Miriam is a knitter who crochets. Amy is a crocheter who knits. We both came to crochet first, as children, and we both learned to knit about fourteen years ago. We share an appreciation for the inherent beauty of both knitting and crochet. Miriam loves lace and designs intricate patterns that enthrall knitters with their form and flow. She's designed over two dozen shawls including two published here on Knitty. Amy designs crochet garments that combine fit and wearability with captivating constructions. She has a particular fondness for hats. Amy naturally picks up a hook when she's thinking of designing something new, and Miriam reaches for her needles, but we each enjoy the challenges of both knitting and crochet.

by Miriam Felton

a·pi·cul·ture: noun
The raising and care of bees for commercial or agricultural purposes.

Miriam dreams of owning some land, raising vegetables, chickens, and bees. She pours over books of chicken breeds and heirloom seed catalogs dreaming of the day she can build her little self-sufficient farm. And what farm would be complete without bees to pollinate the crops and make delectable honey. The hexagonal motifs in this piece are reminiscent of honeycombs.

These hexagons can be arranged in a multitude of ways! Don't feel limited by the diagram or the scarf shape if you get a creative urge to do something different!

The wonderful thing about motifs is that once you've made a bunch you can lay them out and play around with what you want to make. For this project we made a scarf, but you could easily add another column or two of motifs and make a wrap, or use this layout and make a triangular shawl. You could make a lot of motifs and end up with a blanket too!

SIZE
Variable

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Each hexagonal motif measures 5 ins in diameter measured from flat side to flat side (not point to point).
The scarf measures 66 ins wide x 10 ins long

MATERIALS
Yarn
Miss Babs Yowza [100% superwash Merino wool; 560yds per 8oz/227g skein]
Note: Each knitted motif requires 11 grams and each crocheted motif requires 10 grams.
[MC] Tulipa, 1 skein
[CC] Bubblicious, 1 skein

Recommended needle size
[always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed below -- every knitter's gauge is unique]
H-8/5mm crochet hook
US #6/4mm needles for working in the round

Notions
Yarn needle

GAUGE

PATTERN NOTES
[Knitty's list of standard abbreviations and techniques can be found here.]

Chain: ch
Single Crochet: sc
Double Crochet: dc
Shell: 3 dc in space or stitch indicated
Chain Space (ch-sp): the space underneath chains indicated from the row below.
Sc inc: 2 sc in the same stitch

You can find hexagonal graph paper for plotting your design layout before making all the motifs here.

Adjust your hook or needle size so that both knit and crochet motifs block to the same size (your knit motifs will probably have a larger difference after blocking than the crochet motifs, but both will benefit from a good soaked blocking).

Disappearing Loop method for a circular start: Instructions can be found here.

Here's an alternate layout if you wish to have a triangular shawl instead. You would need 40 motifs to work the triangular shawl layout as shown. How you divide up these 40 into knit and crochet is up to you. If you want a more open shawl, work more crochet motifs. If you want a more solid shawl, work more knit motifs. The finished shawl in the layout below would be about 78" across the wingspan.

DIRECTIONS
Crochet Motif:
For Scarf, make 7 in MC and 4 in CC.

Round 1: Ch2, 6sc in first chain, sl st in first sc of rnd.

Round 2: Ch1, sc, (sc inc) 5 times, sl st in first sc of rnd.

Round 3: Ch2, dc, (ch2, 2dc) 5 times, ch2, sl st in first st of round to finish rnd.

Round 4: Ch2, dc, [(2dc, ch2, 2dc) in next ch sp, 2 dc] 5 times, (2dc, ch2, 2dc in next ch sp), sl st in first st of round to finish rnd.

Round 5: Ch1, sc [(shell, ch2, shell) in next ch sp, sc between the third and fourth dc of previous rnd] 5 times, (shell, ch2, shell) in next ch sp, sl st to finish rnd.

Round 6: Ch6, (3sc in corner ch sp, ch4, dc in sc of previous rnd, ch4) 5 times, 3 sc in corner ch sp, ch4, sl st to finish rnd.

Round 7: Ch2, (4dc in next ch sp, dc in next sc, shell in corner stitch, dc in next sc, 4dc in next ch sp, dc) 5 times, 4dc in next ch sp, dc in next sc, shell in corner stitch, dc in next sc, 4dc in next ch sp, sl st to finish rnd.

Fasten off. Weave in ends.

Knit Motif:
For Scarf, make 7 in MC and 4 in CC.

Cast on 6 sts using the disappearing loop method; distribute sts across needles as you prefer and join for working in the round.

Note: the single knit stitch between the two increases is the "corner stitch", as identified in the joining instructions.

Round 1: Kfb 6 times. 12 sts.
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: (K1, m1L, k1, m1R) 6 times. 24 sts.
Rounds 4-5: Knit
Round 6: (K1, m1L, k3, m1R) 6 times. 36 sts.
Rounds 7-8: Knit
Round 9: (K1, m1L, k5, m1R) 6 times. 48 sts.
Rounds 10-11: Knit
Round 12: (K1, m1L, k5, m1R) 6 times. 60 sts.
Rounds 13-14: Knit
Round 15: (K1, m1L, k7, m1R) 6 times. 72 sts.
Rounds 16-17: Knit
Round 18: (K1, m1L, k9, m1R) 6 times. 84 sts.
Rounds 19-20: Knit
Round 21: (K1, m1L, k11, m1R) 6 times. 96 sts.
Round 22: Purl.
Round 23: Knit.

BO purlwise.

FINISHING
Block all motifs. Weave in ends.

Joining:
If you are making the scarf as shown, use the diagram above to layout the motifs.

After you lay out your motifs, join them in columns as follows:
Sandwich two adjoining motifs with wrong sides together. The motif closest to your body will be the Front Motif, the other will be the Back Motif.

Make a slip knot on your hook, and sl st in the corner stitch of the Front Motif. Ch2, sl st in the corner stitch of the Back Motif. Ch2, skip 1 st on the Front Motif and sl st in the 2nd st, (ch2, skip 3 sts on the Back Motif and sl st in the 4th. ch2, skip 3 sts on the Front Motif and sl st in the 4th) 3 times, ch2, sl st in the corner stitch of the Back Motif. Fasten off.

Join all motifs in each column, then join the columns together in the same way.

You can block again if desired, or you can just spray the joins with water and stretch them out a bit so they relax. Weave in ends from the joining.