Saturday, April 30, 2011

Amigurumi Dragon

This post was written for inclusion in the April Families Create! blog carnival hosted by Dionna at Code Name: Mama and Mandy at Living Peacefully With Children. This month's theme is fantasy.

It took me a while to decide what to make for this month's fantasy theme. I finally settled on this little dragon, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out! If I find the right patterns, I might have to make a few friends (a princess and a knight, perhaps?) to go with it. It might be a while before Daniel wants to play with this critter, but I'll keep it safe for him until then.

I used this free dragon pattern from Heavens Hellcat (though I altered the pattern for the wings a bit). She has lots of other adorable fantasy-inspired amigurumi patterns for sale from her Etsy shop, including a large collection of really cute Star Wars characters.

For fellow crocheters: I found this pattern easier to follow than most, even though it was written differently than others I've seen (it allowed for more variation and decision-making on my part, rather than producing a cookie-cutter version each time). Also, while I found this a bit frustrating at times, the pattern has lots of little details built in to provide realism to the final product. I'm glad I took the time to complete all of the details, because I think they really made the dragon.

I was able to make the dragon out of some leftover yarn scraps and other yarn that I wasn't using for any other projects, so it was a very economical little critter to create. (For instance, you may be able to recognize the eye yarn from Daniel's baby afghan.) I also added a pipe cleaner during the tail construction, so now it's a bit more bendable and pose-able.

I took a lot of photos during the process, so here are a few of those:
Nostrils
Head and neck
Yum, yarn!
Working on the body/belly
Adding some tail dexterity
Tail!
My cuddly helper (I'm working on a leg.)
Almost finished with the wing. (I love the little claws!)
Spikes!
I already attached the ears, now the spikes.
Next, the legs, complete with claws.
(I anchored them to each other through the body for stability,
so they can still pivot but they're securely attached.)
The wings are attached next; I'm almost finished!
Add some eyes, and we've got a whole dragon!

Fairies, dragons, magic, and more. Childhood is a fascinating time, filled magic around every corner. Check out what Families Create! participants created in April:
Posted by Amy Rhime at 10:10 AM
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9 comments:

  2. Whew! Is this easier than it looks? I can't imagine trying to crochet something so fancy. He is adorable!

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  3. @Jenny: Yes, I think it is definitely easier than it looks. I was quite intimidated by this pattern before I started it, but then it wasn't very hard at all (it took me parts of 3 days to complete). It's not very complicated, just fairly small work, which needs to be crocheted tightly (so the stuffing won't pop out). Thanks for the compliment!

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  4. Something like this could be my second project.....after I master making a square washcloth.

    :)

    Really cute, Amy!

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  5. He's beautiful, and so's your adorable helper! I love the colours, and the eyes you embroidered are very effective.

    I'm really pleased you found the pattern easy to follow (I'm Heavens_Hellcat on LJ). It's much easier to write a pattern like that than state exactly when to do increases because sometimes you can lose track of where the start of the round is.

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  6. That is so sweet! It makes me want to take the time to learn to crochet. Maybe someday soon. ;)

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  8. That is an amazing dragon! I love amigurumi (just as an admirer; I'm not that talented), and I am so impressed.

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