Charlotte's new hair

Clover's best loved doll, Charlotte, has been in need of hair repair for a really, really long time. She had also lost her eye ball about two months ago, and I gave up on repairing that when I realized that I needed a doll needle to make it match the other eye. So.... on Tuesday we went to visit my lovely (talented!) friend Colleen and her two children. Colleen was going to show me how to work on doll hair and even though I doubted my talents in the doll hair department, everything turned out great! I'm so excited to show off the new Charlotte. Here is her "before" picture - missing one eye & with hair in an utter uproar:
The first thing that Colleen showed me how to do was rip out the old hair with a seam ripper. This was rather disturbing for Clover, but Colleen's daughter brought down some of her dolls and told Clover their names and some things about their hair or their outfits. Thank goodness for distraction during times like this:
Colleen sewed the eye back on in about two minutes. It was so wonderful to see Charlotte with both of her eyes again! She was looking better every second! While we watched, Colleen finger knitted a long strand of soft brown yarn for Charlotte's hair. When a long enough string was knitted, she began to sew the hair "cap" in place. Her daughter Ruth and Clover took turns helping with the finger knitting while she stitched and I tried to keep the boys from running up and down the stairs.
When it was time for us to go home, I felt confident about finishing Charlotte's hair. I was full of gratitude for our sweet visit and for my lesson in doll hair. I worked on it some after the kids went to bed on Tuesday night, and then as often as possible during the day on Wednesday. The boys were really interested in watching. We are learning the letter N this week, and they both definitely know that "needle" starts with "N".
After midnight on Wednesday, Tim helped with the last few stitches, and Clover woke up this morning to Charlotte's full "cap" of hair. She was so excited!! She let all of the boys admire it, and then got right to work on weaving in the long pieces for braids.
Before meeting for our Thursday playgroup, I braided Charlotte's hair into two very cute braids. She is looking good!!! Nova wanted to admire her, and Clover was sweet enough to share. He sat on the counter holding her for a really long time.