Turtle Peeper Webcam Cosy: Protect Your Loved Ones!

One of the smartest things you can do to protect your privacy - and that of your children - is to cover the webcam on your laptop and desktop computer. Although it won't prevent your computer from being hacked, it will prevent a sinister hacker from watching and photographing anything the camera can see.

Sure you can be like Mark Zuckerberg and stick a piece of tape over the camera, but wouldn't your kids get a kick out of Shaughnessy Turtle instead? Turtles have one of the best natural defence systems in the animal world (they can pull their bodies into their hard shells to protect themselves from predators) so it made sense to fashion a camera cosy in their likeness. Shaughnessy is practical, and cute too!

Shaughnessy is designed to peek over the edge when your kids are at the computer to keep them safe and secure from prying eyes. Just lift him right off when the kids want to FaceTime their grandparents! Although I designed this turtle peeper with kids in mind, I would totally use it to cover my own computer too.

• Cotton yarn: light green, dark green, white, blue and black ( mine is a cotton mix from the dollar store)
• Fibrefill stuffing
• Darning needle
• Crochet hooks (3.5 mm and 1.0 mm)
• Scissors
• Bobby pins. I use them as markers and to hold pieces together while I'm attaching them.

Terminology:

• sc: single crochet
• decr: decrease
• ch: chain
• st(s): stich/stitches
• slip st: slip stitch

The head will look odd as you work the crochet because of all the contours, but once stuffed, the shape of the turtle head will take form. His head has exactly the right curvature to peep over the edge of a computer.

Rnd 1. Magic circle six sc.

Rnd 2. Incr 6 (12).

Rnd 3. Incr 3, sc 3, incr 3, sc 3 (18).

Rnd 4. Sc around (18)

Rnd 5. Sc 3, incr 3, sc 6 incr 3, sc 3 (24).

Rnd 6. Sc 5, incr 3, sc 8, incr 3, sc 5 (30).

Rnd 7. Sc 7, incr 3, sc 10, incr 3, sc 7 (36).

Rnd 8. Start eyebrows : sc 14, incr 3, sc 2, incr 3, sc 14 (42).

Rnd 9. Sc 16, incr 3, sc 1, decr 1; sc 1, incr 3, sc 16(47).

Rnd 10. Sc 45, chain 6; skip 4; sc into 5th st. ( 49).

Rnd 11. Sc 12, incr2, decr 2, sc 5, decr 2, incr 2, sc 13, sc back loop 6, sc 1 (49).

Rnd 12. Sc 12, decr 4, sc 1, decr 4, sc 20 (41) . At this point, we going to increase in the middle for nose, decrease the eyebrows and also decrease the sides of the head to form the snout. See 3rd pic.

Rnd 13. Sc 5, decr 2, Sc 1, decr 3, incr 1, decr 3, sc1, decr 2, sc 13 (32).

Rnd 14. Sc 5, decr 1, sc4; incr 2, incr 2, sc 4, decr 1, sc (34).

Rnd 15. Sc 9, incr, sc 8, incr, sc 15 (36).

Rnd 16. Sc 5, decr 2, incr1, sc 1, incr 1, sc 1, incr 1, sc, Sc, incr1, sc1, incr1, sc1, incr 1, decr 2, sc 11 (38).

Rnd 17. Sc 5, decr 2, incr 1, sc, incr 1, sc 4, Sc4, incr 1, sc, incr1, decr 2, sc 11 (38).

Rnd 18. Sc 3, decr 1, sc 2, dec 4, sc 1, sc 1, decr 4, sc 2, decr 1, sc 9 (28).

Rnd 19. Sc 3; dec 3; incr 1, sc 1; sc1, incr 1, decr 3, sc 9 (24). Rnd 20. Sc 3, dec 3, sc1, sc1, dec 3, sc 8 (18).

Rnd 21. Decr 9 (9).

Stuff head with fibrefill, filling in the brows, cheeks etc.

Rnd 22. Sc 1, dec 4. Fasten off yarn and leave a long tail.

