Description: Not as shy as her cousins Bitty and Timmy, Terra feels like the boys just need a good cheering on in the competition against their long-time rivals the Hares. Although not technically a tortoise, Terra has long held the belief that a sea turtle can still play with the big tortoises. She is currently stocking up on Gatorade and pom poms to prepare for cheering the boys (and herself) on.
She is also ridiculously proud of the family legend of the sea turtle who carried the earth on it’s back (along with a couple few elephants) and will talk at length about it to anyone who looks like they might even half-listen.
Skill Level: Advanced Beginner
FINISHED MEASUREMENT
6” tall
16.5” long from front fins to back fins
MATERIALS
Worsted Weight Yarn
– 300 yards of Color A (variegated).
– 140 yards of Color B (white).
– 45 yards of Color C (orange).
– 5 yards of Color D (black).
– 5 yards of Color E (white for eyes).
Miss Babs Yowza Whatta Skein — MDSW 2016 (A), Naked (B), Carnelian; Knit Picks Brava Worsted — Black (D)
Crochet hook, size G (4.0 mm)
Locking Stitch markers
Polyester fiberfill
Yarn needle for sewing
MATERIALS/GAUGE NOTE
Gauge is not a critical factor for this project. If desired, it can be made with any size hook and with any weight of yarn. Adjust hook size/yarn size to obtain desired fabric. I am a very tight crocheter and you may find that you need to go down a hook size or two to eliminate unsightly holes in your toy. You may also require more yarn than I use.
Happy Independence Day, everyone! Here in the U.S. of A., I can hear people setting off fireworks. But most of all I hear music in my head, first of all, Lee Greenwood’s beautiful “God Bless the U.S.A”:
And then, as always when I think of patriotic songs, I think of growing up on an Air Force bases and hearing the National Anthem played every day all over the base at a certain time. Even as a kid, I remember stopping what I was doing and standing stock-still with hand over my chest for the duration of the song. Only when the song was finished did everyone on the base continue what they were doing. And, sometimes, I miss that here in civilian life, hence the video below (note the car that does not start driving out of the parking lot until the song is finished):
So happy Independence Day and thank God for our men and women in the Armed Forces who fight to keep this country free.
But this is a knitting/crocheting blog (with occasional book-talk and tea-talk thrown in). So let’s get on with the crafting. And it is on with the CAL/KALs.
Tortoise vs Hare has begun!
Yes, the Tortoise vs the Hare has begun. And, yes, the mug above is real and made for the cohosts of the CAL/KAL as well as two possible winners of the the CAL/KAL (one from the Crocheting Whovian podcast and one from PHN) at the end of of the CAL/KAL at the end of September. Actually, I am drinking tea from my mug right now.
Actually, I sadly just finished my cup of tea. I need to make another cup.
Anyway, the Tortoise vs. the Hare is going strong. I have a Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle and an Oops the Bunny started. I think I’m trying to go for the Bunny record. I think I’ve made seven to date. I am strongly Team Hare. I need to make T-shirts. But when I release PHN’s Episode 214, I talk more about that idea. I’d love to hear what you think. I’ll try to add in the link when the episode finally finishes uploading. My computer has been kind of slow lately with the massive amount of video content on it between me being the techie for the PHN podcast (God help us) and all my tutorial videos for my patterns.
Oh, speaking of tutorials, the tutorial Sparkle the Unipony is done! Meet Martin!
He’s the blue unicorn with the orange horn. And I’m keeping him. Which means that I will eventually being selling Sparkle (the original unipony). I just don’t have the space to keep multiples of my toys, particularly the large ones like Sparkle.
So, anyway, Sparkle is now officially in testing (and thanks all of you who agreed to test for me and/or showed interest in doing so!). All that is left is for me to finish getting my tutorials loaded and embedded in the pattern. Which takes much longer than I really like to think about. Like I said, this computer is really slow.
