THE BOY AVIATOR
THE next morning when Mary Frances went into the sewing room, Fairly
Flew was sitting in the rocker waiting for her.
[Illustration: Waiting for her.]
“Is there anything which you particularly would like to learn to make?”
she asked.
“Yes,” replied Mary Frances. “I would love to learn how to make an
outfit for the aviator doll in Billy’s airship.”
“Hurrah!” cried Crow Shay.
“Hurrah!” cried Knit.
“Hurrah!” cried Knack.
[Illustration: “Hurrah!”]
“Why are they so pleased?” asked Mary Frances.
“Because that is just what we had planned,” said Fairly Flew. “So
listen while I tell you how to make—
AVIATOR DOLL’S KNITTED HELMET
(See picture opposite page 168—color plate)
[Illustration]
One pair knitting bone needles No. 3.
Material: Olive drab or khaki color knitting worsted.
Directions:
1. Cast on 22 stitches.
2. Knit plain 76 ribs (a rib is a row across and back).
3. Bind off.
[Illustration: “Ready for war.”]
_To Make the Helmet_
Fold it across the middle and sew (overhand) 2 edges
together the length of the doll’s head in back with the
yarn. Then sew front edges together for a short space
under the chin.
[Illustration: “Or cold.”]
AVIATOR DOLL’S KNITTED WRISTLETS
[Illustration]
Material: Olive drab wool.
One pair No. 12 steel knitting needles.
Directions:
1. Cast on 18 stitches.
2. Knit 1 stitch; purl 1 stitch.
3. Continue knitting 1 stitch and purling 1 stitch
until wristlets are 1¾ inches long.
4. Fold edges together and sew up sides, leaving small
opening close to one end for the thumb.
[Illustration: “See me knit.”]
AVIATOR DOLL’S KNITTED SLEEVELESS SWEATER
[Illustration]
Material: Olive drab or khaki color knitting worsted.
Knitting needles: One pair No. 3 bone, and one pair No.
12 steel. One crochet hook No. 3.
[Illustration: “Look who’se here!”]
Directions:
1. With the steel needles cast on 36 stitches.
2. Knit 2 and purl 2 for 12 rows.
3. Next take one of the bone needles in your right hand
and knit plain—all the stitches off the steel needle.
Then knit 22 ribs with the bone needles.
4. Knit 11 stitches and slip on to safety pin, in order
to begin to form the neck.
5. Bind off 14 stitches for neck.
6. On the remaining 11 stitches knit 4 ribs for the
shoulder.
7. On this same needle cast on 14 stitches to form
opposite side of neck. (See method of Casting On, pages
260 and 261.)
8. Slip the 11 stitches (see No. 6) and the 14 new
stitches on another safety pin.
[Illustration: Slip on safety pin.]
9. Take up the 11 stitches from the first safety pin
(see No. 4) with a bone needle. Fasten wool at neck
end; knit 4 ribs.
10. Knit back to outer edge of sweater. Then slip the
stitches off the other safety pin on to the same bone
needle with the stitches made in direction No. 9.
11. Make 22 ribs plain knit.
12. Now take a steel needle in your right hand, and
plain knit the stitches on the bone needle off on to
the steel needle.
13. Knit 2 and purl 2 for 12 rows and bind off the work.
14. Sew sweater up under the arms, leaving about a
3-inch opening for each arm.
Sew the sweater together in same way as in making the
Doll’s Knitted Sleeveless Sweater.
[Illustration: Sew together.]
15. Put 1 row of single crochet stitches around the
neck and armholes for a finish. Do not make the
stitches too tight.
The fairy let Mary Frances use her magic needles, and the little outfit
was finished before three o’clock in the afternoon.
Mary Frances put the sweater and wristlets and helmet on the doll and
hid it away.
“I do not believe that Billy will miss it,” she told the Knitting and
Crocheting People; “and I do want to surprise him some day. He will be
so pleased.”
“That chap won’t take cold on any of his air trips, no matter how high
he goes,” remarked Crow Shay,
“In coldest weather,
Without a feather,
He’ll feel like a bird
Upon my word.”
“Oh, you’re a little parrot-bird yourself. Keep still, will you?”
whispered Wooley Ball, laughing.
[Illustration: “Keep still, will you?”]
“Perhaps Crow Shay is as pleased with this outfit as I am!” exclaimed
Mary Frances.
[Illustration: “We all are.”]
“We all are, I think,” said Fairly Flew. “It was a good idea to ask you
about what you wanted to learn to make. Think up something for our
next lesson.”
[Illustration: “Steater wif wooly tollar.”]
“Mamma,” whispered Mary Marie, “Mary M’rie wants a boo’ful steater wif
a wooly tollar.”
[Illustration: “Sports sweater.”]
“A sports sweater!” cried Mary Frances, softly. “The very thing!”
“A sports sweater! The sweet little thing doesn’t want much, does she?”
said Crow Shay, who overheard. “I could write all she doesn’t want on a
butterfly’s wing.” But no one paid any attention to him.
Mary Frances began to thank Fairly Flew for asking her about what she
wanted to make, but before she could do so the fairy was gone.
[Illustration: READY FOR CHURCH
FOR DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING KNITTED ARTICLES SHOWN IN THIS ILLUSTRATION
SEE
BEDROOM SLIPPERS—108 CROCHETED MITTENS—211 CROCHETED SOCKS—228
KNITTED MUFF—257 KNITTED BOA—257 CROCHETED NECKLACE—253]