Queen Bee Knits

Knitting, Living, Loving, Baking, Tips, Tools and Idle Chatter

Wow! What a Week!!!

Posted on December 14, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I didn’t get a photo taken before I got to work this morning. And what a morning it was! When the store is busy the time passes so quickly. it was one odd situation after another today … one of THOSE days. LOL. One of the first customers was a woman who “came in with my daughter last fall and the owner showed her a book. I wonder what that was.” She went on to tell me that it was in a shelf at the rear of the store … the hint that cut the options in half … we have only ever had crochet books at the back of the store but they’re all moved to the front this past summer. And we have a full book shelf of crochet books. In the end she decided to buy a gift card for her daughter … after I had sold the last one we had in the store. (More arrived later in the day and it all worked out well but what a start!)

I have been getting quite a bit of knitting done and I have wrapped up several projects. It’s quite wonderful to finish a few projects and I am really happy with them!

I’ve been really excited to wear my Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Yarns. I made mine in the Zinnia colorway of Rowan Felted Tweed. I love the yarn. I love the color. I love the poncho! To be honest, this is a boring knit … 50 inches of stockinette stitch. But it was a good project to work on when I was teaching and when I was watching television at the end of a long day. And the final result (the blocking was an experience, I had to use my blocking wires that I really don’t love) is wonderful and so wearable.

I found the sparkly hat on a youtube channel that I watch on occasion. I have actually knitted two and this one will be the one that I gift to someone who wants it. The other one, mine, is downstairs and has already been worn and shown off at the store on my teaching day. I found the sequin yarn over Thanksgiving at my favorite Marblehead yarn shop. When I got home I found some black alpaca and a mohair to match and the hat is knitted with all three yarns held together. Quick and very simple hat pattern and the yarn actually allowed me to make two hats. I found pompoms this week and tied them on. They are officially done. And I love mine! The pattern is called the City Lights Hat. Details are on my Ravelry project page.

I also finished the Nuuk Gloves that are actually fingerless mitts. These are going to be nice warm mittens and they’re long enough to wear in the winter in Maine when the mornings are chilly and the car’s steering wheel is chilly. You need mitts to cover your fingers so they don’t touch the wheel at least until the heater warms is up. The yarn is Knitting for Olive’s merino worsted held with a Knitting for Olive mohair. They’re knitted at quite a tight gauge which will make them extra warm. I bought this yarn on a “girls’ trip” with my coworker friends to a new LYS near us here in Central Maine. I like that it’s not a superwash. There, I’ve said it. I’m becoming a wooly wool kind of girl.

I have mostly finished our granddaughter’s Christmas gift sweater, the Jamberry Cardigan. All the duplicate stitch is done, most of the ends are woven in and I just have to sew on the buttons and give it a block. I’m quite pleased with the sweater and I know Sylvie will love it. This completes her little gifts. I’ll post a final picture when it’s actually finished. But the “hard” work is done.

I cast on a Stockholm Slipover by Petite Knits since I have finished so many little projects. It seemed fitting. Her sizing is a bit difficult for my body. One size is just about an inch of positive ease and the next size is almost six inches of positive east. One too little and the other too much. I basically threw a dart at the sizes and cast on. My gauge is good and pretty soon I can try it on. Maybe even tomorrow. I am knitting it with deeply stashed yarn. Three hanks of a clearance yarn from the store held with an alpaca/silk lace. I really like the way it’s coming out and I like the color but I fear that I have all blue, purple and gray knits. SO … in the future I need to change it up more. This pattern is really fun – it starts with the back and one shoulder and goes on from there. I’ve gotten to the point where the body is connected and I’m working my way down the body. I love knitting a vest – no sleeves!

Stockholm Slipover in Tenderfoot and Halo

I still have a pair of socks for my hubby to finish for Christmas. This week I will really focus on them during the days when he’s at work. I’m trying to keep them a surprise! I have a feeling I may get one of them made and then will finish them after the holiday – when they can be knitted in plain sight. Ha! Ha! I’ve made the gusset increases so I have a heel turn and a leg to make. I hope I can get ONE finished! Otherwise, he’ll get yarn (again) in his stocking. He’s used to it. And he loves handknit socks.

I baked this week! I haven’t baked since before Thanksgiving but I finally got into the kitchen and made some granola. We all love my granola and if I find some “extra” time this week, I will bake some for my kids for Christmas. Tomorrow my college roommate is making an appearance for about 24 hours and I want to make some blueberry muffins for her (and for my hubby). I’d love to make some rolls or something fun, too. I’ve marked several ideas for the holiday including pecan cinnamon rolls – a couple of batches will be good for Christmas morning. Yum! I also want to make some “salt dough” ornaments to decorate with the kids on Christmas eve. We are simplifying our holiday this year and doing a gift swap. We all have a secret person who we get a gift for – and we all submit a list of items we want! Easy. Time together is way more important than gifts. And I have decided I really don’t like shopping. This week, though, I have to get to work filling my hubby’s stocking.

Another couple of weeks to the New Year! I have my new planner and have begun getting it started. I love a good clean, empty book with so much to look forward to in the next months. I’m not a believer in resolutions but I do believe in having goals or hopes.

Gone knitting.

Thankful

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Rabbit! Rabbit! We are home after such a wonderful Thanksgiving that I didn’t even take one photograph! Not one. Babies, toddlers, my nephews and their parents, friends and family and I just enjoyed being together. We feel so lucky to have family members who we like and enjoy just riding along to the airport and a walk around Logan’s 9/11 memorial or lunch after they visited my s-i-l’s cousin in the hospital. We enjoy each other’s company and love our time together.

