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Bee Mittens

Bee Mittens
Started: 28 Jan 2022
Finished: 5 Feb 2022
Pattern: Hey Bee-Otch Mittens by Drunk Girl Designs
Yarn: Valley Yarn Huntington in Mustard (0024) and Chocolate (B118) – 21 grams remaining of the yellow and 20 grams of the brown.
Needle: US 0 / 2 mm
Notes: Okay, so they’re not quite exactly to pattern, but as a beekeeper, I kind of wanted just plain bee mittens even though I deeply appreciate the bee pun.  So, I repeated the “Bee” part from the left mitten to the right once I got to that point in the chart, otherwise I left everything the same in the pattern.  I probably would knit the thumb another 5-6 rows longer (it was still a little short even after having added an additional 4 rows), and would swap out the thumb increases to run along the border to the mitten body instead of along the center outside of the thumb.  The construction just feels wonky and fits weird?  I’ve never done thumb increases this way and, it works, but it’s definitely not my preferred method.  Also, the patterning on the thumb made the float situation a hot mess on the inside.  If I knit these again, I’d probably just invert the design on the palm for the thumb to keep things tidier inside the thumb.  There were lots of long floats in this pattern, so it involved a good deal of managing those floats while knitting and then futzing with the finished piece to pull the too-long ones into submission, but it’s 100% worth it for the final result.  This designer does SUCH a gorgeous job on the colorwork designs and this is the second pattern of hers that I’ve knit, and I’m super happy with the finished mittens!

Mothers’ Day Postcard

Every once in a while, I remember I have something in the genealogical stash that lines up with the holiday at hand!  This postcard was found in a box of grandma’s things in a set of postcards that didn’t belong to her or any family member.  I honestly have no idea how she came across them!  I had contacted someone via Ancestry.com who was related to the person most of these were sent to, and neither of us could make a link.  Anyway, today’s postcard was in that set and I only found it online one other place, so I thought I’d share it today.  The front is printed in tones of blue with “Mothers’ Day” at the top, a photo of a woman, and carnations framing a poem that is as follows:

To Honor Our Mothers
Just one such kindly face,
A heart so filled with grace;
Gift of the One above,
A mother, and her love.

The back says it’s No. 212, price $1 per 100 by Meigs pub. co., Indianapolis, Ind.  Made in the U.S.A.  Someone wrote in pen what appears to say, “Compliments of the Epworth League 1934” – the Epworth League being a Methodist association for young adults that existed under that name from 1889-1939.  Grandma was Methodist, so it’s possible this was actually hers or her mother’s, or that the link between her family and the family mentioned in the postcards lies in a connection made through the church.  As far as who that woman on the postcard is, it doesn’t appear to be of Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mothers’ Day, and I couldn’t find anything more about who she might be even after doing a Google Image search and trying to find the author of the poem.  If you happen to know, definitely drop me a comment!!

1942 Reade Township High School Graduation

I’ve been trying to keep a good mix of posts coming so that it’s not 100% knitting all the time, but also because the most recent genealogical scanning project has a bunch of gems that should probably be put somewhere on the internet in case someone might be searching for this stuff.  This one is probably a little obscure since Reade Township is a tiny township in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.  The program for the 1942 Reade Township commencement wasn’t for grandma’s graduation, but that of her cousin, Nellie Gasparri which is probably why she tucked it into her scrapbook.  It has a red construction paper cover and is hand tied with a red ribbon.  The program date is Tuesday, June 16, 1942 at 8 o’clock and was conducted at the Reade Township High School in Mountaindale, Pennsylvania (now the “Mountaindale Conference Center”).  For a history of the school, the Cambria County page at CamGenPA has a good write up as well as a listing of graduates.  A list of the graduates in this program is typed out here for search engine indexing purposes, and the images from the program are below.  Click any image to link to the full size scan.

Academic Course:
Emma Babbits, Margaret Bennett, Henry Colwell, Robert Duke, Mardell Eakins, Anna Frank, Wilda Hollis, Margaret Kost, Marjorie McCartney, Harold Metzger, beatrice Morrow, Donald Yingling

Commercial Course:
Lee Ammerman, Martha Braniff, Lavonne Davis, Nellie Gasparri, Marcella Gates, Calvin Gregg, Leroy Hollen, Jack Kough, Emma Letcher, Lorraine Miller, Nancy Mulhollem (Mulhollen), Matthew Valent

General Course:
John Gates, Betty Gill, Ruth Glass, John Hollen, Florian Tomchek, Milton Zupon, Madolin Beck

Beekeeper Socks

Beekeeper Socks
Started: 18 Feb 2021
Finished: 3 March 2021
Pattern: “His Last Bow” by Lotta Groeger
Yarn: Haldecraft Yarns Andre in colorway, “None of your Beeswax” (80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon)
Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm
Notes: You know that a beekeeper who is also a knitter is contractually obligated to knit these, right?  Read the fine print, it’s in there.  These are toe-up socks which is something I try to avoid since I find the cast on fussy and, really, I’m just way more comfortable with cuff down.  The little bee detail in some of the cells means they really do need to be knit toe-up, and they’re bees (!!!) so it was 100% worth forging ahead with a method that isn’t my favorite but produces a beautiful set of socks.  As is usual with toe-up socks, I can never seem to gauge where to start the heel, so the foot is just a tiny bit too long.  Then I got overzealous and knit the leg a bit too long, so it’s a little tight near the cuff.  In hindsight, I could’ve added a few extra stitches around to accommodate my calves, but by the time one was done, I wasn’t going back to fix it since it wasn’t too-too bad.  Can we appreciate though, the beauty of lining up the sock pattern and the yarn color and colorway name here?  I’m absolutely delighted with how these came out and obviously am going to bee wearing them a bunch!