Saved By The Ball

Day 45: It's the time of the year when my crafting thoughts turn from delicate lace and hand-sewing and lean instead toward the warm and cozy end of the spectrum, i.e., the bulkier work of socks, hats, mittens and gloves. I've turned out several afghans for the Park's Christmas auction and have gotten thoroughly tired of crochet, so I thought I'd knit a stocking cap. I grabbed a full skein of yarn from my stash without paying attention to the number of ounces in it. I mean, there was enough, more than enough, so why worry? I finished the hat and eyed the remaining ball. "Hmmmmm," sez I, "I wonder if there's enough in there for mittens?" Weighing it, it seemed like there might be, but there was definitely no "wiggle room." I reeled it all off into a pile in order to measure the yardage. Yeah, it would be close, but I still wasn't sure. The only option remaining was to make a "trial mitten." I marked the halfway point with a knot, in the knowledge that if I got to it before I got to the end of the mitten, I'd be unravelling a day's work .

After working the trial mitten up through the thumb gusset, I measured again this morning. It was looking a little scant. I cussed myself for making a wide turnback on the hat, hindsight being so much clearer than foresight. Another forty yards would have made the difference, just a few rows left off the hat. On the off chance that I might have a small ball of the same yarn tucked in with my "short balls" (leftovers from other projects), I went digging. Lo and behold, at the bottom of one of the plastic storage containers I found a WHOLE 'NOTHER SKEIN of the same yarn. You might say the impromptu mitten portion of this project was "saved by the ball."