Free Pattern: Small Christmas Elf
Last year I wrote patterns for Christmas elves, but they are quite detailed and take a bit of time to make. And since I know December is the busiest time for all crafters, I thought this year I would make a little elf doll that is smaller and simpler - perfect as a last minute present or if you need to work up a whole bunch.
FREE PATTERN ON KRISTITULLUS.COM
35 comments

How AWESOME - Thank you my Grandbabies will absolutely love these ……
Wishing you and your Family a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy New Year……

Thanks Kristi!
I love testing your patterns and am looking forward to working this little one up too :)
Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Looking forward to what you come up with for patterns in 2016!
i-hook

Adorable Elves! Thank you so much for sharing them with us. Happy Holidays!

At this point: Legs (make 2)
With red yarn:
1: mr, sc 6 = [6]
2: (sc, inc3 x 2) x 2 = [14]
Crochet round 3 in back loops only!
I understand crocheting in the back loops, but what does “crochet round 3″ mean?

I believe it to mean that on the 3rd row you would crochet in the back row for this row only. Hope this helps. It defines the foot more. It is a fun, fast pattern.

Thank you for these adorable elves. I have made some dolls similar to these and my grand daughters love them. Great detailed pictures too. Merry Christmas

Hi Christy,
Yes, that means you crochet in the back loops only on the next round (or row), 3: sc in each stitch = [14] and then continue in both loops as usual.
Kristi

Thanks so much for the pattern, they are so cute and I can see my grandbabies loving these. Have yourself a Merry Christmas

Thanks for making this pattern so easy (even though I’m pretty good at crocheting) I needed a last minute gift for my great grandmother and this worked out perfectly.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw on Pinterest that this sweet elf was a free pattern. Bless your heart for sharing it and how adorable! Thank you so much {:

Your elves are totally adorable… I can hardly wait for Christmas again! Thank you for sharing your pattern!

Hello kristy !
So cute!
I love your Christmas elves!
Thank you for share.
Kiss

Hello Kristi, thank you for this adorable elf pattern. I am making it now and just have a few questions to ask please …
1. With the head opening, it has 6 stitches and the body opening has 12 stitches - your link to sew the head and body together ( 2 open pieces together) mentions that both pieces should have the same number of stitches but these two pieces don’t ?? I ended up taking off the last round of stitches on the head so they had the same. I plan to make another one so wanted to check it with you before starting.
2. With sewing the open leg to the closed body did you use the whipstitch method or the blanket stitch please? It is hard to tell in the photo and they kind of look like they have been attached flat like the arms.
I am new to amigurumi and still learning the techniques.
Looking forward to hearing back from you.
Thank you again. Fiona :-)

Hi Fiona,
I’m so sorry, there was a mistake in the head pattern, it should end with round 17.
The legs are not attached flat, the tops are actually round. I used the mattress or blanket stitch, I think it looks nicer, but both will work.
Kind regards,
Kristi

Thank you so much for your reply Kristi, I noticed you have amended the head pattern and I meant mattress stitch - silly me, I don’t why I typed blanket stitch lol. I’ll give it a try.
Thank you again.
Kind Regards, Fiona

Como puedo cambiar al español las instrucciones?

this is the first little people pattern I want to try. Thank you for the free pattern.

adorable, the perfect little present I was looking for! thank you for sharing =)

A few of you said your elves’ hats turned out too big? Here’s how to fix it.
How the hat fits will depend on how firmly you stuffed the head. I like to stuff my amigurumi quite firmly and the hat fit nice and snugly. So, the simplest fix is just to add a bit more stuffing to the head. But if the hat is still too big or you don’t want to do it, you’ll need to modify the pattern a little.
1) Finish the first 16 rounds and try on the hat. If it looks like it’s going to be too big, frog the 16th round and do fewer increases, dividing them evenly around the hat.
For example, if it looks like you have 4 stitches too many, you will need to do 5 increases instead of 9 as the pattern says.
How to divide them evenly you ask? Take a look at the number of stitches you have after finishing the previous round, in this case 36. Then divide this number by the number of increases you want to make, 36/5=7.2. This means you will do an increase in every 7th stitch, and then sc in each stitch left over. So the pattern would be: (sc 6, inc) x 5, sc [41]
2) Then finish rounds 17-21 following the pattern, you’ll just have fewer stitches than the pattern says. You can skip a round or two, if it looks like the hat will be too long.
3) And then on the last round, instead of doing … sc 33 …, you’ll have to do fewer stitches there as well.
I hope it makes sense :)

Thank you so much for this beautiful pattern,I loved it,made it and turned out so perct,no problem at all with anything.just perfect and lovely,so cute and beautiful.
Posted at http://www.alunamistejidos.com/2016/12/christmas-elf-duende-navideno.html
Thank you so much and Happy Holidays!

These look lovely, and the tutorial is great. I’m looking forward to do a couple of these for my Granddaughter (aged 18 months).
Thank you.

I love making this pattern. My only problem is that I never seem to get the shoe laces right.
Any suggestions please?
Kind regards
Ellis

Thank you so much for your cute christmaspresent for a lot of crochetfans! I think a lot of elfs will be born thanks to you!! Merry Christmas and happy Newyear

Hi Thelma,
When working in rounds, there will always be a seam where the round ends: http://www.msweaver.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Picture-3-of-M11.jpg
There are techniques to make it less noticeable, but the easiest way to get an even seamless fabric when making toys is to just crochet in spiral: http://engsidrun.spire.ee/blogs/media/blogs/a/tutorials/crocheting_in_spiral/IMGP6586.JPG
Kristi

Hallo.
Ik kom niet uit toer nr
2.
Ik begrijp niet hoe ik aan 14 steken moet komen
Graag hulp
Bvd

Hi,
Round 2 includes double increases - inc3 - where you crochet three single crochet stitches in one stitch. So, crochet one sc in first stitch (sc), then three sc-s in each of the next two stitches (in3 x 2), repeat once more from the beginning: one sc in next stitch (sc), then three sc-s in each of the next two stitches (in3 x 2). And now you should have 14 stitches - 1 + 3 x 2 + 1 + 3 x 2 = 14.
Kristi

Hello, i can’t for the life of me get the shoe laces threaded right, can you please send me a little diagram to my email of how to do it. Thank you so much. love your little elf.

Hi Susan,
I will put together a little tutorial on Saturday.
Kristi

Hi! I love this pattern. Just made an elf and will post it on my blog today. Thank you for this pattern!
Best wishes, Annemarie

I am stuck on starting the feet. Do not understand the beginning. Can you do this with a magic circle instead?

Hi Sandra,
You can’t because the shape will be completely different. Did you take a look at the step-by-step photos (https://kristitullus.com/blogs/news/123090887-start-crocheting-an-oval-piece-with-a-chain) and the video (https://youtu.be/6xmoSYNDipg)? It sounds more complicated than it is when just reading the instructions, I hope the video will help.