How To Crochet A Dinosaur Applique

After seeing so many cute crochet dinosaur applique patterns around, I decided to pledge a dinosaur special square for Hug in a Blanket UK.

My challenge to myself: to follow someone else’s pattern instructions.

Well… that all went wrong.

The patterns I found were either… too big, too small, or a bit expensive.

OK, really they aren’t expensive. But purse strings are a little tight for me right now and they weren’t free. Maybe another time. Because they are cute.

So I went back to creating one myself. It would be free and fit nicely on a 6″ square.

Now. I will be honest. I’m not entirely sure what this dinosaur is.

My little boy has lots of dinosaur toys. Two of which we believe to be a triceratops (three horns) and a septaceratops (five horns).

I thought the septaceratops looked cute so I started with that. Five horns. One on the nose. Two on the head armour bit. And two on the side.

But then I discovered the septaceratops has a different shaped head armoury bit to my boys toy and what I made. But it’s similar to the triceratops.

Then I discovered different sources show the side horns on the triceratops. And some don’t.

Argh!

So… if you want to call it a triceratops then that’s fine. And if you want to call it a septaceratops then that’s fine too.

Either way, I hope you enjoy making this pattern.

Note that the pattern is written in UK Crochet Terms and is shown on a 6″ square for size reference.

Materials

• DK yarn in main colour, contrast colour, white, and black.
• 3.5mm crochet hook.
• Darning needle.
• Scissors.

Abbreviations

• St/ sts = stitch
• Ss = slip stitch
• Dc = double crochet
• Htr = half treble crochet
• Tr = treble crochet
• Dtr = double treble crochet (yarn over twice, insert hook through st, yarn over and bring through two sts three times).

Instructions

Eyes

Using white yarn, chain 6 and join in the round with a slip stitch. Bind off. Make 2 eyes.

Horns

Using red yarn, chain 6. Dc into the 2nd stitch from the hook. Dc into the next stitch. Htr into the next stitch. Htr into the next stitch. Tr into the last stitch and ss into the same stitch. Bind off. Make 3 horns.

Side Horns (optional)

Using red yarn, chain 3. Dc into 2nd stitch from hook. Tr into the next stitch. Bind off. Make 2 side horns.

Head

Using main colour yarn, treble stitch a circle for 3 full rounds. Then one part round for the head armour as follows…chain 2, htr in the next stitch, (tr & dtr in the next stitch, tr in the next stitch, 2 htr in the next stitch) x 4, tr & dtr in the next stitch, tr in the next stitch, htr in the next stitch, chain 1 and as into the same stitch as the htr. Bind off.

Contrast on Head Armour

Using contrast colour, join yarn into the stitch before the head armour.

Dc into each stitch around the head armour, except the stitch between the tr and dtr, which needs two dc in it. This is the next stitch to be worked in the image below.

Slip stitch into one stitch on the head and bind off.

Sewing Up

Tighten up the centre circle and bind off. Sew down the head and head armour and bind off all ends.

If you made them, sew on the side horns and bind off all ends.

Sew on all three of the remaining horns, and bind off all ends.

Sew on eyes and bind off all ends.

OMG! The purple and red makes this one look a bit evil!

Lastly, using a little bit of black, sew pupils on each eye and a little mouth.

The green dinosaur on the blue square is the first one I made. It looks so friendly and calm.

And the purple and red was the second. It’s up to such mischief!

Isn’t it amazing how different colours affect the final look?

What colours did you go with? Please let me know in the comments how you got on with your tri-septa-ceratops.

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