The Wee Celtic Druid Cross Stitch Pattern

About this druid cross stitch pattern

A little figure smiles out from under a deep brown hood covered in green Celtic knotwork, gripping a gnarled staff with a knot at the top and a small skull hanging from it. Triskele symbols, clovers and petals drift around it, which keeps the character cute rather than spooky.

It suits anyone into folklore, tabletop fantasy or Celtic heritage, and it works all year rather than only in October. With the Fawn Shaman with Staff and the Woodland Badger Wizard it makes a trio of small forest spellcasters.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 21“ x 22“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 17 DMC colors, about 25 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 310 Black (6,163 stitches), 841 Beige Brown – Light (6,160) and 08 Driftwood – Dark (5,112).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Advanced. Black and Beige Brown – Light are almost tied as the main colors, together close to half the design. The hard part is the knotwork on the hood: fine, repeating linework where a few miscounted stitches visibly break the pattern by the time you reach the edge.

At 26,769 stitches, expect roughly 270 to 445 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Mark the hood’s knotwork in sections. Divide it into quarters on your printed chart before you start, and check each quarter as you finish it, so count drift is caught early.
• Stitch the face first. The big eyes carry the character; with them in, the hood has a fixed point to build around.
• Keep the greens labeled. 3363 Pine Green – Medium, 987 Forest Green – Dark, 520 Fern Green – Dark and 164 Forest Green – Light sit close together in the knotwork and the cloak.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 14.1“ x 15.4“ (35.8 x 39.1 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 12.4“ x 13.5“, and on 18-count at 11.0“ x 12.0“. For the 14-count version, an 18“ x 24“ frame leaves room for a mat.

A dark wood frame and a moss-green mat suit the woodland feel. Our guide to reading a cross stitch pattern helps with dense linework like this.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida