colours you used for the shells. I'll have to try your variations and see if I prefer them that way.

Anita said...

Thanks a lot for all the nice small patterns on your blog, they are very addictive, specialy this little turtles. Here's a link to my creations: http://anitashaakcreaties.blogspot.nl/2015/02/schildpadjes.html

LucyRavenscar said...

Thanks Anita, I'm so glad you're enjoying them!

Unknown said...

Hi Lucy, I wanted to say how much I love your turtles , I will be trying to make them this weekend and I love all things about turtles esp sea turtles too. Well I hope that you have a great day and when I get mine made I will post pics
D'Aun ~

LucyRavenscar said...

Thank you! Have a fun weekend, I'd love to see any turtles that you make.

Anonymous said...

I have made your turtles and I actually make the feet and head bigger with an added stitch or two, they're great. I have also made your pig and monkeys and I really like them. I agree that if you do a dc pop you don't have to sc because the other round evens things out, I've done both, both wasy work.

Anonymous said...

Gini Bogers, is there also a Dutch translate for this little turtle? My 86 years old aunt will love this

Desley Kerr said...

I have now made over 500 of these gorgeous little creatures and given them to children at the schools where I work. They are used for comfort, for working hard, for helping, for grief, to encourage better behaviour (baby turtle that you need to teach), reading buddies, etc. There is no limit to their use! Now some of our 10 yr olds are learning to make their own. Thank you.