# gollywog knitting pattern



## Essenceofeve146 (Apr 25, 2014)

if anyone is looking for the famouse golliwog pattern
i found one and knit it. it came out fantastic,so i am sharing. dont get dicouraged about loopy hair ,can get tutorial on youtube.

http://www.joyfultoys.bravepages.com/ogolly.html


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## KroSha (Oct 25, 2013)

Each must follow her or his own
conscience, I suppose, but I
wanted to point out this link -

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/golliwog/


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## judyh47 (Nov 11, 2012)

Golliwogs were part of my childhood, especially collecting the enamelled pins from the Robertson jars.
There was no racism at all! 
I also had a rag doll called Raggedy Annie, it didn't turn me against poor people either!


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## Vonpar (May 1, 2012)

judyh47 said:


> Golliwogs were part of my childhood, especially collecting the enamelled pins from the Robertson jars.
> There was no racism at all!
> I also had a rag doll called Raggedy Annie, it didn't turn me against poor people either!


Same here ! I really object to the beautiful, brightly coloured ,happy faced golly being seen as anything racist. He is a much loved TOY for goodness sake. Some people will find racism in everything ...its a wonder we are allowed to eat "brown" bread and I'm really surprised they haven't outlawed the "black ball"........after all, they did have a go at "Baa baa black sheep " .....absolutely ridiculous.


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## South Africa (Jul 3, 2013)

Been down this road before here on KP.

My conscience does not bother me one little bit, and grew up smack-bang in the middle of the apartheid era in South Africa. I grew up on a farm with many black servants and staff. I do not see colour anymore, only disadvantages that have been very quickly rectified by our very corrupt, and at this stage, very black, government. Roles are now reversed and time has changed, but the differences remain.

I work with many people, of many ages, and many colours and races and they ALL have choice names and descriptions for all the other 'colours' and 'races'.
As said before, I do not see racism anymore, but merely an intolerance of and a refusal to accept differences.

Natalie


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## Juden99 (Apr 5, 2014)

judyh47 said:


> Golliwogs were part of my childhood, especially collecting the enamelled pins from the Robertson jars.
> There was no racism at all!
> I also had a rag doll called Raggedy Annie, it didn't turn me against poor people either!


I get your logic, but rag dolls are always cute and appealing, whereas gollywogs are often ( not always) ugly.

I can understand why black people would be offended by these toys


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## South Africa (Jul 3, 2013)

Juden99 said:


> I get your logic, but rag dolls are always cute and appealing, whereas gollywogs are often ( not always) ugly.
> 
> I can understand why black people would be offended by these toys


So should we, 'pink' people then also be offended by all the pink dolls that all the 'black' children play with?


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## judyh47 (Nov 11, 2012)

I have seen some very ugly 'white' dolls. Remember the Cabbage Patch kids?


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## KroSha (Oct 25, 2013)

"The Golliwog was created during a racist era. He was drawn as a caricature of a minstrel -- which itself represented a demeaning image of blacks. There is racial stereotyping of black people in Florence Upton's books, including The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls -- such as the black minstrel playing a banjo on page 45. It appears that the Golliwog was another expression of Upton's racial insensitivity. Certainly later Golliwogs often reflected negative beliefs about blacks -- thieves, miscreants, incompetents. There is little doubt that the words associated with Golliwog --Golly, Golli, Wog, and Golliwog, itself --are often used as racial slurs. Finally, the resurgence of interest in the Golliwog is not found primarily among children, but instead is found among adults, some nostalgic, others with financial interests."

© Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of
Sociology
Ferris State University
Nov., 2000
Edited 2012


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## Typsknits (Aug 6, 2011)

I have knitted this golly and he turned out really cute!


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## grandee (Jan 8, 2014)

This is very similar to a pattern I have in one of my books.
Good on you for posting the link - thankyou.
I grew up with a golly as my favourite toy and loved him. I still have a few pins.
It is only in these recent times that some adults create the problems with this much loved toy. Just watch how children play with them - they love them.


