This weekend I spent pretty much every minute watching General Hospital and knitting on my bee shawl. You’d think I’d have more to show for it!
I’m about halfway through the first section. One of the things I love best about Anne’s patterns is that she gives you all of the written instructions as well as impeccable charts! I always start out with the words and gradually move to the charts. Now I’m all chart baby! Until the next section, of course, when I’ll go back to the words and gradually move to the charts again. It’s just a nice way to ease into things. Maybe that makes me a little less lace hardcore, but it’s okay. This section isn’t as hard as I first thought it would be, now that I’ve found a rhythm with the yarn and the pattern.
I thought I’d give you my own bee story, since you’ve shared so many of yours! (Don’t forget – you’ve got until tonight to enter the contest!)
I’ve only been stung once or twice, and never had a really bad reaction – but I always remember that bee stings ITCH horribly for at least a week AFTER the bite. Maybe it’s just me? No one’s mentioned the itch, but I definitely remember an itch.
Anyway, my story doesn’t have anything to do with being bit. But it’s weird just the same. Back in the summer of 1990, my mother and I traveled to Israel. We were volunteers in the Israeli Army for about three weeks, living on an army base, wearing uniforms, doing manual labor etc. The program is designed to relieve some of the reservists of their duties. My mother and I were sent to a base in the Negev Desert, right outside of Be’er Sheva. If you’ve never slept in the desert, it gets really cold at night, no matter how hot during the day. We had to be up at the crack of dawn each day to have breakfast and start our work day, which ended pretty early because it got so hot! The first morning I woke up from a fitful night sleep – I figured it was because I was jet lagged and in the middle of the desert in a foreign country expected to work 8 hours a day! Thank god my mom was with me! I pulled back my light blanket, shivering in the cold morning, and was shocked to find three DEAD BEES in my bed!! I checked my body, and didn’t feel anything like a sting, but still I was freaked out! It was very strange!
Even though I was never stung, more often then not there were dead bees in my bed when I woke up. Maybe they froze to death in the cold night? I have no idea.
So that’s my weird bee story. Thanks again for sharing all of yours!
A couple of things:
— Ann is CRANKING on her BABETTE! I’m so so jealous. I may have to leave The Bees and go back to the hook. She’ll be finished before I get out of section five! I hate that! But OH MY! Look how INCREDIBLE it looks!
— Tomorrow is the last day to SUBMIT for August’s YARNIVAL! C’MON PEOPLE! Where are all the Summer FO’s? Tutorials? Must knits? Put down the Harry Potter and get off Ravelry – c’mon! Don’t disappoint me!!!!
Okay. I’m done yelling. For now.
I find your story more frightening than actually getting stung.
However, the bee shawl looks really nice. 🙂
The itch…OMG the itch! I was stung by a wasp several years ago and the pain was incredible enough but the itch went on for 2 full weeks. I thought I’d scratch my leg off! LOVE your Bee;-)
I’ve been lucky enough not to have ever been stung, but once at Red Rock, me & a bunch of friends were skimming our way accross a huge rock and I stepped in a beehive. I was 1st in line and needless to say everyone there, cept me, got stung. One guy fell off the edge into the waterfall breaking 3 ribs on the way down. We were all hysterical. I already entered, but forgot this. It’s not allowed anyway;)
Your Bee on the other hand is lovely! It looks like a royal bee hive! The color is so dead on!
OMG, Dead Bees in bed! That would freak me out.
My only memorable experience with bees is when I was 6 and I was in the middle of a swarm of bees in our backyard. Not one sting though. I’ve never been stung and don’t generally get bitten by insects thankfully.
I didn’t share this the other day, but I’ll tell it now, why not? About eight years ago, I was still living with my parents and I was mowing their grass one evening. It was almost dark and I just wanted to finish up, I only had a little bit to go. So I got to this one part of the yard and I felt something hit my leg and I thought “Huh, I must have kicked up a stone.” Kept going, got back to the same part of the yard, got hit with some more “rocks.” It started to occur to me that I might have kicked up some bugs, so I killed the mower, found my dad and asked if there was anything on the back of my pants. His eyes got huge and he said “Oh my God! You’re covered with bees!” There had been a nest of bees in the ground and every time I ran the mower past them, they would sting me through my sweat pants and attack the mower, I just couldn’t see them because it was dark!
I ran into the garage, stripped off my clothes and hopoed into the shower, then I put baking soda and water on all the stings. They mostly stung my left leg, I had about 20 stings when it was done.
