This was crocheted in the round.

I used 6mm safety eyes because they were the size I had, but I think they are a little small. Next time I will try 8mm. The 6mm safety eyes were placed with 6 posts between them.

I suggest doing the detail on the body after you connect the body, head, and legs, but before you sew on the arms, shell, and belt. Complete the detail on the shell before you attach it to the back of the turtle.

After I sewed the neck and body together, I felt that the neck area looked too fat. To fix this I wove some yellow back and forth around the neck ending in the same stitch I started (kind of like a basting stitch.) I then pulled the ends tight, decreasing the size of the neck until it was a good size, knotted off, and hid the ends.

For the tie on the back of his head, ch 20, then sc back across the chain. Sew into place.