I have had so much fun already this year! If you are following my IG, FB or here you know that I am making my head dreams come alive! I have been wanting to make a whole series of farm animals for a very long time! They have been coming to life right here and I couldn’t be happier with them. Concurrently, on my Facebook page – also called The Burgundy Basket – I am running a year-long A-Z challenge where the people on my page are making suggestions for the letters of the alphabet to challenge me!! And some have absolutely been a challenge.
When I posted the letter “D” and Dinosaur was suggested, I felt a little giddy inside my heart!! I love dinosaur patterns. I have made a few patterns from others, but since this is the year I am trying to break out as a designer myself, I decided that I was going to make a family of dinosaurs and what better way to start the family than with a little! So, I took a mini break from the farm to go back to prehistoric times.
Meet Pea the Little Dino. He is so charming. He’s a super quick make – you can probably get him done in less than a full day of working. For sure over a few nights. And – he only requires a half of cake of yarn! Pea is the first dinosaur in the family and all coming to life right here. <3
Let me start with my materials so you can make your baby Pea. I’ll note all the materials I have used and then you can decide how to make it work for you.
This post does contain affiliate links. I will get a small percentage from any purchase made through my page here, but your price remains the same. I appreciate any purchase made through my page as I can continue to offer free patterns here on my blog. These are a few of my favorite things and what I have used for this pattern.
You can find a printable Etsy pattern with more tips and hints right HERE
Materials:
You can get exactly the products I used through my affiliate links.
For Baby Pea I used approximately ½ cake of BERNAT POP! #4 yarn in Peacock Plume (280 yds/256m) – you should have about ½ cake leftover if this helps you choose which colorway you want to use.
**** A note on using Cake Yarns. If you are new to amigurumi or using cake yarns, I thought this tip would be important. You want to read the pattern (or look at my pictures) and note which body parts you want in which color from your cake. As you get to those colors on your cake you probably want to make small parts FIRST. So, say, I finished off my body and wanted that next color to be the outer ear or the nose or the top tail section – or all of those – make those small parts FIRST – this ensures you get that little piece made in the color you want before moving onto a larger section. You want to try to plan if you want your finished dino to have matching legs, ears, etc. If you see my example, I wanted Baby Pea to have scales in each of the colors so I made sure to make those as well.
-Hooks: G and H were used. Unless noted otherwise, I have used my G hook. You will see a note when I use my H. These are the hooks I use everyday and when working amigurumi they are a hand saver!
-Safety Eyes or buttons (or yarn to embroider if you choose) and needle to embroider face.
-Stuffing. I have used Poly-Fill brand stuffing, but feel free to use what you prefer.
– I don’t use Stitch markers, but if you do you will want those to keep track of your rounds. As a “free” stitch marker you can loop a bright colored piece of scrap yarn through your stitch to act as a marker – then just pull it out when you get back around to it and move it up one row. Easy marker!
This all-in-one-crochet kit is perfect if you want to start crocheting amigurumi and don’t have all you need yet. I ordered this as a gift and it comes with all you see. It has ergonomic hooks, needles, stitch markers and comes in this great case. This is a really nice set! I have opened it and looked at everything. So, if you are on a budget and can’t quite justify the Clover hooks try these instead.
This pattern is intended for personal use only. This pattern -and all my patterns- are offered for free or a small fee to help support my family so please do not redistribute, sell, copy or use them in any way not in accordance with fairness.
You may sell products made from this pattern, but please give me credit as the designer. Please do not use my photos as your own work, but you may use my photos to reference back to my blog, Etsy, Pinterest, IG or FB, but please link back to me.
If you find any problems with this pattern please let me know and if you have any problems with any of it feel free to message me and ask for support.
Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to me, Kristi Bergin-Smith and The Burgundy Basket with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
This is a simplified pattern – a chart with the numbers – you need to have knowledge of crochet amigurumi and how to do rounds and increases to read. If you do it will be pretty straight forward. If not, I do have a cheat sheet I am happy to email to anyone – find me over on my FB page – The Burgundy Basket – and let me know you need my cheat sheet for increasing/decreasing.
I start my work with a chain 2 and then sc in second chain from hook, but you can also start with a magic ring if you prefer that start. I crochet over my long starting tail for round 1 and 2 and then pull that tail tight – this cinches up your start and closes the little hole.
This pattern starts at the top of the head and goes into body without breaking off your yarn. It finishes off under the body.
Head/Body: (G hook): Baby Pea is worked from the TOP down.
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 18 |
| 4 | 24 |
| 5 | 30 |
| 6 | 36 |
| 7-11 | 36 * I placed my eyes between rows 9-10 with 6 holes between them. |
| 12 | 30 |
| 13 | 24 |
| 14 | 18 |
| 15-16 | 18 |
| 17 | 24 |
| 18 | 30 |
| 19 | 36 |
| 20 | 36 |
| 21 | 42 I sewed the tail here between rounds 21-30 |
| 22 | 48 |
| 23-29 | 48 |
| 30 | 42 |
| 31 | 36 |
| 32 | 30 Start stuffing and stuff as needed. |
| 33 | 24 |
| 34 | 18 |
| 35 | 12 |
| 36 | 6 |
Nose:
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 18 |
| 4 | 18 Back Loop Only (BLO) |
| 5 | 18 |
Belly Patch:
This is not worked in rounds, but in rows. You will be increasing in most of the rows by putting two single crochet in the first stitch and two sc in the last stitch. Count across to make sure you don’t miss that last stitch – it can be finicky.
Chain 1 and turn after each row.
Chain 7.
Row 1:Sc 6 across the chain (you start work in the second chain from hook)
Start increasing
Row 2:Sc 8
Row 3:Sc 10
Row 4: Sc 12
Row 5: Sc 14
Rows 6-7: 14
Start decreasing
Row 8: dec, dec, 6 sc, dec, dec
Row 9: dec, 6 sc, dec
Row 10: dec, dec, dec, dec (4)
Single crochet around the entire belly piece making 3 sc in each corner.
When you FO leave a long tail to sew.
Feet/Legs (make two):
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 12 |
| 3 | 18 |
| 4 | 18 BLO – change colors here if you are making two-color legs |
| 5-8 | 18 – stuff lightly. I only stuffed the foot. If you are going to embroider on toenails you are probably going to want to do that here to make it easier. |
| 9 | 12 |
| 10-19 | 12 |
| 20 | 2 sc in each stitch around (24) |
| 21 | 24 sc * FO leave long tail to sew |
Arms (make two):
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 12 |
| 3-6 | 12 – stuff lightly. I only stuffed the foot. |
| 7 | 6 |
| 8-16 | 6 *FO but leave long tail to sew |
Tail:
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 Stuff as needed as you go. |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4-6 | 9 |
| 7 | 12 |
| 8-10 | 12 |
| 11 | 15 |
| 12 | 15 |
| 13 | 18 |
| 14 | 18 |
| 15 | 21 |
| 16 | 21 |
| 17 | 24 |
| 18 | 24 |
| *FO but leave long tail to sew |
Scales:**** I used my H hook for the scales
There are 3 sizes for the scales.
Small: *these are on the very top of head and bottom of tail for me
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 9 |
| 5 | 12 |
| 6 | 12 |
Medium: *this is the second from the top of head for me
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 12 |
| 5-6 | 12 |
Large:
| Row/Round | Stitch Count/Number |
| 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 4 | 9 |
| 5 | 12 |
| 6 | 12 |
| 7 | 15 |
| 8 | 15 |
And that is it! I’d love to see all your finished dinos over on my IG. Just tag me @theburgundybasket #peathelittledino
