Turtle!

The next part of that same birthday present was a turtle, pattern also purchased from PlanetJune.  This introduced me to the idea of shaping a 3D piece by adding or removing stitches.  Blew my mind.  Getting more and more crafty every day.

The turtle was a lot slower-going than the elephants for several reasons.  New techniques, of course.  Having to rip pieces out and start over a number of times, too.  General end-of-semester business, too.  Also a little bit of fear that it wouldn't turn out or it wouldn't be liked by its recipient.

It was worked on in the dorm, in the car, in the office, in class, at work - everyone saw it and everyone thought it was the best thing ever.  A number of people wanted one.

I managed to finish it by holding my hook different after the injury with the elephants, and got a lot of funny looks because it forced me to use my elbow for leverage rather than my wrist.  Digging and scooping and catching were all very different motions when I couldn't anchor the hook between those last two fingers.  It was a good learning experience.

As with the elephants, there were turtle parts.  There were shenanigans.  There was not a mailing issue that I heard of, which was great (unless you count the mailroom screwing up and giving me the wrong tracking number).

I really enjoyed working on the shell most.  It was so different from how I would have thought to approach the problem and really showed just how creative you can be with crochet as a form.  Building up the edges and figuring out how to make it more smooth than angular was particularly impressive.

I'll admit I'd love to have a turtle myself, but I don't know if I can devote myself to a month of work again so soon.  In the future, I will eventually have a turtle of my own to love.  This one was well-received.