Monday, February 18, 2008

Truly Finished Honeybee

Now I just need to get it in the mail....

Bees and honeycomb

Specs
Pattern: Honeybee Stole, by the amazing Anne Hanson. Cast on November 1, 2007; finished February 17, 2008.
Yarn: Wooly Wonka Merino Laceweight in Northern Lights. I used every bit of the 1800 yard skein.
Needles: US 5 circs from Jenkins Woodworking -- Bolivian rosewood and extremely pointy!
Notes: I am a loose knitter (I just now realized how that sounds... you know what I mean, though!). Actually, I've decided that I'm more of a loose purler, and this pattern has lots of purls. Although I blocked very loosely, this shawl is 11 feet long, not 7 feet as specified. Luckily, this is for my 6 foot tall sister! I actually left out one repeat of the honeybee-and-honeycomb pattern (above) on the second end, plus a couple of plain-knit rows in the edging, because I ran out of yarn.

Although this took twice as long as planned (I had hoped to be done by Christmas) and although I ran out yarn, I'm really please with this project. It was both challenging and fun, and the pattern is extremely well-written.

As I said, I blocked this loosely -- I soaked it in cold water and Soak, and then spread it out on a couple quilts on the floor. I made sure I pulled the pattern out, but I didn't pin down all the little picots along the edge. I don't have that many pins or that long of blocking wires! When I picked it up off the quilts, this is what I saw:

dye spots

Lots of little blue dots. I knew that the water had been blue when I took it out, but this really surprised me. I'll have to warn my sister not to sweat while wearing Honeybee!

While Honeybee blocked, I cast on (again) for Wisp. This time I'm happier.

Wisp KSH Tea Rose

This is Kidsilk Spray in Tea Rose. It's a little pinker than shown in the picture, but I love all the colors in it. I cast on 66 stitches instead of 46, and plan on making it longer, too (unless, of course, I get bored first!). Luckily, I have 4 skeins of the yarn, for a pattern that calls for 1 to 2 skeins!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

hooray! Please don't wait for the spring thaw to mail it! :)

I promise not to sweat (or wear white) while wearing Honeybee!

sophanne said...

That is beautiful- congratulations on finishing it!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous!

Bezzie said...

Hee hee! I love the no-sweat comment. I love the little honeybees on it.

And I'm drooling over that kidsilk color!

Deb said...

It's Bee-autiful!

Anonymous said...

I love honeybee in that color!
and.

I'm loving that Kidsilk Spray too.

I heart your yarn {grin}.
(and didn't it used to be possible to "sign in" with typepad? That's gone now, so I can't leave my email ... or ... I can't leave my url.... how odd.

Anonymous said...

Oh that kidsilk haze is beautiful. I can't wait to see more of what it knits up like.

Chris said...

Wow, Honeybee was more epic than I realized! She can always use it as a tapestry. ;)

Michelle said...

Dang, there's 18 football fields of yarn in Honeybee. Cool!!!

Wisp is going to be so pretty. That's gorgeous yarn you chose.