Happy Snails to You - another free "Tails (and more) from the Scrap Bag" pattern

 

I was asked to make a batch of small colorful snails for birthday party favors. After looking at some of the available patterns, I played around and came up with this pattern... with minimal sewing and using small amounts of scrap yarn. One snail uses less than an ounce of yarn, about .4 for the main color and .3 for the contrast color. Antenna are crocheted as you go, so the only sewing (other than embroidering a smile) is a few long stitches to hold the shell coil together.  These work up quickly (unless you crochet at a snail's pace 😄), so you can probably work one up in one sitting. 

I made mine with an F hook and worsted weight yarn. You want your stitches to be tight enough that your stuffing doesn't show through, so if you crochet loosely, you may need to go down a hook size. I used 6 mm safety eyes. You'll also need a small amount of sport weight black yarn or embroidery floss for the smile (I took a short length of worsted weight yarn and split it into two 2-ply pieces for embroidering, since I didn't have black sport weight.)

Okay, let's get started

With MC (Main Color)

Round 1: 4 sc in Magic Ring (4)

Round 2: inc, antenna, 2 inc, antenna, inc (8)

(Antenna: chain 5, 2 sc in 2nd ch from hook, slip stitch in remaining ch)

Round 3: *sc, inc*, repeat around (12)

(Round 3 is tricky... you do one sc & inc, push the antenna out of the way, then do the next two sc, inc after the antenna. Push the second antenna out of the way and do the last sc, inc.)

Round 4: *2 sc, inc*, repeat (16)

Rounds 5-8: sc (16)

Insert 6 mm safety eyes between rows 5 & 6, with 4 stitches between. Embroider a mouth two rows below the eyes. 

You can get fancy with the eyes, adding eyebrows, like on the orange and black guy:

Or add little eyelashes, like on this pink and white gal: 

Or, if you don't want to use safety eyes, you can just embroider some eyes... 

Round 9: *2 sc, dec*, repeat (12)

Rounds 10-15: sc (12) Lightly stuff head. The rest of the snail is not stuffed. 

Change to Contrasting Color

Rounds 16-51: sc (12), working 3 rows in CC, then 3 rows in MC. You will have 6 stripes of each color when you're done. For this one, I used variegated yarn and kept track of rows.  Finish off, leaving a long tail to sew coil. 

 Sew through the coils, bring the needle out through the neck. 

After pushing the needle through, I went back through the exit hole for my next stitch, so that the stitch was hidden inside the tube of the snail's coil. 

Go back and forth through the coils 4 or 5 times to secure it. 

(When I have time to make another one, I'm going to try sewing the edges of the coil together and see if that has a better finish. Sometimes the coils get a little gap this way. But, if you've read my October blog, I've been crazy busy lately!) 

You can switch things up, and use more than two colors. 

The rainbow guy on the left used six colors, just two stripes of each color. 

The one on the left here used pink for the head, but then variegated (pink, cream, gray) and cream for the stripes. (I  mis-read my own pattern and made his head too short... started the stripes too soon!) 

On the right, he has a light purple head, but cream, blue, and purple stripes. 

I would love to see your finished snails... you can tag @penguinplacecrafts on Instagram or save them to your projects on Ravelry. 

October's Goal: Staying One Step Ahead of Things

Well, one of my goals in September was to end the month with less in inventory than I went in with. I accomplished that goal, although not exactly the way I wanted to... 

I was hoping that two online events (a Labor Day Sale and having a virtual craft show at an online ladies' conference) would result in a bunch of sales of my ready-to-ship inventory. Nope. No sales from either event. I did get a few items out of inventory, giving a few away as gifts, taking one apart to reuse the yarn, and selling one item. For the first time in months, I didn't add new items to my inventory. I just didn't have time! Custom orders have been coming in on a regular basis... just when I think, "okay, I've got it down to five..." then a new order comes in. I also have two design ideas I need to finish by a deadline, and one ongoing project that I would like to have finished by October 16th, when I will have a model to wear it for pictures. 

So I keep making lists... adding the deadlines of ship-by dates, date needed for local orders, or deadlines for designs. I'm hoping to just keep up this month, getting orders out on time and meeting deadlines. 

