Turquoise Dragon by KristyKeksCreations on deviantART. Snuggles the Penguin. Let me give you the background story of how Snuggles the Penguin came to be!
Back when we were researching cute images of dragons for Chinese New Year, we immediately fell in love with this adorable drawing: I couldn’t find the source of this image, but I went ahead and crocheted my amigurumi Dragon based on it. Luckily for me, an astute tumblr follower recognized the artist of the drawing and directed me to Kim Rountree of Oborocharms. I immediately tried to contact her, letting her know that I had made an amigurumi dragon based on the baby dragon she had drawn six years ago. Kim was very quick to get back to me, and she was incredibly gracious, stating that she absolutely loved him and my blog! As we continued communicating with one another, we thought it’d be a great idea to do an art trade, particularly since both of us love everything cute and our mediums of art are so different. Www.allaboutami.com/post/16498866712/dragonpattern. It’s the Year of the Dragon this year!
To celebrate, crochet your own fire-breathing cuties in a rainbow of colours for yourself or for your friends! Materials: green yarn (I used Patons Grace in Ginger)2.00 mm crochet hookyarn needlefiberfillbeige felt (for wings and scaled body), dark brown felt (for horns), and pink felt (for cheeks)7.5 mm safety eyesblack embroidery floss (for mouth), white embroidery floss (for fang), tan embroidery floss (for scaled body)glue gunfabric glue Note: I worked in continuous rounds (vs. joined rounds).
***PLEASE follow along with my blog post here to see step-by-step photos. Using green yarn, Chain 7 (this is the foundation chain) R1: Starting from second chain from hook, Sc 6 in back loops of foundation chain. ***To see a step-by-step tutorial on how to crochet around a foundation chain, please see HERE! R2: *Sc 1, 2 sc in next sc*, rep 6 times. (18 sts) R3: *Sc 2, 2 sc in next sc*, rep 6 times. (24 sts) R4: *Sc 3, 2 sc in next sc*, rep 6 times (30 sts) All About Ami. To tell you the truth, I was hesitant about making a dragon.
Life got really busy as soon as we came back from our Christmas holidays, and Chinese New Year was fast approaching. I didn’t think we’d have the time, and it seemed challenging to make a cute dragon since I was so used to making my cute bears and bunnies. Ryan, who is always up for a challenge, strongly encouraged me to give it a try, saying that we’d have enough time and that it would be really special since it was Chinese New Year. It had been exactly a year ago since we had created our first original design and pattern: the Chinese New Year Doll. With his support and encouragement, we began brainstorming ideas of what our dragon would look like. Simply Crochet and amigurumi success. January 15, 2013 § From reading a few other UK-based blogs I think I’m right in saying that the launch of a new crochet magazine has been well and truly noticed – I think everyone has read it!
For my part, I’ve subscribed to the first three issues of Simply Crochet using their £5 special offer, which seemed a bargain for a little treat for myself, even when I was counting pennies in the build-up to Christmas. Although I enjoyed flicking through the first issue, I’m not convinced that it would be worth paying £4.99 an issue; there were a few projects that I didn’t have any interest in making, and it seemed a bit on the thin side.
Hopefully the second issue will have a bit more in it! I was however inspired to have a go at the dragon amigurumi from Stephanie at All About Ami; I’d seen the pattern a few times and had been tempted, but seeing the pattern in the magazine finally persuaded me to have a go (the original pattern is in the link.) And the little dragon all finished – well, almost. Crochet Corner: Dragon. It still amazes me how popular our amigurumi Dragon is, and I can’t believe I was thisclose to not making him.
I’m so thankful that Ryan urged and encouraged me to give him a try to celebrate the Chinese New Year! Many moms and moms-to-be have e-mailed me, expressing their excitement of making this crochet dragon for their own dragon babies! I thank all the people who have sent me pictures of their work through facebook, twitter, e-mail, Ravelry and on the blog, and I would love to share some photos of little Dragons who’ve cropped up all around the world in this Crochet Corner post! Ana, originally from Spain but now living in Switzerland, is a loyal reader and commenter of my blog. She was one of the first people to send me pictures of her finished project, and I was sooo excited to see how other people’s Dragons were turning out. Oborocharms Bracelet. I had never participated in an art trade before, but I jumped at the opportunity to work with Kim Rountree of Oborocharms when she suggested that we do one (read about how I got to know Kim here).
I had a difficult time choosing what I wanted to ask Kim to make as her shop was full of adorable charms and stuffies. What stood out to me in particular were her custom charms that were incredibly detailed. I thought it would be so special to have little custom charms made based on my original amigurumi designs. I e-mailed Kim, listing some suggestions of custom charms I would love to have, including Chinese New Year Doll, Valentine Teddy, Sweetheart Bunny, and Dragon.