Thumbs

I am trying to work out a different way to knit thumbs from the Alan Dart pattern.  The one on the left is his pattern, stitches cast on, knit a couple of rows, cast off and sew the two halves together.  I am never happy with the shape.  The hand on the right is my first change, but needs tweaking as it looks like another finger, not necessarily a thumb.  That could just be moving the position of picking up stitches.