Knitted Alice in Wonderland Doll

Adventures in Woollyland...

This delightful Alice in Wonderland doll is another fab PDF pattern from Amy Gaines' Etsy Shop. I love all things Alice and I simply couldn't resist her, although I suspected the project might be beyond my meagre talents.

The doll was knitted on straight 3mm needles and I mostly used Patons Fairytale Dreamtime DK yarn from Addicted to Knitting, which has a great next day service for the impatient knitter.

To make the doll, you knit each bit separately, body, hair, legs, arms, skirt etc etc and then stitch each piece together. It was a bit like being a serial killer in reverse (my husband pointed out that I even have a box of eyes just like a serial killer).

As with previous toy projects, I found the slender needles and the large amount of increasing required a challenge (the instruction to increase in every stitch tends to make my heart sink).

One additional thing I picked up during this project is that I need to watch my tension on the first and last stitch of each row in a bid to get neater edges. You also have to try to form a firm fabric so the stuffing doesn't show through. The bottom of Alice's head was a bit dodgy so I added some extra stitches to stop her neck wobbling.

I just love the detail in this pattern though - the stripey tights, the headband and the bar across her Mary Jane shoes really bring the doll to life. I was a bit sceptical about using real blusher to do Alice's cheeks but it turned out a bit of Clinique Innocent Peach was just the ticket.

I'm not sure either the knitting or the making up is perfect, but she is absolutely Alice to me...