Author Archives: Queen Bee Knits

Unknown's avatar

About Queen Bee Knits

Living in Maine, knitting, baking and loving my family. Please be kind!

321

Posted on by
Reply

I like that number … 321 … so when we get to “like” #321 on Facebook, there will be another wonderful gift given to a random person … you can be someone who’s been following me for years or someone who just “liked” my Facebook page. All’s fair in my knitting world!

So, the promise made was that I would post the pictures that I took yesterday at the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor. We meandered our way through several different Maine towns and saw some fun art. For me, however, the knitted life-sized animal pelts was the best – inspiring as someone who has designed a pair of mittens and a couple of garments for ten-pound dogs!

“Vanished into Stitches” by Ruth Marshall. She knit these life-size, anatomically correct pelts with wool. By hand. After making a full-size chart of the pelt with an accurate replication of the coloring … the artist studied real pelts and animals to make sure that her knitted ones were spot-on (no pun intended.) Many of them are more than six feet tall and when suspended from their bamboo “frames” …

The are awesome!

The artist wants you to know that only 3,200 tigers live in the wild today. Maybe we knitters can make a difference by refusing to buy their pelts in any form … unless they’re knitted, of course!

so you can see the stitches ... just in case you had any doubt

Remember the number 321. Have all your friends and family “like” Queen Bee Knits. So far, I’ve given away a pair of wonderful green fingerless gloves and a pair of “Circle of Life” socks (designed cleverly to stay on a baby’s feet by Cat Bordhi). You’ll never know what I’ll come up with next!

And for now, I’ve gone knitting … not animal pelts, though!

Maine Fiber Frolic 2012

Posted on by
Reply

It’s pouring and the brave souls who have fiber for sale in tents today … well, suffice it to say, I’m darned glad I went yesterday morning!

I was so engrossed with fibers and chatting with people (mostly vendors this year) that I neglected to take more than one photograph … silly me! Here is the one picture that I did take.

Beautiful critters!

I did happen to make a dent in my yarn budget, too. (The one that doesn’t exist!) Remember my former post where I said that I had brought up enough yarn from my stash in Florida (and patterns, too) to knit for the whole summer? I had promised myself that I wasn’t going to buy a lot of new yarn this summer. Fortunately it was a promise to myself and I’ve blown it!

I’m really excited about my purchases, though! I bought a couple of hanks of “Maine Lobstah” superwash sock yarn. (Clever Maine marketing!) I loved the color way and I have been wanting another sock project … now I have several! This yarn is super soft and I really hope it knits up as nicely as I think it will. Check out Maine Woods Yarn‘s Website!

Maine Woods Yarn & Fiber - Maine "Lobstah" superwash sock

I also splurged on six hanks of Seacolors yarns. These yarns are solar hand-dyed in seawater and it’s a pretty clean and cyclical process. They also happen to come from Washington, Maine where I went to summer camp (many moons ago). So check out Nanne’s site and see what a wonderful business and life she has created in Maine. And if you fall in love with her farm, you can even buy a “share” and spend a week (or more) there each year with Nanne and her precious pups.

I bought three colors: a salmon-y color, a green/salmon-y variegated and a blue. With my purchase I got a free pattern for a “Boxy Cardigan” which I plan to knit up. It will be salmon with some thin blue stripes and then variegated at the bottom. Sleeves will be as long as they decide to be but also likely in the salmon with blue stripes. This one will be unique and special. I just wish I had my winder and swift with me this summer!

Seacolors Yarn

We have the wood stove cranking today and it’s pouring and gray outside. It’s truly a stark difference (even) from yesterday. I’m so glad I chose to go to the Fiber Frolic yesterday … I was a happy camper!

I’m already looking forward to next year!

Gone knitting!

Messalonskee – 4:30 a.m.

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes I have trouble staying asleep (and it’s usually after two martinis.)

So when I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn’t go back to sleep I was able to take this photo for you! The sunrise is way down at the left end of the lake now. Give it a couple of months and it will be across the lake. Nowhere else do I know where to look for the sunrise (or sunset) and how it moves through the season. One day I hope we’ll know where it is in all four seasons.

Gone knitting.

From my Northern Atelier

Posted on by
Reply

A dog on my lap, and knitting in my northern atelier … this is the best place I could be today. The sun is shining and there’s a gentle breeze blowing, the first laundry load of the season is hanging on the line. Life is good!

