Slow and steady the tortoise was finished

My aunty D's tortoise potholders had to retire after a long hard-working life, and she wondered could I maybe crochet new ones?

Looking a tad 'used-up'

So I said I'd try, and trawled the net to find a similar pattern.  Surprisingly enough, I found one quickly, and then got real lucky as I could get a great colour match at I Love Yarn.

The colour is 'Guava' and it is just so beautiful

The yarn is a bamboo/cotton mix, and I decided to use double strands to insure good insulation (as I had a burn or two through a crochet potholder I've bought!).  Double-stranding does not work well for me...I don't like it, or might rather do it in rows than in motifs - I struggled a bit with the oval.  I discarded the first pattern after two or three tries and then found an amigurumi tortoise made up of pentagons...now that could work better!  Again, double stranding, and it actually added to the size as well, and my tortoise was growing. 

Tortoise V.2

I just added the row of Mixed Caramels singles to simulate the shell pattern, and it worked well enough.
(This was my first go at pentagons...not  my most favourite ever!  I'm sure it would be much neater with more practice and one strand only).

Amarula on ice, anyone?

At first I had grand plans of lining the inner with felt and nice printed cotton...in the end, simple Mixed Caramel pentagons won out :-)  That actually also worked out well, as it makes for a nice, thick, potholder. 

Starting to resemble a tortoise shell

I must confess that I got a bit impatient here...I have accepted that amigurumis and similar might not be my strongest point.  The head and feet turned out to be very small, but still recognisable shapes, and I still need to sew on some eyes and tails, but hey, these tortoises are going to do their job of Pot Holding!

...that is, if they don't take off before then

"What are these, Mies?"

Now I must just make a date to get on the train to Jozi for a long-overdue coffee with aunty D.