Knit Dolls: Make Some!

guy_doll_hat_on
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


bee_doll_hat_on
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.


dad_doll
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Remember these knit dolls? I finally found the book that the original pattern came from, "Woman's Day Book of Best-loved Toys & Dolls," 1982. I scanned the pages and they're over at my Flickr account if you want to download and print them out. I'm not sure how that works with a 25 years old copyright. If anyone thinks this is inappropriate/illegal to post I will gladly take them down and write up the basic instructions.

You can make up your own pattern for a knit doll pretty easily — it's basically a rectangle with some decreasing. The boy at the top is the only one I made from the original pattern. There are also patterns for a smaller boy, a woman, and a man. Here's a photo of the whole family.

The Bee Woman in the middle is a pattern that I made up as I went — her hat is a removable stinger. The guy doll at the bottom is based on my husband. He's wearing his basic work uniform: black Dickies and a white T-shirt. I still need to embroider the stripes on his Adidas.

These dolls are pretty easy and very enjoyable to make. The kids like to hold them. Hell, I like to hold them. They're very soft and comfy. The removable hats are fun, too, especially for the 18-month-old set.

Simple Knit Dolls

Simple Knit Dolls
Originally uploaded by Green Kitchen.

Worked on straight needles, these dolls are very easy to make for a beginner. These were some of my first ever knitted projects, right after simple ribbed scarf and straight needle hats. They're really fun to hold--soft, squishy, and somehow different than a fabric doll. I got the pattern for the middle doll out of a toy making book from the early 1980s, which I'll post when I can find the book (must tackle six-foot craft pile to find it). But, really, you can do it without a pattern, which is what I did for the other two dolls. The left doll is supposed to be my husband (Dickies, white t-shirt, Adidas, and a beard--tee hee) and the one on the right is a bee lady (gold and black striped sweater, grey skirt, and removable stinger hat). I crocheted a circle for her base, and small circle shoe soles for my husband's Adidas.

Basically, for the middle doll, you work a rectangle from the feet up to the collar of the sweater, switching colors as you choose for shoes, pants, and sweater. The shoes were knit, pants were pearl, and sweater knit with a k1 p1 rib. Bind off and then pick up stitches to work the face. If I remember correctly, the head has the same amount of stitches as the body, but is shaped at the neck later. I switched yarns to give him hair, which you can't see because it is under his removable hat. As you get toward the top of the head start to decrease at the end and beginning of each row. The rest is just finish work: sew up the back seam, stuff, and hand stitch to shape the neck, arms and legs (this was the hardest part for me, to get the needle through the fill, perhaps wrong needle). The eyes, nose, and mouth are simple embroidery with yarn.