Behind the Scenes: Lil’ Snapper
My in-laws recently had a baby, and to celebrate, I decided to crochet something to match the theme of the baby’s room. The overall theme was turtles, so I set out to make a sweet little turtle photo prop. After looking at the various turtle patterns available, I wanted to make something as lifelike as possible.
I drew various shell patterns and debated about the shape of the shell segments. I finally decided that hexagons and pentagons would be the easiest. Still, I wanted a pattern that would show intricate texture found on shells. That’s when I decided to try the spike stitch. After several prototypes, I settled on the pattern used in this Lil’ Snapper set.
Originally I designed the pattern in green and brown, thinking that was the color of the baby’s room. Nope, it was blue and brown! I furiously set to work redoing all the work I had done before. Turns out blue and brown make for an adorable turtle as well! That got me to thinking, there are girl turtles too, so I played with a pink version as well.
Turtle Family
The set originally included the blanket, hat and diaper cover. Those were published in Love of Crochet. I was doing some research on rattles for another project when I realized that the hexagon shape would work for a little turtle rattle. A plastic Easter egg filled with popcorn seeds was the perfect size for the little hexagon. I also thought the little cape photo prop could be turned into a little stuffed animal, and thus the Turtle Family was born. I even debated about turning it into a purse, but that has yet to be done.
Turtle Blanket, shell, diaper cover and hat pattern available on Etsy.
Turtle Complete Set pattern available on Etsy.
