Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Pretty Epic

What I'm about to show you is my biggest knitting undertaking to date, and I personally think it's pretty epic. This is the first knitted thing I've done that's 100% my own design, not taken from any other ideas or inspirations, other than my nephew's love of dinosaurs.

Check this out.


I made a dinosaur scarf for my nephew's birthday!


It was pretty involved and took forever, because although I had the idea, I kind of designed as I went.  I started with graph paper, so I could figure out how to gauge the stitches I'd need to get the shape of the head, rounded in front and then the part that bulges by the eyes.  I used the same method for the legs and the narrowing of the tail.


I knew before I started that I wanted a cable knit pattern down the body to sort of give an idea of a dinosaur's bumpy texture, but that meant that I had to figure out how many stitches across to make it and how wide I wanted the center band to be, plus figure out in narrowing the tail how to also narrow the cable pattern.  From snout to tail is all one piece.  Then I made a bottom jaw so I could add teeth, which I knitted separately and sewed on.


In fact, the teeth, legs, back spines, brow ridges, and bottom jaw were all knitted separately and then sewn on.  For the eyes, I actually had to teach myself to crochet circles, which I then sewed on as well!


And then I "embroidered" on nostrils.  I think he's got some serious personality!

My inspiration..


I took some liberties, of course, adding the points down his back, but I like him that way.

The whole thing is done in 100% washable wool and is about 48-50" long.  I wanted a nice, natural fiber that would be warm for the winter but still washable since he just turned three.

As soon as I'm done treating myself to an alpaca scarf I'm working on, I'll be replicating good ol' Daffy the Dinosaur, as I've dubbed him, for Fabric of my Mind.  I'll keep you posted, especially since there are plans for other animal scarves on the horizon too!

Shared with:
Sumo's Sweet Stuff Keeping It SimpleTip JunkieToday's Creative BlogKitchenFun
Dragonfly DesignsChic on a Shoestring Decorating Simply Sweet Home Friday Favorite

7 comments:

Anne-Marie said...

OMG, I love it! It's totes adorbs. =)

Kaysi @ Keeping it Simple said...

That is amazing!!!

Jill @ KitchenFunWithMy3Sons.com said...

This is adorable! Would love for you to share at our Kitchen Fun and Crafty link party! http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2013/01/kitchen-fun-and-crafty-friday-link-party_10.html?m=1

sadf said...

HOLY COW!!!! Or... holy dinosaur? LOL. You have so much creativity! And skill, wow. Great work, I can't imagine a little boy who wouldn't just go nuts over that scarf.

Eva Taylor {Snappee Turtle} said...

Just saw you link up at Polkadots on Parade. This scarf is super cool!! Nice job!!

Anonymous said...

You did a wonderful job! I love this scarf!

T'onna @ Submarine Sunday
http://www.navywifeypeters.blogspot.com/2013/01/submarine-sunday-14.html

Christy said...

That is really cute!

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