Progress Photo

100 rows done and another 100 to go before there is a stitch pattern change.



I'm managing about 20 rows per day.


Wovenflame

New here!

Hi! I just joined this KAL a few days ago, and I'm so excited, I didn't know if it would be too late or not. I have been watching everyone else's bees in progress, they're gorgeous! I just started on mine a few days ago, and haven't gotten very far yet. I dyed this yarn myself from some I had in my stash. It's extremely fine, so I'm using size 3 needles. Maybe I'll end up adding a repeat or so at the end to make it bigger, but we'll see. I also ordered a knitpicks options needles to work this on, but I started on straights for now. There's a little more information about the yarn I'm using on my blog.

New Here

Hi, I'm Marlene (aka the blogger "Wovenflame"), and I love knitting lace.

I'm just starting the Honeybee Stole in my own handspun, laceweight "halfbred". I purchased the 'top' from Aurelia, in the "Black Rainbow Glitter" colourway.

I had a little trouble getting started, but once, twice, third time is the charm. I'm up to row 28 now.



The red at the top (from this perspective) is just my provisional cast on. The green blips at the bottom are snippets of plastic straw I use for stitch markers. I'm adding beads to the edges of the stole, but they aren't visible in this photo.

Thanks Kaylen, for the use of your flannel "burp cloth". It makes a great lap cloth so that I can see the black stitches a little better. It works great when I'm spinning black too.

WOVENFLAME

...my heart is broken ...

... because having got halfway up my shawl, i have lost it on a train in Berlin!! so now i shall have to get more yarn, wind it, and start again. and i cannot even be sure that if someone finds it they will know what to do with it, as in finish it off in some way or other, or unwind the yarn and knit it into something else, or something. i mean, i wouldn't mind so much if i thought it would come in useful in some way or other ... as it is, i feel distraught and almost dismembered ... :(((

p2 tog tbl - help please

Hello All, I am a new member of the Bee Fields KAL. I have a question about an instruction I have never used before. P2 tbl. When I googled this I found that there were 2 different methods of doing it. One was just putting needle from right to left thru the back loops wrapping yarn and making the decrease. The other was putting needle from left to right thru the back loops and making the decrease. It seemed to me that the first direction was really a K2 tbl.

If anyone could let me know how they did this, I would appreciate the help, thanks Gail

Look what came in the mail!!!

Hello everyone, I finally received my Honeybee Stole kit! First thing I have to do in turn that hank in a ball, that should be fun!?

I can't wait to get started with this project. I really enjoy looking at the different colors that people have chosen.

I am so excited to join this KAL!! I have my yarn - It is the tupelo gold color way from Wooly Wonka and I can't wait to start!!!

Seeing Beeeeeees

Is anyone having trouble reading the charts like I am? Both the lines and symbols do not seem clear enough for me to see without really straining my eyes, especially the chart for Bee in Field section 1. I ordered hard copies from Anne hoping it was just my printer, but I don't think hers are much better. Normally, I love to use charts but these seem just too tough. Any ides, suggestions, tips or advice? Help! I love the pattern and want to enjoy this knit.

paying for my folly

I should have known better than to try to work on my 'bee' late in the evening after a full day of teaching, preparing lessons and materials after school, then coming home to cook supper and take the dog for his long walk. In dealing with a very, very small mistake, quickly and easily fixed under ordinary circumstances, I created a mess that required ripping back three rows of knitting. And I was almost to the end of the Bee Swarm section! Waaah!!! Fortunately for me, I have a four day weekend as the schools here are closed for Rosh Hashanah. In addition to getting caught back up to where I was, I'm hoping to make some headway into the Bee in Field section. Not to mention getting some rest - sleep being constantly interrupted by abovementioned dog who is missing his buddy, my son who is now back at college.

Happy update: I'm not only all caught up to where I was when I created the "mess", I've knitted a few rows beyond that point. Hooray for peaceful days at home. :)

Finagling the join on the stole

Anne posted today about fussing with the join of the HoneyBee Stole, fussing made necessary by the fact that the provisional cast-on makes the pattern off by half a stitch when the stitches are picked up and knit in the opposite direction. I tried at first to overlook this small mismatch but after a few rows, it began to bug me so I frogged back to the join and also finagled a solution to make it line up.

Discouraged

I have been dutifully preparing to knit my Bees. I've finished several objects, and wound my Bee yarn. Last night I sat down to incorporate the corrections into my pattern, and then cast on. Sigh - so many corrections, I ended up starring the rows and marking them "see correction".