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## galaxycraft (Feb 15, 2011)

I do wish people would just get a grip and learn from the past and then move on to better things and ideals.

There are many, many, thousands of items on the market (patterns/toys/etc) that have some type of stereotyping attached to them.
Heck let's all gather them all up and have a massive bonfire and rid the Earth of all the individuality that makes the human race so interesting.
Indian toys/dolls, cowboy toys/dolls, Barbie toys/dolls, Italian singer toys/dolls, "Rapper" toys/dolls, Michael Jackson toys/dolls, Dolly Parton toys/dolls.
Superman dolls were once thought it might lead to kids jumping off roofs (there may still be some who think that way).
The "Little Red Wagon" was/can/is stereotyped as being part of the poorest section of town/society.

A while ago, there were several towns/cities that tried to ban the sale of ski mask type winter hats/face protector because it was readily available to robbers.

While we are at it, let's rid our communities of shopping carts because when one is seen outside of the store area -- it is seen as a "homeless" person's "borrowed" possession. 

I have really thought that the human race has risen above alot of hatred on the planet, but I can see that there are still some that likes to keep the negatives going.

There will always be something - somewhere that is offensive to someone.

As for this doll pattern, you DO have a choice in yarn color .... but I guess many have forgotten that basic concept.
It is nothing more than a pattern of a human figure that is stuffed (crude at best).
So create from the basic form and make what will be pleasing to you.


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## Cyber Granny (Sep 30, 2013)

South Africa said:


> Been down this road before here on KP.
> 
> My conscience does not bother me one little bit, and grew up smack-bang in the middle of the apartheid era in South Africa. I grew up on a farm with many black servants and staff. I do not see colour anymore, only disadvantages that have been very quickly rectified by our very corrupt, and at this stage, very black, government. Roles are now reversed and time has changed, but the differences remain.
> 
> ...


Totally agree, from another South African, I could add more but wont. The nursery school tried to teach my grand daughter Baa Baa green sheep, she soon put them straight.


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## KroSha (Oct 25, 2013)

Golliwog Dolls

I am continually amazed at how people persevere in doing clearly hurtful things to others, and continue to try to justify it when the rationalizations are just excuses for inappropriate, self-centered behavior.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks -- 1602, "Hamlet" by Shakespeare

The saying has been used as a figure of speech, in various phrasings, to indicate that a person's vehement or overly frequent attempts to convince others of something have ironically helped to convince those others that the opposite is true, by making the person look insincere or defensive. [source - Wikipedia]

Paraphrased, I believe it could be said that folks would be more believable if they weren't so vocal about defending themselves. The more you try to talk your way around it, the less likely you are to be believed.

It doesn't really matter what someone loved in the past or what the innocent motivations were for such love. What matters is the pain and discomfort that is being caused NOW.

I suggest you take one of your golliwog dolls to a few people of Black Heritage and ask them what they think. If you wouldn't do it face to face, don't do it behind their backs.


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## valmac (Nov 22, 2012)

judyh47 said:


> Golliwogs were part of my childhood, especially collecting the enamelled pins from the Robertson jars.
> There was no racism at all!
> I also had a rag doll called Raggedy Annie, it didn't turn me against poor people either!


Me too, Judy! Never for one moment connected Gollywogs with black folk, they were just the naughty little guys in the Noddy books. Honestly the world has gone nuts! However if people find them offensive I guess we respect their feelings and move on.


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## valmac (Nov 22, 2012)

KroSha said:


> Golliwog Dolls
> 
> I am continually amazed at how people persevere in doing clearly hurtful things to others, and continue to try to justify it when the rationalizations are just excuses for inappropriate, self-centered behavior.
> 
> ...


There are those who will see evil where none is intended. Those of us who grew up with gollywogs had no concept of racisim - we were children! As adults we can see how some members of society could be offended - maybe that's the reason one can't buy what was once a common toy and why certain books are being revised. Times change - I also no longer call licorice babies by what would now be a pejorative name!


