Part 1 – Knitted in the Round Doll can be found HERE.
Hair, like the face itself, is how you personalize the doll. I chose to use a thick, natural organic yarn, but pick yarns and colors that suit your fancy. Also, I chose a very simple face, with little crescents suggesting eyes and mouth, but if you prefer a more detailed face, or chose to add no facial features at all, it as all a matter of choice. No matter how you decide to personalize your doll, here are the general instructions for adding the hair and facial features.
Materials:
yarn – you can make it all one color or any combination. You can use a chunky yarn like I did (Lion’s Organic Cotton) or use 2 strands of a thinner yarn.
embroidery floss or pearl cotton – in colors of choice
disappearing marker
crochet hook to match yarn
yarn needle
ADDING THE HAIR:
Begin by marking the airline of your doll with a disappearing marker.
Cut yarns in desired length. I cut the yarn 4″ for the golden haired doll and 6″ for the rust/green haired doll. My next doll will have long hair and I think I will cut the yarns 20″ long!
Beginning at a neck edge, from the back of the head to the front, slide your crochet hook under 2 strands of yarn. Fold a piece of yarn in half and place the fold/loop on the hook.
Pull the loop through the 2 strands of yarn. Use your crochet hook to grab the 2 loose ends of the yarn and pull them through the loop.
Gently pull on the ends until the knot you just created is secure against the doll’s scalp.
Continue adding yarn in this manner until the airline is filled in.
Working from the back to the front, begin adding another row of yarn hairs, staggering their placement with the row you previously completed.
When you come to the center where the head is tied together, it is almost impossible to get a crochet hook through. In those spots I used a yarn needle. To do that, fold a piece of yarn in half and thread the loop through a yarn needle. Slide the needle through a couple pieces of yarn.
Pull the needle and loop through. Slide the needle off the loop, then thread the 2 loose ends through the loop and gently pull on the ends until the knot you just created is secure against the doll’s scalp. Use this method on the top of the scalp when you cannot get a crochet hook through.
Continue adding the individual hairs… and boy are there a lot of hairs to add… until you have the head filled in completely to the back hairline, right above the neck. DON’T scrimp on hair. The denser the hair, the more “realistic” it will look. You should not see “bald” patches. BTW… it takes me about 3 – 4 hours to do a head of hair.
ADDING THE FACE:
Using the disappearing marker draw on the doll’s facial features.
Using 6 strands of floss or pearl cotton, back stitch the mouth. Then using the back of the needle, start at one end of the mouth and begin sliding the needle under the back stitching, “wrapping” the mouth. (You will probably need to wrap it 10 – 12 times to cover the complete length.) This should accentuate the mouth and give a smooth appearance. Do the same for each eye.
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Thanks. I can’t wait to free up some time so I can give this doll a try. So pretty!
very pretty doll! If only I know how to knit.
Great instructions! Thanks. I want to try it soon, although I don’t have anyone to give it to.
Thank you so much for this pattern and tutorial! I’ve given myself a goal of knitting my kids dolls for Christmas this year and was getting a little discouraged because the current pattern I have, while lovely, is kind of complicated and I’m finding that I’m losing momentum for doll’s #2 and #3. I think your pattern may be just the thing to break my “doll knitting slump” 🙂
thanks for sharing so generously!
WOW what a beauty.
I love this doll so much. You are so great at this 😉
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I can’t tell you how excited I am about this doll. I hope lots of kids see them around the holidays this year. What a gorgeous heiloom gift. I’m in love with her! Thank you SO much for sharing this, I’ll be linking.
Thank you for this doll pattern! I just finished one for my 2 year old daughter for Christmas. I think she is going to love it! Now to find some clothes for her…
Elizabeth
I am making the doll for my niece for Christmas and I almost have it done – I’m wanting to make the nightgown too, though, and I don’t see the pattern! Do you have it available? If so, could you either post it or e-mail it to me? Thanks so much for the doll pattern, it’s great!!
I’m afraid there are not instructions for the nightgown. In this post I talk about it:
https://weefolkart.com/content/doll-clothing-12-knit-doll
I made this doll for my sisters daughter. I used a latch hook needle for the hair and it worked perfectly. great doll! I am new at knitting and your instructions and design were wonderful!
What a brilliant idea! Sometimes, with the crochet hook, if I didn't turn it just right, it would get stuck. But with the latch hook needle, no problems! I love the ideas our readers share with us. Always awesome stuff to learn!
Thank you very much. They are so pretty !
I just wanted to say thank you for the pattern. I am going to make 2 as gifts for twin girls. I am going to make dolls identical but 1 with pink accents and the other with purple accents. I’ll Ravelry the results when dont. My Rav name is Leeanne1976.
Please make sure you let us know when they are done. We'd love to see them 🙂
I was wondering how you make the legs and the arms? Can you send me the instructions. I also am curious how you made the hat as well.
All the directions are in the post. Try reading through the whole post before you start. I’m hoping it will make sense. There are directions for making the arms and the legs. Also, there are links to the hats. If after reading the post you still have questions just let me know 🙂
~Kimara~
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