A little Santa on a wooden ring with a long red and white spiral trailing beneath him. It’s the simplest of all the hanging decorations I make and probably the one I’ve given away most often, because it works on a door handle, a bookshelf, a car mirror or a nursery wall without any changes.
The spiral tail is the whole trick. It’s one row of crochet worked into a long chain, it takes twenty minutes, and it turns a fairly ordinary Santa into something that catches the eye across a room.
What you’ll need
DK cotton in red, white and a skin tone of your choice. Small amounts of black for the eyes, gold or mustard for the belt buckle, and a scrap of dark red or pink for the nose.
A 2.5 mm hook, held slightly tighter than the yarn label suggests.
A wooden ring, 4 to 5 cm across. The kind sold for baby teething toys is perfect and comes in packs cheaply.
You’ll also want polyester fibrefill, 6 mm black safety eyes or black embroidery thread if this is going near a baby, a tapestry needle and a stitch marker.
Finished length is about 40 cm from the top of the ring to the end of the spiral.
Abbreviations are US terms. ch is chain, sl st is slip stitch, sc is single crochet, hdc is half double crochet, dc is double crochet, inc is two stitches in one, dec is an invisible decrease, MR is magic ring, BLO is back loops only. Work in a continuous spiral unless told otherwise.
Part 1. Head
In your skin tone.
Round 1. 6 sc in MR (6) Round 2. Inc six times (12) Round 3. Sc, inc, repeated six times (18) Round 4. Sc twice, inc, repeated six times (24) Round 5. Sc three times, inc, repeated six times (30) Rounds 6 to 12. Sc around (30)
Place the safety eyes between rounds 9 and 10, six stitches apart. Sitting them low on the face like this is what makes him look friendly rather than startled.
Round 13. Sc three times, dec, repeated six times (24) Round 14. Sc twice, dec, repeated six times (18) Round 15. Sc, dec, repeated six times (12). Start stuffing here, firmly. Round 16. Dec six times (6). Finish stuffing and close.
Nose. In dark red or pink, 5 sc in MR, sc around twice, close. Sew it centred between and just below the eyes.
Part 2. Beard
In white, worked flat and then edged with bobbles, which is what gives it that soft cloud look instead of a flat pancake.
Ch 13. Row 1. Sc in the second ch from the hook and in each ch across (12). Row 2. Turn, ch 1, sc twice, hdc twice, dc four times, hdc twice, sc twice (12). Row 3. Turn and work along the curved outer edge only. Sl st in the first stitch, then ch 2 and sl st back into the same stitch to make a bobble. Repeat that bobble sequence in every stitch along the curve. Fasten off with a long tail.
Pin the beard to the face so the straight top edge sits just below the nose, and sew it down along the top edge only. Leave the bobbled curve completely loose so it stands away from the face.
Add a small white moustache if you like, worked as two short lengths of chain sewn either side of the nose.
Part 3. Hat
In red, worked from the pointed tip downwards.
Round 1. 4 sc in MR (4) Rounds 2 to 4. Sc around (4) Round 5. Inc, sc, repeated twice (6) Rounds 6 and 7. Sc around (6) Round 8. Inc, sc twice, repeated twice (8) Round 9. Sc around (8) Round 10. Inc, sc three times, repeated twice (10) Round 11. Sc around (10) Round 12. Inc, sc four times, repeated twice (12) Round 13. Inc, sc five times, repeated twice (14) Round 14. Inc, sc six times, repeated twice (16) Round 15. Inc, sc seven times, repeated twice (18) Round 16. Inc, sc eight times, repeated twice (20) Round 17. Inc, sc nine times, repeated twice (22) Round 18. Inc, sc ten times, repeated twice (24) Round 19. Inc, sc eleven times, repeated twice (26) Round 20. Inc, sc twelve times, repeated twice (28) Round 21. Inc, sc thirteen times, repeated twice (30)
Change to white. Rounds 22 to 24. Sc around (30). Fasten off with a long tail.
Sit the hat on the head with the white band covering the top of the beard at the sides, and sew all the way around the band. Let the tip stand up rather than flop, because it will be carrying the hanging cord.
Part 4. Body
In red, worked from the neck down.
Round 1. 6 sc in MR (6) Round 2. Inc six times (12) Round 3. Sc, inc, repeated six times (18) Round 4. Sc twice, inc, repeated six times (24) Rounds 5 to 8. Sc around (24)
Change to black for the belt. Rounds 9 and 10. Sc around (24).
Change back to red. Rounds 11 to 13. Sc around (24) Round 14. Sc twice, dec, repeated six times (18) Round 15. Sc, dec, repeated six times (12). Stuff firmly. Round 16. Dec six times (6). Close.
Buckle. In gold, ch 8 and join into a small ring with a sl st, then work 12 sc around the ring. Fasten off and sew it flat to the centre front of the black belt.
Part 5. Arms and mittens
Make two. Start in red.
Round 1. 6 sc in MR (6) Rounds 2 to 6. Sc around (6) Change to red mitten colour, or keep it red as in the photo, and continue. Rounds 7 to 9. Sc around (6) Flatten the end and fasten off with a long tail. Stuff the arm very lightly, only enough to keep it from creasing.
Sew the arms to the sides of the body at round 5, angled slightly downwards and forwards so he looks relaxed.
Sew the head to the body. Pass your needle through several times and pull firmly, because this joint takes the weight of everything below it.
Part 6. The candy cane spiral
This is worked in colour blocks, so change yarn on the final pull through of the last chain in each block.
Starting with red, ch 10. Change to white and ch 10. Keep alternating until you have ten blocks, which is 100 chains in total. Keep the chain relaxed.
Row 1. Ch 2, which does not count as a stitch. Work 2 dc into the third chain from the hook and 2 dc into every chain across, matching your yarn colour to the chain colour underneath as you go. Fasten off.
It curls into a helix on its own as you work. Two dc per chain gives the open loose spiral in the photo. If you want a tighter spring, work 3 dc per chain instead.
Sew the top end of the spiral securely to the bottom of Santa’s body, going through the same spot several times.
Part 7. Hanging it on the ring
Make the cord by chaining 15 in red and slip stitching back along the chain to firm it up.
Sew one end to the tip of Santa’s hat. Thread the other end through the wooden ring, fold it back on itself, and stitch it down firmly against the cord so the ring can’t slip out.
Hang it up and check how it sits. If Santa leans to one side, the cord is off centre at the hat, and it’s a two minute fix now rather than an annoyance every time you look at it.
Notes and variations
If the spiral stretches out over time, which cotton will do under its own weight, thread a length of 0.8 mm florist wire through the base of the stitches along the inner edge of the coil. Fold the ends over and tuck them in. The spiral will then hold whatever shape you set.
For a nursery mobile version, leave out the safety eyes and embroider the face, skip the wooden ring in favour of a fabric loop, and hang it well out of reach.
For a car mirror version, shorten the foundation chain to 60 so the spiral doesn’t swing into the gearstick.
Swap Santa for a snowman with a black top hat, or a reindeer with brown antlers, and the spiral tail works exactly the same underneath either of them.
Questions I get asked
How long does it take? About four hours in total, which makes this a good last minute gift.
Why is my hat too small for the head? Almost certainly tension. Check your head measures roughly 6 cm across at its widest. If it’s bigger, keep adding increase rounds to the hat until the brim sits comfortably around it.
Can I use acrylic yarn? Yes. The spiral will be floppier and will need the wire, but the Santa himself will be softer and a little more cuddly, which is not a bad thing.