Crochet Dragon - Smaug from The Hobbit

I'm pretty excited about the upcoming movie The Hobbit, but it's still a few months away.  So in the meantime, I crocheted my own Smaug.   He is known as Smaug The Magnificent, Smaug the Golden, the Dragon of Erebor, and Bilbo also calls him Smaug the Tremendous.  Unfortunately, I don't know yet what he will look like in Peter Jackson's movie so I based my crochet Smaug on J.R..R Tolkien's watercolour Conversations with Smaug.

While I was crocheting my dragon, I noticed that he started to look too cute, and Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities is not cute.  To make him look more fearsome I added some extreme elements (well extreme as far as crochet goes).  I used red LEDs for the eyes and smoke and sparks rising from his nostrils.

Step 1: What you will need

• Yarn: yellow and two shades of red (the yarn for the spikes is weight class 4 and the primary red and yellow yarns are weight class 3 -though I'm guessing about the 3 since it is not listed on the package, it is slightly thinner than the other red)
• crochet hook (2.5mm)
• stitch marker
• fibrefill
• felt
• embroidery thread and needle
• glitter glue
• cotton ball

For the electronics:

• LEDs: two red -I bought a bunch of different colour LEDs on eBay
• LED tealight - you can find these at a dollar store
• needle nose pliers
• conductive thread - I bought mine online at Soft Circuit, you can also get it at Spark Fun,  Aniomagic, or if you live in Canada there is this place.
• optical fibres  - I found a dollar store toy that had optical fibre ( you can also find some on eBay)

Comments

[playadel]

Thank you so much for this pattern. It is turning out nicely. I have a question about the Conductive Thread. I looked on the sites you recommended and there are so many different kinds. Can you be more specific as to what kind of thread and how much I need? Thank you.

[ChrysN]

I bought the one from the Soft Circuit site. All of the ones listed should work about the same. Soft Circuit has a nice sample size for $4.50 which is all that you would need for this project. You wouldn't need more than a foot of thread here.

[craftygater]

I am having trouble downloading the PDF. Every time I click on download it opens the log in box. I fill out and click log in and it will not log me in. I logged in thru facebook and every time I click on download the log in box comes back up. I haven't had any problems like this on any other sites. Is there a glitch in your log in box or download box? My daughter sent me your site to make Smaug for my 2 yr old grandson. He is really into dragons.

[ChrysN]

Hi, unfortunately you need to be a Pro member to download pdf files http://www.instructables.com/account/gopro?sourcea=footer

[playadel]

ChrysN, I will try that, it sounds like it makes sense. Thanks

[playadel]

Hi again, Thank you for your patience, On the torso did you carry both red and yellow together hiding one behind the other? Each color seems to show thru the other color a little. I've been on youtube re changing colors. Still a little confused. Thanks

[ChrysN]

Hi, I actually didn't carry the two yarns together, I just stitched with red, then dropped it, then started with yellow, then switched again to red as the pattern required. I didn't tie off and cut the thread when I stitched with the other colour, the red and yellow threads just spanned across.

Does that make sense, I guess that is not the common way of crocheting with 2 colours by carrying them along. I tried to find instructions demonstrating this, but only found this link :http://www.ehow.com/how_6179119_change-colors-within-round-amigurumi.html under
Dropping First Color Yarn to Pick Up Later, steps 7-9

[playadel]

I have another question, I'm doing the torso and on round 13 it ends with 24sc which comes out find. Then I do the 14th round , if I'm reading it right there are three increases but the outcome is supose to be 28sc. Not. I't comes out to 27sc. How do I adjust this because the rest of the pattern seems to work out fine. Thank you so much. My 7yr grandson is going to love this. Being a boy though I hope he does'nt want to take it apart to see how it works. You are very talented and I'm glad you won 1st prize. Thanks again.

[ChrysN]

It looks like both row 14 and row 15 seem off, with only 3 increases but the stitch count going up by for. I can't find my original note, so I either typed it out wrong or didn't record it properly, sorry about that. I remember having trouble in that part.

To solve the problem, in row 14: there should be a second increase in the yellow portion, you can spread it out so that the first increase is in the beginning of the yellow part and the second increase is in the last stitch of the yellow part.

In row 15, when I look closely at my dragon there only appears to be one increase in the yellow portion so the additional increase must have occurred in the red portion after the yellow. Again you can spread the two increases in that section out a bit.

I hope that helps.

Between row 13 and 15 happens to be where I placed the legs, so if there were any inconsistencies they are covered by the legs.

