They were all over my feed on Pinterest and so cute I could not resist making one. If I see something I’ve never made before and it’s cute I just can’t help myself, I have to try it at least once or in this case five times.

First for their providence. These dolls come from a book “Stitch-by-Stitch” by Jane Bull. The pattern is on page 94 and someone had photographed the pattern page and uploaded it to Pintrest. The instructions are clear and simple (the book is actually written for young people) and I have made many knitted toys before so I had no problem following the knitting instructions. Making them up and stuffing them is a skill I learned elsewhere so the photo was enough for me.

As with any new project, I have learned (the hard way) to follow the instructions the first time and then make any adjustments I see fit. The pattern called for 8 ply yarn and 4 mm needles, so I obliged. The result (below) is cute enough.

Now, my favorite knitted toy designer is Jean Greenhowe, as far as I am concerned she is supreme. If you follow her instructions you will create a toy exactly the same as the pictured example. The catch is to follow her instructions, I have seen many examples of these patterns and one thing I have noticed is that very few people follow these instructions. Almost all her designs are for 8 ply (UK DK, USA Light Worsted) yarn and require 3 mm (UK 11, USA 3) needles. Experienced knitters would normally use 4 mm (UK 8, USA 6) needles for this yarn and this combination gives a soft stretchy fabric perfect for clothing but far too loose for stuffing and shaping knitted toys. Using 4 mm needles as I did with the first Dude, the stuffing can be seen through the stitches and it is very difficult to sculpt.

My next step is to try out some of my own variations, so I changed needles to 3 mm and instead of making the top section a beanie I used some specialist “hairy” yarn that I’ve used on dolls before. It makes a good approximation of hair. I was very pleased with the result.

Compare the two dudes and I think you will see why it is important to use a much smaller needle size for stuffed toys than for other purposes.

The next modification I tried was to knit on circular needles, I reduced the cast on stitches by 2 because they were not needed for a seam. I also overstuffed this version so as you can see they took on different proportions. Although I was happy with Dude 3, I prefer the two-needle version simply because it is much quicker to knit. I decided to send Dude 2 and 3 to my grandchildren.

I am forever showing off, and my good friend who has just become a Grandmother requested two Dudes for her first grandchild. How could I say no? In total, I knitted five Dudes.

I couldn’t help but try one more variation because I had seen so many bears on Pinterest. I used the same pattern but knitted all in brown. I closed the top with a straight stitch instead of gathering it into a circle then I sewed a small diagonal seam close to the corners creating the ears. I stuffed it from bottom to top instead of the other way round as I had with the Dudes. I did give it a small mouth as it didn’t look right otherwise. (I never give dolls more than a hint of eyes and barely a mouth because that way the child see’s whatever expression they imagine on the doll’s face). My neighbour’s children briefly visited one day and when they saw the first Dude and the Bear, they were so impressed I gave them to them. Only now that I am finishing my blog have I realised that I did not photograph the bear. (Can’t do everything).