The Serpent Dragon is a celebration of Chinese dragons, sea serpents, weedy sea dragons and other long-bodied dragon types. Its long, curved body is made from the tail tip to the neck and features smooth curves with no seams or texture breaks. This pattern contains several options for decorating your dragon, including a cobra hood, a large, frilled lizard-style collar, and multiple back ornamentation pieces.

This pattern is made in a single weight of yarn, so it can easily be adapted for a lighter or chunkier yarn as you wish. Just be sure to use the right hook to make your stitches nice and tight so no stuffing shows through. The examples in this pattern are made in worsted yarn, with some variation in thickness.

Materials

• Yarn amounts: Will vary depending on your yarn weight and hook size, as well as which decoration options you choose. The blue-purple example dragon was made with Malabrigo Mecha and a 3.5mm hook and used a total of 240 yds. The brown dragon (Malabrigo Rios) and green dragon (Prismatic Fiber and Artistry worsted) were made with a 3.25mm hook and each used approximately 220 yards.

• 3.25 or 3.5mm hook, or whatever size is appropriate for your yarn and stitch tension. Note that larger hook sizes will use more yarn.

• Plastic stitch markers for marking specific stitches.

• Polyfill stuffing.

• Safety eyes (I used 16mm eyes for the green and brown dragons, and 18mm for the purple dragon).

• Floral stem wire and armature wire: I prefer to use armature wire (usually 12 gauge) in the body because it is more flexible. I use 18 gauge Decora floral stem wire (NOT paper-wrapped) in the limbs and through the wings.

• Blunt needle for sewing.

• Needlefelting needle for securing ends and decorative work.

• Optional: 18mm flat round cabochons to insert in feet to keep them flat.

• Optional: Decorative options like rhinestones, 3D-printed horns, or accent colors of yarn.