I'm an experienced knitter, and have knit a number of lace shawls, but reading the pages and pages of Bee Fields was daunting. It will just have to "season" some more before I tackle all that.

Knitting gymnastics

I really feel like I am doing gymnastics when I am knitting this shawl. It involves doing physically impossible things, twisting into ridiculous contortions, having to have faith that in the end you will be both intact and happy with the result. The first time I had this feeling was with the p2tog tbl in the bee swarm section. In fact, when I encounter that symbol in the chart, I read it as "backbend." I think I am doing it correctly, because that section does look swarm-ish. Thank you, Ann, for your explicit instructions on how to do it.

Little did I know what was waiting for me in the Bee in Fields section! When I first read the description of the Bee Panel section I was totally bewildered. The only way to do it was just to plunge right in and assume that Anne knew what she was doing. I have now completed the first repeat if this section, and they do in fact look like bees. (Maybe it's not so obvious in the photo, but stretched out it looks much better.)

In general I am finding this pattern difficult but exhilarating to knit. Maybe that is how real gymnasts feel.

Weekend knitting

I spent a little time with the Bee on the weekend. She is about an inch into the second section and I am still really enjoying knitting this shawl
As you can tell she is a bit squished on the needles, but as this is my first shawl I have no intention of taking it off the needles to get a good picture...just in case.
Hopefully I can finish her this month and give you all a nice FO photo!

Honeybee Stole -- halfway mark

I finished the first half of the Honeybee Stole Friday and as soon as I wind the other skein of yarn, I'll get going on the second half. Like all unblocked lace, it doesn't look like much so far but I am happy with it.





I added gold beads to the bees in the bee swarm section to suggest honey.

Finally started Yippey

Hi all,

Wish y'all a Happy Labor Day. Well Friday came I my hubby game the the card to get both patterns. Well I cast on for the Bee fields with the lace weight merino I have from Yarntreehouse. Well that got frogged after row 3 of the swatching. It is thinner tha nthe zephyr, so I am using 2 strands but I think I just might have to order another heavier yarn maybe. I do have a question I have not learned how to do the back loop cast on is it hard?
I need to zip I have veggies marinating and lamb I am getting ready to prepare for tomorrow. So I guess I will knit on the Forest Canopy for a bit and then get moving on the tote I am making for an exchange. I just love to knit. I also strted today a one-skein wonder pattern from Stephanie Japel. I am making the shrug for my friend Lina who lives in the Netherlands. Have a great long weekend and an good week all.

Cheryl ~ TX

Bee Hives!

I am loving this shawl! I'm doing the triangular Bee Fields and I'm using the laceweight wool from handpaintedyarn.com with size 5US/3.75mm needles. The yarn is soft to the touch and gives just the right amount of stitch definition. The needles provide just enough drag and the tips are wonderful for working all the various decreases.

I finished the Bee Hive portion of the shawl last night and I'm really looking forward to doing The Swarm today. I really should be working on some other projects I have going, but I just can't seem to put this one down. :-)

Opal
the Akamai Knitter

Better Buzzing Bees

After ripping out six rows of bad bees last week, I've got a better batch of buzzing bees:

I'm about 2/3 through the first repeat of the swarm, and although the rows are starting to feel really long, I'm enjoying seeing the bees pop up!

Pic of my wip beefields shawl

Here is a pic of my BeeFields Shawl that is being done in my handspun lace weight merino yarn. Looks like I'll have to practice with the camera a little bit to get a better pic.

shaking up the sidebar

I've reconfigured the sidebar to put a link to the errata page on Anne Hanson's website in a more visible place. I've created a category for Corrections to the Patterns that is now right below the Where to Buy the Patterns category. The last correction that Anne posted was on 8/26 and this was for the shawl. So far, there's been no word from Anne about corrections to the stole pattern.
I'd like to encourage everyone to check the errata page every now and then, especially just before you move on to a new section.
Judging by how much my teaching job has already impacted on my knitting time, I may not be able to check in on things as often as I've been doing. I'll be relying on you guys to post if you see an update on the corrections that I haven't gotten to yet. :)

Thanks for the invitation, Annmarie

Hi everyone,
I just got my invitation to join this morning and couldn't wait to post. My name is Robert and I have finished 3 repeats of the beehive section of the shawl. What an interesting pattern!! There are four of us here in Portland Oregon who are knitting the shawl. We are all using my lace weight handspun, handpainted yarns, each in different colorways (pink, grey, green and I can't remember the fourth). I am going to try to post a pic later, but just got a new camera and I'm still figuring it out.

Robert
(SpinneMann)