Discworld (Free Pattern)

I first discovered the Discworld books when I was probably in my preteens, when my older brother left ‘Mort’ on the kitchen table and I was in need of something to read. I picked it up not really expecting much, and then spent the rest of the summer hungrily hunting down other books from the series. And I’ve been pretty much addicted ever since. My favourite books are the Watch books – there’s something about Sam Vimes, Captain Carrot and Sergeant Angua that really just grabs me. I don’t have a favourite book, I find it impossible to pick one. But when I have nothing to read, or when I don’t feel well, or when I just really fancy phasing out and losing myself in another world it’s always Discworld that I return to.

So when Terry Pratchett died back in March, I knew I needed – not wanted, needed – to pay tribute somehow. And I’ve finished in time to tie in nicely with the release of the final (sob) Discworld book ‘The Shepherd’s Crown‘ next month, so consider this free pattern my prerelease gift to you, in memory of a man whose creativity and writing genius far outstrips anyone else ever. You’re missed Sir Terry- RIP.

I present: The Discworld.

The turtle, Great A’tuin, and the disc itself are my patterns, and the four elephants, Tubul, Jerakeen, Berilia and Great T’Phon, are made using Mad Crochet Lab’s Elephant pattern which you can buy for just $2 at the link. Patterns for my parts are available free after the jump.

The Essentials:

Hook: 3.5mm

Yarn: Great A’tuin – Dark green worsted weight for body (Although Double Knit would also work but will give a smaller result), three shades of brighter green Double Knit for the shell. Elephants – Grey Double Knit. Disc – pale blue (I used a fuzzy chunky wool in a worsted weight kinda size, but again normal worsted weight or double knit would do – just make it same as the belly weight wise I suppose)

Also needed: Five sets of 6mm safety eyes; green felt; green and brown embroidery thread.

Finished Size: approx 10” long, 8″ wide and 6″ tall

Terms (US Terminology):

CH = Chain

Sc = Single Crochet

Tc = Treble Crochet

INC = Increase

DEC = Decrease

SL ST = Slip Stitch

FO = Finish Off

Great A’tuin

Belly

Magic Ring in body colour

Round 1: 6sc into centre of magic ring [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3: {1sc, INC} repeat around [18]
Round 4: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 5: {3sc, INC} repeat around [30]
Round 6: {4sc, INC} repeat around [36]
Round 7: {5sc, INC} repeat around [42]
Round 8: {6sc, INC} repeat around [48]
Round 9: {7sc, INC} repeat around [54]
Round 10: {8sc, INC} repeat around [60]
Round 11: {9sc, INC} repeat around [66]
Round 12: {10sc, INC} repeat around [72]
Round 13: {11sc, INC} repeat around [78]
Round 14: {12sc, INC} repeat around [84]
Round 15: {13sc, INC} repeat around [90]

FO leaving a long tail for sewing.

Side note – I started crocheting this sat by a gorgeous pool in sun-baked Tunisia. I finished it sat by my laptop in the gorgeous rain soaked England…

Shell

Make one in green shade A, and three in green shades B and C.

Magic Ring.

Ch 3

Round 1: 11Tc into centre of magic ring [12 including initial chain] Join round using a SL ST
Round 2: Ch3, 2Tc into gap between first Tc of Round 1. *3Tc into next gap* Repeat * to * ten times [36]

SL ST to join, then FO leaving a long tail for sewing.

Sew your circles together through six stitches in each. Colour A should be in the centre, then alternate the B and C colours around. Sew the outside circles to the centre first, then sew them together through six stitches up the side. Sorry if that is totally unclear – let me know if I need to make a diagram!

Six stitches at the centre, six stitches up the side.

Once they’re all sewn together, Sc around the edge with Colour A. There should be 108 stitches (18 per circle).

Attaching shell to belly

Using the tail from the belly, sew on five of the circles, leaving one open to attach the head. If you think of the belly as having five edges each 15 stitches long, it’s easier to work out how to attach it – fifteen stitches per circle. Leave a slight lip to each circle to add realism.

Stuff firmly.

Head

Magic Ring in body colour

Round 1: 6sc into centre of magic ring [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3: {1sc, INC} repeat around [18]
Round 4: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 5: {3sc, INC} repeat around [30]
Round 6: {4sc, INC} repeat around [36]
Round 7: {5sc, INC} repeat around [42]
Round 8: {6sc, INC} repeat around [48]
Round 9-12: Sc around [48]
Round 13: {6sc, DEC} repeat around [42]
Round 14: {5sc, DEC} repeat around [36]
Round 15: {4sc, DEC} repeat around [30]
Round 16: {3sc, DEC} repeat around [24]
Round 17: {3sc, INC} repeat around [30]
Round 18-20: Sc around [30]

SL ST to join the round then FO leaving a long tail for sewing.

Add safety eyes between rounds 7 and 8.

Stuff firmly.

Attach the head to the body where the hole was left by not sewing the sixth circle – fifteen stitches to the belly, and fifteen through the circle.