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year at my middle nephew’s request and it was delicious! I was very happy with the pumpkin dinner rolls that I brought, they had just enough pumpkin spice to be yummy and not overpowering. The apple pie (no photo of that either) was really yummy as was the cheesecake. I also brought two quiches with hash brown potato crust and they were really yummy, too. I’ll be repeating the quiches at Christmas time. Maybe the pumpkin rolls, too. We will be cooking a turkey breast at our house on Friday because I didn’t have a turkey sandwich yet. I’ll be needing to make cranberry sauce and stuffing for that event. Yum. Why don’t we all make a turkey more than once a year?

While I was away, I believe I’ve finished the fifty inches of stockinette stitch for the Easy Folded Poncho. If so, I’ll be finishing it up tomorrow. I also finished my Alpine Bloom Hat and I absolutely love it. I don’t love it ON me but I love the hat. I also have enough of the yarn left to make something else. I wish there were Alpine Bloom Mittens/Fingerless Mitts. I’m going to have to look because there may be. I cast on the fingerless mitts kit that I bought when “the girls” I work with went to visit a new to Maine yarn shop in Gorham – Olde School Fiber and Craft. Not sure how I feel about this yarn and fabric. Thank goodness they’re mitts and not a sweater. I just think it should have a softer hand than it does. They’ll be fine but not a favorite.

Oops! Just realized I have a committee meeting and the chair didn’t send out an email with an agenda … and the chair is me!

Gone knitting.

Since You Heard from me Last …

Posted on November 5, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’ve been a busy person! Since I’m feeling better, I am finally able to wrap my head around all the things that need to be done before winter actually hits and around our house, in particular, that’s a lot of stuff. We are bringing in the outdoor furniture, blowing leaves, and I’ve bought some insulated curtains for our big windows at the front of the house so that we can keep the heat inside and hopefully cut our heating bill. I’ve got all the parts of this project arriving today, I hope, so we can put it all up this weekend. Well, Sunday, since I’m working on Saturday.

I’ve sent Advent calendars to my kids, caught up with the laundry, finished and sent off my daughter’s fingerless mitts, and several other “chores”. It feels good to get some stuff checked off the (never ending) list.

I finished the knitting part of Sylvie’s (our granddaughter) Christmas sweater and have begun the embellishment. She loves Frozen this year and I hope she’ll love a sweater that’s loosely based on the idea of Frozen. I had the icy-purpley-blue chunky yarn in my stash and had the plan to use a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern to knit a pullover sweater. That part was done last week. The sweater took no time at all. Now the hard part starts. I had decided to embroider/duplicate stitch snowflakes with white yarn and some silver thread. So far, it’s turning out pretty well. I think I’ll be happy with it but the “stress” of creating different snowflakes is hurting my brain. So, I’m going to stop for now and add some more tomorrow. I think I’ll make some silver snowflakes, too, but here is what it looks like after a morning of work …

I’ve been working on a pair of socks for Sylvie as well. She loves my handknit socks but her parents don’t love having to hang socks to dry so I’ve been using King Cole Footsie yarn which is a fingering weight yarn that’s not wool and can be washed and dried in the dryer. BUT the kid’s feet have grown so fast. The last time I made her socks was at the beach in September and they’re already too small. Her favorite color is purple and here are the bigger socks (in the same yarn as before.) I’m making these a little more than six inches long. Hope they’ll fit for a couple of months. I’m using the Yankee Knitter pattern #29 Classic Socks for the Family.

I found a recipe for a French Apple Cake on the internet, in a meme, and decided to try it yesterday. It’s ok. Not great. Lots of apple and not enough cake IMHO. But the hubby is happy that I baked and I was going to bake today but I have a board meeting at 5pm and I had to get ready for that this morning – shower and get dressed and review all the documents for the meeting. We also have a finance professional development session in advance of the meeting planned for our newer members. Anyway, the cake will be eaten and my hubby has something sweet to have with his coffee. Next week I’ll bake more … I think scones are in order.

AND I’ve been trying to catch up with my houseplants. I have grown three lemon trees from seed. They are all at different stages and sizes. One is in a huge pot and the other two are medium and small but they’re all indoors now. I also have several orchids, one which appears to be struggling, and a few African Violets, and we have other plants too … one is like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. It is taking over our entire house, it loves it here so much and I continue to take cuttings from it and plant them and give them away and it’s growing so fast that I truly can’t keep up. I have three pots worth to plant and there are a couple of “legs” of the plant that are ten feet into the living room! That’s the long story about my new Clivia plant that I bought from a local nursery and brought home a few weeks ago. It was blooming when I brought it home but then we left for two plus weeks and the flower is gone AND the plant is covered in a white sticky powdery looking something. I suspect it’s a bug so I sprayed it with some home made insecticidal soap and washed the leaves and will keep it separated from the other plants until it’s clear of the bugs. Good grief. That took a bit of time this morning. Watering all the orchids, the plants in our bedroom window and the lemon trees. (Our heat is one and it’s very dry in our house. Time to hook up the humidifiers again.)

I cut off the flower spikes from the orchid and repotted it in orchid medium with no other materials in it in a smaller orchid pot. I just have to pay attention to it so it doesn’t dry out too much but it seems to have a couple of good healthy roots. Time will tell. I also decided to try to root a couple of the flower spikes – apparently you can cut the spikes and if they have a thingy where the flower spike will eventually pop out, you can get a baby orchid. My cut pieces look like they may indeed have that happening. I’m crossing my fingers. If it works, my dad will be so excited (he’s in heaven so I won’t see him but he always fought to get orchids to bloom and thrive. I seem to have the orchid prowess that he didn’t have. He’d be proud that I am having success with them and I love the plants so much.) I’ll post more as the baby plants and the mother plant start to feel better and grow again.

