Well the best laid plans… you probably know the rest! To sum it up, I just don’t seem to get as much crochet done as I would like at the moment but in between the distractions of the everyday I have managed to breathe life into a rather cuddly dragon for a fantasy creature themed competition being hosted at AmigurumiPatterns.net. I’ve had a yearning to make a dragon for a while and as there is nothing quite like a challenge and a deadline for focusing the mind so I thought I’d grab this opportunity and set my self to the task.

And Ta-dah! A pensive golden-eyed, frilly-winged, spiky-spined fella called Drake.

I started with few scrappy drawings, hastily scribbled down. I’m always in a mad rush to cut straight to the hook and yarn stage when I have a new idea but these rough sketches help to give me an idea of the amount of different pieces I’ll need to create the image sitting pretty in my head.

Seated or standing was the main question at this point.

In the end I plumped for seated as I preferred the way this would look from different angles.

There are quite a few separate components to this design but they sew together really easily. This dragon has a very chunky thing going on so it’s not as fiddly to assemble as it may look. There is a place for everything and when everything is sewn in place according to the pattern instructions it’s pretty much foolproof!

It really didn’t take too long before he was fully assembled and ready for a photoshoot.

It actually took longer to get the first photoshoot done as Minnie refused to move from the warmth of the bright lights and with this recent cold weather snap I can’t say I blame her! She did eventually get up and wander off, probably in search of food and I  began clicking away with camera.

Now for a big smile 😀 Say ‘Cheese’ Drake 😀 (Do dragons even eat cheese I wonder?)

Drake’s a doddle to photograph and has a couple of good sides he wanted to show off for you all.

As a result I took quite a few snaps.

Including his magnificent rear view. When it come to dragons I like big butts and I cannot lie…

Of course one Dragon, or one of anything I ever crochet, is never enough so I got busy trying out another colour combination to keep things lively as I ran through the pattern again to test for mistakes.

I decided on blue eyes and a lilac dragon this time.

Another day, another mound of dragon bits ready to morph into another wooly pal.

Purple Drake and Green Drake enjoy a chin wag about dragonny things like what’s the best way to keep a fire stoked in the belly, or how to keep those wings in tip top condition.

I’m loving the effect of the big glass eyes on the first two but I’m well aware that not everyone will have these lovely shiny peepers in their stash and may not care to shell out on a pair either so I made a dragon with woolen eyes too. I feel this one needs a bit of tweaking yet but the green ring sets off the black plastic safety eyes very nicely.

Oh and I love these colours!

Now that I have three fire breathing babies I have officially named myself ‘Mother of Dragons’ just like Daenerys Targaryen. Well maybe not ‘just like’. That might be pushing things a bit far! For a start no-one calls me Khaleesi and thankfully I didn’t have to personally hatch my babies in a roasting funeral pyre. I much prefer the crochet method for that. But I’m proud to say my own brood are not quite as unruly as Daenearys’s overgrown hatchlings. In fact they’re extremely tame by comparison but that’s the way I prefer them, for sure!

If you fancy spending a little time away from the hassles of the everyday world and like the idea of getting lost in a wonderfully fantastical alternative universe where anything is possible and all sorts of mystical and magical creatures co-exist in perfect harmony then you can check out the other entries here and get busy voting for your favorites. You’ll be spoilt for choice between all the fairies, mermaids, unicorns, yetis, sprites, dragons and much, much more!

Voting will begin on December 1st and end on December 8th 2017. Good luck to all who entered. It’s going to be a tough contest this time, but may the best creature win!