It never rains but it pours; you wait for ages for a bus and then two come together! I have another book to review; it's Vanessa Mooncie's Crocheted Dinosaurs!
Sadly for those outside the UK, it seems you may have to wait longer for the book to be published in your country. You can of course buy from the UK, but it will be in UK terminology, so be warned.
I am a huge Mooncie fan. I wouldn't be so rude as to describe these as Amigurumi. Vanessa's ability to sculpt forms in crochet is magical. No matter what she turns her hook to, it never ceases to amaze me. This is a big book with ten patterns to create everything from a graceful Plesiosaurus, to a scary Tyrannosaurus Rex and the flightless but deceptively vicious Velociraptor. I was never a dinosaur fan but any excuse to play and learn! Besides, I am sure each one of these marvels will quickly find themselves a home to go to. I hope I will never present you with a book review without taking it for a test drive first. At 168 pages it's bigger than most, although this is usual from Vanessa. My first complaint would be that there aren't enough photographs, but that would of course have added to both the size and price of the publication. What you do get is row by row instructions with stitch diagrams for every row and body part. I find these invaluable for clearly explaining the written directions.
The patterns are written with a variety of yarns readily available in the UK. They are chosen for the colour and texture. We are given gauge information for each project so that substituting yarn is made easier.
I decided to start with the most simple form of the Plesiosaurus. To be honest I wouldn't know a Plesiosaurus from a Diplodocus, but I am told this is a marine Reptile. It's the type I think of as Nessie, who of course lives in Loch Ness in Scotland! The pattern is made with Scheepjes Catona 4 ply yarn, that's good because I'm going to use the same yarn for all the patterns regardless! It is relatively cheap and comes in a huge range of colours. I'm told it's harder to source if you live outside of Europe. I like making characters and creatures, but to be honest I usually get bored making round upon round of increase and decrease. Vanessa's patterns, by contrast will, keep you on your toes. So even this 'simple' pattern has lots of shaping details.
It starts at the head which is made in three pieces, these are joined and then it's all the way down to the tail in turned rounds. The shaping is made with increases and decreases and short rows.Then four identical flippers are made and sewn to the body. A few finishing touches and he's made. I used 5mm glass eyes which are added after completion. Vanessa gives directions for using either glass or safety eyes. For a young child you would just sew eyes on at the end.
The Stegosaurus is one of the most colourful characters in the book. You could of course allow your own imagination to run wild. He's supposed to be made using a Merino yarn, but I'm continuing with the Scheepjes Catona cotton. He employs both puff and bobble stitches for toes and texture. He even has knee caps and elbows! In contrast to the Plesiosaurus, the Stegosaurus is made from the tail up. In both patterns there is a clever idea borrowed from sewing. A gap is left in the side of the rows to aid later stuffing, then it is sewn shut. So, the image you see above is still waiting for more stuffing to be added to the neck and head, before facial features are added. This might be a good opportunity for me to advise you to get yourself a small pair of craft forceps. You should be able to pick up a pair for less than £10. They make stuffing the fiddly areas and tight spaces a breeze! The legs are made bottom up, with the fun details to keep them interesting. To be honest the first back leg took more than one attempt, but once I had understood exactly what I was doing I quickly ended up with two shapely, legs and knobbly knees!
I finish by making all the plates and spikes. There is quite a bit of repetition thanks to the number of plates to be added but they are essential to the overall look. Sewing them to the body proved to be much easier than I had feared. The legs on the other hand were more of a struggle. They are sewn on by anchoring the thread with a stitch through the first leg, before taking the yarn on a needle through the body to the second leg. After the second stitch is made the needle returns the way it came and the two ends are tied together. My first attempt ended up in the wrong place. Quite possibly it helps to have a strong arm to tie off the threads!
No Dinosaur compilation would be complete without a horned Triceratops doing battle with a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Quite a few of the characters in the books are made with various Alpaca based yarns, but I continue using my cotton yarn.