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## SometimesaKnitter (Sep 4, 2011)

valmac said:


> However if people find them offensive I guess we respect their feelings and move on.


I am not of a like mind about that. Many people keep being offended about many things and I say get over it. If such a stink arises from people "getting offended" where does it stop?
You can't be thin skinned and blame others for making you uopset. You have the responsibility of your own emotions. You can react with negativity or poistivity. If the subject of this came up, maybe instead of saying how it may offend people maybe it could have been said that making it in another color would be more appropriate. This 'offended' word is thrown around to easily IMO. Not everyone's offended senses need to be brought into consideration. I quite frankly am offended at people who so easily get offended.


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## valmac (Nov 22, 2012)

SometimesaKnitter said:


> I am not of a like mind about that. Many people keep being offended about many things and I say get over it. If such a stink arises from people "getting offended" where does it stop?
> You can't be thin skinned and blame others for making you uopset. You have the responsibility of your own emotions. You can react with negativity or poistivity. If the subject of this came up, maybe instead of saying how it may offend people maybe it could have been said that making it in another color would be more appropriate. This 'offended' word is thrown around to easily IMO. Not everyone's offended senses need to be brought into consideration. I quite frankly am offended at people who so easily get offended.


Gollywogs were black & if one was made in another colour it wouldn't be a Gollywog! The world has changed & why would anyone do or say anything which would overtly (I think that's the key) offend another person. 60 years ago - when I was a kid, there were many phrases which I used then which I wouldn't dream of using now because they would cause offence and they don't all pertain to race. So I say, times change & we should too.


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## SometimesaKnitter (Sep 4, 2011)

valmac said:


> Gollywogs were black & if one was made in another colour it wouldn't be a Gollywog! The world has changed & why would anyone do or say anything which would overtly (I think that's the key) offend another person. 60 years ago - when I was a kid, there were many phrases which I used then which I wouldn't dream of using now because they would cause offence and they don't all pertain to race. So I say, times change & we should too.


Maybe times have changed and we should too, doesn'tmean to get all over someone's case for the possibility that they may offend someone. I still think that the person that is supposedly offended needs to take a look in the mirror. That phrase is so over used that it gets watered down. I only said maybe to knit it in another color to placate the "offended" but my main point was that people get offended at the drop of a hat. Not everything you get offended about needs to change! Grow up and deal with it.

Edit it to add:
The fact of the matter is that these are cherished by some who grew up with them. They loved the little character and I think it should be let go. I used words too growing up that I don't use now, big deal. All this politically correct jargon is crap. What with women getting offended at the so called war on women, the more something gets attention the more it is brought into our minds. The racial slurs are just that and should be avoided. I was quite old when I discovered the phrase that when you get cheated it is to gyp someone came from the reputation of gysies. I once used the word jig to describe a fixture to be made for something to be held in a certain position for manufacturing. I was told it was offensive. I still use the word because it isn't offensive or shouldn't be.


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## KroSha (Oct 25, 2013)

valmac said:


> Me too, Judy! Never for one moment connected Gollywogs with black folk, they were just the naughty little guys in the Noddy books. Honestly the world has gone nuts! However if people find them offensive I guess we respect their feelings and move on.


Re: naughty little guys in the Noddy books

The claim that Golliwogs are racist is supported by literary depictions by writers such as Enid Blyton. Unlike Florence Upton's, Blyton's Golliwogs were often rude, mischievous, elfin villains. In Blyton's book, Here Comes Noddy Again (1951), a Golliwog asks the hero for help, then steals his car. Blyton, one of the most prolific European writers, included the Golliwogs in many stories, but she only wrote three books primarily about Golliwogs: The Three Golliwogs (1944), The Proud Golliwog (1951), and The Golliwog Grumbled (1955). Her depictions
of Golliwogs, by contemporary standards, are racially insensitive. An excerpt from The Three Golliwogs is illustrative.

"Ten Little ******* is the name of a children's poem, sometimes set to music, which celebrates the deaths of ten Black children,
one-by-one."