The leaves are truly falling off the trees. Oaks, which we have lots of in our yard, are the last to drop leaves but the yard is full of oak leaves. Hubby will be blowing and raking this weekend no doubt. It’s totally dark now at 5pm and that means it’s time to light up the inside and snuggle in for the winter. I don’t mind winter here at all. It’s so pretty and quiet and a good time to watch some television and knit more. We are so grateful to have such a good life.

I’ve also been cleaning up and straightening up my stash (at least the part that you see). I’ve got four shelves of yarn in my studio that I’d love to make doors for so they’d be more protected but I haven’t made that happen yet. SO once a year or so I pull down all my yarn and clean the shelves, refresh the bags of lavender, and put everything back on the shelves. This year I’m adding some of the sweater/garment quantities of yarn to my Ravelry stash list, too. I’ve gotten two of the shelves done and have two to go. Progress! It does feel good to care for the investment that I’ve made and to know that if I am stuck at home for another several months (or years) that I have enough yarn to keep my hands busy.

Gone knitting.

Saturday – Peace on the porch and a little knitting.

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I have had a lovely, peaceful morning with my coffee and yarn on the porch. I got up without an alarm, took the dog out, fed the dog and took my coffee out to the porch. It was pretty gray and we even had a little sprinkle of rain. Since then, I went up to my atelier for my yarn and I’ve been sitting here drinking my coffee and knitting and listening to the sounds of the lake. The sounds of home. Hummingbirds chasing each other away from the feeder, ducks quacking by, the train passing heading south, and the splash of an osprey right in front of our boathouse (coming up with empty talons.) And now the sun is coming out and the bees are buzzing in the cat mint.

I’m working on my Vanilla Sweater by Corrine at the Wooly Thistle in Rauma Garn Finull. I fell in love with the color of this yarn and had to buy it. No regrets here. This is a wooly Norwegian wool and I can already feel it softening up as I work it. I’m struggling to see my stitches though with the heathery wool and I’ve had to go back several times when I increased where I should not have. My attention span seems to be challenged right now. Lots going on, hubby away, boss away, the world on fire and I may even need a better light by my knitting chair.

Musselburgh in Yarn Snob “Times Square” colorway

At work we have decided we need some more contemporary samples. I said I’d knit a Musselburgh hat and brought home a hank of fingering weight Yarn Snob yarn with neon pops of color. And then I thought about all the things I have going on and brought it back. I chose, instead, a hank of worsted weight yarn snob. There was enough yardage to make a toddler hat and the. I looked at the name of the colorway and that clinched it. I’m knitting this for a sample and then when it gets colder I’m taking it for Sylvie to wear in the city.

I always have to remember how to cast on with the Emily Ocher’s cast on but I found a Jen Arnal-Culliford turirial and got it done. Yesterday, this hat was a good thing to work on while I was teaching and I made some good progress.

The crown Emma’s some random pooling and now it seems to be striping. It’s all good and it’ll be done soon enough.

I’ve also been working on my shawl, All About The Ruffles. I’m nearly to the full stitch count on the garter stitch section. I wish I had figured out how dull the garter stitch section would be and skipped this project. I sure hope the ruffle section makes it worth while. the “Harbor” colorway in Emma’s Yarn Practically Perfect Sock is lovely and this year is really lovely to work with. I’ve not taken any pictures because a garter stitch triangle is not very exciting but there will be some coming.

I snuck in a Knitting for Olive yarn order before they stopped shipping to the USA. I’ll be knitting one of their designs, too, for the first time. The Wilson sweater has a Henley feel without the buttons and with a collar. I need a black sweater and I think this one is classic and can be worn with our without something underneath. I’m really going to have to invest in a better light to knit with black yarn. (I also have some black linen to knit a sleeveless top with. I love black clothes, I cannot lie.

My SISC continues with Murmuration. Another pattern from the Sock Project book by Summer Lee. I may have already posted this photo but I repost it because there is a mistake here and the photo pointed it out. I’ve since frogged it back and added another (third) eyelet round to the third lace pattern. Good grief. My brain! My focus is definitely struggling with all that’s going on in the world. I am looking forward to our Rhode Island vacation next week and am planning to tune out and turn off social media for a few days to see if that helps my brain to focus. It’s all good in the end but good grief, I’m supposed to be an “expert” and a knitting teacher. I get frustrated with myself when I make such rookie mistakes!

I picked three cherry tomatoes and my first Delicata squash today from the garden. they say that Delicatas are ready to pick when they have stripes and you can’t easily break the skin with pressure from your fingernail. This one is there. I think I’ll have to cook it for supper tonight to see how it tastes. I also have cups (and cups) of shredded zucchini to use and will get it grayed, freeze some of it and bake with some of it. Plan is to make some zucchini bread, some chocolate zucchini bread and maybe a chocolate zucchini cake to take with us to the beach. Yum. We still have e some tomatoes on the vines and a few more delicatas coming along. Lettuces and kale are going to be picked today for salad with my supper.

I guess I’d best get myself moving. I have a bank deposit to make for the store before noon and then I can drop off the banking stuff at the store. The boss is back Monday and I no longer have the responsibility of banking. I had a bowl of granola this morning so I may stop for ice cream on my way home for lunch. More knitting will be worked into my afternoon.

Gone knitting.

