Muir - Best in Show: Knit Your Own Dinosaur

For Geoffrey, Abigail, Gabriel, Orlando, Daniel and Milo.

Knit your own Dinosaur is the latest addition to our Best in Show series, and the first to feature animals that are no longer with us. As nobody knows for sure what colour dinosaurs were, it has given us licence to be a little more adventurous with our colours, and so can you. We hope that we have chosen a representative selection for you, with a variety of shapes and sizes, from the winged to the crawling, from the long-necked to the squat and menacing. We have added armature wire as well as pipecleaners to help strengthen our dinosaurs and make them more poseable. As before, the dinosaurs are not toys, but the ends of armature wire are less sharp than those of pipecleaners, so may be better for small children. Or you can stuff the dinosaurs very tightly and not use anything, if you dont mind them being slightly floppy.

Although none of them is particularly difficult to knit, if you are a more inexperienced knitter we would advise beginning with the simpler dinosaurs: the Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Archelon, Pterodactyl, Mammoth, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex. When you are more confident, you can proceed to the slightly more complicated Velociraptor, Archaeopteryx, Iguanodon, Triceratops and Ankylosaurus. We do hope that you enjoy knitting our dinosaurs as much as we have enjoyed creating them. Joanna and SallyA beautifully balanced creature, the Diplodocus is one of the longest of the known dinosaurs. Because of its long neck, the Diplodocus had a vast heart in order to breathe, and used its long tail as a whip to deter predators.

Length: 55cm (21in) Height to centre back: 17cm (6in) Pair of 3mm (US 5) knitting needles Double-pointed 3mm (US 5) knitting needles (for holding stitches) 50g (2oz) of Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in Hazel 128 (hz) 30g (1oz) of Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in Hawthorn 141 (ha) Small amount of Rowan Felted Tweed in Ginger 154 (gn) 2 small black beads for eyes and sewing needle and black thread for sewing on 57cm (22in) of 2mm armature wire for head, body and tail 2 pipecleaners for legs See . See for . With hz, cast on 15 sts. With hz, cast on 15 sts.

Beg with a k row, work 2 rows st st. Row 3: Inc, k4, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k4, inc. (15 sts) Row 4: Purl. Rep rows 34 once more. Row 7: K2tog, k11, k2tog. Row 15: K5, inc, k1, inc, k5. (15 sts) Work 3 rows st st. Row 19: K6, inc, k1, inc, k6. (17 sts) Row 20: Purl. Row 21: Inc, k6, inc, k1, inc, k6, inc. (21 sts) Work 3 rows st st.* Join in ha. Row 25: K9hz, inchz, k1ha, incha, k9hz. (23 sts) Row 26: P8hz, p4ha, p11hz. Row 27: K11hz, k5ha, k7hz. Row 28: P5hz, p7ha, p11hz. Row 29: Cast (bind) off 11hz sts, k1hz icos, k7ha, k4hz (hold 12 sts on spare needle for Right Side of Body).

Work as for Right Back Leg to *. Work as for Right Back Leg to *.

Join in ha. Row 25: K9hz, incha, k1ha, inchz, k9hz. (23 sts) Row 26: P11hz, k4ha, p8hz. Row 27: K7hz, k5ha, k11hz. Row 28: P11hz, p7ha, p5hz.

With hz, cast on 13 sts. With hz, cast on 13 sts.

Beg with a k row, work 2 rows st st. Row 3: Inc, k3, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k3, inc. (13 sts) Row 4: Purl. Rep rows 34 once more. Row 7: K2tog, k9, k2tog. Row 13: K4, inc, k1, inc, k4. (13 sts) Work 5 rows st st. Row 19: K5, inc, k1, inc, k5. (15 sts) Work 2 rows st st.** Join in ha. Row 22: P7hz, p2ha, p6hz. Row 23: Inchz, k5hz, k4ha, k4hz, inchz. (17 sts) Row 24: P5hz, p5ha, p7hz. Row 25: Cast (bind) off 8hz sts, k1hz icos, k5ha, k3hz (hold 9 sts on spare needle for Right Side of Body and Head).

Work as for Right Front Leg to **. Work as for Right Front Leg to **.

Join in ha. Row 22: P6hz, p2ha, p7hz. Row 23: Inchz, k4hz, k4ha, k5hz, inchz. (17 sts) Row 24: P7hz, p5ha, p5hz. Row 25: K3hz, k6ha, cast (bind) off 8hz sts (hold 9 sts on spare needle for Left Side of Body and Head). Legs and spine Use pipecleaners to stiffen the legs and armature wire to act as a spine running through the body.

Armature wire is very easy to manipulate and holds up the head and tail.

Row 1: With ha, cast on 2 sts, with RS facing k9 from spare needle of Right Front Leg, cast on 8 sts. (19 sts) Row 2: Purl. Row 3: Inc, k18, cast on 7 sts, with RS facing p1, k11 from spare needle of Right Back Leg, cast on 50 sts. (89 sts) Row 4: Cast (bind) off 12 sts, p49 icos, k1, p27, cast on 18 sts. (95 sts) Row 6: Cast (bind) off 7 sts, p41 icos, k1, p46, cast on 12 sts. (100 sts) Row 7: Inc, k57, p1, k39, k2tog. (100 sts) Row 8: Cast (bind) off 6 sts, p34 icos, k1, p59, cast on 8 sts. (102 sts) Row 9: K68, p1, k31, k2tog. (101 sts) Row 10: Cast (bind) off 5 sts, p27 icos, k1, p33, cast (bind) off 28 sts, p to end. (61 sts and 7 sts) Row 11: Working on 7 sts for head only, knit. Row 12: P5, p2tog. (6 sts) Row 13: K2tog, k2, k2tog. (4 sts) Cast (bind) off. Row 14: Rejoin ha to rem 61 sts, k2tog, k32, p1, k24, k2tog. (59 sts) Row 15: Cast (bind) off 4 sts, p20 icos, k1, p32, p2tog. (54 sts) Row 16: Cast (bind) off 2 sts, k32 icos, p1, k17, k2tog. (51 sts)Next page