20/05/2021
The 20th of May is the world day of our beloved bees. I know that many people are afraid of them (even panic) and it is understandable, nobody wants to be stung by a bee. But once we understand that, REALLY, if we don’t bother them at all, they won’t have the need to defend themselves, and they will go on with their lives without paying attention to us,
and they will continue to concentrate on their important task of pollinating all the flowers on the planet and creating that magical liquid gold called honey. Warning, never trust wasps, that is a completely different and completely devilish insect.
Did you know that honey besides being delicious, naturally sweet, healthy, containing healing properties, beautiful (because it is really beautiful, right?), it is also, almost, eternal? If one day you come to find an Egyptian tomb (those things can happen, right???) and inside you find a jar with honey, and it has the lid on it, you can, with all tranquillity, stick your finger in and taste that treasure.
Magic is given by a series of factors that operate in perfect harmony.
- It’s sweet
Honey is a sugar and sugars are hygroscopic. That means they contain very little water but can absorb moisture if exposed to it.
Micro-organisms or bacteria that can survive in such an environment are rare. And for something to be damaged, there has to be something to damage it, but honey is not very “hospitable” to strangers so it keeps them away.
- It’s acid
On the other hand, honey is extremely acidic. Indeed, you read that correctly: its pH is between 3 and 4.5 (7 is neutral) and that acidity kills.
- It’s made by bees
When bees make honey, they start with the nectar they collected from the flowers and regurgitate on the honeycomb. In doing so, it mixes with an enzyme in their stomachs called glucose oxidise.
El néctar se descompone en ácido glucónico y peróxido de hidrógeno… ¿te suena conocido el último? Es agua oxigenada, eso que quizás te han echado en heridas, que parece agua pero hace burbujas cuando entra en contacto con tu lastimada piel.
Nectar breaks down into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide… Does the latter sound familiar to you? Yap, that hydrogen peroxide, the one that looks like water but when it comes into contact with a wound it starts to bubble.
It is an antiseptic, so it protects honey from things that want to grow in it.
So that golden treasure that the Mayan god Ah Muzenkab protects and that enjoys the support of Zeus, is eternal because it is too sweet and too acidic for any creature to survive… and on top of it, it is antiseptic.
Of course, if they leave the honey exposed, it may come into contact with the humidity of the environment. Moisture = water, water = honey’s only enemy.
(You can find more info about honey in this page The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life)
So… Thank you bees for your honey and for helping this planet continue to flourish and produce food for those who inhabit it.
Now, my little tribute to this great little big insect. I hope you like it!
:: Nina the bee ::
Materials, tips and instructions.
Yarn and hook
Nina was made with Aran weight yarn (AKA medium / 4 / 10 ply / worsted / Afghan), using brown, yellow and white colours with a 3 mm crochet hook (US C2 / UK-CAN 11).
The rest…
Filling: Polyester fibre (wadding, pillow filling).
Yarn needle: To add details and close our little bee.
Row counter: It will really help you to keep track of how many rounds you have worked… Or you can simply use a paper and a pen… If you are easily distracted, like me, I really recommend you to get one.
Stitch markers: When making amigurumis in a spiral (continuous rounds) it is pretty easy to lose track of the beginning of the round, so I strongly recommend using any kind of stitch markers, bobby pins or a scrap of contrasting yarn will work perfectly fine.
– Abbreviations
MR: Magic ring
sc: Single crochet / Double crochet
inc: Increase
dec: Decrease
hdc: Half double crochet / Half treble crochet
dc: Double crochet / Treble crochet
– Extra instructions
- Brackets [ ]
Repeat the instructions inside the brackets the number of times indicated by the number at the end.
Ex: [6 sc, 3 inc]x 6 means that we will have to do the combo of 6 single crochet and 3 increases 6 times. And since we are here, 3 inc means that we will have to make 1 increase in each of the following 3 stitches. - Parentheses ( )
The number inside the parentheses is the number of stitches you should have at the end of the round.
