Back to rather old saved posts before I face the October resize. Enjoy this NOt dinosaur!

But a bird found during the age of dinosaurs. The enantiornithine died out at the end of the Cretaceous period but was common during the Mesozoic era. With feathers and teeth, this omnivore has been found as small as a sparrow and as big as a turkey. Toted as the possible origin of feathers and birds… this prehistoric bird has been a creature of interest for some time. They are thought to be found everywhere but Antarctica, virtually all over the Pangea.

We came across the enantiornithine on Dinosaur Train so of course we had to hunt more. This bird was a wonderful creature to restart our dinosaur odyssey. We had one good video that both Emanuel and Gavin enjoyed. PL3_Bird_Enantiornithine Birds by Walter Jahn.

Our second video was more a peek at a rendering on the Dinopedia for Walking With Dinosaurs. An image from their opening HERE. Of course this bird is also featured on Dinosaur Train. You can watch them on PBSkids.org. Or Netflix of course. We found our best images on Google WERE Dinosaur Train. I simply did a Google search for enantiornithine  or enantiornithine  dinosaur train and clicked images.

We had a few links. Some were too advanced for my current learners but I have included them here all the same out of interest sake.

• Random Thoughts has a… random thought about our bird HERE.
• Dinosaur Train’s Field Guide… click search and find our bird HERE.
• Dinosaur Train Wikia HERE.
• Answers in Genesis has an article HERE.
• Phys.Org HERE.
• Wiki article HERE.
• A Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology HERE
• Our colouring page came from deviantArt. We used it to trace out our dinosaur and paste it on a scene the boys drew… Thanks to Albertonykus HERE.

Another delayed post… but interesting all the same. I hope they are helpful to someone and of nothing else, a wonderful record of times when the kids and I had fun learning about something new and just a bit unique.

While 2014 has not had us digging deep into the dinosaur world like we have, we did find the time to learn all about this Australian herbivore. The Minmi is named after a water body in Australia and is one of the most complete sets of fossils. Things like stomach content, skin texture and all sorts of fine details are saved in the fossils. It is believed that this dinosaur was often washed to sea and preserved as it was definitely a 4 legged land mammal.

Emanuel found this dinosaur most interesting due to its many armored plates and its obvious herbivore nature. We had a great discussion about where Australia is and how this was NOT a large armored dinosaur. Now we did have a rather interesting video by La Trobe University. Australian Dinosaur – Minmi.

And the links were actually plentiful on this dinosaur:

• EnchantedLearning HERE
• Australian Museum HERE
• Age of Dinosaurs HERE
• Find the Best has a great picture HERE
• Dinosaur of the Week HERE
• KidsDinos.com HERE
• The National Dinosaur Museum has a lengthy article HERE
• Wiki has their article HERE
• We got our picture off of deviantArt by hyphenatedsuperhero HERE
• We FOUND this dinosaur in a library book – The Big Book of Dinosaurs by DK.

So first and foremost… I got the most amazing idea and pattern off of DeviantArt thanks to Aphid777. Check her out, her patterns are not tested and often leave a lot of wiggle room, but if you are ready for a challenge and an amazing result – she is the best! Small-ish Haku can be found HERE, her profile link is HERE. 

Spirited Away is one of my all time FAVOURITE movies. And Haku one of my favourite dragons. So when I came across this gem on my random look through the artist’s fiber art, well I knew I HAD TO make one of my own (with Ken’s amazing help).

First off my supplies… I used Caron Simply Soft brand yarn and stills from the movie to pick my colours. I used white, blue mint, blackberry and soft pink. 

For detail work Ken used roving wool from a variety pack we purchased off of Amazon. You really do not need much for this sort of detail work. The process he used is called felting. 

For the actual structure of the dragon we purchased 12 GA solid white insulated wire from Menards. We wanted to be sure the dragon could be shaped without snapping the wire and hold form. 

For whiskers and horns we used wrapped in DMC floss color matched from pictures and super glue for ends. (E6000 would work too, except we couldn’t find ours).

For stuffing I used the usual fluffy stuff you buy at Joann’s Polyfil.

I had Ken cut and double our body wire. We went longer than suggested so we could cut as needed. The length we used was around 62 inches… 31 inches when doubled over.

I did not place the wire in the body until I had crocheted a bit down the length, going around the wire once it was in the piece was one of the more annoying processes of the project.

I also varied my amount of stitches to meet the bottom center of the piece from what the artist did. Again this is all eye balling and personal preference. I found that once my head was formed putting a stitch marker on the top of the nose of Haku made it easier to eye ball my return to center.

The trick was to consistently add stuffing without over stuffing, but a long stick was quite helpful. 

Once you crocheted to the near end of the tail it was time to trim my end and cover it in electrical tape to avoid a sharp bit poking through. Then PATIENTLY decreasing until you tie off and finish.

The belly is an easy one piece. If I make this again I would consider making the entire structure longer (mostly for fun with posing) and that would change count. But her pattern was easy to read.

Ears are a quick process. Legs took more work. We used a single piece of wire threaded through the body to each leg for our assembly. And did not poke our wire through the side of the leg as indicated.

Feet were added after, easy enough. (and obviously legs and feet were AFTER mane, but you get the idea)

The mane and fluff at the end of the tail was hooked in like when you are hooking a rug. I made sure to face all my knots toward the front of the body and to keep them close to center. Eyeballing and what you like is key. Lengths do not matter, as once they are in you take a cat brush and brush them until they are fluffy and then trim. 

Before brushing

Ken felted in our details and BANG dragon! I am super pleased with the side view though we feel we need to work on our eyes to better get the front view. Though front on loses the body so… not the view I want anyway! 

And there you have it…. HAKU! Into the local county fair he went. (Like the next day after completion. Nothing like JUST meeting a deadline). End result – first place in crochet, storybook characters! Not bad!