When I saw the nesting dolls in Itty Bitty Toys, I was immediately drawn to it. Of course the color in the book, a beautiful pale aqua, caught my eye, and the fact that it was a small project, was another plus.
However, what really made me want to knit this was the fact that I love Matryoshkas. Years ago, my dad presented me with my first nested doll, a highly-glossed burgundy & black set of ten carefully painted wooden nesting dolls. From that time on, I began collecting a few Matryoshkas. My collection is not large by any means, by I like all of the ones I have for various reasons.
The yarn I used was a cream colored cotton. It came from a thrifted sweater that I unraveled several years ago. I used a slightly larger needle than the book suggested so that the gauge was correct.
I really like the way they turned out, however I am thinking that the each body might need a little more decoration like a few colored stitches in spots. Haven't done anything more yet.
This is the largest girl. I wasn't too fond of the embroidered faces that were in the book, so I created my own with wool felt and then attached them with embroidery thread. I like them much better. The hair I should have done in a different manner, but she has a pink flower to decorate her features.
This is the 2nd girl. I gave each doll a different face. I'm not that experienced doing hand embroidery, so I chose some rather simple stitches: back stitch, single stitch, lazy daisy and french knots. She obviously received a rosette for her hair and a wisp of brown has escaped her coif.
This is the 3rd girl. She's a little squatter than her sisters but has a lovely ribbon adorning her locks. Since I learned how to kfb with my another recent project, I was pleased to put this new-found increase into action. There were many times in this pattern to use kfb.
This is the baby. I forgot to include a ruler for comparison. She was the most difficult to knit simply because of her size: 1" wide by about 1 and 1/2" tall. She got a little squished, and poor thing...she has no nose with which to smell the roses! But she does have a pink barette.
They are soft and pliable. Maybe a bit too much, but this is a toy (according to the book). I think they might just enjoy sitting on a shelf watching the day's happenings. But who knows?
They're planning something special I think. They keep whispering to me they'd like to do some traveling very soon...maybe even visit a little someone who lives in New York (and who has an older brother)and stay there for awhile.
Raverly Info.
