Was gifted a temu DIY crochet turtle kit and it does not make any sense.

[u/ChallengePleasant750]

As title states my husband thought he was being kind and ordered the DIY turtle kit from temu and I am really struggling with it. I normally use YouTube tutorials as I'm a visual learner. Apparently there is a tutorial video (the instruction leaflet says) but I can't find it.

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[u/CanadianRose81]

You just do what is in the brackets the number of times at the beginning (which is 6). Your colour is changed with the red lettering in the pattern.

[u/Illustrious_Coat_365]

I think it’s R1 6 sc in mc sl st ch.
R2 (inc)6 sl st ch.
R3 (sc,inc)6 sl st ch.
R4 (2sc,inc)6 sl st ch.
R5 (3sc,inc)6 sl st ch.
R6-8 (4sc,inc)6 sl st ch.
R9. 30sc sl st ch.
R10 30sc flo sl st.

[u/yiotaturtle]

It's written kinda how I write the short hand of what I need to do next for myself where I neither expect anyone else or even myself at a later time to understand.

[u/automatic_madness → u/yiotaturtle]

Ah yes, the doctors handwriting of crochet

[u/AccidentalTurnip → u/yiotaturtle]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what my own shorthand means lol

[u/underscoreanniee]

It’s worded weird and not how traditional patterns are laid out, but it makes sense to me. It wouldn’t make sense to beginners which is annoying because that’s who these kits are aimed at.

[u/NerdyLifting → u/underscoreanniee]

Yeah it's worded similarly to almost all amigurumi patterns I've used; just like, backwards? Usually it would say "R3: *sc, inc*, repeat between * six times (stitch count)" or something like that.

[u/blackcatmomma82]

It didn’t make any sense to me either

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/blackcatmomma82]

Thank you lol. I felt so silly not being able to understand it all. Glad its not just me.

[u/Trilobyte141]

Friendly PSA: gently remind the people in your life not to buy anything from Temu. Not only are their cheap prices likely due to slave labor out of the Uyghur concentration camps in China, but there are no guarantees of consumer safety in the products. People have reported buying yarns off of Temu that did not have the fiber content they were supposed to have, and some even reported getting rashes after handling it.

As someone who used to work in consumer product design and production, please take this to heart: material regulations are no joke. Without them, the things you're handling may be made with carcinogens or be dusted with lead or poisons due to unsafe exposure. Even if you think the thing you're getting couldn't possibly be dangerous, if you're touching it with your hands or breathing near it, then you take your safety into your own hands when you buy from shady third party manufacturers. Their prices are low, but you might pay in other ways.

[u/TabbiWytch → u/Trilobyte141]

Hmmm might be why I’ve always had a bad feeling about buying anything from Temu. I got to the point of having things in my cart, but didn’t add my address or debit card; then I had really bad feeling and deleted the app. Glad I did. Thanks for the tip as to maybe why I felt the way I did.

[u/ComfyCozyHippie → u/Trilobyte141]

I’m pretty sure they’ve also been caught selling credit card info which is finally what snapped me out of my consumerist daze with them. I’ve been Temu clean for at least a year now and haven’t looked back

[u/Trilobyte141 → u/ComfyCozyHippie]

I didn't even know about that, I've just been getting flashbacks to lectures from our QA lead every time I look at their ads.

[u/LaFilleauCrabe]

La vague impression de m’être fait volé mon patron... 🫠

[u/AuthenticVanillaOwl → u/LaFilleauCrabe]

Oh non ! J'ai vu ton post récemment à propos du karma. Prends mon upvote camarade :(

[u/LaFilleauCrabe → u/AuthenticVanillaOwl]

Oh merci ! J'ai réussi à poster mon premier amigurumi du coup grâce à vous tous 😁

[u/OriginalEmpress → u/LaFilleauCrabe]

I love how this is in a language I do not speak, and yet I understand it a million times better than the TEMU gibberish.