The Three Golliwogs was reprinted as recently as 1968, and it still contained the above passage.

Ten Little ******* was also the name of a 1939 Agatha Christie novel, whose cover showed a Golliwog lynched, hanging from a noose.


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## Juden99 (Apr 5, 2014)

Although as children we didn't realise it, these toys did ridicule black people -and us who think it petty did not suffer hundreds of years of oppression and cruelty at the hands of our white ancestors!


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## Cyber Granny (Sep 30, 2013)

Aaah give it a break


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## Juden99 (Apr 5, 2014)

maryann1701 said:


> Aaah give it a break


Everyone is entitled to their opinions and there is no need for rudeness - if you don't like the subject, don't read it!


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## Cyber Granny (Sep 30, 2013)

Juden99 said:


> Everyone is entitled to their opinions and there is no need for rudeness - if you don't like the subject, don't read it!


IMHO it has gone too far, for goodness sake its a knitting pattern for a toy, if you take offence to it why are you commenting on it, if you dont like it dont knit it.


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## Juden99 (Apr 5, 2014)

maryann1701 said:


> IMHO it has gone too far, for goodness sake its a knitting pattern for a toy, if you take offence to it why are you commenting on it, if you dont like it dont knit it.


I haven't said I take offence at it, just understand why some people would.

Being of a different opinion is no excuse for rudeness.


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## Cyber Granny (Sep 30, 2013)

Juden99 said:


> I haven't said I take offence at it, just understand why some people would.
> 
> Being of a different opinion is no excuse for rudeness.


Let me assure you I am not being rude, I am not taking anything out on you, just tired of people using silly little things like a gollywog pattern for them to take offence to.


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## Juden99 (Apr 5, 2014)

Ok thank you for that and I really do understand where you're coming from.


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## Cyber Granny (Sep 30, 2013)

Juden99 said:


> Ok thank you for that and I really do understand where you're coming from.


Are we still friends :?:


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## Juden99 (Apr 5, 2014)

maryann1701 said:


> Are we still friends :?:


Thank you I Would like that - have added you to my buddy list


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## Cyber Granny (Sep 30, 2013)

Juden99 said:


> Thank you I Would like that - have added you to my buddy list


And I will do the same. :lol: :thumbup:


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## britmaid (Jul 26, 2011)

Essenceofeve146 said:


> if anyone is looking for the famouse golliwog pattern
> i found one and knit it. it came out fantastic,so i am sharing. dont get dicouraged about loopy hair ,can get tutorial on youtube.
> 
> http://www.joyfultoys.bravepages.com/ogolly.html


thankyou for passing on the pattern site


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## standsalonewolf (Dec 1, 2011)

:thumbup:


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## gr8 (Jul 4, 2013)

galaxycraft said:


> ....Superman dolls were once thought it might lead to kids jumping off roofs (there may still be some who think that way)...


Oh, I had to laugh when I read this. At age 5 my oldest son loved to pretend he was Superman and run around with a towel pinned around his neck. He did not even have a Superman "action figure/doll", but he DID jump off the roof. He survived but had to wear a cast because he broke 4 bones in his foot!!! At the time it was horrible - as you can imagine - but now I just laugh at the memory. I have never advocated against Superman dolls; it never occurred to me to do so. 
A few years later this same son and a neighbor boy burned their bangs and eyebrows off when they were "conducting and experiment" with gasoline siphoned from a lawn mower.
It's hard to protect people from their own proclivities.


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## MaryCarter (Oct 17, 2011)

Beautiful, and thank you.

In my culture this is a beautiful thing, and brings back so many happy childhood memories.

The world hasn't gone made, just some of the people in it. 

Why would you respect their feelings when they have no respect for your feelings or culture. 

Please don't stop enjoying your culture to appease them.
Loving a black doll is not racist. 

You will never make these people happy......ever.


