Bunty did a double take when she saw Babs sitting with a pencil and a long sheet of paper, her brows furrowed in concentration as she scribbled. It was not very Babs-like behavior, to say the least.
"And what are you up to, love?" Bunty asked, peering over Babs's shoulder. It was impossible to guess her intent, for the markings on the paper looked like...well, chicken scratch.
"Working on me knit list," Babs said without looking up. She looked rather pleased with herself. "Never had the time before, but now we're on holiday!"
Bunty snorted. "I didn't know you could make lists, Babs."
If Babs caught the disdain in her voice, however, she didn't let on that she had. She just kept smiling and humming to herself as she filled up the paper with incomprehensible squiggles. A few more seconds and Bunty grew bored of the sight. She wandered off without another word. There were eggs to lay, and Fowler hadn't had his afternoon heckling yet.
Babs stowed her pencil back in her bag and looked over the finished knit list, beaming with excitement. Then she folded up the paper, tucked it safely away, got out her needles and yarn and started to do what she did best. The clicking of the needles became a steady rhythm as she settled in. Cast on, then knit and purl, knit and purl. Increase here, decrease there, don't forget to pick up that dropped stitch.
No point in having a knit list if you don't hop right to it, she thought. Do chickens hop?
THING TO KNIT NO. 1: PILLOWS + POOFY STOOLS
Babs had never had enough time to knit stuffed things back on the farm, on account of there being no wool to stuff them with. But now she was on holiday near a quaint little farm with some sheep, and Nick and Fetcher had introduced her to a charming old ewe called Shirley who was happy to supply all the wool the chickens could ever need. She threw the loveliest tea parties as well…
But that was beside the point, said point being that Babs could now cross off the first items on her list. The pillows were ever so easy to make: you simply knitted two squares, sewed them almost all the way together, stuffed in the wool and closed the gap. She used every color of yarn she could get her hands on, bright blues and greens and purples and oranges. It was great fun to experiment with the patterns as well. A garter stitch on one, a stockinette or moss on another. It didn't take long before there was a pillow or two propped up against nearly every tree on the island. After all, thought Babs, sometimes you wanted to rest your back against something softer than a tree trunk when you were busy doing nothing at all.
The stools were also easy to make but took a while longer to explain to the others. She had, in hindsight, perhaps given them a little too much stuffing: they looked like great colorful gumdrops sitting around the fire pit.
"Still, sometimes it's nicer not to sit on the dirt, isn't it?" Babs said of them. "And it ought to be much easier on Fowler's poor old knees."
"There's nothing poor or old about my knees!"
"Can you bounce on them?" Fetcher asked, his eyes lighting up when he saw the stools, and he launched himself headfirst at the nearest one without waiting for an answer. It was like flopping into a snowdrift: he sank down into the thick, soft material and lay there motionless.
After a minute, he pulled his face back out. "Nope, you can't."
THING TO KNIT NO. 2: BLANKET + WARMER FOR GINGER
She chose a cream-colored wool for most of the blanket, and blue and green thread for the lacy frills around the edges. The thick wool and moss stitching gave it a texture of tiny soft bumps.
Ginger couldn't stop running her fingers over the pattern. "It's lovely, Babs," she said, staring at the blanket in delight. "But what's this?"
She held up the other gift that Babs had given her. It matched the colors and patterns of the blanket, but it looked more like a large bag without handles. Were it not for the wide opening and the oval shape, she might have taken it for a misshapen hat.
"That's an egg warmer!" Babs said. "You pop your egg inside there, snug as a bug, and it helps you keep the little one warm 'til they hatch!"
Ginger looked taken aback by this, but she kept smiling anyway. "Well, Babs, that's very thoughtful of you. Although I'm not trying to hatch any eggs…"
"Oh, I know. But it's good to have that sort of thing around just in case. You might find you need it sooner rather than later, what with you and Mr. Rhodes having your own hut now. And you two go off on holiday together so often!"
You could almost see Ginger turning red beneath her feathers as she thanked Babs one more time and hurried away. She must be very eager to decorate the new hut.
THING TO KNIT NO. 3: TOY FOR FOWLER
"And what, my dear, do you think a seasoned RAF veteran needs with a toy?" said Fowler. "Especially a little blighter like this?"
The "blighter" in question was an orange doll made in the shape of a man, with chunky limbs and a knotty little head. Babs had even gone to the trouble of giving it some great goggly eyes that seemed to stare back at you vacantly. It looked so innocent and placid that it somehow gave you the urge to throw it against a wall.
Babs just smiled sweetly at the old rooster as she said, "It's a special sort of toy. Mac was telling me all about...oh, what did she call it? Stress relief? Anger management? She used a lot of big words. But she told me it helps to have something to throttle or toss around when you're in a foul mood. And then I thought of you!"
She took the toy back from Fowler and gave it a good, vicious shaking. The limbs and the head flopped around pathetically. "See?" she said. "You do that and then you don't feel so bad!"
Fowler stared at the toy in bewilderment for another moment. "...Oh! Oh, I did not think of that. Very well, then. I shall throttle it with great impunity!"
THING TO KNIT NO. 4: HAMMOCK FOR MR. RHODES
The only word to describe the pattern was "cacophony." The part with the stars had gone well enough, but then the stripes had gone slip-sliding all around and turned into the crosses of the Union Jack. It was a loud, fuzzy mess of red, white and blue.
Babs looked a bit sheepish as she handed it to Rocky. "It's not quite as neat as I would have liked," she admitted. "At first I thought I'd knit an American flag, then I thought I'd knit a British flag seeing as you're one of us now, and I simply couldn't choose so I just sort of...stuck them together, I suppose."
Rocky let out a squeal of delight as he unfurled the hammock. "Babsy, hon, you are a genius!"
