A present for my friend the beekeeper (pattern inside)

Sometimes life writes the most fantastic stories. Here is in my humble opinion one of them:

When I moved to Sweden in 2013 I lost contact to a few of my friends. Not to my closest friends of course but a few people I knew from hanging out, skateboarding or simple pub nights just disappeared. As i changed my life more or less radically I guess we did not have a lot in common anymore and our ways simply went in different directions. And, hey that is really ok.

As I started to be more active on Instagram about a year ago I realized that a beekeeper from Austria followed me and liked  lot of my pictures. I thought that was really interesting because he was some kind of special amongst all crocheters and the few nature photographers. After a while I thought I have to see who this guy is and what he is up to.

It took me a while to recognize him and I was truly surprised that the beekeeper was my old companion Jochen from Vienna. I have to say that he is the one I least expected to become a country boy. But life writes its own stories.

I didn´t hesitate to contact him to get more information about his little business. I will not bother you with to many details but the hard facts are that he is now selling small amounts of honey and he describes his own progress with these words : “A small step back to nature can be an enormous improvement.  I am forever thankful that my bees tought me that.”

The way he talks about “his people” is most inspiring. His lifestyle and of course the resulting products are full of awareness, sustainability, respect for the hard-working bees and a lot of love.

I ordered a package full of honey and I was amazed by the natural taste and I am sure this is not the last time I am going to receive a package full of natures gold from Austria.

If you are interested in Jochens products do not hesitate to contact him. If you are able to read german take a look at Imkerei Wendts Homepage . You will find a lot of information there and the whole story of how he became a beekeeper.

I found the story of my friend who became a beekeeper and the way he talks about his work and his bees so inspiring that I decided that he should get something in return. It had to be something special and of course I thought about a spoonful of yarns – hotel of bees shawl.

But this had to be simpler and straight. So I decided to make a less spectacular, straight scarf just with filet honeycombs.

First I wanted to use 7 colours of Scheepjes Stonewashed. But during the progress I just took the colours Beryl, Yellow Jasper; Moonstone to Enstatite – and back again (it is the 6th, 5th, 1st and 4th colour in the pic above from left). I used the Black Onyx (3rd colour from left) for the middle parts and the border.

I am not going to write a full pattern of the scarf because I am certainly not the first one who did crochet a honeycomb filet piece but I leave the filet pattern and chart here. I guess that will do for the most of you. It will give you an idea what I did and the possibility to adjust the pattern to your own needs.

The filet part is based on double crochets (european terms) . I used a 3.5 mm hook.

Ch2 in the beginning of every row does never count as stitch. Ch1, skip one stitch, always counts as a stitch.

Every black square represents a chain1, skip 1 stitch, every white square a double crochet.

Row 1 ch54.

Row 2 1sc in second chain, sc in every stich, ch2, turn (53 scs)

Beginning of the chart above:

Row 3 1dc in first sc, 1dc in every sc, ch2, turn. (53 dcs)

Row 4 10dcs, *ch1, skip 1stitch, 1dc* rep 4 times, 14dcs, *ch1, skip 1stitch, 1dc* rep 4 times, 9dcs, ch2, turn. (43 dcs, 10 ch1spaces)

Row 5 9dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 9dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 13dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 9dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 9dcs, ch2, turn. (49 dcs, 4 ch1spaces)

Row 6 8dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 11dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 11dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 11dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 8dcs, ch2, turn. (49 dcs, 4 ch1spaces)

Row 7 7dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 13dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 11dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 13dcs, ch1, skip 1stitch, 7dcs, ch2, turn. (49 dcs, 4 ch1spaces)

Row 8 2dcs, *ch1, skip 1stitch, 1dc* rep 2 times, 14dcs, *ch1, skip 1stitch, 1dc* rep 4times, 14dcs, *ch1, skip 1stitch, 1dc* rep 2 times, 2dcs, chain2, turn. (42 dcs, 11 ch1spaces)

Row 9 rep row 7.

Row 10 rep row 6.

Row 11 rep row 5.

Row 12 rep row 4.

Row 13 to row 28 repeat row 5 to 12, 2 times.

Row 29 to 32 repeat row 5 to 8.

Row 33 53dcs

I crocheted the pattern above 7 times. The second, fourth and sixth time I crocheted the pattern upside – down just to make it more smooth and neat. I needed one 50 gram ball of Scheepjes Stone Washed for every part, using a 3.5mm hook.

The 7 parts are divided by 3 rows of moss stitches in the colour Black Onyx and the previous colour.

At the end I added a moss sitch border in Black Onyx, Beryl and Enstatite.

The scarf is 200 cm long and 26 cm wide and I have to say that I am really happy with the result.

It is not fancy but I guess it will fulfill its purpose and keep this man warm.

Ready to ship to Austria:

More adventures ahead, more to come soon from up north…