Saturday, June 08, 2013

Opal Little Dragon Preview Video!


Hi, Knitters,
I have completed the Opal Little Dragon design! I wanted to share the little guy with you from all angles so I filmed a short video to show him off. The pattern is debuting at TNNA at the Unicorn Books booth where I am also doing a book signing for Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys on Saturday, June 22nd. Please stop by for both the pattern and the signing or simply to say hello. I would love to see you!

If you can't see the video (email subscribers), please click right here to view it on YouTube.

Little Dragon is worked from the bottom-up in one piece, seamlessly! It's a very slick and simple pattern. The dragon is knit using a fingering or sock weight yarn held doubled throughout on US size 5 dpns. It used up about 40 grams of a sock yarn. There are new construction techniques included here and it is a fun and fast toy knit. I think you are going to love knitting up your own Little Dragon. 

Little Dragon will be available, at first, only through Unicorn Books (a craft book and supplies distributor) for yarn shops to purchase for their customers. I believe it will be in a printed pattern version only but they may be offering a downloadable version as well, I'm not sure. Please ask your yarn shops to order through Unicorn Books if you are interested in the pattern. 

Eventually the pattern rights will revert back to me and I will have the pattern available in my Ravelry Pattern Shop. This will happen at the first of the new year so don't worry if you can't get the pattern right away when it is released. 

This is the same thing I did with the Opal Sock Yarn Bunny and Hat. Unicorn Books released a printed pattern version for yarn shop owners to provide to their customers and then later the bunny became a downloadable pattern on Ravelry. I love to support local yarn shops and this is one way we can all help a little so please go through your local yarn shop if at all possible.


Little Dragon really is an expressive little toy, standing at 6 1/4 inches tall, with the movable head construction (a new technique I recently came up with). 

I'll post a Ravelry project page soon! Here is one more cute little photo below, I can't resist this little friend. I think this is one of the best toy designs I have ever done. There is a sweet personality that shines through with Little Dragon. I have started compiling a book list of children's literature and young adult literature with little and big dragon characters that could go along with this dragon for children. The possibilities seem quite endless.

If you have any dragon literature ideas for me, please post a comment and I will compile a list and share! Thank you.



On another subject, below is one more instructional video. I did this video for a Signature Needles guest blog post a few weeks ago.  I am showing how I cast on a small number of stitches onto 3 dpns, a technique I constantly use for my toy patterns.

Click here to see it on YouTube.


Have a great weekend! I'll be back soon with more....
best, susie
p.s. Malia (rhymeswithmaria on rav), has started a new vid-cast, Yarn Raising, that is mainly about spinning but has lots of knitting content as well, and I love it. Malia and I sat at the same table at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat and I so enjoyed her and her spinning that weekend. Please click here to watch her video podcast! 

14 comments:

quiltcontemplation blogspot said...

he is adorable. cant wait to get a pattern. don;t know how long I can stand it!

RobinM said...

Thanks for the video on casting on. I once had difficulty with that idea and went to my lys. There, they suggested that it was too difficult to do. Very happy to see that it's not!

Anonymous said...

So adorable and wonderful detail. His little personality really shows through!

Stefanie said...

He is like a modest and sweetly shy dragon. Too cute.

Jani said...

Such a cute idea - pairing books with knitted toys is the best! Several members of my knitting group have actually done this for a few years now, donating the packages at holiday time to children whose mothers are in prison. We work through the group "Friends Outside' - they're amazing.

Anyway, your little dragon reminds me SO much of the one pictured in 'Again,' by Emily Gravetts (link below). There's also 'A Gold Star for Zog,' (a rather accident-prone dragon) by Julia Donaldson, and one of my all-time favorites, 'The Paper Bag Princess,' by Robert Munsch (now in a 25th anniversary edition - yikes!). As an aspiring children's librarian, I would love to see your list when it's complete!


http://clel.org/content/emily-gravetts-new-book-again-has-been-nominated-clel-bell-award

barb said...

NO!!!!!!!!!!! I beg you (LOL! ), never publish your patterns thru companies that aren't accessible to us, IMMEDIATELY! I MUST find this pattern before October.

Mya said...

Oh my gosh that is about the cutest thing ever! Love the little dragon. Now I just have to remember to keep an eye out for the pattern (or start bugging my LYS).

Mary Schaefer (stashaway) said...

My Father's Dragon is the first of 3 in a series. The dragons are colorful with stripes I believe, and would be fabulous knitted. My kids loved this trilogy. The Dragon of Lonely Island (also a favorite) would require a multiple-headed dragon.

Nancy in Oklahoma said...

Susan, kudos on another job well-done. This little tyke speaks to me and, in my estimation, is your best work yet.

This young dragon makes me think of Puff, the Magic Dragon as a wee one - long before he met Jackie Paper. I do believe he could tell us many a tale.

Anonymous said...

Cute dragon - Can't wait to get it but I wonder when I will be able to buy SNOWMAN pattern, pretty please. At least say something for us who wants it??

MarDe

Susan B. Anderson said...

MarDe, At some point in the future the snowman and the other characters from my Build-a-Toy class but I honestly don't know when or what form that will be in at this time.
Thanks for asking:)
susan

Malia Jackson said...

Thank you so much for the link to my podcast and the kind words. I can't wait to hang out some more at SSK!

Evelyn said...

That dragon is adorable! I don't know if it qualifies as "dragon literature" but the book "Dragons Love Tacos" by Adam Rubin is pretty cute too.

Velma said...

This is cool!