Last Christmas I got the book “Gebreide Dino’s” by Tina Barrett (“Knitted Dinosaurs”).
The patterns are quite fun, although they do not always resemble the original dinosaur that much. For some reason I decided I wanted to knit something fun last Saturday, so I decided to grab the book from my shelf and choose the one I liked the most. That turned out to be the plesiosaur. Now, I like the idea of the book, but either my version is crappily translated, or the patterns don’t match the pictures that well. I documented my problems on ravelry, here. But I’ll also state somethings here.
My dinosaur is 50 cm long from head to tail, the pattern indicated that it should be about 27 cm. However, I did make some changes that influenced its length and I think my translation caused some problems. From other people’s versions, I’m fairly certain that some part of the in- and decreases for the back are supposed to be in every row, but my pattern didn’t say that. I also wanted it’s head to be a little longer, so I added twenty rows to the neck. I also wanted it to have a more pointed tail, so I added some rows between the decreases there. Below a picture of me with Plessy, for scale.
Some of the bits have been in contact with sand. On Sunday I decided I wanted to knit the light green back fins in another location. So I put on my rollerskates and skated to the beach, where I proceeded to get some weird looks, but finished the back fins. I did modify the back fins a little. The picture with the pattern shows that the back fins are much smaller than the front fins. However, following the pattern the back fins would just be 2 rows shorter, without any other changes. I decided that would not do and knit the back fins until (non-existing in my pattern) row 13.
The instructions wanted me to add sequins to the back, but sequins and I are not friends. I decided so cross stitch some spots on his back with the belly yarn. I like this effect.
So while the instructions also state to sew the body first and attach the flippers afterwards after they’d been stuffed. This seemed like a stupid idea to me, so I attached the flippers to the body first and then sewed all around the outside. This worked really well, and I think it looks a little better.
I chose to stitch the eye-whites on as my fabric glue wouldn’t stick very well. I also used safety eyes, not buttons. I think it has the cutest face. I did want it to have a slightly more upward pointing neck, so I added some stitches in the neck to pull it together. If I put a glass under it as I did above, it almost looks like Nessy. As I’ve now finished my first dinosaur, it’s on to the second. The friend who gifted me the book is in love with the pterodactyl, and I just happen to have the perfect yarn already! But last and most certainly not least, that face!
