Queen Bee Knits

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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.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie …

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Have you read the children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? Well, this was a morning like the book but it happened in my house and it happened to me!

I had ONE thing to do today and that was to finish making chocolate Babka. My bonus daughter in Colorado baked a Nutella Babka this past weekend and I was inspired to try making babka, which I love, too. The NY Times cooking recipe uses all ingredients that I generally have in my house so, why not? So yesterday morning I went to check that I had all the ingredients and to start by making the dough. I pulled out the eggs and butter so they could come to room temperature and I only had 3 eggs. I needed four. So I got dressed and went to town to get eggs and while I was there I figured I may as well stop at the town office and vote. I voted, bought my eggs and some whole milk at the corner store and then went home to start mixing.

I seem to have lost my dough hook that goes to my KitchenAid mixer so I decided to use the food processor. Got all the ingredients into it and tried to “wizz” it and fiddled with it to get it to turn on and began processing. Until the motor slowed to a near stop … no way was it going to mix the dough properly. I transferred everything to the mixer and turned it on and got it all mixed but it wasn’t coming away from the sides of the bowl. Added a bit of flour as instructed and a bit more and eventually it let go of the side. Into a buttered bowl to sit for an hour. Meanwhile, I made the fudge filling and the chocolate streusel. When the hour or two had passed, the dough was puffy so I punched it down and put it into the fridge for the night.

This morning I got the fudge filling out to come to room temperature and for whatever reason I decided I had to wash the two kitchen windows that flank the stove first. I guess they were bugging me. They were really gross and I love clean windows. So, I moved all the bottles of cooking oil, the knife block, butter dish and got the step stool to wash the window on the right. I took down the sun catcher and the old ladle and went to work. My husband does most of the cooking in our house (he’s a former chef) and he cooks at high heat. Thus our kitchen windows and anything within “spitting” distance gets greasy. I washed the window and trim as best I could and set all the bottles and stuff aside to wash later.

The window on the left was next. That bit of counter has the bread box from the original house, the radio he needs to listen while he works and a bunch of little toys and stuff he’s “hidden away” there (dog’s nail trimmer and a couple of shirt labels, plastic to fix the water toys, etc. I moved it all to the island, climbed up to wash the window and found that the plate hanging on the side of the pantry cabinet was also greasy so I took that down. The cabinet didn’t look great so I washed it down first (a very good thing!) and then did the window. Once clean, I had to clean off all the counters so I could roll out the bread, right? See where this is going?

I loaded up the dishwasher with as much of the stuff that I could and then hand washed the bread box, the charging cords, the antenna cord, the platter that hangs … lots of cleaning up. The only thing I didn’t wash (yet) is the radio because I’m hoping we can replace it with a Sonos speaker or something that actually works! The buttons on the radio no longer work so he uses it as more of a speaker for his music or NPR streaming. I started the dishwasher (who knew you could put wind up toys and finger puppets in the dish washer) and it was time to deal with the dough.

I cut the dough in half and rolled it into a rectangle and spread the filling, rolled up the dough, wrapped it in plastic wrap and froze it for (a little more than) 10 minutes, cut the rolls (the recipe makes two loaves) and “braided” them – it’s really a twist – and they are now in our laundry room, a nice warm place, for at least an hour until they are puffy again. I finished cleaning up the kitchen (I still haven’t cleaned the radio) and I was ready for a sit down.

I’m eager to try the Octopus hat on my granddaughter this weekend. I have a feeling it’s going to be a bit big because she’s a little nugget but it’ll fit her eventually. I can knit another smaller one, too. The hat is long and I may have said in my previous post that I’d try to cut out a few rounds before the colorwork begins and after the chart is complete. We’ll see how it fits and go from there.

I spent the evening yesterday working on my Jelly Roll Blanket and am so close to finishing the fourth strip. I really should finish the front of my Lane’s Island sweater today so I can knit the sleeves. I found a new cardigan that I think I’d like to make with some pumpkin-colored Patagonia yarn that I have in my stash but I have to finish Lane’s Island first! I’ll knit two sleeves at once again so they’ll be identical. I’ve begun the colorwork chart for my First Snowfall Neckwarmer that I cast on over the weekend. The first round had a 9 stitch repeat so a lot of catching floats. My main color is light and my contrasting color is dark and I fear they may show through but I don’t like the long floats that I have made so I’ll be frogging that round and re-knitting with more float catching. I also need to resurrect a WIP from time out. I think it’ll be the pink mittens that I need to embroider and then finish. I wan’t enjoying the embroidering when I kicked them to time out. We’ll see how I feel abut it now. *wink

The bread needs another hour to get puffy so I’m going to end now and find some yarn to play with.

Gone knitting.

