Stegalicious

At long last, here he is

and I heart him.

Oh sure, he was a royal pain in the keister, but look at him!

He was totally worth it.

So, specs.

Steggy
Pattern: Stegosaurus, from Paton’s Dinosaur booklet #1227
Yarn: KnitPicks Essential in grass for body, just over 1 skein; Lion Wool worsted in pumpkin for scales, small amount; KnitPicks Bare DK for spikes, very small amount; scrap of Fleece Artist merino sock for mouth
Other materials: two small black beads for eyes, and a crapload of stuffing
Begun: May 24
Finished: June 26, 1 am
Modifications: copious

So I’m going to go through all of the things I hoped to change about the pattern, originally discussed here .

Thing one: I hoped to make Steggy a bit smaller than the pattern stated he would be, by substituting a fingering weight yarn for the DK. Pattern states Steggy should be 12 inches high. My Steggy: 8½ in (I estimated he would be about 9—am I good or what?). He’s a good size, perfect for hugging.

Thing two: Steggy’s scales. Remember in the picture, where his back scales were all falling over and wonky looking? Well feast your peepers on this:

Ha! Mine are staying up! Instead of knitting them out of the same yarn, I switched to a heavier yarn (worsted weight) and felted them instead. I didn’t actually follow the printed pattern on the scales, either. I started to, but then figured that they’d be waaaay too big, so I scaled them down (heh). The biggest ones are curling a bit, but I think that’s due to the fact that I threw them in the washer and the dryer. I kind of like it, though. It gives him a sort of angelic look, don’t you think? I’m especially digging the pumpkin orange color with the green. Oh, I felted the spikes, too.

I really heart the spikes. I think they’re my favorite part.

Thing three: Steggy’s drunken posture. If you also recall from the pattern picture, none of the dinos stood up on their own. Well, guess what?

Steggy is clearly standing on his own four feet, no proppage necessary. Ha again! When I started him, I asked my mom what I should do about his legs (my mom’s a long time sewing guru, remember the quilt? She also has made a lot of toys in her day. I still have several dolls and stuffed animals that sprung fourth from her sewing machine.). Her advice to me? “Stuff the shit out of them!” That’s verbatim, folks. So stuff the shit out of them I did. Those things were rock hard when I was done. In fact, I stuffed them so full that the seams began to show a bit in the back.

That doesn’t bug me too much, though. I don’t think it will get noticed.

Thing the fourth: this wasn’t something I had initially planned on doing, but I knit the feet in the round instead of knitting the top and bottom separately, then sewing them together. They were supposed to be a different color on the bottom. I did initially do it this way, but when I went to seam them up, um…they looked like pig doody. So I totally redid the feet. It was oodles easier that way. I also omitted the claws, since they seemed like they would be a jagnormous pain in the arse to both knit and attach. I have Z’s momma to thank for that idea, who knit a loverly brontosaurus for her son (go look, it’s cute!). I like Steggy’s feet. They kind of look like Kermit feet.

Thing five: I used beads instead of safety eyes, just because I couldn’t find safety eyes small enough. I also embroidered a little mouth on, because he looked like he needed one. I also gave him nostrils.

He’s a friendly dinosaur. But he’s not so friendly that he wouldn’t, say, attack a marauding sister’s Barbie dolls. In other words, he’s perfect for a five-year-old.

So, the fifty-five million dollar question: would I knit him again?

…
…

YES I WOULD! I heart Steggy. I think I’ll make another dinosaur from this book. BUT there are a few things that I would do differently. I would definitely knit everything I could in the round. I think it would have gone so much faster, plus been much more enjoyable. I would also try to figure out a better way to get the legs on (Patons’ directions—“Attach legs.” Gee, thanks). Sewing the legs onto Steggy was by far the most difficult part. I think I had to take the second back leg off twice before I got it exactly right. To line the legs up, I used my long Inox dpns as axles, then stitched them on. Ouch. A curved needle would have really helped, since I was trying to sew from the back of both pieces. At least the tips of Chibis are a bit bent, but if I had to do this again, I would buy one of those curved needles made especially quilting. It would have helped a lot.

So what do you think? Did he fulfill your wildest dreams?

Well, he didn’t quite fulfill mine. But he’s cute, and he’ll be loved. Sometimes, that’s all that matters.