Bee All You Can Bee in July!

Hello Everyone!

This month at Yarns by HPF we are all about, “Bee All You Can Bee in July!” We took on the challenge of the Beekeeper Cardigan 4 Day Sweater KAL. This is the second annual 4 Day Sweater KAL for designer Marie Greene of Olive Knits (www.oliveknits.com). Per the Ravelry page, “this cardigan has simple, all-over texture. No lace, no cables. Top-down, seamless construction. 3/4 sleeves with an option for long sleeves. The skill level “intermediate” but confident advanced beginners should be able to knit this if you know how to read a pattern and understand top-down sweater knitting.”

Check out Marie’s Ravelry page and you’ll see last year’s challenge was the Stillwater Cardigan among all her other beautiful designs. This year’s KAL ran from July 1 – 15 and we held our KAL from July 10 – 14. Linda ordered Knitted Wit’s Polwarth Shimmer and Madeline Tosh DK in the most wonderful colors for this KAL. We each chose different colors so the completed sweaters will show a spectrum of how this pattern plays out in various hues. So with needles, pattern, and yarn in hand, with snacks and drinks to fortify us through the day, the KAL officially began! For me, the Beekeeper Cardigan is my first adult sweater and I found following what we were doing in the store and Olive Knit’s Facebook Group, Olive Knits – Knitters’ Lounge, helped this remote Knitter immensely. I definitely felt the sense of community and that I was there knitting along with everyone. I decided to knit my sweater with Knitted Wit’s Polwarth Shimmer in Carbon. The pattern has three to four inch ease. For me choosing a size up let’s me have a looser fitting sweater. I am not a very fast knitter so I started a little earlier in order to blog and follow tips and updates from the Facebook Group. Currently, I am at the sleeve divide.

Coming Up On The Sleeve Divide!

I write down every row so I can keep track of where I am in the pattern. For me this helped greatly when I came to the Little Bee Pattern and especially when I came to adding “Bees”. I used markers because they help me “see” the pattern as I knit and I feel like I have an “audience” cheering me on. I also check the bee p[placement as I knit so as not to go too far when I make an inevitable (!x$%*!) miscount. Checking the Ravelry page, errata, website, Facebook Group Page, and ASKING LINDA QUESTIONS (!!) have proven invaluable. The “scary” part where you come to Rows 43 and 44 are now fully explained and should take away any confusion. I will not finish my sweater in 4, 5, 6, or even 8 days (see www.oliveknits.com, information on the KAL, where the days are adjusted for the size you are knitting; for me it would be 6 days). I am so excited to be knitting my first adult sized sweater that I took Marie Greene’s words to heart and if you’re like me taking more than 4 days to knit your Beekeeper Cardigan,“What happens if I don’t finish in 4 days?  No worries! The challenge is fun – and doing it with friends is even better – but really this project is about the experience. We have so much fun encouraging each other, cheering everyone along and sharing our successes (and pitfalls) along the way. Whether you finish in 4 days or 4 weeks (or 4 months!) – you’ll love the camaraderie and friendship of knitting with friends. Plus, this is a classic style sweater (that happens to be fun and quick to knit), and it’s one you’ll love wearing for years to come.” VERY TRUE!!!!

I will keep you posted on my slow and steady progress. I am looking forward to seeing our Yarns Family’ s completed Beekeeper Cardigans!

Knit On! Lisa