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## PaKnitter (Mar 7, 2011)

KroSha said:


> Golliwog Dolls
> 
> I am continually amazed at how people persevere in doing clearly hurtful things to others, and continue to try to justify it when the rationalizations are just excuses for inappropriate, self-centered behavior.
> 
> ...


You are beating your head against the wall on this. People don't get it because they can't see it, taste it or hear it. What better way to spread hate or stupidity without uttering a word then through a child's life with a doll that they love. They will argue with you to the end on this one.

A few years back a grandmother on here made and sent one by mail to her granddaughter. It was returned to her by her daughter saying we don't do that anymore. So maybe the doll will slowly fade away as the old people pass away.


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## barbarafletcher (Apr 2, 2012)

I'm with you Judy.. In fact the opposite to what people say now is I loved my golly.....


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## knittingprincess (Nov 18, 2015)

Mine too Judy. As a matter of fact, I still have my treasured golliwog my Aunt made me and I love him still.


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## KroSha (Oct 25, 2013)

PaKnitter said:


> You are beating your head against the wall on this. People don't get it because they can't see it, taste it or hear it. What better way to spread hate or stupidity without uttering a word then through a child's life with a doll that they love. They will argue with you to the end on this one.
> 
> A few years back a grandmother on here made and sent one by mail to her granddaughter. It was returned to her by her daughter saying we don't do that anymore. So maybe the doll will slowly fade away as the old people pass away.


Thanks for your POV.

< * S I G H * >

~~~


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## BoBeau (Feb 18, 2011)

MaryCarter said:


> Beautiful, and thank you.
> 
> In my culture this is a beautiful thing, and brings back so many happy childhood memories.
> 
> ...


 :sm24: :sm24:

None of my ancestors owned slaves. They were oppressed in the nations from which they emigrated to this country. Being told that I am the cause of their discomfort is offensive. When I take offense, I am told it is my problem that something offends me. Why is the reverse not also true?


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## KnitterNatalie (Feb 20, 2011)

South Africa said:


> Been down this road before here on KP.
> 
> My conscience does not bother me one little bit, and grew up smack-bang in the middle of the apartheid era in South Africa. I grew up on a farm with many black servants and staff. I do not see colour anymore, only disadvantages that have been very quickly rectified by our very corrupt, and at this stage, very black, government. Roles are now reversed and time has changed, but the differences remain.
> 
> ...


Well written, Natalie...from another (& probably much older) Natalie


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## scumbugusa (Oct 10, 2011)

I have a Gollie, and he was, and still is loved. In fact I just found him in a box of my old toys the other day. i am 64.

There is always some politically correct person complaining about something. I am not a racist be cause I have a Gollie. 

If I used the words I was bought up saying that were "ok" back then, and what my Nana used to say, (that I was shocked by), that were acceptable then, I would probably be in a huge amount of trouble, by someone.

I wonder what will be politically incorrect in a few years.


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## Aisles (Feb 26, 2013)

oh dear I was asked by a black collegue of my husband if I could knit him a golly, as he collects them, some of them sit on his desk and work station in his office, he's an IT enginner. 

His gollys caused complete uproar and fits of laughter when an American came over to the office as DH and friend work for an American company. 

I did knit him a golly as requested and he was totally delighted with it. 

Each to their own. 

Part of the word golliwog ie wog became a nastie word here in the UK for people from the Indian subcontiante for a while but wogs actually means/stands for Working On Grovernment Service. EG W.O.G.S


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## Jillybee (Jun 17, 2019)

So I guess I’ll not get a beautiful Golliwog pattern because of all the so called racial connotations! They are the most beautiful dolls and teach children to love. Why would a racist person want a black doll.


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## JennyG12 (Jan 24, 2016)

Jillybee said:


> So I guess I'll not get a beautiful Golliwog pattern because of all the so called racial connotations! They are the most beautiful dolls and teach children to love. Why would a racist person want a black doll.


So new user with only this one post .....
Patterns for the dolls are plentiful on the net -- do a search and quit complaining or stirring the pot by reviving a very old topic -- and the last post was 6 months ago


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