Friday 11 April 2008

Amigurumi Tiny Turtle



free turtle knitting pattern toy

I love amigurumi toys, but it's extremely hard to find knitting patterns as most amigurumi patterns are for crochet. So being inspired by these tiny striped turtles on crochetville I have come up with my very own little knitted amigurumi turtle.

I think he turned out rather cute, unfortunately I stuffed his head a little too much so he is a little head heavy but other than that very cute!
He measures a tiny 3.5" long and 2" tall however you can knit him on a larger needle size for a slightly larger turtle, but i always think the smaller the toy the cuter it gets.
If you knit him please show off your work and join my flickr group I'd love to see a little army of turtles, in all different colors.
**The turtle is knit on straight needles as I'm useless at using dpn's, however I'm sure the pattern can be easily modified to allow for knitting on dpns which saves time with seaming**
Ok here is the pattern:

Spanish pattern translation available here
 Materials· Set of 3mm needles (UK size 11, US size 3)
· Yarn needle
· Toy stuffing
· 5mm black toy safety eyes (optional as eyes can be embroidered on with black thread/yarn)

Yarn weight
Double knitting/ worsted weight

Gauge
Not important but make it tight so stuffing doesn’t show through

Abbreviations:
· CO = cast on
· K or k = knit
· P or p = purl
· Kfb = knit front and back (Knit a stitch, leaving stitch on left needle; knit into the back loop of this stitch)
· K2tog = Knit two stitches together to make one
· Sts or st = stitches
· CC1= Colour 1 (in the photo this would be yellow)
· CC2= Colour 2 (in the photo this would be green)
· *.......* = repeat the pattern set within the asterisk
· BO = Bind off

Shell
Cast on 6 sts
start with cc1
row 1: knit
row 2: *kfb* repeat 5 times, K1 (11st)
row 3: purl
row 4: *kfb* repeat 10 times, K1 (21st)
row 5: purl
row 6: *k1, kfb* along row (31st)
row 7: knit <------please see the note about this row at the bottom of the pattern
row 8: knit
row 9: purl
change to cc2row 10: knit
row11: purl
change to cc1row12: knit
row13: purl

change to cc2
row 14: k1,*k2tog,k1* to end of row (21sts)
row 15: purl
change to cc1
row 16: k1,*k2tog* to end of row (11sts)
row 17: purl
change to cc2row 18: k1,*k2tog* to end of row (6sts)

Cut yarn leaving a long tail,draw tail through remaining stitches. Use the remaining long yarn tail to mattress stitch the row ends together until you reach the purl row on the right side of the knitting. Fill the shell with toy stuffing and then continue to close the remaining opening using mattress stich and then tie off. Weave in any loose ends.

Head
CO 6st

1. purl
2. kfb every st (12sts)
3. purl
4. *k1, kfb* along row (18sts)
5. Purl
6. *k2,kfb* along row(24sts)
7. Purl
8. knit
9. purl
10. Knit
11. Purl
12. *K2tog, k2* along row (18sts)
13. purl
14. *K2tog, k1* along row(12sts)
15. Purl
16. *K2tog, * along row (6sts)
17. Purl
BO (leaving a long yarn tail)

At this point to may want to add the safety eyes (or embroider some eyes on with thread or yarn for babies or very small children). Use the long yarn tail to matress stitch the row ends together, stopping halfway to stuff and then along to the cast on stitches. Pull the yran tail through the cast on stitches to give a drawstring effect, tie off and weave in any loose ends.
**Please note, try not to overstuff the head or the turtle may end up head heavy**

Legs (make 4)
CO 3st

1. Knit
2. kfb every st (6sts)
3. knit
4. kfb every st (12sts)
5. knit
6. knit
7. knit
8. *k2tog * along row(6sts)
9. Knit
10. *k2tog * along row(3sts)
11. Knit

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail. Draw tail through remaining stitches and pull tightly and secure.
Use tail to mattress stitch row ends closed (please note i didn't fill the legs with stuffing but you can if you wanted to, just remember to stop halfway to stuff). Continue until you reach the cast on stitches, leave a long yarn tail to sew the legs to the body.

Finishing
Attach the head to the shell on the curved side.
Attach the legs to the flat of the shell.

Now you have your very own tiny turtle. Now go forth and multiple! 


