Darcy the Dinosaur
From the tail
Love those red spikes.
Pattern: Stig Steg from Knitted and Felted Toys by Zoe Halstead
Yarn: Pooch by Patons Yarns in color 65210. Red Heart Classic in Red (double stranded).
Needles: Size 11 Addi Turbo Circulars
Comments: A very clever pattern. I would make this again-with my changes of course. The yarn, however, was a bear to work with. I'll not be buying it again. If I were to do this over, I'd drop a needle size-not that it would help with working with this yarn. All the nubs kept getting caught on the tips --and lord help you if you need to unravel any rows!
Changes I Made: The pattern for the spikes is fiddly and a pain. She has you casting on for the total length of spikes you need, then knitting each one individually in a way that leaves yarn ends for every single spike. Arrgh!!!!! I attribute this to the authors lack of knowledge in other ways to do something like this. She probably has never knit lace edgings to sew onto towels for wedding presents. You learn new things doing that. So I made them my own way.
I cast on 2 sts, increased 1 stitch every other row on the same side until they were 'about right', then decreased every other row back to 2 sts, knitting in garter stitch. I used the 'knit in front and back of st' for the increases, and 'knit 2 together' for the decreases. You can make length adjustments this way. I knitted 7 spikes (cos that's what the pattern had), only to find out 7 was too long, so I was able to unravel the 7th one, then finish off. I sewed the spikes on the same as for her version.
One other thing. I tried something different for stuffing the head. I wanted to use the safety eyes, but the holes between sts are pretty big. So I cut the toe part of a pair of nylons and used it to line the head. Worked like a dream.
Well, I'm off to bead group. Gonna tackle that first french beaded flower today. Thought I'd do it with Cindy hovering. I feel safer that way.
Have a great day.
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