CROW SHAY was peeping out of the knitting bag.

“I told them all about it,” said he. “I told all about how well you learned your stitches.”

“If you hadn’t helped me,” Mary Frances said; “if I hadn’t had such a kind, helpful friend, I never would have done as well as I did.”

promised the little fellow, again breaking into rhyme.

“So will all of us,” said the Yarn Baby.

“Isn’t that lovely!” Mary Frances exclaimed. “Now that Aunt Maria is away——”

“Oh, did she get off?” asked Wooley Ball.

“Yes; she’s off,” said Crow Shay. “She’s off—and she’s awful!”

“Oh, for shame!” cried Mary Frances.

“I meant to teach you the stitches myself,” muttered Crow Shay. “That’s why I said she was awful.”

“You must not speak in that way of any of my friends,” said Mary Frances. “Aunt Maria is very good to me. She even told me how to make a necklace for my doll.”

“Is that all she told you how to make for your doll?” asked the Yarn Baby, sitting up suddenly.

“Why, yes; you see I do not know how to make many different kinds of stitches yet,” said Mary Frances.

“She knows how to make chain stitch, slip stitch, single crochet and double crochet,” said Crow Shay.

“Well, if you know that much,” went on the Yarn Baby, “we can teach you how to make lots of things for your doll, if you will just follow our directions.”

“Won’t that be splendid!” Mary Frances was delighted. “I can begin right away,” she said.

“Mary Marie needs so many things,” she went on. “I do wish that the child had all the nice warm things she needs.”

“How large is she?” asked the Yarn Baby.

“Not quite sixteen inches tall,” replied Mary Frances. “I would bring her in from the playroom, but I want to surprise her if I make anything for her.”

“Of course,” said Wooley Ball. “We understand that.”

“Yes,” said the Yarn Baby, “and we will make everything just the right size for her. How would you like to make her a scarf to wear around her neck when it is cold?”

“Why—could I make a scarf with just the few kinds of stitches that I know how to make?” asked Mary Frances in surprise.

“Indeed you could, and indeed you can,” laughed Wooley Ball. “It is splendid to think of your having so many beautiful yarns,” she added.

“Yes,” said Mary Frances, “my grandma sent me all she had. She kept the yarns which were left over from her work for years. Some of them are lovely. I meant to have them all wound into balls for this lesson, but I haven’t had time to do it.”

She opened the little chest, and you can imagine her surprise when she saw only neatly wound balls, instead of loose odds and ends and hanks and skeins of yarn.

“Why, who in the wide world did this?” she exclaimed.

sang Crow Shay.

“I am afraid it would make you die not to say anything,” said Wooley Ball.

sang Crow Shay, laughing.

“How did you ever do it. Wooley Ball?” asked Mary Frances. “I do thank you so much.”

“Wooley Ball is in charge of all the yarns,” the Yarn Baby explained. “They all obey her.”

“When I say,

they wind themselves,” said Wooley Ball.

“Did you ever go to a ball?” asked Crow Shay. “I have. I’ve gone to a ball, and I’ve used it all up. Oh, I am a grand ball player!”

“You are too silly for words sometimes,” said the Yarn Baby. “Now you will soon have a chance to show how you play ball!”