BellaCrochet: Tiny Christmas Angel, a free crochet pattern for you

I had planned to do a series of quick to make Christmas patterns, but as usual, things have not gone as I planned. But I do want to share with you the pattern for this sweet little angel. She is tiny, only about 2 1/2" long, but she makes a cute ornament for the tree or a nice little surprise to tuck into a Christmas card. I designed an Angel similar to this one a few years ago as part of a set of bookmarks I was making at the time. My daughter, Bethany pointed out that the earlier version had no arms, poor thing! This new and improved version does have arms, so I hope Bethany will approve!

The pattern requires knowledge of the basic crochet stitches, plus how to make both tr clusters and dc clusters, so it has a skill level of Intermediate. Still, it is very quick to make, and not really hard, just a little involved. After you make the first one, each following one will go much quicker!

Tiny Christmas Angel

by Elizabeth Ann White

for BellaCrochet

Size: About 2 1/2” long
Skill level: Intermediate
Materials:
25 yards size 10 cotton crochet thread
Fabric Glue
Heavy spray starch
Size 7 Steel hook

Special Stitches:
For 3 tr cluster: (yo 2 times, insert hook in st or sp indicated, yo, pull hook through, yo, work off 2 loops, yo, work off next 2 loops) 3 times, yo, work off all 4 loops on hook
For 2 dc cluster: Yo, insert hook in st or sp indicated, yo, pull through, yo, pull through 2 lps on hook, yo, insert hook in same st or sp, yo, pull through, yo, pull through 2 lps on hook, yo, pull through all 3 lps on hook

Angel
Rnd 1: Starting at head, ch 4, 11 dc in 4th ch from hook, join with sl st in top of ch-4. (First 3 chs count as first dc; 12 dc made)
Row 2: For this Row, work steps A-D:
A: For First Wing, (ch 4, 3 tr cluster-see Special Stitches,- ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, ch 4, sl st) in first st ;
B: For Dress Foundation, (sl st, ch 3, 2 dc) in next st, (2 dc, ch 3, sl st) in next st ;
C: For Second Wing, (sl st, ch 4, 3 tr cluster, ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook, ch 4, sl st) in next st;
D: For Halo, (ch 2, hdc in 2nd ch from hook) 5 times, sl st in last st of Rnd 1, fasten off.
Row 3: Join with sl st in top of first ch-3 on Dress Foundation, ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch 1), dc in next dc, (ch 1, dc in next dc) 4 times, turn.
Rows 4-6: Ch 4, dc in next dc, (ch 1, dc in next dc) across, turn.
Row 7: Ch 1, sc in first st, (ch 2, hdc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next dc) across. Fasten off.

The individual pieces: Angel, Arms and Bow

For Arms, ch 3, 2 dc cluster (see Special Stitches) in 3rd ch from hook, ch 2, sc in second ch from hook (for hands), ch 3, 2 dc cluster in 3rd ch from hook, ch 1. Fasten off.
Place Arms on Angel as shown, glue in place. Spray Angel with heavy starch and allow to dry. For Bow, tie a 6" strand of thread into a bow; glue to Row 2 between Wings. Trim ends of thread. If desired, for hanging loop, glue ends of a folded 8" strand of thread to back of Rnd 1.

Merry Christmas! I hope you will enjoy her!

Update on Dec. 15, 2016: I want to thank everyone who has visited this page since the pattern was published 7 years ago; it has become the most visited page on my blog!

I love seeing the creative things folks have done with my pattern. Helen Tkacz had an especially clever idea that she has graciously allowed me to share with all of you. Helen says:

"Thank you for your “Tiny Christmas Angel” from 2009. I first made your pattern 2 ½ years ago. Liked it so much, I made a bunch. My craft circle friends said, “You should join them together and make them into a garland”. So I did! I did not give each one a bow or hands as your pattern does, but I still made over 400 of them to decorate my tree."