All Things Blueberry and Family

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a bit … we have had a house full of family and it was absolutely wonderful! My brother and his wife, their son and his family came first for a couple of days. My brother ended up getting sick and hanging mostly in bed and they stayed an extra day. I was sad not to spend much time with him but I enjoyed the rest of the gang tremendously! A couple of days later (after all the sheets and towels were laundered and put back on the beds, my daughter and her family arrived and that meant my granddaughter was here. She’s a complete two-and-a-half-year-old bundle of joy. Soon after my son and my other daughter arrived so all three of my kids were here and that is my favorite group of people to hang with.

We went to pick blueberries twice. Each time we picked 5 quarts and so we made all things blueberry – because I like to bake and the kids like to grill when they’re up here. We had blueberry buckle, blueberry muffins, vanilla cake with blueberry frosting, blueberry pancakes, and blueberry hand pies. Tonight my hubby and I will eat the blueberry pie I made, too. We made ice cream twice, too – first strawberry (with some added blueberries because we had to have enough fruit) and then vanilla with heath bar crumbles. The vanilla was extraordinary.

My daughter, the second child in my three, turned 38 the day before my birthday and she requested the vanilla cake with blueberry frosting. Granddaughter, Sylvie, decorated it with blueberries. We tried almost all of the local lobster rolls over the course of the week-ish. And we enjoyed some fried food, too. The boys grilled turkey burgers, a pork loin, sausages, salmon, and we ate a big lobster dinner and had a Mexican night with bean and bean with pork burritos. Needless to say, I’ve gained five pounds eating all the things and it was delicious. My appologies, but when I have my kids and granddaughter around, my photos stop … the phone is put down (and often lost).

I did very little knitting while they were here. We were up by 6am and in bed most nights before 10pm and fully active the whole time! Swimming, boating, adventures with Yaya (I have a car seat now), and lots of time on the porch. The first morning we were out in the boat before 7am for the Maine Audubon Loon Count. We didn’t see any loons in our section of the lake but we’ve seen lots of them on the lake, including chicks!

I finished the Three Cable Baby Blanket just in time for Sylvie’s first night sleeping here. She has the same blanket in pink at home in New York City. She liked having the blanket, I think. It’s lovely soft yarn and a cozy snuggly blanket. I have been working on the “July” socks in my self-imposed sock club. I’m working my way through the Sock Project book and started with sock #1 in some left-over yarn from another sock project. I’ve turned the heel on sock #2 and I hope to get them finished before the end of the month. Crossing my fingers.

I took Sylvie on an adventure – to drop off her aunt at the rental car place and then took her to work to meet the women I teach on Friday morning and to pick out some yarn for “mermaid headbands”. I’d made her a mermaid tail when she was a baby with a headband to match (and a shell bikini top). It had become too tight for her toddler-sized noggin. She picked her favorite color – purple – and I whipped up a couple headbands in an afternoon. I can’t resist when she asks me for something.

And now they’re all returned to the city and their lives and jobs and “school” and we are home in the extra-quiet catching up on our missed stuff. I’ve done three loads of laundry and folded two more, picked up my Big Love Cardigan this morning and started the first sleeve. Yay! I have researched a cardigan pattern and swatched for a customer and sent her an email. And I’ve been putting the flashlights back where they belong and trying to find all the kitchen things … and so grateful that we had help with cooking and cleaning up!

AND the kids, especially my son-in-love helped us paint our guest house. We haven’t really used it since our wedding 9 years ago. It needed some work then and we have started to check it off this year. My hubby has been redoing the bathroom – new shower stall, new flooring, new screens on the porch. It has been leveled and the roof replaced. It still needs a new water heater, the porch floor replaced, and some kind of kitchenette before I will be heading in to clean it up and get it ready for another winter. BUT next spring/summer we are hoping to rent it out. It will sleep one or two people and has a lovely view of our lake. We lived there for seven months when we were building the house and it’s a cozy spot. I picture it as a place for someone wanting a quiet place for writing or painting or. … whatever else you can imagine.

Now that the woods are cleaned up, the little hill is raked and the cottage is painted, we can plant some flowering bushes and trees around the front and get the walkway dug. I love the new color that blends right into the woods. The red/orange was never my favorite.

I’ll be back to “normal” in a couple of days after I catch up on some sleep and buy some groceries. But in the meantime, this mama’s heart is so full of gratitude and love. My kids are still my life and I love them beyond measure. I love spending time with them and so enjoy their company. Life is so good.

Gone knitting.

Another Busy Week and The Summer Solstice (aka The Longest Day)

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Today the view is hazier and just not as pretty as yesterday so I’m posting my opening picture from yesterday morning before I had to go to work. Of course it was a stunning day yesterday! I spent the day in the store. LOL. Today isn’t bad but I sure do plan to add the air conditioner to my atelier window because the heat is coming this week. The whole world is burning up. Literally and figuratively. I remain so grateful to live on this lake in the woods of Maine where I can tune out when I need to in order to regain my sanity but I worry about my kids in New York City being in harm’s way. I hope the unilateral and illegal decision by the president and his administration last night doesn’t cause too much harm.

It’s been another busy week here on the shores of Messalonskee Lake. I’ve been trying to get caught up with all the home projects that I’ve neglected over the winter and we are making some good progress. We finally found a chandelier for over our dining room table that we both like – and it’s up. And we’ve bought a living room rug to replace the old one that was my hubby’s mother’s but it was losing fiber in patches and I was afraid it was causing me to cough more than usual (my allergies were dreadful before we took it out.) We found a rug we both like from RugsUSA,com and it was delivered within a reasonable timeframe and with a reasonable price tag. We also finally ordered our Adirondack chairs from Costco and put them together for the back yard (the other side of the house, away from the lake). We have one remaining house project and that’s to find ourselves a new bed. Our mattress is relatively new but it’s too firm for me and it hurts my back and hips. We’ll put our mattress up in our guest room and will get a new one, king size, for us. We just have to find a good one and I refuse to pay $5,000 for a bed. Must be my Yankee roots.

