CHINESE DRAGON

WRITTEN BY SARAH COLE © CROCHETCREATIONSBYSARA.BLOGSPOT.COM

You will need-

MC- 1 Skein (I used RHSS White)

HC- ½ Skein (I used RHSS Turqua)

Less then 60 yards of Red Heart Tan for the 2 tone feet.

9mm Safety eyes (or you can embroider/sew buttons/crochet them on after)

Polyfill

Darning/Yarn needle

Pet slicker brush (or a comb to brush out the yarn for the hair)

Size F crochet hook

If you want to make your dragon to pose like mine you will also need some rust proof wire, I used 16 gauge
electrical fencing wire that is rust proof. If you want to make it strong enough to hold a rising pose (ie atleast 1/3
of the length elevated and not supported) you will need to double the wire (twisting it for strength). Don’t be
scared of the wire, all you need is a pair of $1 needle nose pliers that also have a cutting edge to snip the wire off.
It is possible to pose the wire with just your hands, but bending back the end’s of the wire (so sharp edges don’t
poke out of the toy) is easier with the pliers.

Gauge- 4 rows equals 1 inch

All terminology is in USA terms- SC (single crochet), Inc (increase), Dec (decrease), MR (Magic Ring), Ch (chain), Slst
(slip stitch), Hdc (Half double crochet). This pattern is worked in rounds where each round ends with a slst into the
first sc, and starts with a chain 1 unless stated otherwise.

PATTERN BY SARAH COLE © CROCHETCREATIONSBYSARA.BLOGSPOT.COM 2015

Example of pattern with explanation of what it means

S TARTING WITH THE H EAD -

R1- Mr 6sc (6)

R2&3- Sc all (6)

R4-Sc, inc in the next 4 stitchs, sc (10)

R5-Sc all (10)

R6- Sc, inc 2, sc 4, inc 2, sc (14)

R7 through 10-Sc all (14)

R11- Dec, sc 2 repeat (10) -- I start stuffing the nose and insert my eyes now between rows 6 and 7

From here you will switch to working in a continuous spiral. You can work around a wire as you work, but you must
stuff as you go from here out. The wire can always be added in later.

R12 though 84- sc all (10) –This is about 1 foot and 6 inches worth of rows if you don’t want keep count

R 85-Sc 3, dec twice (8)

R 86 though 122- Sc all (8) (about 2 ¼ feet now)

R123- Sc 6, dec (7)

R124 throught 126- Sc all (7)

R127- Sc 5, dec (6)

R128 through 130- Sc all (6)

R131- Sc 3, dec (5)

R 132 through 134- sc all (5)

R 135- Sc 2, dec (4)

R136 through 144- sc all (4) Now you should be just shy of 3 feet long (Mine is about 2 ft 9 inches)

PATTERN BY SARAH COLE © CROCHETCREATIONSBYSARA.BLOGSPOT.COM 2015

H AIR -
With your HC, you will need to work a embroidery chain stitch
down the length of the spine. I opted to pin my body to a
blocking mat and steam block it letting it set over night giving
me a straighter line to work because we all know crochet rows
start to twist as you work, this is completely optional but will
make it easier to make a clean line of embroidery chain stitchs.

Make sure to work 1 chain per row this in the base for your
hair line. This being said, if you want your dragon not to have
hair from head to tail, but just along the head and neck, then a
poof at the tail, only work the chain stitch over those rows.

I made sure to stitch around the end of the tail and work across an additional 6 rows on the underside.

Cut one strand of yarn per chain stitch you worked,

mine where 3 inches (so when added to the body they
where only 1 ½) for a total of about 160 strands
(actually I cut closter to 300 but it was to much). I
added my hair and brushed it after I put the legs on, but
it would have been so much easy to do it before. So I
recommend you start placing the hair in now, I am just
doing a simple larks head knot, I pulled the middle of
the strand threw the stitch ½ way then pulled the ends
threw the loop it made. I was putting 2 strands on each
stitch but that made it a little too full so I recommend one strand per stitch.