Thought I would catch you up with my knitting projects that are currently on my needles … they are growing and I have a bunch planned for this summer. I even brought a huge L.L. Bean bag full of yarn with patterns for most of them up with us from Florida. I had thought to knit all that up before buying any more yarn … well … it was a good try!

#1 – Log Cabin(-ish) Baby Blanket – I’ve never knitted one of these before and having seen a couple on the Internet, I decided to give it a shot. The yarn is an acrylic yarn because baby blankets have to be super washable and somewhat ordinary. But the blanket is coming along and almost finished. It’s pretty cute and I hope my customer likes it. After this, one more baby blanket will complete the order.

Log Cabin(-ish) Baby Blanket (Queen Bee Knits Original)

#2 – My tunic … which takes a back seat to “real work” is growing a bit since I last photographed it. I still love the color but the yarn is really splitty … maybe why it was wearing such a discounted price? Whatever … when it’s done, I think I’ll love it.

Dropps Tunic (Pattern #111-21) in Berroco Pure Pima (color 2243)

#3 – Fingerless gloves. These poor things have been sitting in their project bag minding their own business for way too long. I started them last fall and then put them aside because orders were flowing in and needed to be a priority (not that I’m complaining, that’s a great problem to have!) So, maybe now it’s time to pay some attention to them and get the second mitt knitted up, attach a couple of thumbs and send them to their intended recipient.

Vancouver Fog Fingerless Gloves in Cascade Yarns Lana Banbu (lot 93979 col 02)

#4 – One of the yarns that I bought in Gloucester is being knitted into a simple baby sweater and I’m totally in love with the yarn and the sweater (and the baby, too). The woman at Coveted Yarns told me that when you knit up the yarn it almost becomes a neutral and I’m starting to think she was right – despite the bright rainbow colors of the hand-dyed yarn. Hopefully, I’ll have enough to make a sweater and a hat or booties … but I am way ahead of the baby (who is not fully cooked yet!)

Knitting Pure & Simple Bulky Baby Pullover in Flat Rocks Yarns Whirlpool (#28 Grateful Threads)

#5 – Cooked Lobster Claw mittens – this my first original pattern that I will soon be adding to my shop on Ravelry. I have had two test knitters give the pattern a go and they’ve given me some wonderful feedback and a few photos of their projects. I’m happy to report that they’re really great looking and I think knitters will love it! I have one pair and one mitten knitted – so, unless I can sell single mittens, I had best make a matching one!

Oops! That's the real thing!

Ha! Well, now you know what I’m up to … I leave you with a photo of my laundry drying (yes, seriously!)

Gone Knitting!

Memorial Day (and Every Day) Gratitude

Posted on by
Reply

Boathouse ... Our Flag Flies Every Day

Ned painted the flag on the side of our boathouse several years ago. Some days we go about our business without so much as a glance. Days like today, however, I look at it and feel so grateful to my father and the other Veterans (and soldiers) who have fought and are fighting for our freedom.

My father fought on a battleship in World War II. He was a gunnery soldier and shared stories about living on the ship where they had a pet monkey and the men dressed in drag to perform plays for fun. Dad didn’t like monkeys (they were dirty) and he never ate another hotdog, having had them “up to here” during his service.

The captain of Dad’s ship was a “drunkard” and I have pages and pages in his handwriting of charges that dad would have filed against the man. We may never know if any of those charges of abuse, drunk and disorderly, etc. were officially filed or if my dad just wrote them down for himself. (He did become a lawyer, after all!) Somewhere I have a map of his tour of the South Pacific that he made and I’m sorry to have given away or sold his uniforms and the “treasures” that he brought back with him. Only now do I recognize their value. Family heirlooms today that I would be grateful to hold and preserve for my family.

Many of my Rockwell forebears were also soldiers. Bits and pieces of historical documents  are in my safe-keeping and one day I’ll get them scanned and shared in another blog. One a soldier in the Revolutionary War who was called to duty in the summer of 1776 … check this out! From the State of Connecticut 1907. I believe that Julia L. Rockwell was my grandfather’s sister or his mother making the soldier my great or great-great-grandfather … though I don’t have the genealogy to confirm that here! (I will confirm at a later date.)