And I’ve been making food like crazy! I was gifted some rhubarb and onlly had enough strawberries to make a couple of jars of jam. This week I bought some more strawberries and made more jam. I also made banana blueberry muffins for my hubby’s sweet treat in the morning.

AND I sewed two pillows (with zippers) for my granddaughter’s sleeping nook. I found these Very Hungry Caterpillar panels several years ago before she was even a thought and put them away … thinking I’d make something for my daughter with them since it was one of her favorite books. Little did I know they’d become pillows for her daughter who also loves the books. So, the back is purple flannel which matches her quilt backing and the front is the caterpillar and the beautiful butterfly. I’m quite please with myself because I can take the covers off to wash them. Yay, me!

Friday was the Longest Day and I’ve been participating in the Alzheimer’s Association’s Longest Day fundraising for several years now. This year I chose to spend the day knitting on Friday because I had to work on Saturday and to have put it off until today would have made my week the longest week ever. I am really glad I did. I knitted from early morning until after dark. This year I worked on three projects primarily.

I have finished the yoke and have split for the sleeves on my Anker’s Summer Shirt. I can’t say that I love knitting with this yarn because it’s a bit splitty at times but I really am going to love wearing the shirt so I am pressing on. I love the deep salmony coral color and it’ll look great with my white jeans as I’ve said here before. Now I just have to knit around in stockinette stitch until I reach the right length. The sleeves will take a few minutes because they’re short and I’ll be happy to finish this and wear it. It’s just about the right time now. The yarn is Juniper Moon Farm Zooey.

Perhaps more fun than the Anker’s Summer Shirt is my Big Love cardigan by Ankestrick. I am knitting this in Berroco’s Pima 100 cotton and it’s the softest squishiest cotton ever. AND the pattern is fascinating. The construction is intriguing and different than anything I’ve made before so it’s keeping my attention. The sweater begins with two rectangles, a provisional cast on, rows of ribbing and the stitches go on hold. Next stitches are picked up from the rectangles long sides and the back of the sweater is knitted down with stitches cast on on either side for the shoulders. There is a very simple 4-row textured pattern for the body of the sweater and ribbing for the collar and button bands that is knitted on as the sweater grows. I’ve just passed where the body is all connected around and this will be the really fun part (I hope.) I love the soft yarn and the cotton will be a perfect sweater to grab for an evening on the porch or after sitting at the beach over a sleeveless dress or tank top. I may have to knit a tank top next. I am loving the yarn and the pattern is so much fun. I keep reaching for it when I have a few minutes to knit.

Love and Light by Laura Nelkin … with a QBK twist

I have been pondering a little gift that I can make to give away to one of my Longest Day donors, sort of like a raffle, and I settled on a Love and Light (light up knitted fairy lights) and bought purple lights. On Friday while I was knitting for the Longest Day, I knitted up a heart in the purple lights but I had way too much left over. I brought it home and since it’s a gift, I want it to be special … and right! So I decided to knit another smaller heart below the first one and it worked! I knitted with fewer stitches and rows and have a double heart light up wall hanging to give away to one of my donors. I’ll do the drawing tomorrow. Everyone’s names have gone into a box on slips of paper and my hubby can draw for me … stay tuned.

So, today is Sunday and the hubby went out to find hinges to build a gate on our porch’s end to keep the granddaughter and four-leggers corralled this summer. We don’t need to lose anybody to the lake. As the grandchildren continue to be added to our family, we really want them to be able to have some freedom at our house but recognize that water is a temptation for little ones who think they know how to swim. We are doing our best to keep everyone safe and sane.

I’m getting myself organized, cleaning up and straightening up and planning for next week which will also be busy but I’m not working on Saturday … at least not at the store. I may be moving beds or painting rooms or baking or sewing … and it’s going to be hot! We moved to Maine from Florida because we don’t love the heat … and it’s gotten hotter every year. I’m going to get my work done early so I can sit and knit in the air conditioning when it warms up.

Gone knitting.

A Making Weekend

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It was a making weekend at our house! Hubby was working installing our new dining room chandelier and putting the new bathroom floor into our guest cottage (it sounds fancier than it is) and I was up in my atelier sewing and knitting and in the kitchen cooking and baking. We also got a few things ordered that we’ve been putting off for quite some time.

On Saturday I ran away to do some errands – I hadn’t bought a gift for my hubby and knew he’d appreciate some recognition on Father’s Day. I stopped at several spots, Oliver and Friends Bookstore, Mardens, the car wash, the gas station, and I stopped at a couple of spots to try to buy a sandwich for lunch: Sunrise Bagel had just closed so I headed to the Korner Store for a small lobster roll (it was just ok and for $30, not thinking I’ll go back soon.) I also went to Buddie’s IGA for strawberries because one of my fabulous coworkers gifted me some rhubarb! Yay! AND she also gave me an old rhubarb plant that has roots at the Christian campground nextdoor to our house. It’s like it belongs here!

The afternoon was spent in my atelier working on my Anker’s Summer Shirt by Petite Knits. I bought some cotton/linen yarn at the store for this project. It’s Juniper Moon Farm’s Zooey in a deep salmon color that I really like and it will look great with white jeans this summer (if it ever warms up!) I don’t know what I was expecting the yoke stitches to be but, WOW!, it’s so simple. It’s k1, p1 ribbing, increases and more ribbing. Fun and simple enough to do when I’m teaching my classes. I’ve reached the fifth section of ribbing and I’m not sure there is much more to do after this. Maybe it’ll be time to separate for the sleeves?

