
When I first started at Colorsong Yarn, the photo room was full. And by full, I mean there were probably about 300 skeins of yarn waiting for their close-up. At the very bottom of the pile, in a non-descript bag, sat a skein of yarn that immediately brought to mind a colony of honey bees. The color was so rich, you could almost taste the sweetness.

After petting and drooling over the skein forever, I decided to ask Nancy about it. She said it was the sample skein of Maiden Hair sent out by Hand Maiden months and months before. Since we didn’t have much pattern support for the yarn, we decided that I should use the skein to develop a quick, easy pattern. I wound it into a ball and just had to knit it immediately. The Honey Bee Scarf was the finished outcome.

The yarn is a loosely spun 2-ply – one ply is a shiny, smooth strand of silk, and the other is of kid spun together with nylon (67% silk, 23% kid, 10% nylon). The plying gives the yarn a curvy, undulating effect, while the kid produces a fine, soft halo. It slips through the fingers like butter (so sensual); the silk ply prevents the kid ply from sticking to the needles. The finished fabric is light and warm, with a nice drape that hugs the wearer. The two plies can be easily split, so use needles with a slightly blunt tip (I used addi Turbo Clicks).