Two Turtles and a Frog

I’m back again to show off some FOs from the last several months. I have other things done, but no pics yet. Specifically, the Jeweled Cowl and the Molly Hat from my last post are both finished. In the meantime, here are the two turtles:

These guys are obviously Sheldon from Knitty. I only had one decent pic of the pink and black one and it’s already been given away so I couldn’t get more. Both were for students at my school in connection with our yearly auction. Neither of these were actually won, but I agreed to knit them in exchange for money for my classroom. The orange and black one is for my principal’s daughter – the whole family are OSU fans! (Oklahoma State University – for clarification.) Apparently her room is decorated in orange and black, so Sheldon will fit right in. I love how they each have their own personalities. It’s all in how I embroidered the eyes. (I didn’t bother with safety eyes.)

Pattern: Sheldon from the Winter 2006 Issue of Knitty. (Wow! It’s been that long since it was published?)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Sport. I used only 1 skein of the black for both turtles – I still have a little left, actually. You could probably knit two turtles in reverse color from two skeins.
Needles: Size 3 dpns.
Size: Head to Tail: 9 inches. The shell is 4 inches wide and 5 inches long.
Started: Pink & Black was started in February sometime. Orange & Black was started on May 24th.
Finished: Pink & Black was finished in March. Orange & Black was finished today! May 31st.

Now for the frog:

This is Biology 101. This was a birthday present for the colleague whose name I drew for school birthday exchange. I knew when I pulled her name out of the bowl in August, that I would knit the dissected frog. She’s a science teacher and while she teaches Earth, Life, and Physical Science, Life Science is her favorite and she LOVES doing dissections. (Weird, I know. But who am I to talk. I like teaching those crazy “two trains where heading in opposite directions” word problems.)

I love the finished product but I was a bit annoyed with the pattern. I’d never done needle felting before and really had no clue as to the organs of a frog. The pattern simply stated, “needle felt some innards and sew them down.” No diagram, no instructions as to what colors to use, or what organs to needle felt. I looked up diagrams of dissected frogs to decide what to do. It was a challenge, but my colleague says I did a pretty decent job, and she was thrilled! It is now displayed in her classroom.

Pattern: Biology 101 by Emily Stoneking.
Yarn: I think the green is Berocco Vintage, but I’m not sure. It was a leftover without a ball band. The guts were needle felted with random roving scraps. I had to buy a small package of roving for needle felting to get some of the colors though.
Needles: I don’t remember. Probably 6s, knowing my gauge.
Started: Over Christmas Break 2013.
Finished: End of January.

Bridget says, “I know they aren’t real. I already tried to taste them.”

Comments

[pdxknitterati/michele]

"needle felt some innards." Now those are classic knitting instructions!