An ocean yarn

With its theme of an Ocean Odyssey I wanted to make something seaworthy for Confuzzled's charity auction in 2024. Given it was for a charity auction I also wanted it to be rather cute. With these constraints in mind I landed on nudibranchs which had the added benefit of being (at least at their base) a simple capsule with some extra embellishments.

My ultimate aim was to make a Costasiella kuroshimae also known as a Leaf Sheep but first I wanted to nail down the shape of the body. The prototype would have the added benefit of having two sea slugs to put into the auction and hopefully more money for charity.

The prototype

First version of the Nudibranch using Ricorumi yarn.

The prototype came out pretty well largely due to the basic shape being reasonably simple to do. The horns weren't too much bother either with just a magic circle to start a cylinder and a few increase along its length to get the conical shape. The skirt wasn't tricky either other than making sure the length was right, the waves in the skirt add a considerable amount of distance to the strip. Over all the prototype was far more successful than I thought and easily worthy of going into the auction.

A leaf too far

The final product a cute little amigurumi Costasiella kuroshimae.

The leaf sheep turned out adorable! Really chuffed with how cute they look and how well the gradient colour of the leaves worked. The base capsule and horns were identical to the prototype but the main bulk of work was in those leaves. From memory there are around 25 of them altogether ranging from relatively small on the sides and back to the significant leaves in the centre and towards the front. The leaves are arranged in 4s and 5s alternating in each row and sewn on such that they are pulled back slightly to give a more rounded shape. Without doing that I'd have ended up closer to a porcupine! And a final flare of colour at the tip of each of the leaves just like they do in real life.

Overall I'm very happy with how both of these look and with the reception they got at the convention. Together they made almost £150 in Confuzzled 2024's silent charity auction for the convention's charity of the year British Wildlife Rescue Centre!

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Pattern

Looking at my notes, I've only seemed to have recorded the capsule pattern and none of the extra bits and pieces. I may come back and update this section with those elements if I get round to recreating them but I've given a brief overview of what I remember doing in place of an actual pattern.

(using UK notation)

Capsule

Make 1

Start with a magic ring

Row 1: 6 dc into the ring (6)

Row 2: Increase in each dc (12)

Row 3: [dc, inc.] x6 (18)

Row 4: dc in each (18)

Row 5: [dc, inc., dc]x6 (24)

Row 6: [dc x3, inc.]x6 (30)

Row 7 - 8: dc in each (30)

Row 9: [dc x2, inc., dc x2] x6 (36)

Row 10 - 34: dc in each (36)

Row 35: [dc x2, inv. dec. , dc x2] x6 (30)

Row 36 - 37: dc in each (30)

Row 38: [dc x3, inv. dec.] x6 (24)

Row 39: [dc, inv. dec., dc] x6 (18)

Row 40: dc in each (18)

Row 41: [dc, inv. dec.] x6 (12)

Row 42: inv. dec. x6 (6)

Fasten off and sew closed.

A slightly more straight forward one would be to increase to 36 stiches in the round and then keep going in the round until you're just shy of the desired length before doing an even decrease back down to 6 stiches.

Horns

Make 2

Starting with a magic ring, 6 dc inside then dc all around occasionally adding in an increase to create a conical shape.

For Nudibranch with Skirt

Skirt

Make 1

Make a chain long enough to go around the capsule you've made at least 3 times. You can also pin in to shape this chain to see how long a chain you need to get your desired look. Once you're happy with the length dc across the chain and turn for 3 or 4 rows. Fasten off this first colour.

To edge in a different colour simply slip stich across the length of the skirt with the accent colour and fasten off.

Sew together the capsule, horns and skirt to complete the nudibranch.

For Leaf Sheep

Leaf

Make 25 to 30 (4 of some colour and 5 of others if using a gradient and spreading leaves as shown in the picture)

Each leaf is a slightly different size made by varying the length of the initial chain. The leaf starts as a chain of 5 to 10. Then dc around that chain, that is down one side of the chain then along the other side of the chain and continue to work in the round. Decreases should be made each row (or every other row if you want a longer leaf) but should always be made in the middle of the row to preserve the tight turns at either end of the initial chain.

Once decreased to a point fasten off and sew closed the top of the leaf.

To add the accent colour sew a few loops of the accent yarn around the last row of stiches and fasten off.

To construct sew together the capsule and horns then working from the front to the back sew on leaves. The smaller leaves work better on the edges and the larger towards the middle. I worked in alternating rows of even the odd numbers so that you can sew leaves in the gap between other leaves on the preceding row. Leaves can be sewed on such that there is a slight pull towards the back of the nudibranch to pull the leaf more in line with the body. This gives a more rounded profile for the finished product.