Little Ember Dragon

You will need

Yarn

Worsted · cotton or acrylic (aran works too), about 170–200 m / 100 g, plus a little black yarn for the nostrils

Hook

3.5 mm (US E/4), for a firm fabric

Colours

3: Jade, Butter, Black (embroidery)

Also

2 safety eyes, 12 mm, toy stuffing, a stitch marker, a tapestry needle

Gauge

16 sc × 18 rounds = 10 cm (4 in); not critical, the fabric just needs to be firm

Terms

US crochet terms · 10 different pieces, 86 rounds written out

Size & yarn

Height sitting, from the round counts at the gauge above. Yarn: engine estimate from 1,822 single crochets, with a 10–15% margin.

Checked by the engine

• The 86 written rounds of the 10 pieces, read on their own, add up: each round works exactly the stitches of the round below and ends on the count in brackets.
• Increases and decreases are staggered: in all 32 back-to-back shaping rounds, none is worked into the stitches made by one in the round below, so the pieces stay round instead of turning hexagonal.
• No round adds or takes away more than 6 stitches, so nothing ruffles or puckers.
• Every round of every piece follows the drawn shape: the largest difference is 2.4 mm in radius (head).
• Every closed piece ends on 6 stitches or fewer, so the last hole pulls shut.
• Every placement points to a round that exists on its piece, every opening fits where it is sewn, and each piece is used as many times as it is made (16 pieces in all).
• The toy sits on its base: no leg, foot or tail is sewn so low that it lifts the base off the table (nothing reaches more than 2 mm below it).
• Size from the counts: about 13 cm tall at 16 sc × 18 rnds to 10 cm. Every round's size is its stitch count, so a thicker or thinner yarn scales the whole toy.

Version 1.1 · corrections

• 19 October 2026 · v1.1. The arms are now flattened and sewn closed at the top, then sewn on by that flat edge between Rnds 11 and 12 of the body, so they hang down against it (before: sewn on by the open end between Rnds 9 and 10, pointing out). The legs are sewn between Rnds 7 and 8 (before: 4 and 5) and the tail between Rnds 8 and 9 (before: 5 and 6), so the dragon sits on its base instead of on its legs and tail; it is now about 13 cm tall (before: about 15 cm). Round counts and yarn are unchanged.

PDFs downloaded before have the old numbers; download again for this version.