What!? You can’t read the old handwriting?! 🙂 I had to work at it, but here is what I think it says:

Oct. 24,1907 

Dear Madam, 

Enclosed find corrected certificate. (a clerical error in former) Records at best are somewhat meagre, Troops were hastily summoned from the floors and the workshops and in this particular case company with, other was raised to serve “until the exigency was over” In summer of 1776. Washington was in need of a large force to meet the enemy’s threatened attack upon New York.

 Very Rightly, (?)

 William EF Landers

Adjutant General

Cool, yes?

Suffice it to say that I am proud to be American today – and every day. I am grateful to my family members who have answered the call. My father, my great- or great-great-grandfather (?), Bud King (who is the Grand Marshal of the Oakland, ME parade today … he’s the oldest living veteran in Oakland) and Bethany, Jordan, and all the rest who have served or are serving  … Thank you for your service!

Gone knitting!

Road Trip!

Posted on by
Reply

Here I am in my northern “Atelier” … and I feel driven (ha! no pun intended) to chronicle our road trip – another excellent adventure! Our annual pilgrimage to our favorite spot on the planet Earth – Belgrade, Maine.

We took off on Tuesday morning, a day earlier than we had planned to leave because we got “worried” about the Memorial Day weekend traffic. Call it a gut feeling. And the drive was uneventful which is a good thing when you’re towing a Hobie Cat and have three dogs in the car! We got as far as Richmond, Virginia where we stopped the first night – we love dog-friendly LaQuinta Hotels! A ten hour drive in twelve (or so hours) is always tenuous … but we do it well!

Day two began in Richmond and we had no plan for where it was going to end. BUT when we looked at the map and since we got an early start (very early, thanks to Max) … we thought we might make it to Connecticut.

Washington Monument Straight Ahead!

And then we hit Washington, DC and made a “wrong turn” … what’s the deal with road signs in our nations capital? We ended up in a traffic jam and in downtown Washington … with a boat and trailer. Really!?

Ha! Wrong turns lead to interesting blog photos!

Thankfully, we can laugh at our mistakes and on we pushed toward New York where we had another near miss on the New Jersey Turnpike and darn near ended up in Manhattan … but managed to pull off a “fix” and swing around via the Garden State Parkway and headed over the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Tappan Zee Traffic over the Hudson

Once over on the New York side, we realized we could make Massachusetts and pushed on … another 13 hour day but we were at my brother’s house around 8 … and we adore being in Marblehead. (If you’ve never been to the North Shore of Boston, you have got to make a trip … Marblehead is the sweetest town and a great place to escape to when you need to get away!)

Marblehead Harbor - Evening

After a night with our family – the nephews, dogs, and their parents – we headed off one more time … picked up the boat and spied on the movie people who are filming the movie “Grown Ups” there … with Adam Sandler and Salma Hayek. (I had to spy!)

Hooking up the trailer - last time!

Movie Stars in Marblehead

The last leg of our journey included dropping a box of books off for a knitting friend of mine. These books belonged to her mother, now deceased, and she just felt that the books needed to be returned to Gloucester, MA (where they came from). So, up Route 128 we headed to Gloucester … and dropped off the books at Isabel’s house. Ned and I both remarked at how special it is to live in towns where you don’t have to lock your doors. Raising children in towns like that must be very special.

And then I saw this sign …

Coveted Yarn - Gloucester, MA

What knitter could resist? Not this one, that’s for sure. So into the shop I wander… Heaven! Coveted Yarn is a sweet shop that looks teeny-tiny and is really packed to the rafters (cleverly so!) with the most wonderful fibers and yarns! I could easily have spent the better part of the day there fingering fiber … but had to settle for an hour and hope one day soon to be able to get back! (Maybe to meet Isabel, too!) I bought some of their locally dyed yarns … one skein of sock weight and two bulky weight in magnificent color ways and a pattern, too. (Nope, not sharing, it’s a gift for someone really, really special!) I can hardly wait to get my needles unpacked.

And then off to Maine … with a little luncheon stop at Stop and Shop – did you know that grocery stores offer some more healthy choices on the quick? ~ we had eaten enough junk the day before! Only a couple of hours more and we were in Maine … crossing the last bridge of our trip!

Piscataqua River Bridge - Welcome to Maine!

Upon arriving at the house, we always sigh a sigh of relief. It was still standing  … 100 years and counting  … this house has been the one constant for Ned and we spent some special time here when we dated the first time (in 1976). I feel very much at home in New England.

