Courtesy of Joyce, a Crochet Hitty pattern for you!

Hitty image courtesy of Joyce

For everyone who has ever wanted a Hitty doll of their own, but could not wrap their mind around carving one, my friend Joyce has created a crochet version of this beloved travel doll.

Joyce was inspired by the Knit-Along on the Hitty's Knitty's yahoo group, but her prefered medium for doll creation is crochet, so she took on the challenge of creating Hitty with hooks, instead of needles.

Hitty image courtesy of Joyce

As you can see, Hitty Joy is just under 6 1/2 inches tall, crocheted with fingering weight yarn (Knit Picks Palette) and a size 1 and 2 steel hooks (2.25mm to 2.75mm).

 Images courtesy of Joyce

She has a simply embroidered face, and a move-able head.  This is a great way to add more personality to your doll.

The limbs are stuffed with pipe cleaners, and the body and head with fiberfill or wool batting.

Hitty images courtesy of Joyce

And best of all, a wig cap for her hair!  You can make a traditional Hitty style wig, or come up with your very own concoction.  Joyce includes a pattern for making this ringlet style wig, or you can find a more traditional wig pattern for your Hitty here:

Clothespeg Hitty Wig

And a drumroll please for:

Hitty: a crochet doll

Thank you, Joyce, for sharing your doll and your considerable talent with us!

2/25/2017 Please Note!  The pattern for crochet Hitty has been updated to correct a couple of minor errors.  If you downloaded the pattern yesterday, please download the new one!
                                  

 

A Fun Tutorial from Joyce

Joyce makes the most delightful crochet dolls!  This is Sammy, a heavily modified Lily doll, from the Lily Sugar and Cream website.  The pattern is free on the Lily website, but you do need to become a member (also free).  Joyce has made many dolls from this pattern, each one very uniquely a creation of Joyce's.  See her set of Lily dolls here.

Joyce is happy to share her quick and easy tutorial for making Sammy's bobble hair style:

Bobble Hair Tutorial by Joyce

The bobbles are made individually, then sewn to the dolls head.  Add little bows of yarn or ribbon to sweeten the look :-)

Here are some of Joyce's thoughts on modifying a pattern, in this case the Lily doll pattern.  Joyce also jointed the limbs; she has a tutorial for this technique as well.  Look on the left side of the blog page for 'Tutorials by Joyce.'

"Here is a little lesson on how you can take a pattern and make it your own.

This doll was made using “components” of the Lily Sugar n Cream doll pattern.

As you can see, I changed her head substantially and some other body parts. She came out to be exactly 13” tall using Vanna’s Choice acrylic Size 4 medium worsted yarn. Hooks E and G.

Here’s what I changed:

It called for joining the rounds and I opted to not join and used continuous rounds and a marker. I don’t like the seam that joining rounds produces when creating dolls.
      * Her facial features; made a wig; added ears.
      * Lengthened her arms to 24 rows; used a bobble for her thumbs.
      * After I made the legs, I used Beth Webber’s method of crocheting the legs and continuing with the body rather than closing the body cavity and sewing the legs on.
      * For the head attachment, I used a Darice 30mm doll joint (AC Moore), which is an awesome joint for attaching larger doll heads. I highly recommend this joint as it has a larger, thinner washer and the doll head and body sit on top of a nice flat dishlike surface (about the size of a quarter) rather than a small button. Those of you who use joints for attaching body parts will love this. Or, you can sew everything together as the patterns calls for.
      *
I really tried to follow the pattern trail and for the most part I did; like the body, feet, legs. The main changes were to the head and in the way the body parts were sewn or attached to complete the doll.

This is a fun easy doll, with a wonderful result."

Thank you so much, Joyce, for sharing your tutorial and your inspiration with all of us who love making dolls.

Guest Crochet Dollmaker - Joyce Yearsley

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Joyce Yearsley, also known as Dutzie on Flickr.  She is a wonderful crochet dollmaker, and Melanie, above, is the latest example of her lovely work and crochet innovation.   

Melanie has the most delightfully curly hair, made from crochet roses attached to a wig cap!  Simple as that, and yet so cute.  Joyce has shared a tutorial for making this wig cap on her Flicker site, and has also graciously allowed me to share it with you on my blog.  Click the link curly wig cap or find it on the left hand sidbar under Tutorials by Joyce.

This delightful doll also has another cool innovation...ball jointed arms and legs!  This is a technique you can apply to almost any crochet doll you are making; Joyce shows you how in her tutorial Ball Jointed Arms and Legs also shared here.

I am truly fortunate to know such a gifted and generous dollmaker.  Thank you, Joyce, for sharing your talents with us!

My latest Teacupsie Spirit used Joyce's curly wig cap tutorial to make her cute wig.  Crocheted from size 10 crochet cotton, I just made the unrolled roses a little longer for sausage curls.  What a great idea :-)

Enjoy the crochet!