Afternoon Quickie

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a beautiful but cold day today in Maine. I took off this morning to North Whitefield to have a look at some SL sheepskins that I’ve been wondering about for a while now. I really want one for my desk chair and/or my knitting chair. It just so happened that they were having a special sale and I could save $10 if I picked it up. So, today I drove over to Swallowtail Farm and I can’t wait to go back. I have a gorgeous creamy white XL sheepskin and ran a couple of errands and then came home to knit.

I’ve been watching some new podcasts lately and I knew that I had to knit up a gift for my nephew and his soon-to-be wife. I’ve bought the supplies and they’ve been sitting in my atelier for several months now. It’s a sweet pattern and I love to give it as gifts. I think they’ll appreciate it.

I sat down at my desk and cast on the first “lobe” of the heart at around 3pm. The heart pattern is called “Love and Light” by Laura Nelkin. I chose to knit the larger one which requires a 200 light/ 66 foot strand of fairy lights. I bought mine here. If you want to try this, buy more than one set of lights because it’s addictive. I think I’ve knit half a dozen or more. They also look wonderful in colors, too. We have one hanging in our living room window and it’s a beacon of light in the evenings after the sun goes down. They make me extremely happy.

The pictures above show you the progress from 3pm until the heart was finished and “massaged” into it’s final shape. One more plug-in to make sure I didn’t break the connections as I was knitting and I was done. It was 4:00pm. That’s right, it took an hour and a half of my time to make even though it’s tough on my hands, it’s totally worth it. I love the way these turn out!

Leftovers tonight for dinner and the bread I baked yesterday is perfect yet again. This bread baking gig is pretty cool and the house smells so good when I bake bread! What a glorious life!

Gone knitting.

A Little Dab’ll Do Ya

Posted on January 30, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I’ve had a busy and productive couple of days at home and I’m feeling really good about it and today is a beautiful, clear, bluebird day which always helps my attitude and outlook. Plus I got a chance to facetime with my littlest love, my granddaughter, this morning before her nap … and that always makes me so happy.

I’ve been baking this week. Not sure where this came from because my baking mojo has been pretty much gone but it’s back. At least for now. My sweet hubby has been bumming because our very most favorite bread baker has closed his business and hasn’t re-opened. We loved Adrian and Universal Bread Bakers in Waterville, ME. Adrian’s bread is/was the best bread anywhere around. No question. He made baguettes, batards and boules in the French way, with crusty crust and chewy dense insides and the prices were incredibly reasonable considering the work that goes into them. But, sadly, the business was vacated because the building is going to be knocked down to make way for a large affordable housing building and Adrian hasn’t reopened (at least not yet.) All social media says that Universal Bread is permanently closed. If that’s the case then Waterville has really lost a beloved business and my sweet hubby has lost his favorite bread.

On Sunday I started the dough for the bread. I used the NY Times Baking recipe, No Knead Bread. While it takes quite a bit of time to get to the part where you can bake the bread, the process is simple and quite contemplative. I mixed up the ingredients and covered the bowl with plastic wrap (and a clean cotton towel because the plastic wrap doesn’t stick) and put it in our kitchen on top of the toaster oven where the dog can’t get it. I also made a batch of my famous blueberry muffins. In my family we call the recipe Uncle Jeff’s Muffins because when my kids were little, my brother made them blueberry muffins. They are the best blueberry muffins I’ve ever had and the recipe is such a special one. I bake them and freeze them and then my hubby can have his muffin a day and they’re not in my line of vision. On Monday I floured my kitchen counter and got the bread dough out, folded it onto itself a few times, formed it into a ball and let it sit for a couple of hours. Ran to the post office to mail a pair of mittens and then home to bake the bread.

You bake this recipe in a dutch oven which is likely why the crust is so wonderful. BUT mine got a little bit burnt on the very bottom. Our oven runs hot and even though the temperature was at 450 degrees, it burned the bottom of the bread. Next time, I’ll add a sheet of parchment paper to the pan with the dough. The bread is delicious! Hubby is happy and so am I. He deserves to have good bread that he likes and I’m happy to make it for him.

Yesterday, I also mixed up a batch of the NY Times Baking’s Bran and Chia Muffins. I have a bag of bran that has been languishing in my baking cupboard and it was time to use it up … and I almost did. The recipe is simple enough but used all the bowls. Ha! Ha!

Today has been absolutely gorgeous! And this morning I did a bit of house cleaning while I waited for the bran muffins to bake. The recipe made 18 muffins and they’re also in the freezer for my hubby – I left two out for breakfast tomorrow and I ate one for my breakfast today. I like them well enough. They may need a little bit of butter and jam to really make them taste perfect. We’ll see what the muffin man has to say about them tomorrow.

I also got some sewing done today. I opened the Pandora’s box that is my fabric cupboard in my atelier a week or two ago and found (again) all of the various projects that I had started, purchased, and planned. There are a lot. I decided that I really have to take some time every week to make some of them and finish others. I have two bags/pouches, some small zipper pouches, a wall hanging-size paper-pieced quilt and more. I found a huge piece of flannel yardage that I was going to make a scarf with, a couple of pieces of linen toweling, and a couple of old linen shirts in need of repair. Today I started to make a dent in the stack. I cut and sewed the linen toweling into four linen dish towels, I mended the two linen blouses, and I got an Advent calendar cut, pinned, sandwiched and all ready to sew. I still need to cut and pin onto the back, a hanging sleeve before it’s quilted and bound.

