STORY ABOUT KNITTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

STORY ABOUT KNITTING

By ELSIE WARING, D.D.M.B.G. Onco upon a time there was a girl named Eileen, and she thought she would like to knit a jumper. So she said to her mother, " Mother, my jumper will be thd best in our town," and her mother said, " Don't count your chickens before they hatch. The first thing to do is to get the wool."

So Eileen went flown to tho draper's and she bought some green and yellow wool, and sho took it home, and her mother said, "Oh, dear, what horrid colours! Take it, back!" So Eileen took it back and got some brown and tangerine, and her mother said, "That's worse!" and Eileen said, " I can't help that."

So she cast on ono hundred stitches and started to knit one purl ono plain. But soon she found that she'd been doing moss stitch instead of ribbing, so she said, " Oh, bother," and pulled it undone twice. Then Eileen started to knit stocking stitch, but she dropped! every second stitch, so her mother said, " Why don't you make it lattice pattern ?" and Eileen said,;" I think I will—l mean I shall." At last she reached the armholes, and she found she'd only fifty stitches on her needles instead of one hundred, and she said if I cast off for the sleeves and have a V-neck I won't have any stitches left. So her mother said, " Why don't you knit another piece and put that in," and Eileen said, "I would, only it's too much bother, 60 I will have a straight neck and a roll collar."

So she cast off for tho sleeves, and her mother said, " Thafc looks nice, bub haven't you made one side bigger than the Other?" and she found she had only cast off one 6ide, so Eileen said, "Oh, dash! I'll have to turft it under,!' and her mother said, " How careless of you, my dear."

Then Eileen began the back, and when she was half-way up she saw that she had started on the wrong needles, and she was very cross, because she iad to undo it all, and she said all kinds of things. And then her chum, Mary, came, and she said, " I've got such a splendid combination for my jumper, it's brown and tangerine, and it's so unique. Then Eileen said, sadly, " Yes, isn't it ? I have brown and tangerine for my jumper, too." And she finished the body and started a sleeve. But she kept putting on stitches too quickly, and she found she had a hundred and fifty stitches on at the elbow, so she started to decrease, and her mother eaid, " Why, Eileen, your sleeve looks like a leg of beef," and Eileen was very cross, and she put her knitting away for a fortnight, and she said to her mother, " You've offended me. I shan't do any more;" but she was only tired of knitting really. And when she had finished that sleeve she noticed that she had forgotten to put down when she added stitches on, and her mother said, " You should have knitted both sleeves at once," and Eileen said, " Why do you always tell me the right thing after I have done the wrong?" So she cast on more slowly this time, and when she got to the elbow she found she'd got only thirty stitches, so she said, " Oh, dash! I don't think I'll have any sleeves." So she pulled both the sleeves undone and started to make a pair of bed socks, but she didn't like doing these, so her mother said, " Why don't you knit a scarf and beret?" so she pulled the bed-socks undone and started a scarf and beret. And when she started to knit she found she had to have two hundred and sixty stitches on, and so she did not knit very quickly.

It took her an hour to knit one row, but she kept on "with it, and when she finished she put on her scarf and jumper and beret, and she said to her mother, " Didn't I say that mv jumper would be the best in our town," and her mother said. "Yes; but is it?" and Eileen said, " It's tho only one like it in the town," and her mother said, " I hope so." And Eileen was very cross, and she decided to go up the street. So she went, and she saw Mary, and sho had a brown and tangerine juniper; and she saw Doris, and she had a brown and tangerine jumper; and she saw three more brown and tangerine jumpers, and in them were . . . And sho saw a car, and in it were two brown and tangerine jumpers, and Eileen ran home and her mother said. " What's the matter, Eileen V and Eileen said, " Brown and tangerine jumpers," and sho fell down in a faint, muttering to herself, " Brown and tangerine; tangerine and brown; so unique'!"