The best part is the next morning, my clothes were still full of really pissed off bees. I keep far away from stinging things now!
LOVE the bee shawl, the color is really fabulous!
The shawl is coming along nicely. So very pretty.
That was freaky finding them dead in your bed. Maybe they were trying to curl up with you and stay warm.
I wouldn’t call it my favorite bee story, but it’s certainly one that has left an indelible impression on me.
I was walking by a swimming pool wearing sandals and a bee got between my foot and the sandal so that when my foot went down, it squashed the bee as it was stinging me. The sting got so inside my foot that it couldn’t be retrieved and it finally surfaced only weeks later. It was agony for several days. 🙁
But if I can get a beautiful skein and a pattern for it, hey, I’m all for it!
That’s the creepiest bee story I’ve ever heard.
I wanted to submit to Yarnival but I looked over this month’s posts and man am I boring;)
So on GH do you just want to kill Sam or what? She is so damn annoying, but I love Kate and Sonny. Finally a good love interest for him.
That is a crazy bee story. I hate being stung – especially the swelling up afterwards!
I’m not much of a lace knitter, but I’m enjoying the sight of all the interesting yarns used for the provisional cast on for this shawl around Blogland. Who knew I was so easily entertained? 🙂
And as I’ve never been stung, I’ll keep my Bee watching at a distance.
Perhaps they were only hibernating due to the cold?
Here’s my recent bee story, complete with pix:
http://auntieannknits.blogspot.com/2007/05/bee-swarm-ectomy.html
THE ITCH! It’s enough to drive me mad just thinking about it! The sting is NOTHING compared to the ITCH!
And, if you don’t mind me saying, you ARE all chart baby.
😉
xoxo
The Bee is looking quite lovely!
Hey, maybe BEES are allergic to YOU?!?!
Your Beehive is looking great. That really is an awesome color. Mine is buzzing along in the Tupelo Gold – the green just spoke to me louder than the honey shade.
I was with my 4 foster kids, plus my daughter camping. (I did this as a single parent) My nephew was in the creek and stepped right in the wrong spot and broke open a behive. He took off running through the forest while we are all yelling hysterically to get in the water. Finally he ran back towards us and got in the water. His real dad is allergic to bees. So I paniced and had to drive him about thirty miles out of town to look for Benadryl. Luckily he only had 4 inch welts everywhere and wasnt allergic. I havent been camping since.
I was with my 4 foster kids, plus my daughter camping. (I did this as a single parent) My nephew was in the creek and stepped right in the wrong spot and broke open a behive. He took off running through the forest while we are all yelling hysterically to get in the water. Finally he ran back towards us and got in the water. His real dad is allergic to bees. So I paniced and had to drive him about thirty miles out of town to look for Benadryl. Luckily he only had 4 inch welts everywhere and wasnt allergic. I havent been camping since.
I KNOW we’re not having a “race”, but if you check out my latest blog entry, I’m into the swarm section … slowgoing, but sensational – as long as I’m paying attention! unfortunately, I’m not QUITE the photographer you are – 😉
I’m a music teacher, and when I got back to my classroom last August, I noticed many dead bees on the windowsill. I figured work had been done in my room over the summer while the windows had been open. I went on with my teaching life.
During the first three days of school, always at 8:45, three or four bees would be hitting themselves against the window and I would have to calm my third grade children down before we could move on. I couldn’t tell how they were getting in.
Day three, we’re listening to a beautiful piece of music by Mozart, and I see a girl with tears in her eyes, swaying to the music. I was so moved by how the piece was affecting her, especially when it makes me cry sometimes too. When it was over, I asked who wanted to comment on the piece and was so happy when she raised her hand.
She told me she loved it a lot, but a “nasty bee” took a bite out of her during the music! She didn’t want to raise her hand and tell me until the music had stopped because it was so beautiful. Then she burst into tears!
I’m only glad I wasn’t playing “Flight of the Bumblebee”!
Hi Cara,
Here is my bee story. I remember when I was a teenager we went to a lake during the summer. We had some good food and it was not extremely crowded and I was having fun. Well, turns out I had to go back for a beach towel back at the picnic tables and as I was walking along the shore – – WHAM! A bee got me. First of all I remember it being very painful and the shock of not knowing what it was! Turns out I kind of leaned over and tried to pry out the culprit, of course I could not see a thing because my foot was full of mud and I could not sit down in the mud. I semi-cleaned my foot and pulled out the stinger and my foot was sensitive for the rest of the day. I am glad to report the bee did not ruin my afternoon at the lake. Slapped on more mud whenever I was out of the water and it seemed to relieve the sting a bit.
