Little Turtle

A free crochet tutorial for Little Turtle by Nataliya Lebedeva @nataly__lebedeva.

Using this pattern, you can crochet a plush watermelon turtle. Any plush yarn will work for this amigurumi project: Himalaya Dolphin Baby, YarnArt Dolce, Kartopu Yumurcak, and others.

The finished toy is about 24 cm.

Materials and tools

• Plush yarn: mint color (half a skein) and raspberry color (less than half a skein)
• Vita Coco yarn for crocheting the eyes
• 1.2 mm and 4.5 mm crochet hooks
• Toy stuffing
• Needle for sewing pieces together
• Scissors

Abbreviations

• MR - magic ring
• sc - single crochet
• inc - increase
• dec - decrease
• (...) x n - repeat n times

Crochet amigurumi watermelon turtle pattern

A note about making a magic ring with plush yarn: because this yarn is hard to tighten, making an MR with it does not always work. The pattern says MR, but with this yarn we make it as follows: chain 2, then work 6 sc into the second chain from the hook. This gives us an MR. Very simple.

Lower shell

Crochet with mint or green yarn:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR
Round 2: 6 inc (12)
Round 3: (sc, inc) x 6 (18)
Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x 6 (30)
Round 6: (4 sc, inc) x 6 (36)
Round 7: (5 sc, inc) x 6 (42)
Round 8: (6 sc, inc) x 6 (48)
Round 9: (7 sc, inc) x 6 (54)

Do not cut the yarn. After crocheting the upper shell, we will crochet the head with this yarn.

Upper shell

Crochet with raspberry-colored yarn:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR
Round 2: 6 inc (12)
Round 3: (sc, inc) x 6 (18)
Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x 6 (30)
Round 6: (4 sc, inc) x 6 (36)
Round 7: (5 sc, inc) x 6 (42)
Round 8: (6 sc, inc) x 6 (48)
Round 9: (7 sc, inc) x 6 (54)
Round 10: 54 sc

Fasten off and cut the yarn.

Head

Now we need to crochet the head. Take the lower part of the turtle and work 6 sc. Then connect this part to the upper shell and work 6 sc along the upper shell as well, through one loop only, the inner loop. Later, we will work sc with white yarn along the outer loop of the shell. Connect the pieces again by working sc into the first stitch of the lower part to form a circle. This will be the first stitch of the second round. Continue crocheting in a spiral.

Round 2: (sc, inc) x 6 (18)
Round 3: 18 sc
Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
Round 5: 24 sc
Round 6: (2 sc, dec) x 6 (18)
Round 7: 18 sc
Round 8: (sc, dec) x 6 (12)
Round 9: 6 dec

Fasten off and cut the yarn.

Stuff the head with toy stuffing.

Now we need to join the lower and upper shell. Take white yarn; I used Softy held double. You can join the pieces with any color. Fold them together and crochet single crochets through both pieces. Where the head is, work sc into the loops we left, more precisely into the front loop. Before closing the opening completely, stuff the turtle with toy stuffing, finish crocheting, and cut the yarn.

Flippers (make 4)

Front flippers, make 2:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR
Round 2: 6 inc (12)
Round 3: (sc, inc) x 6 (18)
Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x 6 (30)
Round 6: (4 sc, inc) x 6 (36), cut the yarn.

Back flippers, make 2:

Round 1: 6 sc in MR
Round 2: 6 inc (12)
Round 3: (sc, inc) x 6 (18)
Round 4: (2 sc, inc) x 6 (24)
Round 5: (3 sc, inc) x 6 (30), cut the yarn.

Now sew the flippers: fold each circle in half and sew it together. I do this with Vita Coco yarn. Add a little stuffing inside. Then I stitched through the flippers so they would be flat; do not pull the yarn too tight. Leave the yarn tails from sewing and use them to sew the flippers to the body.

Eyes (make 2)

I crocheted the eyes like this (using Vita Coco):

Round 1: 6 MR (with black yarn)
Round 2: (sc, inc) x 6 (12) (with blue yarn)
Round 3: (2 sc, inc) x 6 (18) (with white yarn)

Leave a yarn tail for sewing.

Assembly

• Sew on the flippers and eyes
• Embroider eyelashes if desired
• Embroider small lines on the shell
• You can decorate the turtle with a bow