Mini Big Head Turtle Crochet Along Part 2

Here's part two: we make the head and sew it on, finishing up your mini big head turtle! 

Head:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR. (6)

Round 2: inc x 6. (12)

Round 3: (2 sc, inc) x 4. (16)

Rounds 4-9: 16 sc. (16)

Embroider eyes over round 5 with 5 stitches between. Embroider mouth one row below eyes, centered between them.

 

Round 10: (2 sc, dec) x 4. (12) Stuff head only.

Rounds 11-16: 12 sc (12)

Finish off, leaving 12” of yarn for sewing. Fold neck so that the face is centered on the front. Use yarn tail to sew bottom closed and sew to turtle shell opposite the tail. The bottom of the neck is sewed to the front loops of Round 8 of the shell, then sew the neck to the shell for three rows on each side of the neck.

 

If your turtle tips forward when you set him down, push in the center of his underbelly and pull his feet out. If that doesn’t work, push his head back toward his shell. Putting the circle of plastic on top of the stuffing before closing up the bottom of the shell helps keep the bottom nice and flat and helps prevent this problem.

Mini Big Head Turtle Crochet Along - Part One

Here we go! Part one of the Mini Big Head Turtle Crochet-Along! 

Mini Big Head Turtle

By Elaine Okupski of

Penguin Place Crafts

 

Uses .7 ounce of worsted weight yarn and an F hook.

 

Abbreviations:

Dec: decrease

HDC: half double crochet

Inc: Increase

MR: Magic Ring

Sc: Single crochet

Sl st: slip stitch

TLO: Third loop only

 

Body:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR. (6)

Round 2: inc x 6. (12)

Round 3: (sc, inc) x 6. (18)

Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6. (24)

Rounds 5-7: 24 sc. (24)

Round 8 is worked in HDC rather than SC. Then Round 9 is worked in the third loop, giving a nice edge to the bottom of the shell.

 

Round 8: 24 hdc, sl st into third loop of next st. Chain 4, sl st in 2^nd ch, sc, hdc (tail made)

Round 9: TLO, beginning in same stitch as sl st of Round 7: (sc x 4, dec) x 4 (20) Stuff body.

To help your turtle with balance, you can cut a small circle of plastic (I save my lids from plastic containers such as sour cream and cottage cheese for this purpose) and place it at the bottom of your turtle

Round 10: (dec, 5-dc bobble, 2 sc) x 4. (16)

Round 11: (sc x 2, dec) x 4. (12)

Round 12: dec x 6. (6)

Finish off. Use yarn tail to close.

 Since this turtle uses less than an ounce of yarn, it’s a great stash buster. You can use even smaller amount of yarn by doing stripes or spikes.

For this Spike shell, I alternated dark and light colors, starting with dark for Round 1. For Round 3, I put 4 spike stitches evenly around the row (reaching down to the previous dark row). For the next two dark rows, I put centered the spikes between Round 3’s spikes. Likewise, the spikes on Round 7 were centered between those of Round 5. I also changed to the lighter color for Round 10 to make the underbelly and legs.

 

This cutie is alternating rows of red and a variegated yarn where the red is a pretty close match.

 

 

 

 

You can also embroider a block pattern on the shell with a contrasting color.

 

 

My First Crochet-Along: Mini Big Head Turtle

I've been thinking of doing this for quite some time now... and here we go... my first CAL! 

I designed this Mini Big Head Turtle because turtles are such good sellers for me at craft shows, and I have sold several larger turtles using the same big head/long neck look. I wanted something that would use up scrap yarn and work up quickly... and I think I got it! 

So, here are the details: 

On Monday, 2/20, I will publish part one - the shell 

On Thursday, 2/23, I will publish part two, the head and assembly.

If you share a picture of your finished turtle in your Ravelry Projects, linking to the pattern, or if you share your turtle on Instagram with the hashtag #minibigheadturtleCAL you will be entered in the drawing for PRIZES! 

Well, the prize is a free pattern from my Ravelry shop... or I can e-mail the PDF if you're not on Ravelry. But... for every ten entries, I will draw a winner, and you can make all the turtles your little heart desires! Well, until March 15. When the Ides of March is upon us, the prize portion begins. 

Can't wait for Monday's post to start? The full pattern is already up for sale in my Etsy & Ravelry shops! 

2023 Ami Book Challenge

 I saw a post on Instagram from Lemon Yarn Creations about her Amigurumi book challenge. 

The idea is to dive into your Ami book collection (or magazines, or even solo patterns if you’d prefer), and pick one pattern to follow each month!

You can join every month or only a few. It’s all about community and sharing our love for Amigurumi with each other. Help others discover new books and show your favourite designers how much you love their work

I'm in! 

For January, I pulled out my Unicorns, Dragons & More and made Cargo the Mushroom Fairy. 

For February, I'm working on a standalone pattern, Drianna the Dragon by Yarn Wave

March: I made the Cheetah from Animal Friends of Pica Pau

In April, I made Bruice the Beardie by Manic Yarn

In May, it was back to the books... I made this Walrus from one of my Zoomigurumi books: 

In June, I made Sassy the Sugar Glider, from the Cheerful Chameleon

In July, I made a cactus from my Amigurumi Cactus Book.

In August, I double-dipped, making Avocade toast from my Crochet Cafe book, and a cockatiel from a stand-alone pattern. 

In September, I made the frog from my Annie's Attic Patchwork Animals book: 

In October, I made carrots from my Whimsical Stitches book: 

November, it was back to stand-alone patterns. I made FoFo the Bull. 

I want to make another one... He's so cute! 

And, finally, in December, I made a pattern from a new book I received as a gift from my friend Joanna: Crochet Cute Forest Friends. 

Other standalone patterns I plan on making 

Dolly the Dragon

Onyx the Owl

Red Panda

Other books I'll be working from: 

Edward's Menagerie Dogs

Animal Friends of Pica Pau

Animal Friends of Pica Pau 2

Zoomigurumi 5

I still have 1 open spot for the standalone and the book.... I'm sure I'll be able to fill them when I look through my patterns! 

February Goals - Better Late than Never, right?

I didn't do all that well on my January goals... I had two custom orders from Etsy that kept me busy, so I didn't finish all the points on my January list... so I moved some over to February.  I didn't even get my February goals done until a few days into February... and then another week passed before I got to work on this blog post. 

Here are my goals for February: 

Finish Cargo the Mushroom Fairy - from January - DONE 

My #amibookchallenge for February - Drianna the Dragon

Make one Socksy Dachsie from my own pattern

10 Chicken nuggets - for upcoming craft shows

Publish Mini Big Head Turtle pattern - another leftover from January

Crazy Critter Challenge - choosing elements of project by chance - DONE

4 Butter lambs

Launch Crochet Along for Mini Big Head Turtle

Inventory yarn to clear crates for 3/4 craft show

Progress: 

For the Crazy Critter Challenge, I had four categories: main color, critter, accent color, embellishment

Colors I chose from - Red, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink

Critters: lizard, bear, monster, puppy, turtle, snake

Embellishment: stripes, spots, mohawk, bumps, ruffle, eyelash yarn

For the main color, I got green.

For the critter: puppy

For the accent color: Purple

For the embellishment: mohawk

Okay, a green puppy with a purple mohawk...