Giant Amigurumi Dinosaur!
Way back in February, I announced on Twitter that I was going to make a Giant Dinosaur:
Giant Dino is happening! It should be around 3ft long ?
Ingredients:
1. A dino pattern from my Dinosaurs Set 1 (I'll leave which as a surprise!)
2. Techniques from my Complete Guide to Giant AmigurumiResult and pics to follow… pic.twitter.com/Jaxk8lnp2M
— June Gilbank (@PlanetJune) February 7, 2019
And now it’s time for the big reveal!
Georgette the Giant Purple Triceratops is 36 inches (over 90cm!) long, weighs 1.9lbs (850g) and is impossibly soft and cuddly.
I made her using my Triceratops pattern from Dinosaurs Set 1 and the techniques from my Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi.
Isn’t she huge?!
Although she turned out beautifully, I did have a few hitches along the way…
Yarn
I was excited to find a new (to me) yarn to try for this project: Bernat Blanket Extra. According to my calculations, one strand of Extra would be the equivalent of the two strands of Bernat Blanket I use for most of my giant ami, so it seemed like the perfect yarn for Giant Amigurumi! In the picture below, it’s the purple yarn second from the top:
Pictured top to bottom:
- Bernat Blanket Big (#7 jumbo – good for Extreme Amigurumi)
- Bernat Blanket Extra (#7 jumbo – good for Giant Amigurumi)
- Bernat Blanket (#6 super bulky – use 2 strands for Giant Amigurumi or 1 for Mini Giant Amigurumi)
- Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice (#4 worsted weight – a standard amigurumi yarn, for comparison)
While I was correct that a single strand of Extra is an ideal yarn for Giant Amigurumi, I made a bit of a miscalculation and used the weight instead of the yardage when I was figuring out how much yarn I’d need (using the calculation method from the book). Converting from 2 strands of Blanket to 1 strand of Extra, the yardage is a straight 2:1 conversion, but the weight isn’t quite the same (as the Extra weighs just a little more per yard than 2 strands of Blanket).
Thanks to that mistake, I didn’t buy quite enough yarn for the Giant Stegosaurus I had planned 🙁 , but I ran the numbers and realised I had enough to make a Giant Triceratops instead – problem solved!
Structure
Giant ami aren’t as rigid as standard amigurumi, and, even though they are light for their size, the weight of Georgette’s head, including the horns and frill, was a bit much for her front legs – they were squashed down a little, which made her chin touch the ground. So I added an extra round to her front legs to offset that ‘squish factor’, which worked out fine 🙂
Other than that, I followed the pattern, together with my book’s technique advice, exactly:
- The secure magic ring was a lifesaver, especially for those giant horns!
- It turns out that a giant triceratops frill is very floppy, but the stiffening flat pieces technique sorted that right out.
- The large size crocheted eyes were the perfect finishing touch.
Awww, don’t they look just like a mama triceratops and newly-hatched baby?
Georgette is exactly 4 times the length of the standard Triceratops, and 15 times the weight! But she’s extremely cute and cuddly – yay for non-scary dinosaurs 😀
Make Your Own!
If you’re inspired to try crocheting a giant dinosaur too, here’s what you’ll need:
- The PlanetJune Triceratops crochet pattern, or another dinosaur pattern
- The Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi ebook for all the special sizing-up techniques
Of course Giant Amigurumi isn’t limited to just dinosaurs (although I’m still tempted to buy more yarn to make a giant stegosaurus!) – see the book for lots of other examples, and advice for which amigurumi patterns will be easiest to scale up to giant size.
Please share photos of your giant amigurumi projects on any social media using the #giantamigurumi hashtag, and tag me @planetjune so I can see what you’re making! And if you’re a member of the PlanetJune Ravelry group, you can also share your giant amis in our ongoing Giant Amigurumi CAL 🙂
I’m still smitten with Giant Amigurumi – they’re just so much fun, don’t you think? Who could resist a giant purple triceratops?!
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cecilia viviescas said
me gustaria aprender hacer animales grandes especialmente elefantes gracias estoy en medellin colombia
grace said
where can i find the pattern for this?
June said
To make a giant dino just like mine you’ll need my Triceratops pattern and the techniques from my Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi 🙂
Olivia said
Hello! im currently making this giant triceratops and had a question on how you added the plastic to the frill to make it less floppy. In your giant amigurumi guide you show plastic being put into a stuffed body but for the frill its only rows and not a two sided piece so where do you put the plastic? I may just not be understanding the guide but would apreciate some clarification on this! Thank you!! so far the pattern is going great!
June said
Hi Olivia, I’m glad you’re enjoying the pattern so far! You’re looking at the right chapter of the Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi, but trying to use the wrong technique! Chapter 5 includes four techniques for adding stability, and the one you’ll need for the frill is ‘Straightening Curled Edges’ (p36) – no plastic required 🙂
Hadley said
I have been wanting to do this but I can not find the giant dino paytern! please help.
June said
To make a giant dino just like mine you’ll need my Triceratops pattern and the techniques from my Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi 🙂
Sabrina said
I love this so much and I’ve been really trying to nail down what size hook is right for my amigurumi. What size hook did you use with the Extra yarn?
Sorry if I missed it. thank you.
June said
No problem! All my Giant Amigurumi use a 15mm hook 🙂
Lana said
Hi June,
How many oz/g of the Bernat Blanket Extra do I need for one Giant Dinosaur? Thank you.
June said
It depends which dinosaur you want to make! Two 300g balls of Bernat Blanket Extra is enough for a Giant Triceratops like mine; if you wanted to make a Giant Stegosaurus, you’d need a little more yarn, and my other dino patterns may also take more yarn (I haven’t calculated for any others). If you want to make a different dinosaur pattern, you can use the yardage calculator in my Complete Guide to Giant Amigurumi (and then divide the yardage by two, as you only need 1 strand of Bernat Blanket Extra, vs 2 strands of Bernat Blanket).
Lana said
I’m very excited to make a Giant Triceratops! How much oz of polyfil stuffing will I need for the Giant Triceratops? Thank you!
June said
Hmm, I don’t think I can give you an answer – that’s very dependent on a) the type of stuffing you use and b) how squishy you want it to be. Basic answer: A LOT! From the weight of my finished Triceratops and the weight of yarn I used, I must have used about 9oz of stuffing, but I could easily have added a couple more to make her a bit less squishy, so I’d guess 9oz as an absolute minimum.
Erica said
What a sweet dinosaur, June! Your crochet work is flawless.
Judy Carlson said
Outstanding!!!
MotherOwl (Charlotte) said
I like your giant amigurumi. I don’t crochet apart from occasional minor works, but as an avid Science Fiction reader a purple dino could only be a pterodactyl to me 😉
June said
I had to google this to get the reference! 🙂
Freya said
Okay, so I tried this and it was easy but is there a pattern to make this medium sized. I dont have space for a giant thingy!! 😕
June said
Well, yes! You can make Triceratops pattern in any size – see my article on Scaling Amigurumi for further details! My Standard (worsted weight) Triceratops is about 9″ long and this Giant version is about 36″ long, so you can choose Large or Mini Giant scale if you want something in between 🙂