Note about shell row 7: It has come to my attention that some people think that this row is a mistake and should be replaced by a purl row. The pattern is correct and it should not be changed to a purl. This row is a knit row as it mark the point where the flat shell bottom changes to the shell curve and allows for an easy 'fold' once the toy is stuffed and sewn.
♥ Raynor

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Jellybum

21 comments:

chris said...

Very sweet little turtle!

Munkeh said...

Thanks for the cute pattern. Just the right size for little people! Nice work!

MonkeyGurrrrrl said...

:) He *is* head-heavy, which, if you know babies (and I do!), is a very common affliction. Why, my own wee monkey was all head when she was born. :)

It's an adorable pattern, and I thank you for posting it. I've found the same difficulty with amigurumi (I don't crochet much), so YAY YOU!

Nichole said...

I loved your Tiny Turtle so much that I knitted one and put it on my blog! I credited you of course! I love your toy designs! They are so clever!
Thanks for the fun! Please check out my own Tiny Turtle on my blog ( if you are interested!) :)
http://ittybittyknitty.blogspot.com/

alls said...

this is ADORABLE. thanks so much for the pattern! i haven't been able to find out where to buy safety eyes though.. could you tell me where you get yours? thanks so much!!!!

Corri Taylor said...

im goign to make this and add a littl loop and attatch it to my sons (4) backpack for his first day of school gift in 3 days! he will love it

ChemKnits said...

I made an army of your tiny turtles:

http://chemknits.blogspot.com/2008/12/howdy.html

CoriMonster said...

I love your turtle pattern!! I've been aching to make some of my own little amigurumi friends, but cant crochet for the life of me, so when i found your website i nearly jumped with joy! i've already made one turtle (he hangs out next to my real turtle) and am working on a second one for a firend with some minor adjustments made to the pattern (the colours mostly). thank you!

Unknown said...

Omg!! this is just about the cutest little thing I've seen in a long time!
I'm thinking I have to make a mobile/amry of them for my friend's pending newborn.

Kiwifruit said...

Very cute! I shall get on to knitting this right away, thank you :)

wolfgran said...

So cute! I have been looking for amigurumi knit patterns. I used to only crochet, and have tons of little animal patterns in crochet, but since I finally learned to knit, I want only to knit!
:}

Unknown said...

I've been looking for animal patterns like these for ages! Finally, the knitters get some adorable animal patterns. I used some left-over self-striping yarn for the turtle's shell and it worked out beautifully! Thank you so much!

Lucylou said...

I've just started knitting again after a 12month(ish) break and found your patterns yesterday - I LOVE them! You are sooo clever. I've knitted up the turtle already, I'll try to post a pic later, he's very cute! Am intending to work my way through all your other patterns now! Thanks again x

Unknown said...

i was scouring the internet for a turtle knitting pattern and when i saw this i fell in love!!! such a cute turtle!

Anonymous said...

thank you so much for all the great knitting patterns :)

Anonymous said...

I owe you pictures. Because I can't stop making these turtles. Because they are adorable and real SOUL EATERS. Aye aye.

I'm making one right now so you won't have a picture of it, but there you go already:
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a215/Korehayumene/LJ%20Batch%20280610/d00649a3.jpg

SUSSEXMOUSE said...

I have just printed your turtle pattern and hope to knit him as soon as I can decide what colour to make him or her. Thank you for sharing this pattern. Marion x

Daisy said...

It's so cute! can i use the picture in my blog www.improbablebabbling.blogspot.com because i want to do a post on it because i think that it is very cute and i want to try it out. Of course i will link to this blog and give credit.

emiily said...

I'm a newbie :P
In row two when you say kfb 5 times do you mean 5 st or 5 rows?
and what do you mean by k1 (11st)?
Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hi Emiily the kfb means knit front and back into every stitch so 5 stitches become 10. the k1 (11st) means that you knit the last stitch and the number in brackend indicates how many stitches you should have left on your needles by the end of the row. I hope that helps. Raynor x

Vicki Designs (Schnorkiemom) said...

Thank you for this cute pattern. I made this yesterday afternoon for my son's girlfriend's 4 year old son. I eliminated the last increase row amd the first decrease row to make the head a little smaller. Blog post here:
http://lonestarstateknitter.blogspot.com