I've been knitting and crocheting since 2007, so I've been exposed to a lot of techniques. Here's a secret: my doll pattern is just a Frankenstein of things I learned from other patterns. The crown of the head is from a hat pattern. Shoulders/arms are a basic raglan. Feet are basic cuff-down socks, just on a smaller amount of stitches. True, I did have to figure out how to put all these pieces together, but it wasn't too difficult. I'm also not opposed to looking up free patterns for inspiration/techniques - another doll I made wears a pleated tunic that's made bottom up, and I had never done a bottom-up raglan before so I had to read up on it. Pretty sure I used a DROPS pattern as a guide.