It’s no secret that I like dragons. From video games (Skyrim, Dragon Age, etc) to books (Dragonriders of Pern, Dragonlance, Dragon Prince, more!), to art (Michael Whelan, duh). The pic above is Michael Whelan’s cover for ‘Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern’. So, they tend to find their way into pretty much all of my hobbies.
Kim Harrison (the author of ‘The Hollows’ series) knits some pretty cool stuff. She’s decided to share her Dragon pattern in the form of a KAL (Knit A Long). I wouldn’t recommend this for someone who has never knitted, but I think a beginner could figure this one out. Kim has very helpfully made some videos that help with most of the steps involved. Go here to get started. **Edit: the directions moved over to her main site.
It’s suggested to use cotton yarn. Kim does her dragons in Paton’s Grace, a DK mercerized cotton yarn. Only one of my local craft stores carries Grace, and only then in a couple of colors. So my dragon is being done in Navy and Fiesta, which I think is a good color combo for Halloween. If you are going to have to order yarn, here are some other possibilities I found over at LoveKnitting.com. Their prices are good and more importantly they ship fast. I hate waiting for yarn. Mainly because by the time it gets here, I’ve moved on to another project and forgot what I ordered it for…. Yarn is a sickness….
Paton’s Grace
Rico Essentials DK Cotton
Wendy’s Supreme Cotton DK Knitting Yarn: I’m not sure if this is mercerized, but it’s a good price for 220yds if you really get into knitting some dragons.
Rowan Cotton Glace: I am in love with a lot of these colors. Of course it’s the priciest of the lot. Really, I NEED all of them. 😉
Schoeller und Stahl Limone
I’m also playing around with some regular Lily’s Sugar ‘n Cream cotton. I test knit a few of the wing panels on size 3 needles since it’s worsted weight. I think it will work if you can stand working with rough cotton. You might even be able to use regular 6mm pipe cleaners with this size yarn… That’s a plus.
So, onto MY DRAGON!
Here he is on Ravelry. (If you’re going to knit, you need a Ravelry account.)
He’s going to have a navy body with orange highlights.
I finished the Left Wing last night. I have to admit, so far it feels like I’ve been doing a lot more sewing than knitting on these wings. I HATE sewing all the pieces together, but I will say Kim’s method works well. I just hate it. 😀 Due to accidentally sewing the B wing panel on too tightly, I ended up with a very angular panel. I stared at it for a really long time trying to decide if I was going to rip it out and do it properly. I kind of thought it made the wing look kind of bat-like, so I decided to see if I could replicate it on the Right Wing. It turned out sort of ok, so I kept both of them. I’m sure my own laziness was also whispering very loudly in my ears during this important decision.
So here’s the Left Wing. Sorry, the table was very dirty.
Now I just have to finish the panels, and the freaking pipe cleaner fingers for the Right Wing. I’m obviously looking forward to it. In fact, I’m pretty sure this entire blog post is just a stalling tactic by my subconscious.
Poseable Wings, Mel. Every Dragon wants poseable wings. Do it for the dragon, Mel.
A Corgi Horde 