Time spent: Months
Link to Pattern: Here
Here it is, my magnum opus, my sweet child that I have spent months to bring to life. Making the dragon was so challenging but in the best way possible, and I’ve learnt so many things along the way, and the whole journey just really makes me appreciate the thought and hard work that goes into making a design for amugurumi. It’s a lot of trial and error but I’m happy with how it turned out, and I’m glad I redid all the parts I did. Long rant incoming as I’ll talk about the things that I had trouble with.
The first thing is that I did not realise how purchasing yarn can be such a laborious process. I made this particular dragon with a 4-ply yarn and I’m quite happy with my choice, even though the outcome will turn out to be a bit smaller than if I used my 5-ply yarn. Also learnt that it’s better to get more yarn than I need, because if you’re working on a bigger project, and you run out of yarn in the middle of it and the store no longer has the same coloured yarn within the same lot, you might end up making something which has slightly different colours. I originally started the project with another similar shade of light green yarn, but then halfway through the body I realised I need more, tried to order more from the store, store said that lot went out of stock, and after a few days of consideration I just got myself an ample amount of new yarn in a different shade of light green. Painful lesson learnt there cause I already spent so much time on the first tail/body, but definitely worth it at the end cause I do like the shade of green I picked later better.
Didn’t realise sewing can be such a pain, I have no idea where to start, how much tension I should use for attachment, and how tight each piece has to be against another piece so it’ll look relatively seamless. Every time I sew I feel like I’m taking a risk, since once it’s attached I can’t really go back and undo it without messing up the texture of the yarn. The dragon ended up not being entirely symmetrical, but I think it gives the dragon its charm.
Another thing I’ve learnt is that finding a good community is actually a great experience. I’ve been having trouble with gaps within pieces that are not stuffed (i.e. the web in between the wings of the dragon) and people have been given me very useful advice. While again it’s a bit of a hassle to redo the wings again, I’m very happy with how it ended up, and very grateful that people have been giving me really useful tips. Plus now I know that while tight stitches make 3D objects prettier, it works differently for flat surfaces, and a more relaxed tension can sometimes help make the piece look more compact.
Asking questions in the online community is also how I realise I have been doing the “slip stitch, chain 1” step wrong. The mistake has cost me so many weirdly shaped heads and tails, and it was devastating to realise I’ve been doing it wrong all along, though at least I realised it sooner than later, and once I understood the step I actually grew to love it, because once you start doing the slip stitches, there’s really no need for stitch markers which saves me a lot of time undoing and reattaching them to the piece (something I sometimes am too lazy to do which made me lose count of the rows I’ve done in many other projects, which is annoying).
Also, since I’ve been redoing the tail so many times, I came to realise that it’s probably better to stuff earlier than later. It can be quite annoying to crochet along a stuffed object, but it is a lot less frustrating than realising you can’t stuff any of the polyfill into the very ends of the tail, makes them look understuffed and just not nice.
Last thing, is that I am so glad I got more ergonomically designed crochet hooks instead of the metal ones. I got one once I realised I’m going to be crocheting for hours, and once I get one there’s no more ache in my hands which I’m very glad.
Date Published: 31st October 2023