Crochet candy cane pattern — one piece, 40 counted rounds
A free crochet candy cane pattern for a cane 15 cm long measured along the curve, worked on a 3.0 mm hook in two colours, about two hours' work. The bend is made in eight rounds and nothing else. On rounds 6 to 13, two increases sit side by side on the outer edge of the tube and two decreases directly opposite them on the inner edge, stacked in the same two columns every time; the count holds at 12 throughout, and it is the extra fabric on one side against the missing fabric on the other that curls it. There is no wire and no pipe cleaner in this one. All 40 rounds are written out below in one piece, each carrying the stitch count it ends on.
Maths verified, not yet made. Every one of the 40 rounds was checked against the round before it by machine — the counts, the increases and the decreases all add up. What nobody can promise you yet is how it sits in the hand.How we check
6 of 8 checks ran on 2026-09-04
- 1 format and stitch chainscripts/validate.py — 113 patterns, all counts chain.
- 2 catalogue auditscripts/audit-patterns.py — 113 audited, 0 errors, 66 warnings.
- 3 geometrygeometry-check.py — 113 checked, 0 errors, 4 warnings.
- 5 not a duplicate113 distinct display names across 113 patterns
- 6c target on the recordseo.headKeyword, confidence and demand present and cross-checked by scripts/validate.py
- 8 page readinessscripts/check-completeness.py --gate — 0 required fields missing, 114 editorial flags, 0 unearned claims.
Not yet checked
- 4 render matches the pattern — no image has been compared against its own prompt, so a render showing a piece the rounds do not make would not be caught here. Nothing has counted how many do.
- 6a recognisability — provenance.recognisability is empty in every pattern, so there is no feature list to check the parts against.
Why it is rated Easy
Easy on the counts — thirty-seven of the forty rounds end on 12 stitches. The work is placement: holding the bend's increases and decreases in the same two opposite columns for eight rounds.
Sell what you make. Anything you crochet from this pattern is yours to sell — any quantity, no fee, no credit required.
00
00What you need before you start
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What you need before you start
Yarn — two colours, all weight 3
1 small ball (~15 g)DK cotton, 8-ply, held single
1 small ball (~12 g)DK cotton, 8-ply, same brand as the white so the stripes sit level
Tools
3 you probably own, 1 to buyYou likely have
Tapestry needle
Scissors
Stitch markers
You need to buy
Polyester stuffing (~8 g)
Optional
A chopstick or knitting needle for pushing stuffing down the narrow tube
A 20 cm length of ribbon or twine, if you want to hang it
A second stitch marker in a contrast colour to track the outer edge of the bend
Gauge and finished size
the last check before you cast onTension
Tight enough that no stuffing shows between the stitches. Exact gauge is not critical — a looser hand gives a longer, softer cane.
Finished size
~15 cm long measured along the curve, and about 1.8 cm thick
The stripe bands are three rounds each, so if your rounds come out shorter or taller than the estimate, add or drop a whole band rather than part of one and the stripes stay even.
How to make the candy cane
Switching rewrites every round:US6 sc in mrUK6 dc in mrWork a US sc as a UK single crochet and the fabric comes out looser and taller.
1
01The cane
A six-stitch ring, opened once to twelve, and then twelve stitches…40 RNDS
starts in white· magic ring· Piece 1 of 1
First six rounds[6] [12] [12] [12] [12] [12]
The closed tip
RND 1–51[6]
2[12]
3[12]
4[12]
5[12]
Curving the hook
RND 6–136[12]
7[12]
8[12]
9[12]
10[12]
11[12]
12[12]
13[12]
The straight run
RND 14–3814[12]
15[12]
16[12]
17[12]
18[12]
19[12]
20[12]
21[12]
22[12]
23[12]
24[12]
25[12]
26[12]
27[12]
28[12]
29[12]
30[12]
31[12]
32[12]
33[12]
34[12]
35[12]
36[12]
37[12]
38[12]
Closing the end
RND 39–4039[6]
40[3]
US termsmrmagic ringscsingle crochetincincreasedecdecreaseBLOback loop onlyst(s)stitch, or stitches
When this piece is doneClose the last three stitches, pull the tail through to the inside, and roll the piece between your palms to even out the stripes. If the hook has relaxed open, ease a little stuffing out of the bend and it will curl back.
You are here
Six notes on the candy cane
Read themClose
01An original Crochet Genie design.
02Worked in one piece as a continuous spiral, from the tip of the hook down to the straight end. Nothing is sewn.
03Work the first round of every colour band, and the closing round 39, in back loops only. Back loops only changes nothing about the counting — round 3 is still twelve stitches in and twelve stitches out — but it leaves a crisp ridge so each colour line reads as an edge rather than a smear.
04Rounds 6 to 13 make the hook. Put the two increases side by side on the outer edge of the tube and the two decreases directly opposite them on the inner edge, and keep them stacked in the same two columns every one of those eight rounds. The stitch count never moves off twelve; the extra fabric on one side and the missing fabric on the other is what curls the tube. No wire or pipe cleaner is needed.
05Stuff lightly and evenly as you go, every six or seven rounds — a candy cane wants an even barrel, not a bulge. Over-stuffing the bend straightens it out again.
06The stripe bands are three rounds each. If your rows come out shorter or taller than the estimate, add or drop whole bands rather than part of one, so the stripes stay even.
Four questions this pattern answers
Not questions anybody asked. Each one is written from this pattern's own record, and every answer is read off the fields it names.
Can the candy cane be made with a different hook or yarn?
How much yarn will the candy cane take?
What hook will the candy cane need, and what is the finished size?
How long will the candy cane take to crochet?
A round that will not add up?
Tell us the piece and the round number — the stepper already knows where you are.There is nowhere to send one yet.
Put the laptop down mid-round
The iPhone app keeps your place — piece of 1, round of — and hands it back where you left it.