I know that y’all have been waiting for Sparkle for a long time. I’ve only been talking about this pattern for about 2 months. So what took so long? Well, first of all, Sparkle is a large toy. Definitely a good cuddle-size, but that also means that there is a lot of crocheting involved. And I have a bad case of project ADD anyway. Or would that be AD — Attention Deficit vs. Attention Deficit Disorder? Anyway, not congruent to my point.
So most of that two months were taken with typing up the pattern, then doing all the actual crocheting. Once all the crocheting was complete, I (thankfully) had a night off of work with nothing else planned. From about 20:30 to almost 04:30, I worked solidly on piecing together Martin and recording tutorial videos while doing so. All the videos have been recorded, but now is the long process of getting them all loaded, the sound tweaked (my GoPro records sound really softly, so I have to amp up the sound in editing), and embedding the videos in the pattern. So, yeah, an inside look at the process of putting together one of my patterns. More than you probably really wanted to know.
Anyway, what other news is there to share? The Ami-Along is still going strong, so if you are making Tortoises and Hares, make sure that you also double dip in the Ami-Along for a chance for prizes. I don’t think I can make my own toys for a chance for prizes and so I’ll be crafting along in the spirit of thing. I really do hate working with plastic eyes and really enjoy working my particular (unusual) brand of eyes, so I pretty exclusively make my own toys. But there are plenty of really cute toys in the Ami-Along. Kate E. Hancock, Vivian Clotilde, Justyna Kacprzak, Megan Barclay, and Alyssa Voznak are just a few of the many awesome designers involved in the Ami-Along. So you should really check it (and them) out. And I have a particularly special place in my heart for PatchworkMoose (Kate E. Hancock) and Stacey Trock (Freshstitches) since I feel like their influence started me off on this designing journey to begin with. Oh, and Stacey is also involved in the Ami-Along. Like I said, many, many awesome toy designers are playing in this thing. It’s a whole lot of fun.
Well, I’m craving another cup of tea (my fourth for the day), so I’m going to sign off. I hope you had a great holiday (those of you in the USA) and that you might have a great week!
Happy knitting and God Bless,
Tahlia
Don’t forget to knit something red for the Cardiac Red-Along!
Hey, readers and friends! Guess what? Today’s the first day of the Ami-Along! And since the Tortoise vs. Hare CAL/KAL allows for works-in-progress to be considered for prizes, now is the time to start making all the bunnies and turtles.
And of course, any other toys that might please your hearts to make. But, yeah, mostly bunnies and turtles.
As threatened a couple posts ago, I started both an Oops the Bunny and a Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle. I had pretty yarn just hiding away unloved from a couple of different fiber festivals and decided that it was time to love them.
Hey, look, the beginning of a turtle face!
Actually, the yarn for Oops used to be a sweater, but I realistically was never going to finish said sweater and so I am reclaiming the yarn for an Oops. Because what more can a yarn want in life than to become an adorable bunny?
See, he already is starting to have a face! Much happier than being an unloved sweater
I was not content to stop with starting two toys (while I already have a York the Owl and a Sparkle the Unipony on the hooks); oh, no! I had to go one further.
Since I had finished a pair of socks for a sock KAL that the Bakery Bears Podcast is running, I had to, of course, start another pair of socks. Because it wouldn’t make sense to just focus on finishing of the three other pair of socks I have on the needles. Makes much more sense to start a whole new pair of socks. For purse knitting, you must understand.
Anyway, I wheedled my Mom out of some self-striping yarn I coveted by bribing her with a pair of hand-knit socks with aforementioned yarn. So, I get the happiness of working with some self-striping DK from Undead Yarn and she gets a pair of socks. All-around win.
I’m about to start the next brown section; this is a very addictive project
So, for the foreseeable future, I will be focusing mostly on making toys and socks. A terrible fate, I know.
Hopefully your summer of knitting/crocheting looks as fun and relaxing as mine does! Now I need to get another cup of tea. Cheerio!