Ex: [2 sc, 2 inc]x 2 (12) means that we should have 12 stitches in total at the end of that round.
This pattern is made in a continuous spiral, you do not need to close every round at the end.
:: Pattern ::
:: Antennae x 2 ::
*We are going to make them with the brown colour yarn*
Work 3 chains leaving a long tail at the begging for joining the antennae to our bee.
Fasten off, and make a knot as close as you can to the last chain we made -Image 1-.
Pull tight and cut yarn close to knot. It should look like Image 2.
:: Body ::
* Start with the yellow colour yarn *
1) MR 6 sc (6)
2) 6 inc (12)
3) [1 sc, 1 inc] x 6 (18)
4) [1 dec, 4 sc] x 3 (15)
5) 15 sc (15)
Before continuing with the body, we are going to embroider the eyes and add the antennae with the help of the yarn needle.
Eyes: We are going to make them with the brown thread. The eyes will be s stitch height, and we will embroider them as shown in Images 3, 4 and 5, making 2 passes with the needle. To secure them just tie a knot inside the body.
Antennae: We are going to attach them between rounds 4 and 5, 3 spaces apart each, as shown in Images 6, 7 and 8. Secure them by making a knot on the inside.
:: Let’s continue with the body ::
* Change to the brown colour yarn * (You can find more info about different ways to make colour changes in the following link :: Color change ::)
Work all the stitches of the next round in the back loop only (More info about this technique in the following link :: Back loop and Front loop ::). It should look like Image 9.
6 and 7) 15 sc (15) *Don’t forget to secure the begging of the brown yarn*
* Change to yellow colour yarn *
8 and 9) 15 sc (15)
* Change to brown colour yarn * Secure the yellow colour yarn, we will not use it again.
10) [3 sc, 1 dec] x 3 (12)
11) [2 sc, 1 dec] x 3 (9)
12) [1 sc, 1 dec] x 3 (6)
Cut the thread leaving it long enough to close our amigurumi and hide the thread inside -Image 10-. With the help of a wool needle insert your needle under every front loop from the last round, from the outside to the inside -Images 11 and 12-. Pull the yarn tight to finish closing it, the end should look pointy like in the Image 13. When hiding the thread inside the body, pull the yarn gently so that the pointy tip does not go inside, we want it to look like a stinger -Image 14-.
:: Wing x 2 ::
* With the white colour yarn *
1) Make 4 chains. Don’t need to leave a long tail at the beginning.
Start next round in the second chain from the crochet hook.
2) 1 sc, 1 hdc, in the last chain work 7 dc to go around to the other side of the chains, in the next chain make 1 hdc and 1 sc in the last one. I made a chart that I think is going to be a little easier to follow – Image 15-.
Keep in mind that after turning the chains, the next stitch where we have to do the hdc will be a little hidden, as indicated in image 16.
Fasten off leaving a long tail for joining the wing to the body (only in one of the wings, the other one just leave a thread long enough to hide it in the body).
Cut yarn the yarn we left at the beginning of that chains close to our work -Image 17-. It should look like image 18.
Attach them to the body as shown in images 19 till 24. We are going to use only the thread from one of the wings to join both wing. When finished, secure and lose the threads inside the body.
That’s it!
Your little Nina is finished!
I hope you had fun making it ^_^
I would love to see how they look! If you want, you can share it on Instagram naming me with @onpoki and/or with the hashtag #onpoki. You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook with @onpoki.
Thank you so much for making one of my patterns. You made me really happy.
Copyright information of this pattern
© 2021 ONPOKI – Paula Fuentes – All rights reserved. This pattern is FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY! The pattern (or parts of it) may not be reproduced, distributed or resold, translated, published, altered, shared or posted (for sale or free) over the internet or offline.
You are welcome to sell items from my PDF patterns provided that they are handmade by yourself, and you give credit to the designer.
Please include a note about the item being an “Onpoki design” on the tag (at a craft fair) or/and a link to my shop “onpoki.etsy.com” when you sell these items on the Internet.