Pattern Review: Dragon Hat

As you may or may not know, I LOVE Dragons!!  Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by all things fantasy - witches, wizards, castles, and especially dragons.  Yes, I know they aren't real, but I love them none the less.  I was fortunate enough to meet a man who shared the same passion for dragons - and he's now my husband.  LOL  When our son was born, we agreed to give him the middle name "Drago", which means dragon in Italian.  Keiran has always thought dragons were cool too, so when I came across the Dragon Hat pattern by Briabby Designs a few months ago, I knew I was going to have to add it to my collection.  After going back and forth about buying it - $7.99 is way more than I normally spend on any pattern - I finally gave in.  Keiran had been telling me he really wanted one, and since I hadn't made him anything recently, I went online and purchased the pattern. 

I have to admit that I didn't go into this with my eyes wide open.  In all honesty, had I read through the pattern in full before beginning, I may not have started it at all.  There are a TON of individual pieces to make and most of the hat is worked in single crochet.  I pushed through and after 1 full day plus another hour or so of crocheting, followed by almost a full day of assembly, the hat is finally complete... and I have a VERY happy 5-year old!!!

The pattern is very well-written, with photos to make things easier to understand on the parts that may need a little more explanation.  There are a ton of different hat sizes to choose from, so you could make a dragon hat for absolutely everyone in your life if you wanted to.  I do think that if I make another one I will probably attempt to stitch all of the pieces (aside from the wings and legs) onto the body before pinning it down.  I may even use linked double crochet in place of the single crochet in some places where it seems that it could work.  All in all, this is definitely a pattern worth the price!!!  If you are a beginning hooker, this is not a pattern I would recommend trying... and not because it's a complicated pattern, but because there are so many different parts, it can be discouraging. 

I love the way the final product turned out.  With the dragon being fully three-dimensional, it is going to garner a ton of attention when my lil' man wears it out of the house!!!