Mini Dino pattern

 

Once upon a time, I saw a pattern for a really cute dinosaur... it was a free pattern on Instagram, but it was not translated into English. I think it was in Russian. The original pattern was by @softs_stories on Instagram, and it was translated by amigurum.com

I made the pattern and loved how it turned out, but it was sooo big... That head took forever! Eleven rows at 54 stitches? Not my cup of tea! I like little projects that I can whip up in an evening! 

So I cut the pattern in half and started making dinosaurs. I think I have it the way I want it after four tries! I am making a fifth one, though, to give an exact figure for ounces of yarn needed. I made these with worsted weight yarn and an F hook. They end up being about 9" tall. The lavender one was made with a thinner yarn (maybe Caron Simply Soft?) and is only about 7" tall. 

It takes 1.4 oz of the main color and .2 oz of the contrast color. I used 12mm safety eyes. 

Mini Dino

Head: Using main color, begin at nose

Round 1: 6 sc in MR. (6)

Round 2: inc x 6. (12)

Round 3: *sc, inc* x 6. (18)

Round 4: *sc 2, inc* x 6. (24)

Round 5: *sc 3, inc* x 6. (30)

Rounds 6-11: sc 30. (30)

Round 12: *sc 3, dec* x 6. (24)

Rounds 13-14: sc 24. (24)

Place 12 mm safety eyes between rounds 9 & 10 with 8 stitches between. I fold the head in half and count down 4 stitches from the top on each side. 

Round 15: *sc 2, dec* x 6. (18)

Round 16: *sc, dec* x 6. (12)

Round 17: dec x 6. (6)

Body (starting with legs)

Leg 1:

Round 1: 5 sc in MR. (5)

Round 2: inc x 5. (10)

Round 3: BLO sc 10. (10)

Rounds 4-6: sc 10. (10)

FO leg 1. Make another, but do not finish off.

Round 7: ch 2, work 10 sc around leg one, work 2 sc in connecting chain, work 10 sc around second leg, then 2 sc in back of connecting chain. (24) Place your stitch marker at the center of the back. 

Round 8: *sc 3, inc* x 6 (30)

Round 9-10: sc 30. (30)

Round 11: *sc 4, inc* x 6 (36)

Round 12-13: sc 36. (36)

Round 14: *sc 4, dec* x 6. (30)

Round 15-16: sc 30. (30)

Round 17: *sc 3, dec* x 6. (24)

Rounds 18-19: sc 24. (24)

Round 20: sc 8, dec x 4, sc 8. (20) These decreases should be over the front of the dinosaur. 

Round 21: sc 7, (sc, dec) x 2, sc 7 (18)

Change to contrast color.

Round 22: sc 18. (18)

Change to main color.

Round 23: sc 18. (18)

Change to contrast color.

Round 24: sc 18. (18)

Change to main color.

Round 25: sc 18. (18) FO, leaving tail to sew head to body.

Arms (make two with main color)

Round 1: 5 sc in MR. (5)

Round 2: inc x 5. (10)

Rounds 3-4: sc 10. (10)

Stuff hand a little, but leave the rest of the arm unstuffed.

Round 5: *sc 3, dec* x 2. (8)

Round 6: *sc 2, dec* x 2. (6)

Rounds 7-10: sc 6. (6)

 

Tail: After a few set-up rows, the increases will be at the top of the tail, with 3 sc in one stitch (3 sc)

Start with main color

Round 1: 5 sc in MR. (5)

Change to contrast color

Round 2: *sc, inc* x 2, sc. (7)

Change to main color.

Round 3: *sc 2, inc* x 2, sc. (9)

Change to contrast color.

Round 4: sc 4, (3 sc), sc 4. (11)

Change to main color.

Round 5: sc 11. (11)

Change to contrast color.

Round 6: sc 5, (3 sc), sc 5. (13)

Change to main color.

Round 7: sc 13. (13)

Change to contrast color.

Round 8: sc 6, (3 sc), sc 6. (15)

Change to main color. Finish off contrast color.

Round 9: sc 15. (15)

Round 10: sc 7, (3 sc), sc 7. (17)

Round 11: sc 17. (17)

Round 12: sc 8, (3 sc), sc 8. (19)

Round 13: sc 19. (19)

FO, leaving a long tail to sew to body.

Cheeks – with pink yarn. Make two.

SC 4 in MR. FO, leaving a tail to sew to face.

Assembly: sew head to body, placing the back of the head at the back of the neck. Sew the cheeks 2-3 stitches below the eye, set slightly back from the eye. Embroider a smile 2-3 stitches below the eye, slightly in front of the eye.

Sew the arms on the side of the body, just under the neck stripes. Pin the tail on the back of the dinosaur, making sure it balances him so that he can stand. Sew tail to body. 

Spikes: make 1 with contrast color

First spike: Ch 5. Starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, dc.

Remaining spikes: Ch 7. Starting in 2^nd ch from hook, sl st, sc, hdc, dc.

Repeat spikes until you have enough to go from the end of the tail to the center of the head. I made 8 spikes.

Sew spikes to body. Use tail from spikes to embroider nostrils on the nose of your dino. (Which I forgot to do on two of the dinosaurs!) 

I did go through several changes in the spikes.

For this guy, I only did ch 6 between the spikes, which left a shorter gap. 

Then I tried ch 5, sl st, sc, hdc to produce smaller spikes. 

I put it up to a vote on YouTube, and bigger spikes prevailed. 

Back to bigger spikes with this guy, but they seemed a little crowded to me. 

For this guy, I added an extra chain between the spikes and liked it better. 

This is with ch 7 for the spikes.

The larger pattern called for embroidering little accents on the legs and belly with the contrasting color. I didn't do that on any of these. Some day when I'm feeling adventurous, I might. 

For this guy, I added accent colors at the bottom of the arms and legs... 2 rows on the arms, and 3 rows on the legs.