My first ever knitting project! I was given Knitted Dinosaurs for Christmas and I couldn’t resist this little fellow. As I had no idea about the different sorts of wool I simply purchased the yarns the book recommended - the Merino is lovely and soft but sometimes had a tendency to separate a bit.

The instructions seemed quite clear and I was able to follow them fairly easily. I was a bit surprised when the book jumped from row-by-row instructions on how to increase the legs to a brief sentence instructing you to decrease the stitches every 4th row and keep the ribbing pattern going. I accept that to a more experienced knitter this may be obvious but as a beginner I struggled to keep the ribbing and wasn’t sure which decrease I was supposed to use - I settled on k2tog and it seemed to work ok.

I ended up with rather unsightly side-seams but I stitched him together with mattress stitch so they’re all hidden on the inside now :D

My little dino has slightly lopsided legs (I think I have a bit to learn about tension) and his knitting is a bit snaggly in places but I’m pretty pleased with him given I’d never really knitted before.

He took about 12 hours to knit, 2 to assemble and I spent about another hour sewing on his eyes and sequins.