Knitted Doll Instructions

Finally, a March post! I've been a bit busy this month :D
And my baby girl has just turned one... I'll do a photo post after this one :D

Anyway I made another knitted doll as part of a prize for our ABA trivia night, and took step-by-step photos (sort of) in case anyone wants to make one (it's dead easy).


Step one- Knitting the pieces. (3.75 mm needles and 8 ply yarn, all knit stitch unless you're feeling very creative)

Legs- Cast on 12 in skin/shoe colour
knit 15
change to pants colour
knit 55
cast off

Body- Cast on 25 in pants colour
knit 10
change to shirt colour
knit 25
cast off

Arms- Cast on 8 in skin colour
knit 9
change to shirt colour
knit 40
cast off

Head panel 1 (T shape)-
Cast on 20 in skin colour
knit 12
cast off 6 stitches
knit 8 stitches
cast off 6 stitches
reconnect yarn with remaining 8 stitches
knit 10
cast off

Head panel 2- Cast on 8 in skin colour
knit 10
cast off

Neck- Cast on 18 in skin colour
knit 4
cast off


Step two- Limbs and body

With invisible thread (fiddly, annoying stuff!) sew the legs and arms into tubes (closed at the hand/foot end), stuffing as you go. For the body, fold over and sew into a pillow shape, stuffing after sewing two edges.


Step three- Head and neck

This is the hardest to describe, and there wasn't much room on the camera, so I've got no photos of it *oops*
Anyway... 1. Sew the two head panels together into a cross shape
2. Fold into a box shape (open on one side) and sew together edges
3. Stuff the head so it stretches into a more circular shape
4. On the edge around the opening (where the neck will be), thread some invisible thread in and out of the stitches, so that you can pull it tight to close the opening somewhat- making it into almost a ball shape
5. Sew the neck into a ring shape, and attach it to the head around the opening. A curved needle is easiest for this


Step four- attaching

Sew legs, arms and head/neck to the body, using a curved needle.


Step five- hair and face

For the hair, I found a crochet hook excellent- I didn't have one the first time and the hair took ages. Also I did way too much hair the first time!
This time I attached hair along the rows of knitting, on the 'top stitch', by inserting the crochet hook under/through the desired stitch and pulling the hair strand through, then tying it off.

For the face, I did the simplest one possible, and I think it looks effective, but yeah, whatever face you want... I did mine with the same yarns but if you want more 'delicate' features, some embroidery cotton might work...


And voila, the finished doll! The mouth is a bit mongy on this one- I think the face is better on the first one, but the head shape is vastly improved this time, and it was much much easier sewing the limbs on with a curved needle :)