Grace Meador Makes: bee

Hullo!

Here is a pattern that I have been putting off posting for ages, but finally have done! I wanted to make a cute round bumble bee, but didn't find anything to suit my fancy, so I decided to adapt another pattern, and I made so many little changes that I think it is quite my own now. So here it is!

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Bumblebee Pattern

Body:

R1: Ch 2 in yellow.
R2: 6 sc in first ch.
R3: 2 sc in each sc – 12 sts.
R4: *2 sc in next st, sc in next st, rep from * around - 18 sts.
R5: *2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 2 sts, rep from * around – 24 sts.
R6: *2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 3 sts, rep from * around – 30 sts.
R7: *2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 4 sts, rep from * around – 36 sts.
R8: Switch to black or brown. Sc around, 36 sts. Repeat through R11
R12: Switch to yellow. Sc around, 36 sts, repeat through R15
R16: Switch to black or brown. Sc around, 36 sts. Repeat through R19
Rnd 20: Switch to yellow. *Sc2tog, sc in each of next 4 sts, rep from * around – 30 sts. (Somewhere around here is generally a good idea to sew on the wings, put in the eyes, and begin stuffing.)
Rnd 21: *Sc2tog, sc in each of next 3 sts, rep from * around – 24 sts.
Rnd 22: *Sc2tog, sc in each of next 2 sts, rep from * around – 18 sts.
Rnd 23: *Sc2tog, sc in next st, rep from * around – 12 sts.
Rnd 24: *Sc2tog, rep from * around – 6 sts. Fasten off.

Wings:
R1: Ch 2 in white or cream.
R2: 6 sc in first ch.
R3: 2 sc in each sc – 12 sts.
R4: *2 sc in next st, sc in next st, rep from * around - 18 sts.
R5: *2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 2 sts, rep from * around – 24 sts.
R6: *2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 3 sts, rep from * around – 30 sts. Finish off. Sew to body using white or cream.

Stinger:
R1: With black, ch 2.
R2: 4 sc in first ch.
R3: *2 sc in next st, sc in next st, rep from * around - 6 sts.
R4: *2 sc in next st, sc in each of next 2 sts, rep from * around – 8 sts. Finish off. Sew to bee with black yarn.

Finished!

I made this dahling little bee as a present for my friend and dormie E, who actually kept bees in high school and missed them at college. Bees are amazing creatures, but recently they have been disappearing from hives all around the country, causing huge problems for farmers both commercial and home growers. Click here to learn more about this phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder.

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How is this for some color? These are the leftover pictures from Memorial day weekend when we went to my university's botanical garden. My cousin and I felt pretty cool when we got in for free by showing our student IDs. And then we were like, oh wait, our parents are paying thousands of dollars for our tickets, really. Haha. ha. err. Anyway!