On Sunday, after coffee, I started in the kitchen washing and chopping the fruit for the jam I wanted to make. My mother always made strawberry rhubarb jam for my dad and it seemed appropriate with the gifted fruit, on father’s day, to make some jam. Little did I know, though, that 8 cups of jam would make only two jars (one is large) of jam. SO I’ll go back to the store again and buy two boxes of berries and make more with the remaining rhubarb. Hubby was finishing up the installation of our new dining room light, fixing the ceiling, painting the spots he cut and patched (and he cleaned up the mess I made of my atelier ceiling when I painted Sylvie’s nook.

AND then I baked the cake at the top of this post. I found the recipe in the NY Times Cooking app. it’s called “Rhubarb Big Crumb Coffee Cake” and it was easy enough to make and quite yummy with our coffee this morning. A keeper.

In the afternoon, I sewed a couple of little pouches the pattern for which I bought AGES ago and put away. I had enough fabric to make several pouches. I made two from one piece but I used a zipper that I bought at Mardens for 50 cents on one. They turned out ok for the first time I’ve installed a zipper and the first time I sewed with vinyl-coated cotton fabric. That stuff is sticky!

One is supposed to be a makeup bag and the other is a simple zip pouch. I can make lots more with the fabric I bought all those years ago … what was I thinking? (If you could see me, I’m shaking my head at myself. LOL) They’re fine. Not perfect. Fine. I can use them and if I practice (a lot) I may be able to gift them. Key word is practice.

We went out for dinner last night to the new-ish Cushnoc Cantina in Waterville. Cushnoc Brewing opened the restaurant in the ground level of the Colby College downtown dormitory. The restaurant was modern, spare, open, a little bit noisy even though it was not very busy, and the food was good. Hubby tried a couple of their beers and I had a glass of rose wine and we each ordered three of their tacos. They were quite good. I ordered a fish taco, a bang bang shrimp taco and a cauliflower taco. Each had its own unique flavor and three was not too much. They were quite small. The bang bang shrimp taco was the most generously filled and because of the nature of fried shrimp (they’re crispy) it was a little difficult to eat … but i managed.

After dinner we just watched some stupid TV and I worked on my Big Love cardigan. I had finished the back and needed to pick up the stitches at the shoulder and start the right side. I didn’t love the instructions on how to pick up the stitches but I finagled it and it looks good. I got down quite a ways last night because it’s addicting. The construction is so different and it’s fun to watch it grow. Did I mention that I was working on the back of this sweater (it’s made of Berroco Pima 100 cotton yarn) when I realized that I have another sweater, in Zooey, that’s nearly the same color? Guess I like blue, huh? Oh well, I’ve gotten too far to go back but I did look at changing colors at the store last week. I’m not going to … but the next one, if there is a next one, will be a different color.

Big Love in Berroco Pima 100 Color 8427 (actually a blue)

I’ve gotten a set of wire fairy lights that will light up purple with which to knit a Love and Light to give away to a random donor from my Alzheimer’s Disease Longest Day fundraiser. I’ve raised either $900+ or $1200+ dollars depending on what site you see. The amount doesn’t interest me as much as I am thrilled to knit for an entire day raising funds to fight the disease that gradually stole my mother from us when she was only 76 after ten years of declining health. It truly is the longest goodbye. I’ll be knitting from sunrise to sundown on Friday with a few breaks to drive to work and to drive home. Luckily I teach on Friday because I am working on Saturday when I’d normally knit all day.

My plans for today include some time on the porch. Hubby is finishing the guest cottage bathroom floor today and the plumbing is getting done tomorrow (I think.) I am heading to town for a couple of longer zippers for pillow covers for Sylvie’s nook that I’m going to sew up. I need to find the pillow inserts, too. And I’m going to knit the purple Love and Light today after I bake some banana muffins. AND our Adirondack chairs and table for the front/back yard are being delivered and will need to be put together. I can’t wait to sit in them and knit in the afternoon – we get a pretty good breeze off the lake and we’ll put them in a protected spot in the afternoon sun. Yay!

So, off I go, wearing my finished light blue cardigan on a middle-of-June day. It’ll be warmer in town. Gone knitting.

A Week of Memories

Posted on April 5, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

The sunrise this morning was unremarkable because of the clouds. Lots of gray today but yesterday when we arrived home after a week in New York City babysitting for our granddaughter, it was a glorious sunny day. I always go through a bit of a depressive episode when we leave the kids in New York. It takes me a couple of days to recalibrate myself to being just me, just us, in Maine, away from the hustle and bustle and constant business of the city. Today is a little bit difficult but the last week was truly wonderful fun.

My eldest daughter, mom to our grand, is in San Diego opening a new play called Regency Girls and her husband had to be in Las Vegas for a work event so we were called to spend a week with our granddaughter. We have learned we walk more and move way more when we’re in New York with a two-year-old. Ha! Ha! And we did. We went to the playground, played in their courtyard, made lots of lego buildings and stacked blocks (and knocked them down). Read books, colored with Dot markers (they are very satisfying) and generally had a blast. We made challah one day and Sylvie was a big helper, mixing, punching down, helping to roll and braid the dough, and brushing on the egg wash

She may be only two but she’s talking a blue streak, sings all the songs, has some crazy one-liners and is fiercely independent. Yesterday she went off to school in black and white plaid pants and a rainbow dress with two differently colored socks but she got dressed mostly by herself … and the curls!!!

Hubby and I are getting used to living in the city and have found the grocery store, a mailbox, the local bodega for newspapers and quick purchases, and we even found Target this time (to buy some cards.) We are becoming accustomed to having noise outside the windows 24-7 and sleep through it anyway. We loved being able to drop the trash in the chute in the hallway and compost and recycling are an easy elevator ride to the basement. (B is for basement we were told!) There are three great playgrounds within a few minutes walk and we didn’t even stroll around the park!