"I am?" she answered, looking shocked. "Why, that's wonderfully kind of you to say! I'm glad you like the hammock."
"Like it?" he said. "I love it. Believe me, I am going to do so much nothing with this thing."
THING TO KNIT NO. 5: BOOKMARKS FOR MAC
This one, unlike the rest of the list, had actually given Babs a bit of trouble at first. You didn't knit bookmarks, as far as she knew. And if you did, there had been no need to try knitting them on the farm, where there hadn't been any books. But Mr. Nick and Mr. Fetcher had been to a village only a few miles away and brought back all sorts of things, stacks of books being among them. These had gone to Mac, of course, and she was categorizing them into a little library. And if you had that many books, you were going to need bookmarks.
They ended up being quick and simple. Babs knitted them as flat and as fine as she could so they wouldn't disturb the pages, and she chose the colors to match Mac's scarf. Mac would appreciate that, she thought. They were a bit floppy when Babs was finished with them, but they would serve their purpose.
And Mac did appreciate them, thankfully. "Fine craftsmanship, as always," she said, holding them up to the light to examine the stitches. "And just in time as well! You can't start more books if you haven't got a way to keep your place in 'em, you know."
"How many are you reading now?"
Mac counted on her fingers for a few seconds. "Eight…? No, no, ten. Shall I lend you another? How's that first one coming along?"
"Oh, it's lovely!" Babs answered. "I haven't understood a word of it!"
THING TO KNIT NO. 6: GLOVES + SOCKS FOR MR. NICK AND MR. FETCHER
It was only right, Babs thought, that she knit something for the rats. They had supplied her with so much of her yarn, after all. So she took a good, long look at them, and she saw how Fetcher had gloves without fingers and socks that were worn through, and Nick didn't have any gloves or socks at all. No, that simply wouldn't do.
The hardest part was trying to guess their measurements, since they would not allow her to measure their hands and feet. But she knew Nick was broad and Fetcher was skinny, and that was a good enough place to start. Nick's set was very plain, just brown and gray wool and no elaborate stitching. "Utilitarian," as Mac or Ginger would say. That seemed to suit Nick. Fetcher, on the other hand, appreciated colors and bobs and bits. So she made his set with light blue and lavender, adding eyelets and lace around the hems. The socks were just a linen stitch, but the gloves were herringbone. She knew Fetcher would be pleased.
Nick's eyes went wide when she handed him his set, but only for a moment. Then he was back to his regular self. "Ah, well, I suppose they're alright. Good to finally get a return of investment on that there yarn."
But Fetcher's eyes just kept getting wider and wider. "You...you made these for me ?" he asked, his lip beginning to quiver.
"Of course!" Bab said. "They're a gift."
He gasped. "But no one's ever given me a gift before!"
And with that, Fetcher burst into tears.
THING TO KNIT NO. 7: DECOY EGGS FOR BUNTY
Babs made five of them in all, little white oval bags with simple stitching that would not convey their true nature. Then she packed them full of stuffing until they were quite firm, and she added a few stones for weight as well. Despite that, it was hardly her best work. These wouldn't have fooled Mr. Farmer, let alone any self-respecting hen. But that wasn't who they needed to fool.
Bunty looked askance at the not-eggs when they were offered to her. "You do know I can lay all the eggs I want, don't you, Babs?"
"That's why I want you to have these," Babs said. "They're decoys."
"I don't follow you."
"I know that Mr. Nick and Mr. Fetcher keep trying to take your eggs and it makes you awfully cross. So I thought, what if I made you something that looked like eggs? Then Mr. Nick and Mr. Fetcher would pilfer those instead!"
Bunty's face had softened as she listened to Babs talk. She looked at her nest, full of eggs, and then back at the decoys. "Well," she said at last, trying to keep her voice casual. "I suppose it might be a good idea. Might ."
Babs nodded and went on her way, satisfied. She knew that was about as soft as Bunty got, and that was fine. Bunty was good at keeping things to herself like that. Not as good as Mr. Nick, who would be getting a mouthful of yarn and wool the next time he tried to steal an egg. She hoped he wouldn't be too cross with her.
THING TO KNIT NO. 8: WINTER THINGS FOR EVERYONE
Babs had added this final item to her list not long ago, when she felt the first chills of autumn blowing through the trees. Right around the time she had overheard Ginger and Mac talking about what needed to be done to prepare the island for winter. So she had come to them with her proposition - barreled up to them with it, really - and they had listened with great interest.
By the end of that day, they had set aside space in one of the huts for her to work in and asked the rest of the flock not to disturb her. Babs had lost track of the world around her after that: every now and then she would call someone in to take their measurements, but mostly it was just a flurry of yarn and needles. She worked through the day and night for at least a week straight, making sure there wasn't a single stitch out of place. Then she sorted them, stitching the proper name or initial into each piece. It wouldn't do to go mixing them up: each chicken got their special set.
On the chilly morning when she finished her work, Babs raced around the island like a feathery St. Nicholas, her wings full of parcels. There were hats with pom-poms and tassels, gloves and scarves and beak warmers, coats and capes with fine cable stitching. Fowler got a big gray fisherman's sweater that was a bit long in the arms, and Mac received a tartan capelet.
But she saved her finest work for Ginger: a large, dark green shawl with looping cable stitches and fringe all around the edge. It may have been a pain to get the pattern just right, but the sleepless nights didn't matter much when she saw her friend's face light up.
And that was that, Babs thought with a happy sigh. Every item on the knit list done. Now she could finally take a break.
She settled down beneath a tree, her back propped up against one of her own pillows. Then she reached into her bag, pulled out her needles and yarn, and she began to make a scarf. Knit and purl, knit and purl...