Hey, guys, I planned on writing about this sooner (like right after midnight), but I got distracted. I sent my parents away on a anniversary mini vacation and my sister and I hung around the house, ate pizza, drank tea, and binge-watched the Star Wars original trilogy. Because we’re such party girls.
So, if you’ve been following the blog the past 24 hours, you probably know by now that Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle has now joined the ranks of the released Franciscangypsy Designs patterns.
So, yay! Baby Turtle! Go and create yourself a turtle army! Between Bitty and Timmy you can now do so! And just in time for the Tortoise vs Hare CAL/KAL!
I must have tea on the brain. I almost wrote make yourself a tea army. lol. Must because I’m listening to a podcast on tea called the Loose Leaf Podcast while writing this. It’s pretty good so far. And I am, of course, drinking some tea while listening to it. I’m drinking the Pinhead Gunpowder, in case you’re curious. The parental units were kind enough to bring back some tea from their trip to Historic Williamsburg.
Oh, and they brought me some special Williamsburg yarn. Which will be horded until I find (or design) the perfect pattern to use it for. I kind of feel like I want to design a toy for it so I can truly appreciate and love such a special skein of yarn.
Anyway, on further news, Sparkle the Unipony is coming closer and closer to being able to go into testing. I think I need to design a smaller toy after I’m done with this one. I love this toy and think that Sparkle needed to be large and I love her for it, but I think I need a quick instant gratification project to design next. Something that can pop on and off my hook in about a fifth of the time that it takes to make a Unipony. I.e.: something cute, small, and adorable.
Kind of like Bitty. See how I brought that about full circle? Yup. Cuz I’m good like that.
Anyway, go ahead, gather yourself some yarn and get your hook ready to create your turtle army. And make sure you make yourself a good cup of tea while you’re doing so.
Dedicated to and designed for my friend, Laura, who wanted a smaller turtle to crochet and to donate to Ronald McDonald House. Bitty is perfect for those who want to work a smaller turtle than Timmy.
SKILL LEVEL
Adventurous Beginner
FINISHED MEASUREMENT
6” tall and 8” from nose to back of shell
MATERIALS
DK weight Yarn
– 50 yards of Color A (green).
– 52 yards of Color B (orange).
– 69 yards of Color C (variegated).
– 9 yards of Color D (black).
– 17 yards of Color E (white). Madelintosh Tosh DK — Moorland (A), Spicewood (B), and Shire (C); and Knit Knit Picks Brava Sport — Black (D) and White (E)
Crochet hook, size E (3.5mm)
Stitch markers
Polyester fiberfill
Yarn needle for sewing
MATERIALS/GAUGE NOTE
Gauge is not a critical factor for this project. If desired, it can be made with any size hook and with any weight of yarn. Adjust hook size/yarn size to obtain desired fabric. I am a very tight crocheter and you may find that you need to go down a hook size or two to eliminate unsightly holes in your toy.
It’s that time of year again. At least I think I posted about this last year. Maybe this is the first time.
Regardless, it’s almost time for the Ami-Along (2016)! Basically, a bunch of crochet and knit toy designers host a toy-along running from June 27-August 31st featuring their patterns. The patterns of said designers are on sale for the time of the Ami-Along and everyone gets to have fun trying new toy patterns and getting a chance for patterns. Amazing, right?
This year, the patterns are being organized in easy-to-access Bundle on Ravelry, so you can more easily browse drool-worthy toy patterns and pick the toys of your choice. And believe me, there is so much to choose from!
All the official rules are here. It’s going to be so much fun!
