By Cross Stitch Library · October 10, 2026
A curious red fox in a mustard knit scarf peeks around the edge of a weathered wooden door — a tall, narrow woodland cross-stitch for hallways and entryways.
Your pattern is at the end of this page, right after the stitching guide below.
Half hidden behind a weathered plank door, a red fox in a mustard knit scarf leans out just far enough to check who’s there — one paw gripping the wood, ears up.
The shape is the selling point: at 116 x 189 stitches it finishes 8.3“ x 13.5“ on 14-count, a tall, narrow panel that fits the awkward wall spaces most pieces don’t — beside a doorframe, at the end of a hallway, on a narrow strip between windows. Hung next to an actual door, the joke lands on its own. The scarf and warm wood tones lean autumn, but nothing in it is seasonal enough to need taking down. For more foxes, see the Red Fox Holding a Maple Leaf — the other fox in a knit scarf — the Little Fox Drawing with a Crayon and the Baby Fox in a Winter Beanie, or compare all six in our fox pattern round-up.
The door is almost half the stitching. DMC 839 Beige Brown Dark alone accounts for 6,384 of the 13,730 stitches, broken up by streaks of 612 Drab Brown for the wood grain, with 2,244 stitches of 310 Black for outlines and knots in the wood. That big brown block is relaxing, repetitive stitching. The fox’s face and scarf are where the counting tightens up.
Buy 839 generously and from one dye lot — at 6,384 stitches it’s several skeins, and a lot change halfway down the door would show as a visible band in the wood. The knit texture on the scarf comes from 3829 and 725 (584 stitches combined) alternating in short runs, so keep both threaded and switch back and forth rather than stitching one color across the whole scarf first. The fox’s eye highlights are just 9 stitches of B5200 — put them in last. It’s our suggested second big project in our guide to planning a large cross-stitch project, and it appears in our fall animal round-up.
Choose your paper size and color or black & white, then download the Red Fox Peeking Around a Door PDF chart and thread list — free, no sign-up.
