Knitting For Christmas

The teddy bears knit their own scarves a while ago now, but they still love to wear them when they go out in the cold weather. Boo was thinking about this the other day and suddenly realised that their teddy bear friends didn't have scarves to wear to keep them warm. Then he had a brilliant idea.

"Hey, Bubbles!" he remarked as they were all putting their scarves on to go out for a walk. "Do you think our friends would like some scarves - and even though it's very early to be even thinking about Christmas - maybe they would make good presents this year?"

Bubbles thought this was a great suggestion. "Brilliant!" he declared. "But who is going to knit them all?" he asked.

Boo looked a bit worried. "Erm, you're our best knitter!" he responded. "Do you think you could knit them?"

Bubbles laughed. "Have you any idea how long that would take me?" he asked. "I'd be knitting all day, every day until Christmas!"

Boo was suitably embarrassed for even thinking that Bubbles should do all that work. "Weeeell," he began, "maybe some of us could help too? We did learn to knit when we made our own scarves years ago - I wonder how many of us can remember how?"

The other bears had been listening to this discussion between Bubbles and Boo. Crackers intervened. "I think I can remember how to knit," he said, "but I'm not sure how good a knitter I am."

"Well," replied Bubbles, "I'll always be here for any help you might need. It's just that there isn't enough time for me to knit them all myself."

"I'll give it a go," announced Boo, "especially if you can give me a hand now and again?"

"I will help anyone who needs it," stated Bubbles. "And I'll knit the longest scarf for one of our friends - now should that be Bertie (who is a very big bear), or should it be Gerry (who is really a giraffe with a very long neck - he only thinks he's a bear!)"

"Well, if you knit Bertie a scarf, then I'll knit one for Gerry," offered Teddy kindly. Gerry was his best friend.

"OK. That's a deal!" exclaimed Bubbles. "Can anyone else do some knitting?"

Several paws rose into the air, and they quickly decided amongst themselves who would be knitting a new scarf for each of their friends.

"How long do you think a scarf for Oscar should be?" asked Crackers. "I don't want to spoil his surprise present by asking him, or measuring him!"

"Just pick one of us of a similar size," suggested Charlie, "then you can cast on enough stitches and check it against us, and then keep checking the length as you knit so that it's not too short - or too long!"

"Good - it sounds like a plan!" declared Bubbles. "Now, I'm sure I don't have enough wool to make so many scarves so it sounds like a quick trip to our local Craft Centre again!"

The bears didn't mind this at all because they loved to look round at all the shops and crafts in the Centre. They quickly made their way to the Wool Shop and walked in through a door with an old-fashioned tinkly bell announcing their entrance to the shopkeeper.

"Can I help you all?" she asked.

"Yes, please," responded Bubbles politely. "We're looking for some wool to knit lots of scarves for our friends for Christmas."

"Well you've come to the right place," the shopkeeper replied, and she directed them to shelves full of the most colourful balls of wool they had ever seen in one place. It was like Aladdin's Cave!

"Gosh!" said Henry. "It is going to be very hard to pick just a few colours out of all these!"

They all set about finding the exact right colour for each of their friends. Charlie, who was a dab hand at knitting (it being a construction method after all!) ran over to some lovely rainbow wool where each ball was made up of different lengths of different colours. When it was knit up, the scarf would have myriad colours throughout. He thought that would look unique.

After spending ages pondering over which wools to buy, they eventually had chosen sufficient (with maybe a bit extra for some future knitting projects!) Bubbles paid the shopkeeper and they struggled home with great big bags full of balls of wool, very excited to start making presents for their friends.

If you know how to knit, or know someone who can teach you, why not have a go at making your own scarf, or one for your friends. Just decide on the width you need, cast on sufficient stitches, and just keep knitting until you have reached the right length! Easy!