You can use your creative skills to decorate this small but detailed tortoise how you like, with bright colours, threads, beads or buttons.
15g olive or dark green merino roving
2 × size 40 triangular needles, for shaping
1–2 × size 42 triangular needles, for surface finishing
10g of grey or brown merino roving
Scraps of bright merino roving
Seed beads, to decorate
Complementary thread, to decorate
2 × 4mm black glass eyes or seed beads
Dark brown thread
Finished size: 12 × 7cm
1 Take a length of the olive or dark green roving and measure out 30 × 4cm. Fluff it into a ball and shape it like a small, shallow bowl using a size 40 needle.
2 Begin working with two size 40 needles, until you have the tortoise shell. It should be slightly bell-shaped, like a little hat with a brim. You might find it easier to drop to one needle after a while.
3 Cover the shell with a fine layer of wool and finish shaping it, using one or two size 42 needles. Where possible, make sure the covering fibres follow the same direction as the body fibres.
4 Take a small length of grey or brown body roving measuring 15 × 2cm. Fold it in half and pop a small ball of extra wool inside the fold. Shape the rounded tortoise head on your mat, then fix the end of the neck underneath the shell so that the head pokes out. Use another scrap of roving to make a tiny pointed tail and fix it underneath the shell at the other end.
5 Take four equal strips of the same coloured roving as the head and tail, each measuring 10 × 2cm. Fold each one in half and insert an extra pellet of wool inside before shaping them into square-toed legs. Leave the ends loose where they will join the body. Fix them underneath the shell as you did with the head and tail, ensuring that they curve a little.
6 Decorate the shell with motifs, stitching and beads. Then, sew in the eyes using the sideways method.
7 To neaten the underside of the tortoise, measure out 25 × 2cm of the grey or brown roving, muddle it into a ball and fill the inner part of the shell to form a tummy, covering over the ends of the legs, head and tail.
8 Layer all the added body parts with thin wisps of wool, using one size 42 needle. Where possible, make sure the covering fibres follow the same direction as the body fibres. Finish the tortoise by making some stitches on the feet in dark brown thread, to make little toes.