Columbine was made from a wonderful crochet doll pattern which is available on Ravelry. The pattern is
Yun Shu. She is crocheted in sport weight yarn with a size C (2.5mm) crochet hook. She stands about 7.5 inches tall.
As you can see, she is a very slender-bodied doll, so she is easy to dress by pulling her clothing up over her feet.
I made Columbine's eyes with size 8 perle cotton and a size 7 steel hook; they turned out about 3/8 inch in diameter.
I made a few tweaks to the pattern, so she would be a bit easier for me to make. Following are the changes I made to the pattern:
1. I eliminated the foot and added one
stitch to the width of the leg up to the second increase, then worked
per the pattern.
2. I added one stitch to the width of
the arm.
3. I did not use a wire armature;
instead, I stuffed the legs as I crocheted, after each six or seven
rows up to the hips. If you want the doll to be able to sit, do not
stuff clear to the top of the leg...leave a little space with no
stuffing so the legs can move freely.
4. For the arms, I stuffed a ball of
stuffing in the end for the hand, then did not stuff the rest of the
arm.
5. By adding a stitch to the width of
each arm, I ended up with two extra stitches at the shoulder.
Decrease these out in the first decrease row after attaching the
arms, then work the shoulders as written.
6. For a move-able head, I worked the
shoulders down to eight stitches, then worked several rows on these
eight stitches for a neck stub (to fit up inside the head)
7. For the head, I left a hole at the
bottom (neck end) of the head eight stitches around, then worked the
head as written. I stuffed the head through this hole; it is small
but doable.
8. For the eyes, I used perle cotton size 8 for the eyes, and the eyes
ended up being about 3/8 of an inch across.
9. For the hair, I made a three-round
wig cap of 8sc, 16sc, 20sc, then worked the strands as written. I
used the extra stitch to make one more bang strand.
Enjoy the crochet!