Thread yarn tail onto darning needle and bring through under chin, then up through right eye, down to chin, up through left eye, down through chin, op through nose and down through chin. As you do this, be sure you are sewing a tiny stitch of yarn on the outside to create a divot under the chin and sunken eye socket (big enough to hold but not big enough to see the stitch).

The profile should look like the last picture.

Stuff the head, then pick up 12 sts around the hole created for the neck.

Rnd 1 - 3. Sc around (12).

Rnd 4. Sc 3, incr 1 (15).

Rnd 5.

And 6. Sc 8 sts and stop. Proceed to make the outer shell and underbelly so the head/neck can be crocheted onto these pieces. I forgot to take pictures in progress, but you will see pictures of the neck further ahead.

For the underbelly, I alternated light and dark green yarn to create a pattern. I used the light green for all the increases and the dark green for the regular single crochet. Hold the dark light green thread behind work to prevent yarns from getting twisted (second last picture), but crochet the light green in with the stitches of the single crochet when using the dark green (see last picture). Drop the dark green yarn when working with the light green.

Rnd 1. 7 sc in magic ring.

Rnd 2. incr 7 (14).

Rnd 3. Join light green on increase st - 2nd st (sc, incr) 7 times (21).

Rnd 4. ( sc 2, incr 1) 7 times ( 28).

Rnd 5. (sc 3, incr 1) 7 times ( 35).

Rnd 6. (sc 4, incr 1) 7 times ( 42).

Make 6 Pentagons

Rnd 1. 5 sc in magic ring. (5 sc).

Rnd 2. 2 sc in each stitch. (10 sc).

Rnd 3. *1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat 4 more times. (15 sc).

Rnd 4. *1 sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat 4 more times. (20 sc).

Rnd 5. *1 sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc* repeat 4 more times. (25 sc) Fasten off.

When all pentagons have been made, we’re going to attach 5 of them to the middle around all 5 edges. You can use bobby pins to help hold the sts together. Sc around pentagon in the middle using dark green yarn, down the edge and around the outer edge. Fasten off when you can’t go any further. Reconnect the yarn and repeat until all pentagons are connected and outer edge is single crocheted also.

If there are any gaps between the light and dark green colours, thread a darning needle with the tail of the dark green yarn and connect them together (3rd picture). Knot at the back. You can cut the threads to neaten up the inside, but why bother? I just leave them because you'll be stuffing the body anyway!

Make 4 legs. Note that the picture shows two longer and two shorter legs. For Shaughnessy, I decided to make all the legs short.

Rnd 1. Make a magic circle of 6 sc (6).

Rnd 2. Incr into each stitch (12).

Rnd 3. 1 sc; one increase, repeat seven times (18).

Rnd 4. 6 sc, 2 sc, 1 decr 3 times (15).

Rnd 5. sc 6 st , 1 sc ,1 decr (12).

Rnd 6. sc 6 st , 3 decr (9).

Rnd 7 - 9 sc around (9).

Rnd 10. Sc 1 and then the legs are ready to sc onto outer shell (leave the stitch open as you will be single crocheting to attach). Note that 5 of the 9 sts get sewn onto the other shell and 4 onto the underbelly in assembly. Leave a 14” tail to sc.

The eyeballs and lids are crocheted in one but I've broken it down into two parts: The eyeball and eyelid. The lid is created by chaining and attaching the chain to the eyeball. The back of the white eyeball and is then encased with the green to form the eyelid. It may seem complicated at first but it is quite easy once you get the hang of it. The bonus of making it in one piece is less work in assembly!

Rnd 1. Make a magic circle of 3 sc.

Rnd 2. Close loop an turn inside out (4 sts).

Rnd 3. Change to blue and incr sts, slp st to blue st 9 sts).

Rnd 4. Change to white, incr all sts, slp st to 1st st (18 st).

Rnd 5. sc around, slp st to 1st st (18).

Rnd 6. Dec 8 st, Sc 1, slp st to 1st st (9).

Lids are continued in next step.

Cont'd from previous step.

