Ta-dah: The Hotel of Bees Shawl!

When you have been following me here on the blog, then you know that I like to illustrate my posts with a lot of photos. This one will be no exception. I really like to document my projects from the beginning until it is finished.  But with this one, I may have overdone it a little bit (but really only just a little bit). So, before you read on this warning is in place:

Caution: this post contains a lot of photos! 🙂

The fact that you are still reading along proves that you are curious! So here we go!

Just over a year ago (the pattern just had its first birthday), Christina launched her Hotel of Bees Shawl pattern. The pattern is inspired by the book All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr. I was one of her test team members. So this version actually is my second HOB shawl!

Then Sandra of Cherryheart and Sam of Betsy Makes decided to host a CAL featuring this pattern and right away I was tempted to make another one. Especially since my first version does not exist anymore. (I chose the wrong yarn quality for test shawl and wasn’t satisfied with the colour combination.) This time I would pick a nice yarn!

A short trip to Munich was planned at the time as well and of course, I had already googled the yarn shopping options there. One of the stores that I really wanted to pay a visit to was Die Mercerie. I had been browsing their online shop and was looking forward to seeing all the beautiful yarns.

The shop really is a true candy store for yarn lovers! They pretty much only sell high-quality yarn brands. I had heard of a lot of them but never had the chance so far to see these yarns in real life. I knew that I needed three colours and I had written down the amount needed of each colour. And I knew that I wanted to incorporate a kind of mustardy yellow…

So this is my selection. The two blue ones are Madelinetosh and the yellow ones (used double-stranded) are Shibui Knits. More details can be found on the Ravelry project page here!

Aren’t they beautiful? Here is one more!

I couldn’t stare at the skeins for long though. By the time we returned from Munich, I only had a week left to hook up this shawl before the CAL closed. This definitely is one of my fastest projects ever!

Guilty pleasure: I even like to cake the yarn and I love what these cakes look like!

And off we go! First beginnings. The lovely project bag is a souvenir from Munich as well by the way. It’s by Mr & Mrs Clynk and I bought it at Kokolores. The bags are actually toilet bags, but they are perfect as a project bag!

During the week time that I had to finish my Hotel of Bees shawl, we had beautiful summer weather. It was even rather hot for a few days so I had a perfect excuse to slow down and work on my shawl. (Just look how the yarn shines in the sunlight!)

And I made great progress. Section one finished! Can you spot the little bee?

Section two followed soon… More bees and fluffy yellow. How appropriate in the connection with bees: the yellow colour is called ‘Pollen’.

Oh, those lovely yarn balls!

The great thing about this pattern is that the base is the widest part of the pattern. That means that the rows become shorter and shorter as you make your progress. It also means that section three is finished quickly!

Here it is… just a few ends to weave in and then it’s off to the blocking boards!

Interestingly, my shawl did turn out a bit smaller than the size stated in the pattern even though I have used a larger hook. And I have a decent amount of yarn left… Hmmm…

Are you ready for the ta-dah moment? Here it comes:

I really loved making this shawl again. I got to try new yarns and I love them! Thank you, Christina, for your beautiful pattern and thank you, Sandra and Sam, for hosting the CAL! It was great fun!

All details on patterns and yarns used can be found on my Ravelry project page for this shawl. Just click here to go there!

This post is linked to the Liebste Maschen blog party at Fanny’s Liebste!

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