I hope your grandson enjoys it!

[playadel]

(removed by author or community request)

[ChrysN]

If you want to include the electrical parts it needs to be wider just do18st in the last row (same as the previous row), if you weren't going to add the electrical decrease the last row to 16st. The first row of the torso is 16st around and I was able to stuff the battery part in there. If it is too narrow you can start the row with 18st. When connecting the head and torso the difference in the size of the openings isn't too noticeable

[playadel]

Thank you so much for your timely response. I understand what your saying so I'll let you know how it came out. Thanks!

[cryptex]

this ok

[ChrysN]

Nice, I haven't seen that image before.

[cryptex]

what do you mean you havent seen this its the artwork for the audio book

[piratekat]

is there any way the crochet hook could be a size or 2 bigger than stated?

[ChrysN]

That is fine, it will just turn out slightly larger. You may also see a bit of the stuffing through the holes, but it probably won't be too bad.

[laxap]

Very nice! Even before I read the title, I thought "it's Smaug!"

PS: Did you already get your camera? I'm owner of a Canon G9 and totally fan of these compact cameras. Can't wait to hear about the Olympus E-P2!

[ChrysN]

They've just sent it in the mail, so I'm really looking forward to getting. I've been using a old Sony point and shot (it has glue and other stuff on it). Hopefully you'll see an improvement in future instructable photos..

[eechupa]

Brilliant - just brilliant!

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[theagan]

I am excited about the release of the Hobbit and I love this pattern!!!

I completed the head, body, tail, but I have been struggling with the legs.
Front legs Row 6. I cannot figure out how to get to 5s. First stitch get 2 stitches, then reduce (2nd & 3rd sts), then add (4th stitch). What happens to the 5th and 6th stitches? I have the same question for the back legs round 4.

I am new to crocheting. If anyone can please help, I will be grealty appreciative.


.

[ChrysN]

That should read 2sc in first, (sc2tog)x2, 2 sc in next st (6st) for the front legs. For the back legs it is just the stitch total is wrong, it should be 12st not 10. Sorry for the confusion.

[theagan]

Thank you so much!!!

[ChrysN]

Feel free to PM me if you have anymore questions!

[Dusk Shadows]

IF I HAD SOME PATCHES YOU WOULD GET 7 OF THEM [I HAVE SOME OTHER PEOPLE ON THIS THAT ARE FRIENDS OR ARE JUST REALLY TALENTED]

[Dusk Shadows]

I AM BORN IN THE YEAR OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON I LOVE DRAGONS I ALWAYS HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cryptex]

you should have based him on this

[scoochmaroo]

Want! I was born in the year of the red dragon! I'm obsessed. LOVE the led effects!

[ChrysN]

That sounds really lucky, I was born in the year of the white pig, not so impressive.

[MiriadaTheCarrot]

This is awesome! :D I just started experimenting with crochet recently, and I'm definitely making this :) could you tell me what "sc" means?

[ChrysN]

Oh sorry, I forgot to put that in the nomenclature key, silly since that is the stitch I used most. Sc is single crochet, I'll add that to the key

[MiriadaTheCarrot]

Thanks! Are you using the UK or US stitches? (the book I learned stitches from states that the UK "double crochet" is the US "single crochet" and the US "double crochet" is the UK "treble crochet"... all quite confusing, to be honest) Also, could you tell me what thickness yarn you are using? :)

[ChrysN]

That is confusing, I didn't realize they are different . I use the US "sc" stitches. 
The primary red and yellow yarn are the same, but unfortunately the packaging doesn't mention the weight.  Just a gauge square that indicates for a 4x4 inch (10x10cm) square there are 25 rows and 19 stitches with a 4mm (6 US) crochet hook.  The colour that I used for the spikes is slightly thicker and the label indicates that the weight is 4.  (So I would guess the weight for the other red and yellow is 3).  I hope that helps.

[HelenaTroy]

Differemt terms for the same things can be confusing (same prob with "fluid ounces" in US-UK recipes).- if UK double is US single, what's UK single in the US????

I suppose that one could try various stitches - UK single, US single - and see how they look - *s* perhaps differnt stitches would give interesting new "skin tones"!

[MiriadaTheCarrot]

UK single stitches are the same as slip stitch :)

[HelenaTroy]

k, thanks!

[ChrysN]

It definitely pays to know whether it' UK or US stitches otherwise you'd end up crocheting something completely different.

[HelenaTroy]

lol Chrys, got an example????

[ChrysN]

I guess it would just look warped rather than turn into a different creature, lol.