Crochet Dragon Pattern (Free + Black and White Keychain Pair)
Most free dragon patterns I run into want three evenings and a diagram for the wings. This one wants an evening and a stitch marker.
I commissioned this pair from the crocheter I work with because I kept seeing the same gap. People want a dragon, they are two months into crochet, and every pattern they open starts with a jointed body and a wing chart. So they close it again.
These two are heads. That is the whole trick. One stuffed ball each, six little fins on the black one, four on the white one, safety eyes, done. They came off the hook as a matching pair and they work best that way, one dark and one light, which is why I am publishing them together instead of splitting them into two thin posts.
Quick Info
| Skill level | Beginner to advanced beginner |
| Finished size | About 6 to 7 cm (2.5 inches) across, per dragon |
| Time | 1 to 2 hours per dragon, so the pair fits in one evening |
| Hook | 2.5 mm |
| Stitches used | Magic ring, single crochet, increase, invisible decrease |
| Makes | Two keychains, one black and one white |
To be straight with you before you buy yarn: these are dragon heads, not full-bodied dragons. No body, no tail, no wings. At keyring size that is the right call, and I would rather tell you now than have you reach the end of the pattern looking for the wing rounds.
On the size. The pattern sheet does not pin a measurement down, and the designer’s reason is a fair one: the same rounds land at different sizes depending on your yarn, your hook and how hard you pull. She puts hers at 6 to 7 cm. A tighter tension on the same 2.5 mm hook comes out nearer 5. Either way it is keychain scale.
If you want the full-bodied build, this is not that pattern. If you want two dragons on your keys by tomorrow morning, keep reading.
Why Two Dragons and Not One
The black one and the white one are the same head. Same rounds, same stitch counts, same stuffing point. You learn the shape once and make it twice.
What actually changes is small. The black dragon gets six head fins and yellow eye rims. The white dragon gets four head fins and light blue eye rims.
That is it. Two distinctly different characters out of one set of instructions, which is the best kind of value a small pattern can offer.
It also makes them a natural pair to give away. One stays on your keys, one goes to the person who keeps borrowing your keys.
Materials
- 2.5 mm crochet hook
- 4 ply milk cotton yarn in black and white (small amounts, this is a scrap-buster)
- 4 ply milk cotton in yellow and light blue for the eye rims, a short length of each
- Four 9 mm safety eyes
- Fiberfill stuffing
- Yarn needle
- Stitch marker
- Scissors
- Keyring hardware: two jump rings, two short chains, two split rings
A note on the hardware. The designer’s materials list stops at the scissors, because the sheet is written as a crochet pattern rather than an assembly guide. I asked her how she actually finishes them and the answer is as simple as it looks: the head goes onto a jump ring, opened and closed with a pair of pliers. The chain and split ring in the photos hang off that jump ring.
On the yarn: 4 ply milk cotton sits around sport to DK weight and it is the standard amigurumi yarn across a lot of Asia, sold in 40 to 50 g balls. If you cannot find it, a DK cotton or a sport weight cotton blend on the same 2.5 mm hook gets you very close. Expect a few millimeters bigger, which nobody will notice on a keychain.
Skip anything fuzzy or halo-y. The eye rims are embroidered in one thin line and a hairy yarn swallows them completely.
Abbreviations
| Short | Means |
|---|---|
| MR | Magic ring |
| sc | Single crochet |
| inc | Increase (2 sc in the same stitch) |
| dec | Invisible decrease |
| st | Stitch |
| R | Round |
| FO | Fasten off |
The Head
Use black yarn for the first dragon. Worked in a continuous spiral, so you never join and never chain up.
- R1: 6 sc in MR [6]
- R2: 6 inc [12]
- R3: (1 sc, 1 inc) x 6 [18]
- R4: (2 sc, 1 inc) x 6 [24]
- R5: (3 sc, 1 inc) x 6 [30]
- R6 to R10: sc around [30]
- R11: (3 sc, 1 dec) x 6 [24]
- R12: (2 sc, 1 dec) x 6 [18]
Stuff firmly with fiberfill now. Past R13 the opening closes up and you cannot fill the middle evenly.
