By Cross Stitch Library · October 10, 2026
A cackling old witch dangles a furious little goblin over her bubbling cauldron, knife in hand — a darkly funny, richly detailed fantasy cross-stitch pattern.
Your pattern is at the end of this page, right after the stitching guide below.
Gap-toothed grin, wild gray hair escaping a patchwork headscarf, an old witch holds a squalling green goblin by the arm in one hand and a knife in the other. Her cauldron bubbles beside her. The goblin knows exactly what the title means.
This one is for people who like their fantasy with a sense of humor and a bit of an edge. It’s a caricature — exaggerated face, theatrical pose — rather than a scary witch, so it lands as a joke on a kitchen or game-room wall, and it’s a good gift for a cook, a tabletop gamer or anyone whose friends call them a bit of a witch. It works as Halloween decor too, but nothing in it is tied to October. Hang it next to the Witch Kitten with Skull and Pumpkins and you have a witch and her familiar.
26,423 stitches across 22 colors. The green robe is built from DMC 561 Jade Very Dark (5,999 stitches) and 562 Jade Medium (3,204), outlined in 7,693 stitches of 939 Navy Blue Very Dark. The face and headscarf carry the detail — wrinkles, teeth and four colors in the scarf — and that’s where most of the 22 colors get used.
The headscarf is a compact patchwork of 553 Violet (232 stitches), 322 Baby Blue (161), 3830 Terra Cotta (160) and 3821 Straw — four unrelated colors packed into a small area at the top of the head. Thread one needle per color and park the unused ones at the edge of the fabric rather than ending off every few stitches. The robe is the opposite: two jade greens over thousands of stitches, so it’s the place to relax and stitch long rows once the fiddly face and scarf are done. See our witchy Halloween round-up for more designs in this mood.
Choose your paper size and color or black & white, then download the The Secret Ingredient PDF chart and thread list — free, no sign-up.