I got a bit of knitting done and realized that a linen tank that I want to knit is going to need to be re-sized because my gauge is way (way!) off. I think I can knit it a couple of sizes larger on a much smaller gauge and it will work. I’m crossing my fingers. I have 8 balls of Chai by Berroco in a pretty red colorway that I’d like to make a summer top in. I saw the Patti tank and thought that would be great but I don’t want it see-through. I’m way beyond that age! As is my habit, I started the tank with the suggested needles and then measured my gauge after a couple of inches and it was nowhere near the gauge for the pattern – 4 or five stitches per inch – it was closer to 6 1/2 stitches per inch which would cut the finished measurement by almost 4 inches in total. Not ok. SO …. I frogged it and went back to Bristol Ivy’s way of swatching to see which fabric I like after I knit and block it. I’ve tried the US6 and US7 needles on 35 stitches. I’ve got to knit a bit more on the larger needles and then I’ll bind off and block it to see if the gauge changes. That will determine my preferred fabric and then I can figure out how many stitches I need to cast on to make the tank fit the way I want it to. More on that in a later post.

Meanwhile, I have finished a little sweater for my new great-nephew. I used a Knitting Plain and Simple pattern (#214 Baby Pullover) and a Sirdar Snuggly Aran yarn. The yarn is super soft and easy care for the new mom who also has a two-year-old. It’s adorable and just needs a little wash and block to be ready to send to Massachusetts.

I don’t want to show the finished version just yet … Baby Pullover #214

I also finished the knitting on my Bolin cardigan before we left and, despite the fact that I wanted to wear it, I didn’t have time to sew on the buttons and it wasn’t quite dry before we left for New York. It is now, though. I’m planning the button sewing today so I can wear it this week. I love the fabric, it’s so soft. We’ll see how I feel about a cropped cardigan when I get dressed one day soon. I hope that it’ll be ok with a long tunic and jeans or leggings. Pictures soon.

Socks- On the Round yarn, Yankee Knitter pattern

I finished the On the Round socks while in New York and left them there for Sheldon, one of the “kids” in our extended family in the city. He’s definitely knit worthy! I loved the yarn and hoped they’d be for me but I made them a little bit too long and they’d have fit my hubby but he didn’t love them. Sheldon’s feet are the same size as my hubby so he was the winner!

I cast on a little sweater for our newest grandchild (arrival late August.) We don’t know if they will be a boy or a girl and won’t know so I let Poppy choose the colorway and it’s gray with specks of color. A little Vertebrae cardigan for newborns. This baby will be living in the Denver, CO area and will be born in A/C season and will likely spend lots of time outdoors. We can’t wait to meet him/her!

I have made some progress with this cardigan and have finished one sleeve and am nearing the end of the second sleeve. I’m going to be playing yarn chicken with the edging around the fronts. OR I’ll have to buy another ball for the last little bit which means there will be a matching hat and maybe mittens for the first cold snap. This yarn is so soft and quite wonderful to work with. The pattern is one of my favorites for new babies because they spend so much time against a human body, they only really need a sweater on their little backs. This one is perfect. And the yarn is machine washable. (The green and blue cords are “knitting barber” cords like these. I have several sets for holding stitches. They’re great knitting tools!)

I didn’t have a chance for my daughter to try on the fingerless mitts that I’m making for her. I have a wee bit of concern that they’re going to be too big and I’ll have to start them over again so I’m not knitting any further until she tries them on. The next chance I’ll get will be late this summer or early fall when we’re at the beach. I’m just going to put them in time out until then. Meanwhile, I’ll finish the embroidery on the pink mittens I started forever ago and get those done.

In a week I will be teaching the first of two parts of a workshop on colorwork knitting. I’ve got to get a couple of examples together and knit a few swatches so I can demonstrate at different times in the workshop. I have a big group signed up and I’m excited about the interest. Our knitting project will be a coffee cup cozy knitted in the round and then we’ll cut a steek to finish it off. But it’s a great, worsted weight “swatch” to learn the techniques and to get knitters ready to knit a colorwork project with more confidence.

The ice on our lake is thinning rapidly. We’ve had a typical mix of Maine spring weather while we were away and with a couple of warm days, the ice wlll be gone from the middle of the lake. We will be watching for “ice out’ (when a boat can navigate from one end of the lake to the other) this week. I’ve not looked at the weather report but we’ve had a report of the first loon sighted at the north end of the lake … they always seem to know when they can come back to the lake. Before we know it the hummingbirds will be back, too.

Gone knitting.

Tuesday Report

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It is a bit chilly today. When I woke up at 6:30am it was around 10 degrees and will only get up to 22-ish. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a day to myself today. I spent the morning having coffee and relaxing as usual, cleaned up the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher, got dressed, and after my hubby went to work I started by Christmas puzzle. Turns our my puzzle attention span is very long because it was 3pm before I stopped and went upstairs to do some work.

It’s been a good start to the week. I got some baking done yesterday and my dear hubby made vegetarian chili at my request. I’ve decided that I don’t love meat much any more and I’m exploring vegetarian eating. I’m married to a guy who needs meat at every meal and who does the majority of our cooking … it will be interesting.

I baked some pecan rolls. These are wonderful because they don’t include any yeast so they’re quick and easy to make. No waiting for the dough to rise! The one thing I do is I don’t mix the toasted pecans in with the filling because it’s more difficult to spread. I spread the filling and then sprinkle the nuts on it and roll away! The recipe is Easy No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls (New York Times Cooking). When it’s just the two of us, we don’t put the frosting on until we warm up a roll or two and then frost them … warming up frosted cinnamon rolls makes the frosting melt away. These are delicious!