- R13: (1 sc, 1 dec) x 6 [12]
- R14: 6 dec [6]
Fasten off, close the remaining hole with your yarn needle, and bury the tail inside the head.
Use the stitch marker, seriously. A plain black ball has no color change and no seam, so there is no landmark to find the start of the round. Move the marker up every single round.
On the magic ring: if yours leaves a gap at the bottom, the fix is almost always pulling the tail tighter before you close it, not crocheting tighter. Give it a firm tug once R2 is done and the hole shuts.
On the invisible decrease: go through the front loops only of the next two stitches, then yarn over and pull through both. A standard sc2tog works too, it just leaves a visible bump, which on a head this small reads as a dent.
Stuff firmer than feels right. This lives in a pocket against house keys. Under-stuffed goes soft and lopsided within a couple of weeks, and there is no fixing it once it is closed.
If your ball comes out hexagonal instead of round, your increases are stacking directly above each other. Shift them a stitch or two sideways as you go and the corners disappear.
If any of this feels familiar, it should. This is the same sphere as the crochet soccer ball keychain, right down to the stitch counts. Once you have this shape you can make a surprising number of things out of it.
The Head Fins
Still black yarn. These are tiny and they work up in about two minutes each.
Large head fins (make 2)
- R1: 7 sc in MR [7]
- R2 to R4: sc around [7]
FO, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Small head fins (make 4)
- R1: 4 sc in MR [4]
- R2 to R3: sc around [4]
FO, leaving a long tail for sewing.
Do not stuff the fins. Four rounds of single crochet at 2.5 mm holds its own shape, and stuffing makes them bulge into blobs instead of reading as fins.
Leave more tail than you think you need. Ten centimeters feels generous and is about right. A short tail on a part this small is the single most annoying way to lose ten minutes.
The step photos label these as horns. The pattern doc calls them head fins. They are the same pieces, and on the finished dragon they sit like fins, so that is what I am calling them.
Assembly
Order matters here. Eyes first, then fins, because the eye posts need room to push through and the fins get in the way if they are already on.
- Attach the two 9 mm safety eyes between R8 and R9, about 5 stitches apart. Push the posts through from the outside, then click the washers on from the inside before you close the head. If your head is already closed, a knitting needle helps you reach in and seat the washer.
- Embroider the eye rims in yellow. One line of yarn following the curve of the top of each eye, going in and out close to the eye itself. Split the 4 ply down to a single strand first, because a full strand reads as a thick yellow rope at this scale.
- Sew one large head fin to each side of the head, positioned between R5 and R7.
- Sew two small head fins on top of the head, and the remaining two small fins just below the large ones.
That gives the black dragon six fins total.
Sew fins on across their whole base, not at one point. Anchor the front edge, the back edge, then the middle. A fin tacked at a single spot flops forward the first time it goes in a pocket.
Pin or hold everything in place before you commit. Fin position is what makes these read as a dragon rather than a bear, and moving them later means picking out stitches from black yarn on a black head.
The designer notes you can glue the fins on with fabric glue instead of sewing. I would sew them if the keychain is going to anyone who might tug on it, and definitely if it is going to a child. Glue on a part this small gives up after enough pocket friction.
The White Dragon
Same head, white yarn. Work R1 to R14 exactly as above, stuffing at the same point.
Head fins: make 2 large and 2 small, in white.
Assembly:
- Attach the 9 mm safety eyes between R8 and R9, about 5 stitches apart.
- Embroider the eye rims in light blue instead of yellow.
- Sew one large head fin to each side, between R5 and R7.
- Sew one small head fin just below each large fin.
Four fins total, so the white one has a cleaner and slightly softer silhouette than the black one. Side by side that difference does a lot of work.
White shows everything. Wash your hands before you start and keep the ball off the floor. Black hides a multitude of sins that white puts on display, and the two sitting together makes any grubbiness on the white one obvious.
