Franklin the Dino

 

• Puffy yarn is a high quality yarn you’ll fall in love with! It’s bouncy, tubular and beginner-friendly.
• Stitch markers help you keep track of where you are.
• Polyester stuffing is used to fill the amigurumi project.
• Crystal bead to go with your completed project (for the good vibes). We placed ours inside the amigurumi with the polyester stuffing.
• Tapestry needle to sew your project together and hide your yarn ends.
• Crochet hook to, of course, crochet :O!
• P.S. give us a shout at learn@dosidiy.com if you're feeling stuck :) 

 How to hold your hook and adjust tension

• The first step to learning how to crochet is to understand how to hold your hook and adjust your tension. This comes with practice, so experimenting with different ways is highly encouraged!

How to make a magic circle

• Let's start crocheting the body of the dinosaur starting from the head with the blue yarn. To start crocheting, we’ll be making a magic circle (also known as a magic ring or magic loop). At its basic form, a magic circle is a circle made with your yarn that is held together with a slip knot and is generally used as the foundation to help you create circular shapes (like amigurumi!). You’ll find that many amigurumi patterns start with a magic circle.

 

Tips and tricks

• Basic stitches: chain stitch and single crochet stitch (00:12)
• The importance of tensions (1:49)
• How to rotate your hook during stitches (4:00)
• How to leave your work when taking a break and how to come back to your project (6:37)
• Other stitches you might come across in amigurumi, and how it differs from a single crochet stitch (7:54)

How to single crochet (1st round)

• Let's learn how to single crochet by completing the first round in the magic circle. Make sure you have this stitch down before moving on! The single crochet stitch is one of the basic stitches you’ll need to know in order to crochet.
• We'll be crocheting "in the round".

How to single crochet increase (2nd round)

• A single crochet increase will be demonstrated in this next video. An increase, often notated in patterns as "inc", means that 2 stitches will be placed in 1 stitch from the previous round.
• As a result, if you start with 6 single crochet stitches in the 1st round, in the 2nd round you would now have 12 stitches when increasing. If you started with 7 single crochet stitches, you would now have 14, etc.
• In formal pattern terms, this is denoted as "inc x 6 [12]" or "6inc".

How to create the 3rd round

We want to make the circle larger while maintaining this circular shape. In order to do so, we'll be incorporating the single crochet and an increase stitch.

• For round 3, place 1 single crochet stitch in the previous round's 1st stitch, then 2 single crochet stitches in the previous round's 2nd stitch. This pattern will continue as "1 sc, 1 inc" until we have 18 stitches.
• In formal pattern terms, this is denoted as "(sc, inc) x 6 [18]"
• Another helpful way to understand this: the 2nd round took on a pattern of 2-2-2-2-2-2 (this is not how patterns are written, but I find this method is easier to understand as a beginner). The 3rd round will take on a pattern of 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2.

Before we go on, here's an important tip on differentiating between the right and wrong side of your work

Give the 4th increasing round a shot on your own :)

• For the 4th round: you should have a total of 24 stitches! The formal pattern is written as (2sc, inc) x 6 [24]. In beginner-friendly terms, this is a 1-1-2-1-1-2 pattern.

No increasing stitches for the 5th-7th rounds. Give these 3 rounds a try on your own!

• For the 5th-7th rounds, we're shaping the dino's head and upper body body 
• Remember you should be ending each round with 24 stitches. Don't forget to place your stitch marker on every first stitch so you don't lose track of where you are!
• The formal pattern is written as "24 sc". 

Round 8

• Creating the dino's arms and shaping the middle of the body

Rounds 9 & 10: The start of decreasing rounds

Rounds 11 & 12

• Creating the dino's legs and continuing with decreasing rounds
• Round 11 ends with 28 stitches
• Round 12 ends with 23 stitches

Round 13 and spikes

• Round 13 is our last round before we place the eyes, stuff him with filling, and sew on the spikes
• Have your yellow yarn ready because we'll also be crocheting the spikes in this video!

Finishing Franklin the Dino! :O

• We're sewing on the spikes, adding stuffing and the crystal inside the dino's body, placing the eyes, and closing up the bottom

YAY AMAZING JOB!!! Congrats on finishing the cutest, chonkiest dino 🎉 Tag us on insta @dosidiy so we can see your wonderful creations 🦖