Crochet artist turns viral Bernie Sanders image into a doll that sells for $20,000

Bernie Sanders went from becoming a hit meme to a more than $20,000 crochet doll in less than a week.

After an inauguration day image of the Vermont senator went viral, showing him sitting on a folding chair, socially distanced from other guests, hunched against the cold wearing chunky knitted mittens, Tobey King in Texas got to crocheting. She turned the sensational meme that trended for days into a crochet doll.

It sold for $20,300.

“It’s mind-blowing because I knew Bernie was trending because of that picture, and I already had a Bernie pattern and a Bernie doll. So, I just went and got that and I modified that super quick,” King said.

Recreating Sanders’ exact look that captured people’s eyes, and laughs, took King about seven hours of non-stop crocheting. Her attention to detail is obvious, nailing the iconic mittens that stole the show on inauguration day.

“The mittens are not that hard it’s just some color changing, a special stitch,” King said.

King, 46, initially posted photos of the 9-inch doll on her Instagram account, and they garnered thousands of likes and comments. By Saturday, she posted the doll on eBay and auctioned it for $20,300, which she said will be donated to Meals on Wheels America.

Sanders himself has been using the meme to raise money for Meals on Wheels – his campaign sold sweatshirts with the image and donated the proceeds to the charity. On Wednesday, the senator said he had raised $1.8m for the organization.

King said she may have found her purpose.

“This is my new path,” King said. “This is a new way of helping people in a way that I’ve never been able to do before.”

King, who lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, said more than 30,000 people bought her Sanders doll crochet pattern from her Etsy store. She said she hopes Sanders approves of her efforts.

“I really hope that he thinks this is something cool and that I’m doing something good,” King said.