Your bee looks beautiful. I find that I enjoy patterns that have both written and charted directions. I always start out with the written but often am moving onto the chart without realizing it. I thought I was the only one that used both!
Your shawl looks so pretty. I was taking a drink from a soda and a bee had just landed on the edge. He (or maybe it was a she?) flew into my mouth for a second and flew out, but I didn’t get bit! Ha! And it sounds like you have a very cool mom.
Not much excitement in the bee/honey story line- my mother makes honey that she puts up from her own bee hives. And I have LOTS of bees in my garden cause of the flowers I grow! But its hard to get photos of them!
hope that qualifies me!
ALSO I am a GH fan too — havent watched today’s episode – am a little nervous about what SAM is going to do to Jason! (love that guy!)
Not much excitement in the bee/honey story line- my mother makes honey that she puts up from her own bee hives. And I have LOTS of bees in my garden cause of the flowers I grow! But its hard to get photos of them!
hope that qualifies me!
ALSO I am a GH fan too — havent watched today’s episode – am a little nervous about what SAM is going to do to Jason! (love that guy!)
Your shawl is looking good! I started mine this Saturday and we are both in about the same spot. I am using my Merino Lace in Pink Grapefruit. I am such a rebel, 🙂 I shamelessly ditched my MS3 for the Bee. The non rhythmic nature of the MS3 was not my cup of tea. I tried to get into it, but alas life is too short to knit what you aren’t aren’t suited for, right? I am definitely feelong the love for the Bee shawl.
I just realized the FOs, tutorials and must knits are right here baby!
Dead bees in the bed, oh my! I like the Negev connection though… *sigh* I wanna go back and visit…
When I was in 3rd grade, we had the windows open in my classroom… and about 5 bees came and landed in my hair, unbeknownst to me. I felt a little twinge, so a combed through my hair with my fingers and screamed when I found them there. I had bee stings on my palm 🙁 I never figured out why the liked my hair so much…
I just stumbled across this so I may be too late for the contest, but I’ll share my bee story anyway…I was in 7th grade, in the junior high marching band (I know, I know…). We were lining up for a parade when I felt a bee fly into my hair. We were in formation, waiting to be called to attention, so I quickly brushed at it with my hand, at which point said bee became entangled in my hair. Frantic at this point, I tried to gather my fingertips underneath it and pull it out of the tunnel of hair around it. That’s when it happened…”a-ten-HUT!” I snapped to attention. The bee snuggled further in toward my scalp and drilled its red-hot stinger into my head, just past my hairline at the forehead. Good little “do-bee” (LOL) that I was, I didn’t move. I don’t remember how the bee escaped from my hair, but I have a hard little bump, the size of a grain of barley, on my scalp as an award for my discipline that day!
When I was about 8, I was visiting my girlfriend a couple of houses down. She had an enormous lemon tree in her backyard with a tire swing. We were taking turns on the swing, and when it was my turn, I thought I’d go all out. Swinging, twisting, pushing off the trunk with my feet and swinging as high and far as I could go. Apparently, the rope was fraying, and all of a sudden, it snapped. The tire (with me on it) fell and my butt hit the ground. It hurt, but I figured it was from the fall. Then it really began to hurt and swelled up. I couldn’t breathe, so the doctor was called. Turns out I had landed on a very large bumblebee, who had the misfortune to have his stinger sticking straight up in the air. I hit it square on my right cheek, killing the bee and inheriting his stinger deeply imbedded in my bathing suit-clad anatomy. My butt was swollen for a week, and I had to sit on pillows, take antihistamines, and have my grandma put an ointment on it. Thank goodness it was summer, or I would have been tortured at school.
That is very odd. I haven’t been bitten often but once I tromped all over a log that had a hive in it when my parents were busy putting the canoe in the water. My mom claims that she warned me, but I never heard her say beehive, not even once! So I went canoeing with a bee sting on my eyelid. SO ANNOYING.
Lordy, girl, you made me go over and buy that exact same yarn. For the exact same pattern. Spendy, but worth every cent.
All those bee stories are making me crazy. Bees are one of the few things that I am absolutely terrified of.
One of the pluses, mebbe, of being in Chicago is watching GH with my mom a few times a week. I’m just saying this–I’m sick of Elizabeth and Jason already.
Love that honey yarn, honey.
Truly a barrel full of monkeys!