(You can read more about my adventures making my first Waldorf Doll here.)
Hair.
This was the part that I was really nervous about. I knew that I wanted the doll to have a shaggy haircut, because the little boy who’s going to play with him has shaggy hair too. And I think it’s the most appealing ‘boy’ haircut. Particularly for dolls.
But even the book warned that it was pretty much the hardest hairstyle to pull off. So I went in, expect it to take ages. Luckily I read (somewhere on the ravelry waldorf dolls group forum – though I can’t find the exact post now), that someone was using the knitting pattern stitch from Grrr by ‘Housemate Alice‘ (because sometimes the world is that small. 🙂 which I thought seemed like a genius idea.
So I played around with a bit of a swatch to work out my gauge, measured around the head and got stuck in.
The yarn is Oxford Kitchen Yarn sock yarn in Biscuit (the other half of the ball used to make the Earl Grey Tea and Biscuit sock) which I held double, to get as much hair as I could.
I don’t have an exact pattern – basically the plan is to make a close fitting cap, so I decreased pretty much as I would for a hat, all be it one where I didn’t want the decreases to line up exactly. After a while, with the decreases it becomes a bit of a judgement call as to whether you should knit two loop stitches in a row, or alternate them as usual. But it’s not that hard – I just erred on the side of not wanting any bald spots.
The knitting probably took me a couple of days. The loop stitch looks complicated when you first try it but becomes second nature very quickly so I was able to knit in the garden while FB played without him being any the wiser.
Once the cap was complete I got to do what turned out to be the BEST BIT.
I cut all the loops and suddenly had hair in my hands.
(Cousin IT?)
After that it was just a case of fitting the cap to the head and sewing it down.
One of the things I love about this stitch is that tugging the hair actually tightens the stitch, so it should be able to handle being played with by a toddler. 🙂
So there you go – I made a boy, with hair!
In conclusion – making shaggy doll hair is really not hard. It also didn’t take very long in the grand scheme of things. And it was fun.
And, personally I’m really happy with the results.
More soon.
Too cute – love that hair! Although, technically, you’ve made two boys. With hair. And glad to hear OKY is now stocked locally 🙂
You know – I thought that when I wrote it! 😀
Who knows, at this point, maybe I’ve made three?
I LOVE this doll. How DO you find time to do all this stuff? I’m lucky if I manage to make the dinner and read my mail most days!
Thank you! I’m have a ton of fun making it.
I’m pretty sure that not working outside of the home helps ALOT. I don’t have to travel to my place of work, and while i have to juggle my time i’ve not got anyone breathing down my neck (as it were). FB’s naps are all over the place, but when he is asleep i get this stuff done (amongst other things), and when he doesn’t nap, then he goes to bed really early, and i get caught up for a bit in the evening instead.
plus – i wasn’t doing this stuff at 4 month – in fact at 4 month i was still going to bed pretty much the same time as FB was. I’m doing it at 7 (!!) months – with birthday’s and christmas to get under my ever-expanding belt before no.2 arrives and everything halts for a few month. 😉
Small world indeed! I’m glad your new house is as lovely as it should be- thinking of you and your excitingly expanding family… XxK
Thank you! At some point maybe we can sort a meet up and catch up. Maybe decend on mass to Lara’s or something. 😉
hope everything’s going well for you. xx
I LOVE HIM!! Gorgeous hair and such lovely proportions on the doll. *sigh* You are amazing at this stuff…. AND YES YES YES to mass meet up – I would love it if you came here! However I am planning to come and see you before number 2 arrives. Have I mentioned that I LOVE the doll?? xxx
wow! what a fabulous doll, you should be really proud of that. i hope FB loves and enjoys him for many many years.
also, i’ve made the baby booties you referenced – they came out really well and were quite a quick, enjoyable knit 🙂
Wow, this looks fantastic! The hair looks fab, I’ve loved seeing this little doll evolve 🙂