Remember to leave the lip to flip over the neck for realism.

Tail

Ch9 in body colour.

Row 1: Sc 8. Ch1 and turn.
Row 2: Dec, Sc4, Dec. Ch1 and turn.
Row 3: Dec, Sc2, Dec. Ch1 and turn.
Row 4: Dec, Dec. Ch1 and turn.
Row 5: Dec. FO  leaving long tail for sewing.

Sew the tail in place at the back of the body.

Front Flipper

Ch10 in body colour.

Round 1: Sc around the chain [18 – 9 per side]
Round 2: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 3-7: Sc around [24]
Round 8: 20 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.
Round 9: 16 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.
Round 10: 12 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.
Round 11: 8 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.

At the minute you’ll have something that looks like this:

Continue crocheting in full rounds from here:

Round 12: Sc around [24]

You will need to go from step to step to flatten them down (this will make more sense when you’re actually crocheting, I promise – just ignore the raise and work into the next stitch). You’ll end up with the piece now looking like this:

Ta-da! Flattened!

Round 13-14: Sc around [24]
Round 15: 12 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.
Round 16: 16 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.
Round 17: 12 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.
Round 18: 8 Sc STOP CH1 and turn.

Continue crocheting in full rounds from here:

Round 19: Sc around [24]

Again, you will need to go from step to step to flatten them down.

Round 20-21: Sc around [24]

FO leaving a long tail for sewing.

You should end up with a flat curved shape:

Sew the front flippers in place next to the head. They should curve towards the back.

Back Flippers

Ch10 in body colour.

Round 1: Sc around the chain [18 – 9 per side]
Round 2: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 3-12: Sc around [24]

FO leaving a long tail for sewing.

Sew these in place either side of the tail.

And that’s Great A’tuin finished!

Phew. That’s the long bit over with. Oh except you now need to make four of these:

Elephants (make four)

Now the observant among you will notice that A) My laptop changed colour, and B) that elephant is waaaay fluffier than the ones used on my Discworld. I apparently got so excited that I finally finished all four elephants that I forgot to photograph them. Oops. Luckily, this one is a version I made about a year back as a tester for the original Mad Crochet Lab Memory Experiment that the Elephant pattern comes from. How cute is it?! I didn’t feel the need to make my own pattern when this adorably perfect one was already out there from a fellow crocheter. Go buy the Elephant pattern from Mad Crochet Lab and make four of them ok? (It’s three patterns in one – elephant, mammoth and gnome!).

Discworld

The Discworld is probably the easiest part of this entire, well, Discworld.

Magic Ring in blue

Round 1: 6sc into centre of magic ring [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3: {1sc, INC} repeat around [18]
Round 4: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 5: {3sc, INC} repeat around [30]
Round 6: {4sc, INC} repeat around [36]
Round 7: {5sc, INC} repeat around [42]
Round 8: {6sc, INC} repeat around [48]
Round 9: {7sc, INC} repeat around [54]
Round 10: {8sc, INC} repeat around [60]
Round 11: {9sc, INC} repeat around [66]
Round 12: {10sc, INC} repeat around [72]
Round 13: {11sc, INC} repeat around [78]
Round 14: {12sc, INC} repeat around [84]
Round 15: {13sc, INC} repeat around [90]

FO and weave in the ends.

Side note the second – how gorgeous is this yarn?! It’s super fluffy, and soft, and I want to make a polar bear from it for snuggling purposes.

Block your Discworld in whatever way you prefer (I just ironed mine cos I’m impatient, but you can go the whole spray starch and water and pin out route if you find it works better).

Now to the applique! Cut the shape of the Discworld landmasses from green felt. I used this image as inspiration:

I think it says drawn by Gary Tonateu but I can’t quite make it out – please let me know who to credit if you know! It’s definitely a simplification of Paul Kidby’s design.

Here’s my version:

WordPress won’t accept the rotation so this is 45 degrees to the left!

The brown stitching is coast line. I was going to use white stitching for mountains but I didn’t think of it early enough and I didn’t want to ruin it. Go nuts with yours though.

The felt will also help your Discworld stay flat too – bonus for us lazy blockers!

Ok, now that you have all the elements – turtle, four elephants and a curiously 2D planet – it’s time to construct.

Making the Discworld

Ok, if you have access to one, make life easy on yourself and use a glue gun. I am out of glue for mine and couldn’t find any to buy locally, so I stitched it. It’s simple enough but the fiddliness makes it still just enough of a pain whereas a glue gun would be super easy!

Firstly, sew or glue your elephants on to the back of Great A’tuin. It’s easiest to start by securing the back legs of all four first, and then securing the front legs of all four – this helps you make sure all your elephants are in the right place before it’s too late (maybe pin them first if you’re going to glue, just in case!).

It will look like your elephants are about to take a nose dive off the shell, so secure their butts together and pull them back upright:

You won’t see this when you’ve added the Disc so don’t worry that it looks a bit messy.

Finally, place your Disc on top of the elephants and secure.

And there you have it! Enjoy a million photos of the Discworld!