Trevor the T-Rex

Trevor the T-Rex was my first Instagram commission request that came from my friend, Nika.

Nika put in an order for a crocheted dinosaur, unicorn, bee, and monkey for her adorable son. 

I couldn’t wait to get started on all four projects! The extremely fun part was going through loads of various patterns and working with my friend to decide on a pattern for each project. But before I dive right in to the nitty gritty crochet details, I’d like to introduce you all to Trevor.

Meet Trevor the T-Rex

Trevor the T-Rex is small but mighty. But this boy is no ordinary T-Rex.

Trevor loves humans so much that he has decided to live a vegetarian lifestyle, which is unheard of for most Tyrannosaurus Rex. Of all food, corn is his favourite! He also loves to eat leaves from small plants, because he isn’t that tall.

Trevor loves to play cards (Go Fish is his favourite game!), and he also likes reading about the world to learn about other cultures. He is a very intelligent boy really.

Details to help you crochet Trevor the T-Rex

For all my fellow crocheter readers, here are the details you’re most looking forward to.

Crochet pattern for Trevor the T-Rex

This was a free pattern I found on Ravelry called Tiny the T-Rex, and it’s by Kristel Koevenig aka Miles of Crochet.

I found it extremely easy to follow (except at the beginning, by no fault but my own – I’ll explain why in my lessons learned to follow), and I was extremely happy with the outcome in the end. If you’d like to give this pattern a go, just click this link here or search for Kristel Koevenig’s patterns on Ravelry.

Yarn

As always, I like to be a bit different and chose different colour yarn for this project. I went with a bright mix of blue, green, and yellow, and purchased cotton yarn from Hobbii in Denmark for the first time. The order took about a week to arrive, but I was definitely happy with it when it got to me.

If you click here it will take you to Hobbii’s website. The yarn I bought specifically for this project was Rainbow 8/8 Natural 100% Cotton in Blue (No. 31), Yellow (No. 90), and Green (No. 85).

Crochet lessons learned

For this project, I’m going to start with the lessons I learned, which will make the resources I found make a lot more sense to begin with.

Make sure you check whether your crochet pattern is written in UK or US terms!

Okay, so I really messed this up at the beginning of this project. All the patterns I’d used so far were written in USA abbreviations. Even though there was a big note on Ravelry for this pattern that said, ‘NOTE: Written in UK abbreviations!’, I still continued to crochet this pattern thinking of it as standard USA abbreviations. Ah, whoops! This photo below shows what Trevor’s head first started looking like, until I got to the point where I had to question myself, realise I was doing something majorly wrong, and start all over again. Please note people, UK double crochet = USA single crochet. My bad!

An alternative way to make a magic circle

By now, I feel like I’ve got a pretty good grip on how to crochet a magic circle, considering that’s what all the amigurumi I’ve made so far have used. I didn’t realise, however, that there was another way to do it! This pattern showed me that. Another method is to chain 2, and then add in as many stitches you like into the first chain (as though chain 1 was your magic circle), then crochet on to your new round, and voilà – that’s it! I still personally prefer the standard magic circle method, and this was how I made Trevor even though the pattern specified doing it this way. But I’ll tell you what, if I knew about this method in the beginning when I first started crocheting, I probably would still be using it now and wouldn’t have a clue how to crochet a magic circle. What an awesome way around it!

Stitch marker beauty

Okay, this was less so a lesson learned, but something that I caved into buying part way through while I was making Trevor. I came across this amazing Instagram account here which had loads of gorgeous stitch markers available for sale on Etsy (click here if you want to have a browse). I couldn’t help myself, and went ahead and bought four stitch markers – a coffee cup, plus a set of three which included a llama, hut, and cactus. When they arrived I was so excited! Just look in the images below to see how adorable they are.

Crochet resources for Trevor the T-Rex

Before I go on to talk about a useful resource, let me emphasise that I did not end up needing it for this particular pattern. Remember, UK double crochet = USA single crochet.

How to Double Crochet stitch (US terms)

In the beginning, when I thought I needed to double crochet (USA pattern abbreviations), I needed a quick refresher on how to crochet this stitch, and came across this wonderful YouTube video here. It’s by Bobbie Thomson (aka @crochetguru1) and is called, How to Double Crochet Stitch – Beginner Course: Lesson #9. It is extremely helpful if you do need to double crochet, but remember you don’t need it for this pattern!

Final thoughts about crocheting Trevor the T-Rex

I loved making Trevor, and I absolutely can’t wait to hear what my friend Nika and her son think of him too. I just think he’s adorable, and I certainly learned a lot throughout the crocheting process too.

If you have any feedback, crocheting tips and tricks, or any crocheting inspiration that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you. Just comment below, or hit me up via email here.

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Cilla x