Here I used a clean pet slicker brush and gently starting at the ends brushed the yarn working my way closer to the
body as the ply’s of the yarn came undone. I put the dragon down on my work surface to do this with a sheet of
paper under it so the brush wouldn’t scratch up the surface. A lot of the fiber will transfer to the slicker brush as
you work just make sure to clean it off as you go. (I saved mine to spin later)

After its fully brushed out you can move on to trimming and shaping it. I trimmed mine down to about an inch
from the body always cutting at a slight angle to leave it with some texture.

PATTERN BY SARAH COLE © CROCHETCREATIONSBYSARA.BLOGSPOT.COM 2015

E ARS - (M AKE 2)
You will be working around a chain so make
sure to only work in the back loop (farthest
loop from you) only, so when you get to the
end and work around the end you will have
the other half of the stitches left to work
back down.
nd
Ch 7, in 2 ch from hook hdc, hdc, sc 3, slst, chain 2, now working into the other side, slst, sc 3, hdc 2 FO leaving a
long tail.
rd
Fold ear in half along the starting chain and stitch the edge of the HDC’s together, then in the 3 row behind the
eyes sew ears onto the body.

H ORNS - ( MAKE 2)
Chain 9, working in the back bump of the chain, in the first stitch from hook slst, slst again, then sc 7.

This should leave you with a naturally curving horn, sew into head just above the ears.

L EGS - ( MAKE 4)
The legs will be worked in 2 colors starting with the tan. Both the left legs are worked
only slightly different from the right so I will add in a side not on that round what to do
differently.

Working the Toes-

nd
Start by chaining 4, then in the 2 ch from the hook (N2ndcfh) Hdc, Hdc across (3 hdc)
first claw finished, ch 4 n2ndchfh Hdc across (3 hdc) second claw finished, ch 4
n2ndchfh Hdc across (3 hdc) third claw finished, ch 5 n2chfh Hdc across (4 Hdc) heel
rd
claw finished now slip stitch into the the 3 hdc from the first claw. You should now
have a cross shape like in the picture.

Now we will start the round of the legs-

R1- Chain 1, pick up a stitch in the edge of the first 3 claws (3 stitchs), in the heel claw
pick up 2 stitches (5 stitchs) All rounds will end with a slst into the first SC, and a chain

R2 tough 4- SC all (5) Leave a LONG tail in brown for sewing the claws and bottom of the foot closed atleast 1 ft of
yarn. Make sure to pull it threw to the bottom of the foot.

R5- Switch to white yarn- SC all (5)

PATTERN BY SARAH COLE © CROCHETCREATIONSBYSARA.BLOGSPOT.COM 2015

R6&7- sc all (5)

R8- For right legs only, Inc in first stitch, sc remaining (6)

R8- For left legs only, Sc, 5, inc in last stitch (6)

R9- SC all DO NOT JOIN IN ROUND – we are switching

to working back and forth now-

R10 Ch 1 turn, sc 6 (6)

R11- Ch1 turn, sc 6 (6)

FO leaving a very long tail to sew legs onto the body.

W IRING THE LEGS

I made sure to clean my wire and dry it before wiring the
body and legs as it can be VERY dirty.

I picked a spot about 1 ft from the tip of the nose and

ran my wire threw then slid the legs onto the wire.

I attached the legs into the body 2 stitches below the

hair line with 4 stitches between on the belly.

Now with your plyers, we will work on the claws.

I bent 1 wire forwards for the middle claw, and one

backwards into the heel claw, to prevent sharp edges poking
out I bent the wire back again so its pointing to the middle of
the foot like in the photo.

Now using the tail (tan) whip stitch threw one loop of the top
and bottom of the claw row’s closing that row up around the
wire. I worked clock wise around closing up each of the side
claws in the same manner and running an X across to close up
the small gap at the bottom of the foot.

Once both legs are finished you can pose them so the dragon
can stand on them, I choose to give an elbow bend just above
the color change and my shorter 3 claws are facing slightly out
and to the front.

PATTERN BY SARAH COLE © CROCHETCREATIONSBYSARA.BLOGSPOT.COM 2015