Almost immediately, Presley the Penguin by Forever Stitchin caught my attention. He’s just so darn cute. I need to make one. And then I need to design a penguin of my own. Because I do. Adding it to the list of toys to design at some point in my life…
The Ami-Along is also rife with awesome patterns to help with another CAL/KAL starting July 1st and running through September 1st. The Pen, Hook, And Needles podcast (Mom and my podcast, for those who don’t watch us) are participating in a special CAL/KAL being run by Laura of the Crocheting Whovian podcast. It’s called Tortoise vs. the Hare and it features my turtle patterns (Timmy and Bitty) as well as Oops the Bunny. My patterns may be the featured patterns, but any rabbit and turtle patterns can be entered into the CAL/KAL for a chance at a prize. Which means that the Ami-Along is a perfect way to find some awesome bunny and turtle patterns and get them on sale. As well as increasing your chances for to win prizes. And trust me, I’ve looked and there are some awesome bunny and turtle patterns available among the Ami-Along designers. I’ve had to remove pictures related to copyright reasons, but you should really check out these designers and their toys; they’re awesome.
Speaking of Tortoise Vs. Hare, I’ve already picked out some yarn for my next Bitty and Oops. Oh, and yarn for another possible design. I love having a veritable yarn shop in my house. Think how much money I save (no, don’t think about the fact that I spent the money to obtain the stash in the first place. Somehow I am still saving money by “shopping” from my stash. It is logical. Really.)
Anyway, yarn.
Yarn for Bitty
Yarn for Oops. Yes, I know it’s red. Yes, I know bunnies aren’t red. I want this bunny to count for the Cardiac Red-Along PHN is doing too.
So, that is all the awesome CAL/KAL news for now. More on the Cardiac Red-Along later, if not here, than on the PHN podcast. Thanks for hanging out with me. I’ll be back in a few hours (i.e. after midnight) when the Bitty pattern is released. So hang in for two days of posting in a row!
Oh, my. It’s been a little over a month since I’ve posted here. Sorry, guys. Overtime at work, a fiber festival (yay), and a case of bronchitis & sinusitis have all conspired to keep me off of here. That is my excuse and I’m sticking to it.
The good news is that I actually have some news for you, not just some vague mocking hints. I have finished the purple design I’ve been taunting you with for the past few months. Meet Sparkle the Unipony!
This idea came into being actually when I was talking to a coworker about her niece’s fascination with unicorns. I sketched out the design right there and then (not the sketch pictured above; the above sketch was my more detailed sketch that I made when I came home). It took me a while to figure out how to achieve that perfect horsey shape, but I think that I finally got something that looks cute. I called her a unipony because when Davina would come down every morning and ask me what progress I made on the unicorn, I’d always refer to Sparkle as a “pony”. Eventually, we just started jokingly calling Sparkle a “unipony” and the name has stuck. I have to create a couple of tutorial videos for this design, and then the pattern will go into testing.
Great news, right? Finally, the design I’ve been taunting with you is finished!
Well, it gets even better than that!
While I was working on the tutorial toy for the Unipony, I was listening to a friend’s podcast where she talked about wanting to make a bunch of toys for Ronald McDonald house and she wished that there was a way to scale down Timmy the Turtle (who is huge) for the sick kids and siblings of the sick kids. Her comment hit just the right cord and another new design popped into being about eight hours later. So meet Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle, who is currently in testing:
Bitty is significantly smaller than Timmy, but he is not just a scaled down Timmy. His head is actually a slightly different design and there are also some slight differences in the shell as well. Bitty is currently in testing and is planned to be released by June 25th.
So I know that it’s been a while since I’ve posted or have released a pattern, but I’m hoping that the reveal of two patterns at once is enough to earn me some clemency.
On another side note, for those of you who might be curious, I have tried out my GoPro camera for a tutorial for Bitty and the camera works wonderfully! The camera bluetooths into an app on my iPhone which allows me to see on my iPhone what I am recording from the camera on my head harness while I’m recording it. This is going to make my tutorials significantly better. I’m so excited and can’t wait for the video to finish loading so I can place it in the pattern where my testers can watch it and provide their input.
So lots of exciting news, I think. I hope that you are as psyched as I am! Not nearly the five designs I wanted to be released by this time, but four designs before the end of May isn’t too bad, right?
This pattern is available for $5.00. 
Franciscangypsy Designs 