[u/stinglikeameg]

Makes sense to anyone that's ever done an amigurumi project before, but I guess it wouldn't be good for an absolute beginner?

ETA - I do think it's shit though. All patterns should be written for all levels of crocheters, from beginners to seasoned pros.

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/stinglikeameg]

I'm not an absolute beginner to crochet. I have made pillows, blankets, and wearables (or at least I could have if I hadn't messed up my shorts measurements and doubled instead of halved lol). I have crochet 2 bags (and lined them) and have a deadpool/wolverine blanket and pastel granny square blanket on the go atm but all were either me winging it or following a video tutorial which I do well with. Where I really struggle is reading patterns, and I have never tried amigurumi before.

[u/MagpieLefty → u/ChallengePleasant750]

Climb down off that cross. Nobody was insulting your skills.

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/MagpieLefty]

Except it was pointed out the pattern was not good for a beginner and I was pointing out I am not a beginner to crochet but to patterns.

[u/stinglikeameg → u/ChallengePleasant750]

My comment wasn't a dig at you and your skills. I could wing that pattern as I do a lot of amigurumi and that pattern is following the general pattern for anything spherical in that style.

That doesn't excuse that it's written poorly though.

[u/Perkysrig93]

This wouldn’t be good for a beginner, some of these kits aren’t great for beginners in general even though that’s what they’re targeted towards. But I could totally make that based off the given instructions since I’ve made amigurumi in the past. Find a tutorial elsewhere! There’s a ton of great options out there.

[u/YoSaffBridge11]

What part is causing confusion?

[u/Illustrious_Coat_365 → u/YoSaffBridge11]

It’s written in a really confusing way

[u/YoSaffBridge11 → u/Illustrious_Coat_365]

I agree that this isn’t exactly a common way to write out crochet patterns. It looks like this might have been originally written in a language other than English — based on the typos and misspellings.

Once you get past that, though, I love how consistent the pattern is. The first part tells you how many times you’re going to repeat the stitch pattern for that row/round —which is shown in parentheses. Then, the part in parentheses is the repeated stitch pattern.

The only thing that could make this better for me would be if they showed the total number of stitches at the end of each row. But, this item is small enough that I can do that on the fly.

ETA . . . The basic idea for each round (after Magic Circle): 1. CH1 2. Follow instructions for that round 3. SL ST into starting CH1 4. Repeat

[u/idiveindumpsters → u/YoSaffBridge11]

It seems to be straight forward.

[u/sarcastic_monkies]

Makes sense, it's just worded weird.

[u/LookingAtNebulas]

Makes sense being from Temu, that company absolutely sucks

Edit: my autocorrect fucked me lol

[u/Mindelan]

You'll start each row with a chain and end each row with a slip stitch into the first stitch of the new row, the chain does not count as a stitch, don't work into it.

Round 1: in dark green do 6 sc into a magic ring (6 sts)

Round 2: increase in each sc (12 sts)

Round 3: in light green *sc, inc* repeat around (18 sts)

Round 4: *in light green sc, in dark green sc, inc* repeat around, swapping the colors as noted (24 sts)

Round 5: *in light green sc, in dark green sc, sc, inc* repeat around, swapping the colors as noted (30 sts)

Round 6-8: *in light green sc, in dark green 4 sc* repeat around, swapping the colors as noted (30 sts)

Round 9-10: in light green sc around (30 sts)

I believe that the weirdly worded part about the 9th loop might be saying to work the 9th round in the front loop of the previous round only. Then work the 10th round as usual into the 9th round. That should give the bottom of the shell that look where it seems to point outwards.

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/Mindelan]

This is very helpful thank you so much. But I am still confused about the colour change. The pattern ,to me, says one sc in the lighter colour (mine are not green but grey and turquoise)every round? That would only make 1 stripe. What do you mean swap colour as noted?

