Miniature Dragon Egg Dice Bags

These little wonders were created specifically for a challenge over on Lettuce Craft.  My friend PerfectlyBohemian, who mods the Art Board, challenged us all to miniaturize our favorite crafts.  Are you kidding?  You want me to Miniaturize My Craft?  Well buckle up Buttercup.  I've got a teeny tiny craft just for you!

 

When I saw this challenge, I was so intrigued with the idea, but I had no idea what to make.  After kicking around some ideas with crafty friends, I realized one of the things I'm known for crocheting is dragon egg dice bags.  And in my jewelry making stash, I just happened to have some itty bitty aluminum scales.

I whipped out my smallest crochet hook, and some lace weight silk yarn and got to experimenting.  My normal sized dice bags are made with 144 'small' sized scales, that each measure 14mm x 22mm (or 9/16" x 7/8"), and use #4 or Medium weight yarn and a 5mm crochet hook, and are finished with glass pony beads, about 1cm wide.  The finished full size bags measure 12cm tall (or 4.5").

The miniature bags were made with 27 'tiny' sized scales that measure 7mm x 11mm (or 1/4" x 7/16"), and used a #0 or Lace weight yarn and a 2.25mm crochet hook, and are finished with 4mm Swarovski crystal beads.  The finished bag measures 3cm tall and 2.5cm wide (or 1.5" x 1").

One of the only problems I encountered was that the hook didn't fit through the hole in the tiny scales.  The pattern I use for the full size bags calls for you to crochet through the scales, to attach them to the bag.  Since that wasn't an option here, I sewed them on.  I crocheted 2 rows beyond the row I wanted to add the scales to, then went back and stitched them, so that the thread wouldn't accidentally catch the yarn, or I wouldn't accidentally sew a stitch closed, that I needed to get a hook back into.

Each finished bag is about the size of a standard D20, though one doesn't really comfortably inside.  I knew that in order to display the tiny bags, they would need tiny dice.  But I was just not up for making itty bitty polyhedral shapes.  I felt sure that way madness lies.  So I picked up some 5mm micro dice from a maker on Etsy.  I adore how cute they are with my bags! 

Silk Scale Mail Dice Bowl

I was at a loss as to what to make my husband for our anniversary this year.  It's our 12th, which is silk and linen.  He isn't into either for clothing or pj's as the internet suggests, but digging through my yarn stash I found some awesome silk yarn, and decided to make him a dice bowl for when he plays D&D.  I made up the pattern based on previous bowls I've created, and have included the pattern below for you.  It was created with a worsted weight (#4) silk roving from Darn Good Yarn, called Crimson Fire.  The scales came from the Ring Lord and are red, silver, and carbon.

Round 1: In Magic Ring, 6 sc.

Round 2: Sc increase in each st. (12 sc)

Round 3: 2 sc, sc around. (18 sc)

Round 4: 2 sc, sc in next two st around. (24 sc)

Round 5: 2 sc, sc in next three st around. (30 sc)

Round 6: 2 sc, sc in next four st around. (36 sc)

Round 7: 2 sc, sc in next five st around. (42 sc)

Round 8: 2 sc, sc in next six st around. (48 sc)

Round 9: Sc in back loop only, around. (48 sc)

Round 10 - 11: Sc in each st around. (48 sc)

Round 12: Do 1st round of scales.

Round 13: SC in each st around. (48 sc)

Round 14: Do 2nd round of scales.

Round 15: SC in each st around. (48 sc)

Round 16: Do 3rd round of scales.

Round 17: Sc in first st, sc two tog, sc in next 6 st, sc two tog; repeat around. (42 sc)

Round 18: Do a round of slip st along the outside edge of the bowl, to create a stronger lip.

Finish off, weave in ends.

Dragon Egg Dice Bags

I have a confession....  I never seem to craft for my husband.  I craft for so many friends and family members, but I rarely make things for him.  This is partly because he doesn't care much for gifts or clutter, and because if there's something he wants in the world, he buys it for himself, leaving me little to do.  Over the course of our 15 years together, I've managed to make him 1 quilt, 1 laptop sleeve, and 1 cozy for his French press coffee maker.  But when I saw this pattern a while back, I knew I'd have to make one for him.  It's been sitting on the back burner for ages, but now that he's gearing up to go to Gary Con in March, the time was right to bust out my scales, and get to work.

So I stitched up a bag in some of his favorite colors.  Blue, black and grey.  All the items were in my stash, including leftover yarn, scales from The Ring Lord, leather lacing, and glass crow beads.  Gift completed, easy peasy.

Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn in charcoal with aluminum scales in black, carbon, and blue.

Only problem?  I had so many more scales left.  And tons more yarn.  And I felt like the pattern could use a bit of tweaking.  So I clearly had to make a second one to tweak the pattern.

Caron Simply Soft yarn in garnet with red & orange aluminum, and copper scales.

The second bag came out well, but the pattern could still use more work, so I tried a third with a few more alterations.

Caron Simply Soft yarn in deep sage, with black & green aluminum, and copper scales.

By now I had settled on how I wanted to alter the pattern.  So it only made sense to make another, with the new, improved shape.  But I was finally running low on scales.  Or at least colors that went well with one another.  So I ordered a few more colors.  The result was possibly my personal favorite.  It's not like I have a collection of dice to carry around, since I don't play D&D, but if I did, this one would be all mine.

Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn in charcoal with black & carbon aluminum, and violet titanium scales.

I loved the deep purple titanium scales, and found they went well with the warm sand and deep steel blue, so another bag happened.

Caron Simply Soft yarn in plum perfect with sand aluminum and purple & dark blue titanium scales.

 When I was putting away the yarns I had used thusfar, I bumped into a partial skein of deep brown Heartland, and realized it would go beautifully with the dark brown scales that had been in my stash, so why not make one more.

Lion Brand Heartland yarn in sequoia, with brushed brown, brushed sand, and brushed champagne aluminum scales.

After that some of the other titanium scales were calling to me, with their siren song.  "Jennie, come play with us!  We look like mermaid scales!"  This probably ties for my favorite.

Lion Brand Heartland yarn in pinnacles with purple, light blue, and green titanium scales.

And I had so many of the gold and champagne scales, it only made sense to create something lighter and brighter.

Lion Brand Heartland yarn in sand dunes with bronze & champagne aluminum and bronze scales.

And finally, as I was wrapping up the last of my yarn balls, I had a bit of the charcoal left over, and the green scales were just demanding that I create a Slytherin theme, inspired by my dear friend Zoe, who plays D&D, and somehow, despite being just about the sweetest person on Earth, thinks she's a Slytherin.

Lion Brand Wool Ease in charcoal with aluminum scales in green, carbon and brushed silver.

After finishing my ninth bag, I went back and actually remade my first two.  After all, what's the point of improving the pattern, then giving my DH a less than perfect version?  In this picture you can see a comparison of the two versions.  The original is on the left, and my version on the right.  The alterations created a better overall egg shape, and kept the bottom row of scales from twisting out of place as it sits on a table.