Remember Little L's
dragon balaclava I was working on? You know, the one that I ran out of yarn with only an ear left to knit and I had to buy another skein of yarn just to knit that little ear? Well, I finished it. I plan to take more pictures of it after I block it (if I can ever get it off Little L's head!), but here is a little sneak peek:
We love it. After I completed it I felt that he needed some more dragon goodness with the leftover yarn. I did have almost an entire skein, after all. So I decided to give him a complete dragon look with some spiked legs and arms, inspired by the spikes I used on his balaclava. Not only are these little warmers fun, but functional too, as they will help him stay warm in the upcoming season. My family and I think these are so
cute ferocious that I just had to share the pattern with all of you.
You'll need:
size 8 (5.0 mm) double pointed needles
Worsted weight yarn of your choice
Warmers:
You can add the dragon spikes to any preexisting leg warmer pattern you may have or you can use the pattern I made up:
Cast on 32 stitches and divide the stitches on three double pointed needles. Join to knit in the round using a knit 2 purl 2 ribbing.
Continue the k2p2 until you reach your desired length. For my little guy (age 3 1/2) I knit the leg warmers to 8". Sew in the ends and knit a second one.
Once you have finished your leg warmers, you are ready to add the spikes.
Spikes:
Pick up and knit ten stitches vertically from one of your K2 rows with a double pointed needle. Then pick up and knit another ten knit stitches parallel to the other ten stitches with another double pointed needle. Now divide the stitches onto three double pointed needles. These twenty stitches will be knit in round.
Picking up the first stitch
ten stitches
Picking up the next ten parallel stitches
dividing the twenty stitches onto double pointed needles.
Knit as follows:
Row 1: Place marker at beginning of the round, knit all twenty stitches.
Row 2: K1, SSK (slip slip knit), K4, K2tog (knit 2 together), K2, SSK, K4, K2tog, K1 - 4 stitches decreased.
Row 3: Knit all stitches
Row 4: K1, SSK, K2, K2tog, K2, SSK, K2, K2tog, K1
Row 5: Knit all stitches
Row 6: K1, SSK, K2tog, K2, SSK, K2tog, K1
Row 7: K all stitches
Row 8: K1, SKP (slip knit pass over), K2, SKP, K1 - 6 stitches left on needles.
Place the first 3 stitches on one needle and the next 3 on a second needle. Use the Kitchener stitch to close.
Repeat the above steps for each spike. For my 8" leg warmers I did five spikes on each.
Kitchener close
All done!
I'll share pictures of the complete outfit after Michaelmas.
Additional notes:
-Pattern link on ravelry can be found
here.
-I was able to knit him two leg warmers and two smaller arm warmers with that one skein.
-You could easily add the spikes to socks and gloves, too. The possibilities are endless. Have fun with it!
Dragon Legs (and arms!) Knitting Pattern
K with her guardian angel on the birthday/nature table
A picture K drew of herself on her birthday
This was such a hard book to find! I remember checking it out every week during the school year in elementary school as a child. It brought back so many memories for me and now it's creating new ones for my girl. So glad I got it!
My K received a book from her Nana on Friday and has not been able to put it down. She has suddenly become a little bookworm! I love it. She is even underling things she wants to remember as she reads. But last night a little before midnight as I was getting ready to go to bed she came out of her room hugging her book. I thought something was wrong but she was all smiles and said she had been reading the whole time. It had been quiet and dark in the girls' room so I thought she was sleeping! I think I need to invest in a good book light for her so she isn't straining her eyes. Any suggestions? I used to have one that I bought from Borders many years ago but it fell apart. I need one that can withstand a nine year old as well as possible attacks by a three year old dragon. 