The Triceratops begins with the neck frill because it will be needed to be joined in before the body is completed. Then comes the body which is made from the tail up, with puff stitches adding texture to the body. The Frill is crocheted in as the neck is being made, with the beak and mouth parts added in their turn.
The horns and legs are made as separate pieces... before the the parts are all joined and his personality is revealed. That's my favourite moment!
I recently discovered bent blunt ended needles. I'd found a plastic version to be extremely useful as the eye of the needle was soft enough to allow it to pass easily through stitches. Unfortunately I also managed to destroy two needles making just these three dinosaurs!
After spending a stupid amount of money searching for an alternative I finally discovered; Clover, Bent tip, Darning needle set. They come in size 15 and 17, 17 being the smaller size! Alternatively you could try; Pony Wool needles. These come in three sizes and have a nylon loop to carry the yarn.
If you are doing something more delicate you might find Doll needles helpful. They are long and slim and very useful for attaching limbs. In this case they were a little delicate for use with the cotton yarn. Use them, instead, with something like waxed Linen thread or transparent beading cord.
The T-Rex is very angry. He has a wonderful open mouth and tongue and those knobbly knee caps feature again! Its the small details which I really love, like the bobbles forming ridges on the top of his head. We start with the head this time where most of the detail and interest is. Then we continue towards the tail. Those back legs seem enormous compared with his funny little arms. The way the toes are are made surprised me, but Vanessa goes out of her way to reduce unnecessary sewing, which I really appreciate! Honestly, I got a little confused but I got it right on the second attempt which is what counts! You have the option to put 30cm/12" pipe cleaners into the back legs. I used 2mm aluminium wire, which is soft and flexible, but probably a stronger and more durable choice. Stuffing around the wire would have been difficult without my trusty forceps. I had trouble with balancing him on his legs. I would recommend that either you sew his legs in a permanent position or add some weight to his tail. My partner found me some stainless steel ball bearings, which I packed into the end of his tail between the stuffing.
For this selection I am finishing with one of those sneaky Velociraptors which made Jurassic Park so scary. This one is much cuter with elegant feathery arms and tails, but he still has those vicious claws. I have been pre-warned that this is one of the more complex patterns which is why, I suppose, he comes last in the book. My colours are a little bolder than those Vanessa chose. I found him fiddly because he is small, but there is also colour-work and a little embroidery to add to the challenge.
I had hoped to finish him in time, but life had other plans this month. Instead I will add an edit as soon as he is finished so that you can nip back later to see him finished.
EDIT!
Having finally finished the Velociraptor I can add this update.
I thought it might be helpful to show you the arms before the feathers are added. They are worked in a very unexpected way. You start at the elbow, work down to the fingers and then return to finish the upper arm to allow for stuffing. All the claws are added with bullion embroidery stitches. I chose to use a No10 crochet thread as I was nervous about them. it turned out to be much easier than I had imagine. The feathers on the arms and tail are crocheted as separate pieces and are sewn on at the end. Unfortunately I couldn't get my raptor to stand on his own as you can see here from the pins that are holding him in place. I think it might have helped if I had wired the legs as the ankles are a weak point. Perhaps moving the back legs further forward and/or adding a weight in front of the tail. It does make me wonder how birds manage to stand on two legs at all!
There are still five more characters in the book, which I have left you to discover for yourself!
P.S.
You will find additional notes and Errata on my Ravelry page. Alternatively find Errata on the GMC books website. You will only need that for the T-Rex, Stegosaurus and Triceratops.
Then four identical flippers are made and sewn to the body. A few finishing touches and he's made. I used 5mm glass eyes which are added after completion. Vanessa gives directions for using either glass or safety eyes. For a young child you would just sew eyes on at the end.
He's supposed to be made using a Merino yarn, but I'm continuing with the Scheepjes Catona cotton. He employs both puff and bobble stitches for toes and texture. He even has knee caps and elbows!