Turning Them Into Keychains
The pattern sheet ends at the fins, so I asked the designer how the pair in the photos got onto keyrings. Her answer was that there is not much to it: a jump ring, a pair of pliers, done. Here is the whole thing.
- Thread a jump ring through the top of the head, catching a stitch or two right at the closing point where the yarn is densest. Between the two top fins on the black dragon, dead center on the white one.
- Close the jump ring with pliers. That is how the designer does it, and pliers are what get it shut flush so the ring cannot work open on a set of keys. Pinching it firmly with your fingers works if pliers are not to hand.
- Add a short chain, then a split ring on the far end. The chain is what makes it hang like a charm instead of sitting stiff against your keys.
- Bury any remaining yarn tail inside the head so nothing works its way loose.
If you would rather skip the hardware shopping, a loop of yarn sewn through the top and knotted works, and so does a length of ribbon if it is going on a bag rather than a keyring.
What They Look Like In Real Life
Two to three finger-widths across. Small enough that it does not bang around in your pocket, big enough that the face actually reads from arm’s length.
The eye rims are what sell it. It is one embroidered line per eye and it takes thirty seconds, and without it you have a black ball with two beads on it. With it you have a dragon looking at you.
Tips for Success
- Make the black one first. Black hides wobbly tension while you are learning the shape, and by the time you start the white one your stitches will be more even.
- Count R6 to R10 out loud or on paper. Five straight rounds of 30 with no shaping is exactly where people lose their place and end up with a head that is too tall or too squat.
- Split your yarn for all embroidery. One strand pulled off the 4 ply, every time.
- Do not substitute a fuzzy yarn. The halo eats the eye rims and blurs the fin edges, which is most of what makes these look like dragons.
- Make the fins in a batch. Six for the black, four for the white, ten small pieces total. Doing them all in one sitting is faster than stopping and starting.
FAQ
Can I add wings?
Not from this pattern. There are no wing instructions in it, and I am not going to invent a set and pass them off as tested when the piece in these photos does not have them. If you want a winged dragon, this is not your starting point. What I would do is make a flat two-round oval, taper one edge, and sew a pair to the back of the head, but you would be designing that yourself.
Are safety eyes okay for a child?
Not for anyone under three. Safety eyes are secure in a well-made toy, but the name oversells them and a keychain gets chewed, yanked and dropped. For a small child, embroider the eyes in black yarn instead, or use felt circles sewn down. Same look from a distance, nothing to come loose.
Can I make it bigger?
Yes, and it is the easiest change in the pattern. Keep increasing past R5, adding one more stitch to the repeat each round, then mirror the same number of decrease rounds at the end. A thicker yarn with a 3.5 or 4 mm hook is the lazier route to the same result.
Can I make one in a different color?
Absolutely, and the pattern does not change at all. Green with gold eye rims, purple with pink, red with orange. The only thing to keep is the contrast between the yarn and the eye rims, because that line is what defines the face.
Do I have to make both?
No. Each dragon is a standalone project and neither one needs the other. The pair is just how they look best.
Why does the black one have six fins and the white one four?
That is how the designer made them, and it is what distinguishes the two. Nothing is stopping you from giving both dragons six, or both four.
Can I sell what I make from this?
Yes, sell the finished dragons. Do not copy out the pattern text and sell or repost that. Linking back here is always welcome.
How much yarn does this actually take?
Almost none. Both dragons together come out of leftovers, which makes this a good one for the odds and ends at the bottom of the basket. The yellow and light blue are a couple of meters each at most.
Go Make Them
If you have made a sphere before, you already know most of this pattern. If you have not, this is a good first one, because a mistake in a head this small costs you twenty minutes and not a weekend.
Come back and tell me how they turned out, especially if you did them in colors other than black and white. I would like to see a green one.
Save the pattern to Pinterest so it is there when you have an evening free, and if the sphere hooked you, the free amigurumi patterns roundup has a pile of small animals built the same way. The crochet keychain ideas list is where to go if you want more things to hang off your keys. For something a boy will actually clip to a backpack, the crochet keychain for boys roundup leads with this pair.
