Archive | Bees

Bumble Bee Knitting Pattern

I had noticed that the Wisteria creeper was full of buds before we left for our holiday, it’s amazing how a garden can change in just four days! We have returned to the most amazing display of mauve colour imaginable. When we were outside this morning feeding the chickens, Erin called me to come and have a look at the beautiful Wisteria flowers. When I went to her, she told me to listen… wow! There were hundreds of bumble bees flitting from one flower to the next. There were plenty of regular bees there too.
Well, as you can imagine, I was inspired to knit a little bee! So off I went and found some black and yellow mohair scraps, it needed to be mohair because little bees are so fuzzy and well full of pollen, so mohair was perfect.
I knitted him in the round on my circular needles but DPNs would work just as well too and after a few minutes, there he was, a little bee:)

Materials:
4mm / US 6 circular needles or DPNs
DK Kid Mohair yarn scraps
Merino fleece for stuffing
Wool needle for sewing up
Black and white fleece for the eyes
Felting needle

Pattern:

Cast on 6 stitches in black yarn and join for knitting  in the round.
Round 1: Knit
Round 2: Knit into the front and back of all the stitches across the round. (12 stitches)
Round 3: Join the yellow yarn, and knit the round.
Round 4: Knit into the front and back of all the stitches across the round. (24 stitches)
Round 5: Pick up the black strand and leave the yellow strand and knit the round.
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: Pick up the yellow strand and leave the black strand and knit round.
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: Pick up the black strand and leave the yellow strand and knit round.
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: Pick up the yellow strand and leave the black strand and knit 2 stitches together all across the round. (12 stitches)
Round 12: Knit
Round 13: Pick up the black strand and leave the yellow strand and knit 2 stitches together across the round. (6 stitches)
Round 14: Knit
Round 15: Knit

Stuff the little bee before you finish off, then break the yarn, thread the yarn through a wool needle and thread the needle through the remaining stitches. Finish off. This will be the stinger of the bee.

Wings:
With a wool needle, sew two black loops over each other for each wing.

Eyes:
Needle felt the eyes, first with white fleece and then a little black circle of fleece in the centre of the eye.

You are finished:)

Can you see this little bumble bee in the photo above?

Thank you so much for your thoughts for Kye today, he went into hospital early this morning, everything went smoothly and he is recovering at home, he is back to his normal self already:)

Happy knitting and have a lovely week:)
xo
Linda

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Portrait Saturday…

Our plum tree is just bursting with ripe and over ripe fruit at the moment and we have left quite a few plums on the tree for the birds to enjoy… Today, as I was walking around our garden, I noticed that the bees were drinking the juice from these plums too… It was wonderful to witness these amazing creatures quietly going about their work…
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Bees…

The other day we were all out in the garden and we noticed quite a few bees swarmimg around our really tall Oak tree. We had, a few months previously, placed an Owl box high up in our tree, no owls ever came to live there, but to our amazement, an entire swarm of bees have moved into the owl box and the honey is literally dripping out as you can see in this last photo along the side of the opening to the box.

It has been a wonderful experience for our children, we have learned so much about bees, their habits etc…  I have been in contact with one of the honey farms down the road from our home for more information, they have mentioned that our municipality does not allow bee hives within residential areas and they have advised us to have the owl box removed for the saftey of our family. Apparently, even mowing the lawn could stress them and trigger them to swarm. They will be coming early next week in the early evening to take the owl box, the bees will be relocated to their honey farm and incorporeted into the swarms that they have there. They were so helpful and have the best interest of the bees at heart so my children and I are very relieved… We have so enjoyed these amazing creatures being a part of our lives and will miss them…

Have you ever had a swarm come and take up residence at your home, I would love to hear your experience…
Have a wonderful weekend…

Giveaway:
Tomorrow I will be posting a LARGE giveaway for my Mamma4earth Shop, so pop by my blog tomorrow evening to enter…

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