Ep 19: The Two Ewes are Busy Bees

In this episode Kelly and Marsha give updates on finished knitting projects, ongoing knitting projects, and other fiber projects that are in the the planning stages. They also talk about Marsha's spinning class, crochet, Kelly's new beekeeping adventure, and her upcoming fellowship in Washington DC.

Kelly has one sleeve done and the other moving along on the purple sweater she is making. The project uses the Cherry Vanilla pattern by Thea Colman. She battled the sleeve slog by starting a new project! The Ava Tunic by Jade Fletcher is a chevron striped dress or top for a little girl, size 18 mos. to toddler. She is knitting it in Spud and Chloe Sweater in teal and yellow.

Marsha finished her Neskowin Shell by Kay Hopkins that she made as part of our Warmth of Summer KAL. She finished the body of her Juno Cardigan by yellowcosmo and started the first sleeve. Marsha is concerned the sweater may not have as much positive ease as she had hoped, but she was limited by the amount of yarn she had. Blocking will probably relax fabric the the sweater may be perfect. The continuing mystery of fit!

Marsha is thinking of next knitting the Wispy Willow Cardigan by Cheryl Beckerich using the coned blue yarn she picked up at the NoCKRs Retreat. "middleagepearl" made this darling cardigan for our Warmth of Summer KAL. Or she is thinking of making Lanata, a pretty lace cardigan by Amy Christoffers using Limbo that a friend gave her.

Marsha reports on the first half of an introductory spinning classes she is taking.

And then we talk about bees! It is swarm season and Kelly talks about the public perception of a swarm vs. the reality of a swarm. Here are a couples websites that provides more information about swarms. Habitat for Honeybees and the Seattle Urban Bee Project. If you want to get even more scientific, check out Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley of the Cornell department of neurobiology and behavior or read this shorter article on the topic (the article has a great picture of a swarm). Fascinating! If everyone had this information, no bee swarms would ever face extermination!

The documentary about bees that Marsha mentions is More Than Honey (2012) by Markus Imhoof.

Here are some others that Marsha has not watched but sound interesting.

Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us? (2010) by Tagger Siegel

Vanishing of the Bees (2009) by George Langworthy and Maryam Henein

Who Killed the Honey Bees? (2009) by James Erskine

The Last Beekeeper (2008) by Jeremy Simmons

If you are interested in bees and pollinators other than honeybees and some information on "bee-positive" plants and gardening, check out the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab.

And finally, if you're wondering why Marsha was at Steven's Pass for six hours, click here to see why. For obvious reasons she will only watch his videos when he is home safe. Don't watch if you don't want to hear a teenage boy swear. ;-)