The Littles - Glad to be Out of the Car!

The lawn was (and parts still are) knee-high. Buttercups, little white daisies and dandelions are blooming everywhere!

The vegetable garden was (until tomorrow) completely over-taken with weeds.

Only the "seedy" rhubarb is visible in the Vegetable Garden!

After several hours cleaning and disinfecting and moving in groceries and clothes and yarn (duh!) and when our backs couldn’t do another chore, we showered and it was cocktail time. A bit too breezy to spend more than a cursory few minutes on the front porch … we are so grateful to be able to spend time here in this beautiful place that we love so much. I’ll be writing more about our summer adventures – my knitting group meets on Wednesday night and I’m already itching to see my Maine knitting girls!

Gone knitting!

Green Cleaning Recipes

Posted on by
Reply

Essential Oils - Clean Without Chemicals

I found this wonderful article in a magazine for home-made cleaners that will clean your home (and my home) without using chemicals. This is important to me because I have some pretty wicked allergies … and chemicals and perfumes make me cough. It’s so bad that I don’t even have any pretty perfume to wear. It’s not worth it for me. This article provided recipes for cleaners using essential oils which, first and foremost, can be expensive. But they are also natural and many have antimicrobial properties so they can disinfect and smell great, too.

Note: not all oils are created equal … make sure that you are buying 100% pure essential oils (not fragrance oils or nature-identical or perfume oils which may be oils combined with chemicals.) Also, buy oils in dark glass bottles without rubber stopper tops which can degrade oils. Buying oils in small (4 oz or smaller) dark or opaque glass bottles.

Anyway, I wanted to share these recipes with you (and, honestly, I want to throw away the little piece of paper that I saved, too.)

Surface cleaner – 2 cups of water in a spay bottle and add seven drops of one of the following essential oils (lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree, cinnamon, clove, thyme, pine, grapefruit or oregano). Spray on surfaces.

Kitchen Cleaner – 2 cups of water in a spray bottle and add eight drops of essential oils mixture. Spray on surfaces. (The mixture is as follows: 8 drops lavender,10 drops lemon, 5 drops eucalyptus, 8 drops rosewood,and 3 drops palma rose.)

Floor Cleaner – Combine 1/4 cup white vinegar with 10 drops lemon oil and 4 drops oregano oil. Add to a bucket of water. For extra cleaning strength, add several drops of dish soap (but follow with a clean-water mop so floors are not slippery!)

Flea Killer – Mix 2 cups borax with 10 to 15 drops of essential oils. Try pine or balsam fir in the winter; lemongrass or lavender or a citrus oil in the spring and summer. Sprinkle on carpets … wait a few minutes and then vacuum.

So, there you go! A few recipes for chemical-free cleaners. We work hard to keep our house clean for ourselves and our pets (and the kids when they visit) and I plan to try a few of these to see how they work – if you try them, let me know!

Gone knitting!

I’m One Egg Short – About Baking Substitutions

Posted on by
Reply

Who knew, when I went to the computer to find out what would be an appropriate substitute for an egg in my banana bread recipe, that there were so many choices? I’m actually glad that I only have one egg left in the house because I learned a lot!

I found the most comprehensive list at Eggless Cooking dot com where, not only are the different ideas for substitution listed in detail but also where you’re likely to find the best results with that substitution. So, since I’m baking banana bread (in the form of muffins) I am going to substitute apple sauce … which I happen to have in my refrigerator. And I’m going to dump in some blueberries and some chopped pecans. All in an effort to empty the ‘fridge before we head to our Maine house for a bit.

I know I could also have found this information in one of my “old fashioned” cookbooks, but the Internet provides such quick and thorough information!

Banana bread with one egg … coming up!

Gone baking!

And the Winner IS ….

Posted on by
Reply

I made these darling Circle of Life socks for my nephew- or niece-to-be and then I went and hit 200 “likes” on my Facebook page. SO, without a second thought, they became my give-away.

And after randomly selecting a winner from my 200, the winner is Mimi Steele from Ohio (Go Bucks!) who, I just happen to know, is a new grandmother! I hope her little darling will enjoy wearing the socks. No, Mimi, they won’t fit you! 🙂

I will message you privately for your address for mailing! Watch your mailbox! … and congratulations!