Year of the Horse Cross Stitch Patterns

The Lunar New Year begins on Feb. 17, 2026, and ushers in the year of the horse. To celebrate, let’s check out some year of the horse cross stitch patterns.

This 2026 lunar new year cross stitch pattern from Ptashka Lo reminds me a bit of the Olympics, which is appropriate since the winter Olympics will be taking place during the Lunar New Year. The pattern is 96 by 59 stitches and uses three colors. You can choose different colors for the lettering or the horse and for the background as well.

Poms and Knots has a pretty pink horse to celebrate the new year. This one includes lanterns and measures 93 by 90 stitches. It’s shown on 16 count fabric which makes the design 5.8 by 5.6 inches, or 14.8 by 14.3 cm. It can be done with two or three colors, and with or without metallic thread as you like.

This year’s horse is actually the fire horse, so you can honor that, too, with this fire horse cross stitch pattern from Ansta Shops. The pattern uses 11 colors and is 175 by 140 stitches. That comes out to about 12.5 by 10 inches, or 31.8 by 25.4 cm on 14 count fabric.

Make a horse from red flowers with this striking monochrome design from Stitch Heart UA. It calls for 4 colors and is 95 by 89 stitches, 0r about 6.8 by 6.4 inches/17.3 by 16.2 cm on 14 count fabric.

Use a single shade of red plus white to make Lady Stitchicorn‘s red horse design, which looks like a sketch more than a cross stitch pattern. At 51 by 42 stitches it measures 3.6 by 3.1 inches or a little more than 9 by 7.8 cm, when stitched up on 14 count fabric. The sample shown is 16 count fabric and in a 3-inch hoop.

Another take on the floral horse comes from Stonelane 1827, which has this lovely single color project that measures 199 by 200 stitches. That comes out to about 14 inches square, or 35.5 cm.

Or make this one from Care Cross Stitch, which uses the negative space to outline the horse. It uses 3 colors and comes out to about 8 inches/20.32 cm on 16 count fabric.

I love the My Little Pony vibes of this one from Crossweb. It’s 70 by 70 stitches and uses 12 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 5 inches/12.7 cm square.

10 Crochet Blankets For Horse Lovers [Crochet]

5 Dream Horse Coloring Pages [Card Making]

6 Free Horse Coloring Pages [Card Making]

A dala horse for Christmas [Needle Work]

Dala Horse Ornament – DIY tutorial [Felting]

Hanukkah is a great reason to pull out your cross stitch fabric and thread and stitch up some fun seasonal cross stitch patterns.

If you have trouble spelling Hanukkah (I know I do!) you’ll want to stitch up the How Do You Spell… project from SKB Cross Stitch Design. This one includes a bunch of different ways to spell the holiday, along with some symbols like a dreidel and menorah. (Technically I think all the ways to spell it are “correct.”) The pattern includes full, fractional and bask titches, and measures 8.5 by 7 inches, or 21.6 by 17.8 cm. It has the date for 2004/5785 but you can easily change the year or leave that part off.

Another project with some fun word play is the Words to Live By chart from Sam Brie Stitches. This one includes Hanukkah related symbols and word presented crossword puzzle style, which is fun to stitch and to display. The design uses 10 colors and measures 74 by 103 stitches. It’s shown worked on 18 count fabric.

I may have shared these before, but the Hanukkah patterns from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery are so cute they’re definitely worth sharing again. Happy Hanukkah features a menorah, dreidels, gelt, stars and candles, and it fits in a 6-inch hoop. At 75 by 75 stitches, it comes out to 5.4 inches/13.4 cm on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen. They also have this cute little dreidel stamp cross stitch pattern, which is 39 by 49 stitches, or 2.8 by 3.5 inches (about 7 by 9 cm) on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen.

Works By ABC has a lot of great patterns for Hanukkah, but here are just a couple to get you started. The Rules for Dreidel design is fun for kids and adults and shows the different sides of the dreidel and what it means when you land on them. The stitch count is 62 by 94 and its shown worked on 32 count linen. It calls for three colors. I also like this menorah one, which measures 44 by 49 stitches and uses two colors along with coordinating seed beads. On 32 count linen as shown (equivalent to 16 count Aida) it measures 2.75 by 3.1 inches, or almost 7 by 7.8 cm.

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