I’ve been working on a couple of different projects. Yesterday I spent a good amount of time on my Hoodola by Laura Nelkin. I”ve gotten about a third of the rows knitted and I had to put it aside to eat a few Doritos so I picked up my New Year shawl, Winter’s Finery by Romi Hill. I had to go back before I went ahead because I had made a mistake on the spine somehow and decided that I couldn’t live with the way it looked especially since it’ll be at the top of the shawl. Frogged back a few rows and the reknit it. I even made a little bit of progress.

The lobster hat chart is complete and I’ve moved on to the sea weed chart for the crown. BUT before I started the crown I put the stitches on a strand of yarn and gave it a little bit of a steam block so I could see how they’ll look when finished. I’m happy to report that they’re going to be fantastic! I put the stitches back on my needles and continued knitting.

Today I spent hours working on my Christmas puzzle and then had to pay bills and my new walking pad was delivered so I had to try it out. Next I’ll be ordering a standing desk and I hope I can write these posts while I walk … preferably without getting hurt.

A Case of the Mondays on Tuesday

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m having a case of the Mondays. The only problem is that it’s Tuesday! We woke up this morning to rain and since 6am EST the ice that covered the lake has broken up and disappeared. It looks like any spring or summer day here now. It’s amazing how quickly the new ice can disappear. And it’s a little sad if I’m honest. We really should have ice by now.

I’m slowly managing to get all of the Christmas shopping, wrapping, sending, etc. done. I mailed the three packages that I was responsible for yesterday on my way back from the store. I went in to help my colleague cut some netting for a customer and we took the time to restock the netting, too. When we are only one person in the store, it’s unsettling to spend time down in the basement restocking or gathering together an order for a customer because we can’t see or hear if anybody comes into the shop. We were going to get this done on Saturday when there were two of us in the shop but we had a different mess to straighten up (see my last post!)

I made a new batch of granola this morning for the women I work with. I may need to make a second batch this afternoon because I’m not sure this will be enough to fill all of the jars. It’s down to the wire and I hope I have enough oatmeal left in my canister! I really am “off” if my baking cabinet isn’t properly stocked.

We had our Covid-19 booster and flu vaccine on Sunday and yesterday I started out just fine but I crashed in the early afternoon. I couldn’t even knit. This is what happens every time I get the shots. BUT I am glad we’re protected going into the holidays. The rest of the day is “free” which means I have time to vacuum my atelier and to double-check my lists. Tomorrow is going to be my last day for shopping and I don’t think I have enough to fill my dear hubby’s stocking.

#112 Children’s Bulky Top Down Pullover in Cascade 128

I’ve been thinking of ways to use up some of my stash and this was, I thought, an easy one. I have three hanks of Cascade 128 in this pretty almost periwinkle blue and I thought I’d make a larger sweater for my granddaughter. BUT when I knit the pattern according to the instructions, I didn’t like the fabric. It was too open. So I frogged back and started again on a US10 needle (seen here) and while I like the fabric better, the gauge is way off so the size is one that will fit her now – and she doesn’t need any more sweaters right now. SO … back to the drawing board. I am going to do this the right way next time and actually knit a swatch. I don’t often knit with bulky weight yarn so I’m not sure of my gauge and I need to figure out what the largest size I can make – I am aiming for a 3-5 year size – in a fabric that I like. I think I’ll try a US10 1/2 and see how the gauge matches up. On the US10 I got 3 stitches to the inch and the 4-5 size should be 28″ around the chest. Mine is more like 19 1/2 … not even the 26″ that the 2-3 size should be. Doing the math, I don’t think I can get 28″ even if I knit the largest size so I need to try a bigger needle. Good grief!

I also found a bulky hood pattern with a fur edge around the face opening. I can just see my little granddaughter in it so I’d like to make a hood that will match but, again, at a larger size so she can wear it next year or the year after. I’m going to have the same issue, I think.

I’ve not felt like doing any other knitting, and particularly not knitting that takes brain power. The projects that I have in progress are the fair isle bag from the class that I took, and a couple of pairs of socks. I really want to cast on a new project but I “should” knit a couple of sweaters to reduce my stash but I am not feeling motivated to do any of them. What’s a knitter to do?! I would also think about knitting a new shawl or another Musselburgh hat … but I can’t decide on yarn. Ha! Ha! So, I’ve been working on my Jelly Roll blanket and the watermelon shorties … both really simple projects. No pressure, right?

I haven’t shared with you that I had the red bump on my right eyelid removed a week and a half ago. It’s gotten larger over the years and, who knew!? We have an eyelid surgeon in Waterville, Maine. My eye doctor referred me to him and he’s surgically removed it. I think it was larger than he expected and he had to make two sutures. It’s never as simple as they say it’s going to be. So, day 1 and 2 it looked great. Day 3 I started to see red “bruising” around the edge of my eyelid. A week after the surgery black was added to the “pretty colors” and now it’s just a rainbow with some of the color collecting at the outside corner of my eye. BUT the bump is gone and the bruising will go away. It’s been an adventure waking up in the morning to see what color it would be. All kidding aside, I’m so grateful that it’s gone and there was no pain at all, and no infection. I hope you’re not squeamish because I’m going to share photos with you. Today the color is fading and maybe I’ll be back to “normal” for Christmas!

Today I think I may decide to knit a gnome or a little Arne & Carlos mini jumper without a number so it can be used as an ornament for a customer/friend. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Gone knitting.