Rnd 7. Attach green yarn. Chain 13, Sc into 5th white st

Rnd 8. Turn, Sc across chain

Rnd 9. Attach to eyeball w/slp st in 3rd st to the right side of beginning of chain ( front of eyeball ), Sc 3, slp st to green chain.

Rnd 10. Sc 11 st through bottom side of chain, then sc through white of eyeball and 1st green st, sc 3. Stuff eyeball through back and continue.

Rnd 11. There are 16 st around the green lid. Sc 1, place marker. Sc 15 sts.

Rnd 12. Decr each st (8)

Rnd 13. Decr 4 st, knot and cut thread leaving a long tail to sew on eye.

On right eye, start on right side and sew from right to left around eyelid. Back at right side, slip knot, then chain 6. Place around back of eye to clean up stitching. Slp knot end and thread needle with tail. Insert into left corner of eye and out back of head. Weave tail through inside of head. Knot, cut, and tail hide inside head.

Work on opposite side for left eye so they are balanced. Work rows 1- 6. Slp knot and cut white thread, attach green yarn on opposite side from last st. (4th st ).

Make a magic circle of 4 Sc

1. 4 Sc. Turn right side out

2. Incr, 4 Sc

3. Incr, 5 Sc

Continue in this fashion with one increase per row until 9 rows are complete.

Attach Legs and Tail to Outer Shell

Stuff ends of legs (it's not necessary to fill the whole leg).

Position the two front legs between the first two pentagons on either side. The hind legs are between the next two pentagons and the tail it at the end. Each leg will intersect with a dark green line of the pentagon. See first picture.

When you attach the legs, ensure that the full part of the foot is facing upward. Use the tail of yarn to sc 5 sts (two on either side of the dividing line of the pentagon and one st in the middle). Note that the first two pics show a smaller version I did of the turtle (again I forgot to take pictures in progress when I was making Shaughnessy)!

At this point, you will have 48 sts around the body of the top shell but only 42 sts on the underbelly, so we need to decrease 6 sts in total around the upper shell.

Sc 5 sts from upper half of neck to outer shell, right sides together, see pics.

After the head/neck is attached to the upper shell, continue single crocheting around the body but decrease 2 sts for first and last pentagon (by the neck) and two sts at tail as follows: 1 decr, Sc 1, 1 decr. Sc to back of shell picking up single crocheting 4 sts of each leg as you go (42).

Place balls of fibrefill into each of the 6 pentagon segments of the upper shell. Turn over to check to see if you have stuffed enough for your liking. Place on single piece of fibrefill over the balls.

I had a bit of a space left in the middle of the underbelly where I closed the magic circle so I took full advantage and created a 'belly button' to close the gap. I just knotted light green yarn and tied it to the inside so it wouldn't come loose.

Place the underbelly right side up (it gets attached wrong side to wrong side). Start at right side of neck and sc around closing the hole as you go (42). Fasten off yarn and use darning needle to hide tail inside turtle body.

Place evenly on head where the indentation is for the eye sockets (you can secure with a ball head pins).

Thread tail from dark green yarn with darning needle and sew around socket securing to head. If the back of the lid looks messy, create a slip knot in the yarn tail at one edge of the lid and chain stitch until it reaches around to the other side. Slip knot and insert the darning needle into the corner. Hide remaining tail inside the turtle and cut.

If you wish, you can embellish the nose and mouth with contrast thread (I used orange).

To hide yarn ends, run the yarn through just under the crochet surface, trying not to catch the fibrefill. To run long lengths, come out a hole, then go back in through the same hole to extend the distance. Knot the yarn along the way as you're running it under the surface. Give a light tug and cut the yarn so it retracts underneath the crochet.

Shaughnessy is busy contemplating his navel now (after all, I did give him one), but he would love it if you voted for him in the Safe and Secure Challenge!

I hope to have a printable pattern available on our blog in the next few weeks. If you would like a copy of the printable pattern, subscribe to Birdz of a Feather and you'll be notified when it's available. You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.