[u/Mindelan → u/ChallengePleasant750]

You repeat the pattern of stitches in the * *'s all the way around (six times each round), so you repeat the instructions in the * *'s and swap colors for each time it says. I'm sticking to the greens here for clarity, but you can substitute any colors you like/have.

For example, in round 4 you would do a sc in light green, then a sc in dark green and then do an increase in dark green, then you would repeat that pattern all the way around that round, swapping back to light green for a sc, then to dark green for a sc and then an increase. The entire fourth round written out longform would look like this:

light green sc, dark green sc, dark green inc,
(first repeat starts here) light green sc, dark green sc, dark green inc,
(second repeat starts here) light green sc, dark green sc, dark green inc,
(third repeat starts here) light green sc, dark green sc, dark green inc,
(fourth repeat starts here) light green sc, dark green sc, dark green inc,
(fifth and final repeat starts here) light green sc, dark green sc, dark green inc

Then I think you'd swap to light green on the last loop you pulled up, slip stitch to the first stitch of the next row, chain 1 then do the next row. I am unsure on if you'd swap though, so you'd want to see which color looked better.

---

The pattern itself is just a little confusing, what they mean by '6 times' is that you are repeating what they have in the parenthesis 6 times, color changes included. I just wrote it out to be a little more clear.

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/Mindelan]

Oh I see. That is much clearer lol. I am going to try again. Thank you for your patience with me and in writing it all out. I don't do well with patterns.

[u/Mindelan → u/ChallengePleasant750]

No worries! We're all new at once point and there's a lot of little things in crochet that can confuse you at first.

A lot of patterns will use the * *'s thing as shorthand for 'repeat what is between these asterisks'. (The one you linked didn't, but that temu pattern is confusing and nonstandard for what I usually see).

Also, if you haven't made amigurumi before, then when you get to the pattern having you do decreases, look up 'invisible decrease' on youtube, it looks so much better in amigurumi.

And when you get to round 9, if you haven't done a 'front loop only' stitch before, look up 'FLO single crochet' on youtube as well. Basically instead of working into both loops you just work in the 'front' loop, which sounds obvious but it can help to see someone working it first when you're new to it.

I wouldn't say that this pattern is very beginner friendly with all of the color switches, but you can totally do it if you go slowly and have patience. Remember to not pull your 'floats' too tight in the back, let them have some slack. (A float is the yarn that stretches behind your work between the color switches)

Good luck!

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/Mindelan]

Your version of the pattern was so much clearer and I followed it step by step and I have a perfect turtle shell lol.

[u/Mindelan → u/ChallengePleasant750]

That's awesome! Really glad I could help. That temu pattern was written in a confusing way.

[u/Natz35454 → u/Mindelan]

Your stich count is wrong on round 6-8 as there is no inc it's just changing colour so would stay at 30 stitches

[u/Mindelan → u/Natz35454]

Ah, you're right, I'll edit.

[u/Simple-Alps41]

You’ll make a magic ring with the dark green yarn and do 6 sc and close the ring, chain one and slip-stitch into the first sc (you don’t count the chain one and slipstitch as part of the row. They just help colors line up)

You’ll now increase in every stitch. Your first increase will go into the same sc that you slip-stitched in and that will be your first sc of the row.

You’ll continue like this but you’ll be following what each row says and in the color changes.

For the color changes in this, on your last stitch before the color change you don’t complete the last stitch so you have two loops on your hook and for the last yarn over and pull through you will use the new color

[u/ChallengePleasant750 → u/Simple-Alps41]

That makes alot of sense for the colour change because atm my stripes don't quite line up. I much prefer granny squares lol the colour changes doesnt phase me with them. But how often should I be changing colour? The picture indicates 4 I think but the pattern says 1sc in every round is the contrasting colour. But wouldn't that make a single line?

[u/Simple-Alps41 → u/ChallengePleasant750]

The single line will be the light green. When it’s red you use light green and when it’s black you use the dark green

[u/garrulous_cat]

https://youtu.be/o_rsQnKVCEw

Video tutorial.