Here's how the list looks on this first Saturday of the month: 

1. Dogtor - custom order, ship by 10/5 Done

2. Highland cow - custom order, ship by 10/5 - DONE

3. Bath Mitt - design, 10/10 deadline  - DONE (Sorry, no pics until pattern is published 11/1)

4. Caron Cakes hat design - 10/10 deadline DONE 

5. Pocket Shawl (90% done) - 10/16 deadline

6. One and Two Company Cow - whenever

7. Poodle doll - whenever

8. Black cat - Christmas

I'm hoping that by the time I transfer my to-do lists to the next week in my planner, I will have a few of these crossed off my list! Oh, I just got an Etsy conversation about a new custom order... 

Updating the list for week 2: 

1. Dachshund order - ship 10/14

2. Pocket Shawl (still at 90% done) - 10/16 deadline

3. One and Two Company Cow - whenever - not started

4. Poodle doll - whenever -yarn and pattern ready to start 

5. Black Cat - Christmas

But then as we head into weekend #2, it gets changed again: 

1. Dachshund order - ship 10/14 Done

2. Orange Dog - ship 10/16 Done

3. Pocket Shawl (still at 90% done) - 10/16 deadline

4. Poodle doll - whenever - 50% done

5. One and Two Company Cow - whenever - not started

6. Black Cat - Christmas

On Friday night, I realized that Monday was a postal holiday, so I'm hoping to have both Etsy orders ready to ship out on Tuesday, 10/13. 

Tuesday, 10/13

Transferring my new list to a new week, I have: 

1. Pocket Shawl - 90% done, would like to have done by Friday for modeling - DONE

2. Poodle Doll - 50% done Needs 3 legs, tail, ears, neck. 

3. One and Two Company Cow - starting tonight

4. Black Cat - Christmas

Feels good to have the list down to 4 items... and I might finish the pocket shawl tonight. 

I took a break from orders over the weekend, and looked through some recently printed patterns. Decided to work on the first one that really made me smile. This one won: 

I mean, who wouldn't smile at a cute pig in a bathtub? She got her photo shoot and is in my Etsy Shop now. 

So, starting the week of October 18, I only have three orders left in my queue... but Etsy conversations going on about two others orders for a total of four custom creatures... 

1. One and Two Company Cow... about 75% done with the head. But with that pattern, once I finish the head, the rest goes quickly! 

2. Poodle: 50% done Needs 3 legs, tail, ears, neck. 

3. Black Cat - due for Christmas

I finished the head of the cow, so I decided to reward myself with making a new item... a Zom-Bee! I used my Honeybee Pattern, but made it in green and black, and added some details with black yarn and red paint. 

I posted the pics to Instagram and Facebook, and it sold... along with three other items... and two of them I needed to make... so my "quick little excursion away from orders" turned into a day away. It was hard to get crocheting done on Monday, as we had a remodeling crew replacing windows in our house... 49 degrees and rainy outside, and there was a door open and gaping holes where windows were removed. I spent much of the day cuddled under blankets! 

Done with the small local order... 

Back to work on Fergus McFluffy

Okay, finished this cutie and delivered him to his happy new owner. 

That means I'm going into the weekend with a new list: 

1. Custom flower pillow order  - ship by 11/3

2. Poodle order 50% done Needs 3 legs, tail, ears, neck. 

3. Black Cat order - Christmas order, haven't started yet

4. Dragon order - 11/26 deadline

I spent a little more time than usual getting organized on Saturday... sorting patterns, reorganizing spaces, catching up on laundry, meal planning, etc. 

Since I'm catching up, I played with some new patterns for Christmas gift card holders: 

I finished the flower pillow order and got it shipped a week ahead of time! 

I got a little side-tracked when a designer friend said she had customers looking to buy finished copies of her Rustic Tree ornaments on Etsy... 

But I got back on track and finished the poodle custom order! 

October sales were above average... 

I got my  yarn stash down a little...

I got my inventory down a little...

I kept up with orders and got a few new listings up on Etsy. 

I'd say I did well with my October goals! Let's see what November, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas Shopping brings!