Changing or restoring an older Knitted Boy Doll

I purchased this doll about 4 or so years ago as “almost finished”- I appreciated the work that goes into knitting a 15 inch doll, and was happy to finish it by adding the face, sewing on the hair and hat.  And then the doll bothered me because I would not have knit the head that way myself (although she seems to have followed the directions). It’s an indication that everyone’s knitting is different.

This is a copy of the vintage pattern this “Boy Doll” is made from:

You can see the difference between the doll on the cover of the pattern and the way the head had come out slightly elongated by the previous knitter.  It bothered me enough to make me change it.

The first thing I did was carefully remove the hair, hat, button eyes and embroidered mouth.  Then I started at where the head knitting had ended and pulled it all out.

I decided to make the head short, round, and I wanted to get it done quickly so I used a Boye 24 stitch round loom, two strands of white worsted-weight acrylic, and added the one strand of the yarn that was the original head.

I knew the resulting knitting would be different from the double-point knitted body, but the visual “strength” of the stripes and the garter stitch of the suspenders could handle a bulkier-knit face and head.

And there it is- reassembled!  I needed to use this doll as Christopher Robin with a large Pooh bear, or a “baby” doll for visiting grandchildren, or just a doll on the couch.  I feel it is now much more “serviceable” and durable. And cute!  It looks much more like the original pattern photo.  It teaches me to take a risk once in a while and use differing textures if they achieve the goal.

One other note about making the head and face bulky-and why I often like this change of texture throughout an item- it keeps the doll a doll, not a person, not a child, not a boy in this case- a doll. I think that’s really important when you are making……dolls.