Side-Eye Dino Time!

This is the half-completed dino body.

If I’m going to be honest, I was kind of disappointed with the fact that the duck from last week was so small. I should have completely expected it as the final size was mentioned in the pattern, but I was still kind of shocked at how small it was. To ensure that I would create something a bit larger, I decided to choose the Mini Dino pattern made by Handmade by Ani that I had found on the LoveCrafts website. I loved how the finished examples of the plushie looked, and I wanted to create one for myself.

Embroidering was much easier with the ability to flatten the main piece.

I got off to a rough start, because I somehow started the plushie by going in the wrong direction. I am right-handed, so I crochet right-to-left. For a plushie, that means that I would be looking at the outside of it while rotating the plushie counter-clockwise as I work on it. The opposite would happen for people who are left-handed. I apparently unconsciously decided that I wanted to do it the left-handed way, and I ended up doing a couple of rounds before realizing that I was straining to look at the inside of the plushie (which is a no-no). I could have maybe continued on this way, but it would have just caused me a lot of issues later on and I wanted to avoid that.

Front view of the fully completed and stuffed body.

My other part of the rough start was not completely realizing that the terminology for this pattern was in UK terms, unlike the Duck pattern which was in US terms. I was very confused for a few rounds and ended up decreasing when I should have been doing a regular double crochet stitch. Lesson Learned: Double check what terminology is used and ensure you know what each abbreviation actually stands for on each and every pattern.

On the plus side, I had a much easier time with the embroidery. I did not poke myself nearly as much, and I felt that this face (especially the eyes) turned out better than the Duck’s did. I am very proud of the progress that I made there. Additionally, the stitching of the body went very smoothly, and I was confident in my ability to do that throughout the piece. I quite enjoyed the process of doing it too.

The 4 spikes.

Unfortunately, the good times were not going to last. I decided to skip the tail and do the spikes first. I had a lot of issues getting the spikes done as I was keeping the tension too tight, and the purple yarn that I used was really dark (which made it hard to see all of the individual strands unless it was under intense light). I kept having too many or not enough stitches in a round, and I was frustrated by time I finished them. If you look closely enough at the pictures, you can tell which one of the spikes got a little messed up because of these issues and me accepting defeat. It’s not horrible, just slightly noticeable. Then came the challenge of the tail.

The beginning of the dino’s tail.

I should note that the pattern was relatively easy to follow. Most of the things in it were things that I had already encountered, and it was laid out very well for a beginner crocheter and pattern-reader. However, the tail part of the dino started with a standing double crochet stitch. I had no idea what that looked like or what it was and I was stressing out real bad over it. I had to take a break from crocheting for a few days for reasons beyond my control, so I was stressed about it for longer than I needed to be. Handmade by Ani, the pattern creator, had a couple of linked videos that they suggested I use for this process, and I was at least glad for that direction.

When I finally sat down to attempt this new stitch, I was very confused. There were two videos linked and described similarly, so I did not know which one to pick. I just went with the first one, and that was a mistake. Knot too Shabby Crochet-Melanie’s video is probably a good one, but it did not help me with what I was trying to do. It just confused and frustrated me more as it did not explicitly explain a standing double crochet stitch. I crossed my fingers as I clicked on the second link, and it definitely did not let me down. Tamara Kelly – Moogly explained clearly and concisely how to do the standing double crochet stitch, and I caught on quickly. All I had to do was a slip knot and then a regular double crochet stitch. So much stress for something that ended up being so simple.

The big holes before.

The non-holes after.

The rest of the assembly went well. I finished up the tail easily, used some extra yarn on the end of it to cover up some of the larger holes around the tail, and began to sew the spikes on the dino’s back. I used an X or crossing pattern on the spikes to lock down the sides of each spike, and then I went up and down to secure the fronts and backs of each spike. Safe to say that those spikes aren’t coming off anytime soon.

The spikes pinned into place.

Overall, I am proud of this plushie, especially the embroidery. The side-eye was kind of an accident but I think that makes it look even better. It gives the dino character as one of my family members said. Despite the frustrations I had, I think that I would create another dino. Now that I know what to expect, this pattern is not as daunting as it was before.