Christmas pudding

The only problem with grandma' Christmas pudding,my dad used to say, was the rum hard sauce. Not that it wasn't any good, quite the opposite actually - it was TOO good. Prompting dad to take too much. He'd eat his pudding and be left with a dollop of hard sauce. Naturally he'd have to have just a little bit more pudding to finish up the hard sauce. But somehow he'd always take just a liiiiitle bit too much pudding, and would need a little more hard sauce to finish up his pudding... and on and on.

I seem to have the same problem with knitting. One ball of yarn I was given for my birthday last year was turned into the soft green lacy scarf I already wrote about. Since I had thought that scarf needed expanding I went searching to find more of the same super gorgeously soft yarn. None at my regular yarn shop, none at the store where my friend had bought it, none left in any of the online shops I googled. I did, however, find some gorgeous variegated yarn and ordered 17 balls in two different colours.

one ball of yarn turns into 18 balls

Six of the online purchased yarn turned into my Olympic project shawl (one ball left over).

one ball turns into 12 balls and one slightly too small shawl

I gave up on finding the same type of soft yarn, and bought a single ball of soft bobbly beige-flecked yarn.

one ball turns into 13 balls and one slightly too small shawl

I then didn't use the beige yarn, making a small-ish green lacy scarf.

one ball turns into 11 balls, one slightly too small shawl, and one small lace scarf

I decided to try and actually use up yarn, casting on for a neckwarmer with the beige bobbly yarn. I used most of the ball on the neckwarmer, but it seemed a little bland in the beige so I bought a gorgeous ball of brown mohair to edge - doing blanket along all the edges.

one ball turns into 12 balls, one slightly too small shawl, one small lace scarf, and a neckwarmer





The last little bit of the beige bobbly yarn and the soft brown mohair have already been cast on as a lacy scarf for another retired Brownie leader. And once I finish the lace shawl I'm working on for a friend is done I'm looking forward to some straightforward stockinette again and turning one large chunk of my stash into a shawl.

one ball turns into 1 ball, one slightly too small shawl, two lace scarves, one neckwarmer, and one ruffled shawl

Oh, and the neckwarmer? It is going to my landlord's wife. A month or so ago she gave me a pair of Girl's Day doll, made by her grandmother after the family's set had been destroyed in the war. The landlord and his wife are preparing to move from one apartment to another, and this was part of their de-junking process (I've been warned that the kimono closet is getting cleaned out in May and the landlord's wife has her eye on a few for me... I don't know if I'm excited or scared). More so, however, the landlord's wife is giving away many of her possessions as she was diagnosed with cancer in the fall (something in the mid-section, she was vague about exactly where) and has been undergoing chemo treatments since then. I've seen her puttering about in the flower boxes wearing a soft knitted cap and fluffy scarf but thought that, especially with the lingering cold weather, a neckwarmer might be more convenient and get in the way less. Hopefully it will keep her warm and be soft against her skin. Just a little something, but hopefully it can help her in her battle.