Sheldon, aka "Tommy"

Recently, while I was knitting a toy, Squishy asked me if I was knitting the toy for him.  I had to tell him, no, not for him, but for someone else (this was during the hippo/hedgehog swap).  He was bummed.  So I asked if he wanted me to knit him a toy, to which he promptly answered YES! 

When asked what he wanted knit, he said he wanted a turtle.  I said OK and it was left at that – he ran off to play.  I looked on Ravelry at all the turtle patterns out there.  So many cute ones, how would I choose?   In the end, I marked those that I would want to knit and showed Squishy the choices.  He picked out Sheldon.

This is a pretty popular pattern on Rav.  Sheldon has a removable shell, which is awesome.  This also means that it wasn’t long before Sheldon got more “outfits.”  But that’s another story for another time.  I only knit the shell that came with the original pattern.

You all who have been around for the majority of my knitting know that I rarely stick to recommended, or even the norm when it comes to color choices.  It’s no secret that I favor blues and teals and such.  So I wanted to do something a little different, with some contrasting, but complimentary colors.  Squishy would have none of it.  When I asked him if it was okay to use this or that color, he would say, “No, green, Mommy.”  I guess he knows what he wants and he wasn’t going to settle.  (I’ve come to decide that green is his favorite color at the moment…)

Allllllright…I guess I can knit a normal, green turtle.  (And I’ll admit it wasn’t that bad…lol)

This little guy came out pretty cute.  While I was knitting, I kept thinking I wasn’t doing it right because it felt like the pieces weren’t shaped right, but all worked out in the end. 

This was knit from Tahki Cotton Classic Light in Moss Green and Bright Green.  I would have preferred wool, but I didn’t have the right colors and I’m really trying not to buy any additional yarn.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Tahki yarns, but I believe that wool, or a blend would have looked better.  To me (and this is just my unprofessional opinion), it seems that wool would “bloom” or something to fill in empty space, while the cotton didn’t – I didn’t block this at all, but the cotton just seemed to stay where I put it… 

The removable shell is extremely cute and I love the ability to add additional outfits later on, but the shell was a little fiddly.  I don’t mind fiddly.  If I did, I wouldn’t knit toys.  But I found myself only knitting a portion of the shell pieces and putting it back down again because I just didn’t want to knit it. 

I also think my i-cord edging on the shell was too tight, but that’s not really a big deal.

My one suggestion would be – be sure not to stuff the shell too tight.  If stuffed too tightly, the shell doesn’t seem to sit right on the turtle body.  It gets a bit poofy.  The body is difficult at first to get in and out of the shell, but I think that might loosen up a bit over time.  My little man doesn’t really want him out of his shell anyway…

If Squishy asks for extra outfits in the future, I’d be happy to knit them, with my new understanding of how the pattern works. 

And if anyone asks, his name is “Tommy.”