I finished up the year with 3 crochet project. The Guardian Dragon Crochet Wall Hanging was a pattern I purchased over the summer from Etsy. The pattern is by SRO Austin. This pattern was intense and is definitely an intermediate/experienced level pattern.

To start off, this pattern has 3 PDF exports and a long list of interesting materials including plastic canvas and Polyurethane. My first challenge was with the nose. My stitch is short, so I had to make extra rows to get to the end of the plastic canvas frame.

The PDF pattern has tons of step by step pictures, but they are small, so it’s best to read the pattern off the computer or at least zoom in on the pictures. Another hint, don’t print the pattern in black and white, because then the pictures are really hard to see.

The hardest part f the pattern, for me, was the reverse single crochet (crab stitch) in front loop only. I could not figure this out for the life of me. I was trying to look it up online, but still had trouble with it. It doesn’t help that I’ve never quite gotten the crab stich ether. Mom to the rescue! She told me the stitch is called Knurl stitch. I found a tutorial online that really helped.

I wasn’t crazy about the eyes and I bought some safety eyes to use for him, but the ones I bought were too small, so I stuck with my crocheted eyes. The final dragon was gifted to my friend Dawn as a Christmas present. I waited until she got the gift before writing this up. This was an incredible pattern and I highly recommend it. It’s just very clever all the pieces and how they come together.