Crochet Dino pattern info
Updated: Nov 29, 2019
This is my take on the "Sleeping baby dino" crochet pattern found here. It's an Amigurumi crochet dinosaur stuffed animal by Adriana Gori with EuQueroCroche. She has tons of other sleepy stuffies, including a tiny sleeping dino that I plan on doing ASAP! There's also a really cute amigurumi sleepy unicorn and lots of other stuffy dolls. You can see her Ravelry work here.
If you're not familiar with these terms, Amigurumi basically means 3D crochet. It's not as intimidating as it seems. If you know how to increase/decrease, and you've worked in the round, then you already know how to do it. If you haven't, it's not hard to learn! Instead of turning at the end of a row, you just keep going around in a circle.

Pattern thoughts:
I love doing Amigurumi, especially since I have 2 young kids. There are 2 parts I don't like: weaving in ends, and embroidering eyes. Since the head, body and tail are all one piece on this crochet dinosaur stuffy, that really helped eliminate a lot of work. If you have young kids or get distracted easily, I definitely recommend using stitch markers to keep track of where you are.

Eyes:
Before I started using safety eyes, I was sewing them on by hand. This is not a strong suit of mine. That's why I really like how easy these eyes were.

Yarn:
There's a local boy who went through something pretty rough recently, and I wanted to make a few gender neutral crochet dinosaurs for him and him siblings. I'm a pretty busy person, but love making time for random acts of kindness that I hope will put a smile on someone's face. I'm hoping they'll play with these amigurumi dinosaurs together and be reminded that they can find kindness in strangers.
I used Red Heart Super Saver in Hunter Green for the main parts, and Red Heart Fiesta in Horizon for the spikes. That one's been discontinued, but this one is fairly similar.
This is the most "masculine" of the crochet dinos I made, but it could so easily be made with different yarn for a more feminine look. Brianna with toneverlandwefly made this ADORABLE fluffy version with this yarn.

Hooks:
The yarn label said to use a 5mm hook, and the pattern called for a 1.75mm, as it uses different yarn. I used a 4.5mm, as I typically go down a hook size from the label when doing an Amigurumi pattern. The tighter stitching helps give it a firmer stance and holds the stuffing in better. I use these Boye hooks. It's totally personal preference, but I have a tighter tension and like how metal hooks slide in and out. The hook ends are more rounded, so don't snag as much.
Stuffing:
I use polyester fiber fill to stuff my crochet toys. Fairfield's poly-fil can be found here. They're the original, it's inexpensive and makes the crochet stuffed animals machine washable.
To see more from my crochet gallery, click here. To buy this adorable duck stuffy, or other fiber arts, click here.
Photos and links used with permission from their copyright owners.