I’ve got several lengths of fabric in the washer right now with the linen towels, blouses and a dirty project bag. Once washed and dried, I’ll press them all and they’ll be a baby quilt and a tunic for me. I really want to practice what I learned at camp last summer and adventure out into the realm of sewing my own clothes. I just need to take the time and challenge myself.

I’ve been working on my knitting, too, of course. I’ve reached the decreases of the second half of the hat. The colors are somewhat boring but they were in my stash. I may have enough to make a second hat, too. The yarn, Herriot Fine by Juniper Moon Farm, is SOOOO soft. I absolutely love knitting with it and I think the fabric that it’s making is going to be soft and warm, too. AND it won’t make my forehead itch.

I’ve gotten the first sleeve on my Norwegian pullover to the point where it’s time to do the colorwork. I’ve decided that I am going to knit the second sleeve now to the same point and then do both colorwork sections and the final cuff ribbing. I’ve got to start another hank of the yarn anyway because I won’t be able to finish both sleeves without it. I figure that’s my chance to get both sleeves to the same point and, by rights, have them both be the same. I hope. I did try it on and the sleeve decreases are fine at decreasing every fifth round and I have sixty-four stitches on my needles which should work with my 8-stitch repeat chart. I’ll be so happy to have this finished.

#29 Classic Socks by Yankee Knitter Designs

My “cooked lobster” socks are a little more than half-way finished. I finished the first sock and am on to the leg of the second. I love this yarn. I’ve had it for more than 8 years and it’s traveled from Maine to Florida and back to Maine in that time. I know I bought it when we were living here in the summers and winter in Florida. I was going to make only solid-color socks for me but I’m going to make an exception for these.

Gone knitting!

After Christmas Report

Posted on December 27, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

We are back home after a wonderful whirlwind Christmas trip to New York City. Rather than spending the holiday staring at each other, we decided to head to the city to spend the holiday with our NY family and, maybe most importantly, our granddaughter.

We ate and drank and played games and watched movies, we spent lots of time together enjoying each other’s company. Christmas Eve we ate beef stew and shrimp scampi at B&K’s apartment and Christmas morning was also at their place where we had cinnamon rolls, muffins, mimosas and eggs and bacon. Christmas dinner was at K&S’s apartment and we had lasagna two ways, garlic bread and kale salad. I so love spending time with my family. We fit in time for baking Spritz cookies which is a family tradition and the kids even snuck a few into our bag when we were heading home. A nice surprise!

I designed my first “real” sweater for my granddaughter’s second Christmas and I wanted to show it to you. I have to look into how to grade and tech edit (and test knit) the pattern and decide if it’s worth it to publish the pattern. It’s a chimney sweater and popping out of the chimney is the jolly old elf. I had to re-knit the yoke to make it deep enough to fit a pair of little arms but I am pleased with the way it fit our little elf.

The sweater is knit in a DK weight yarn and fits my darling elf perfectly. The hat is a special addition because I wanted it to look like Santa’s head is popping out of the chimney. I added the little green garland to give it a pop of color. It’s sewn on with cotton thread. The little hat also fit perfectly and my daughter loved it. I’m guessing an elf hat will be requested another time.

I also knitted two berets for my future daughter-in-love. She requested spring weight hats for her golfing when the days are a bit chilly. I pulled tan yarn from around the store one day and she chose two favorites. A Malabrigo Arroyo in colorway 131 Sandbank. I wouldn’t have looked at this color twice (or once) but I really love the color and the hat is stunning. I loved the icord edging and will be looking forward to the report from the wearer. I was so excited to finish the hat before leaving the city that I forgot to photograph it. I have one in-process photo.

The pattern, Bisbis by Sari Nordlund, is simple enough for an adventurous beginner, starting with an i-cord and increasing rapidly. It’s a bit fiddly to do because you have only a few stitches on DPNs but it was easily completed in about 7 hours total knitting. I started it on Friday in my knitting class holding a strand of mohair with the sport weight superwash but I didn’t like the fuzziness. So, on Saturday on the ride into NYC, I frogged it and started again with just the Arroyo. I loved it.

The other hat is One Day Beret by Kristin Kapur. This one was knit in Cascade’s Aegean Tweed which is an organic merino wool and I used two colors and knitted two-round stripes. I carried the yarn on the inside of the hat so I didn’t have lots of ends to weave in. I also loved the way this hat knit up and the yarn is wonderful to work with. In fact, it was very similar to my favorite yarn, Patagonia by Juniper Moon Farms. Both are organic merino and they’re similar weights. This hat is a bit larger than Bisbis and ends in ribbing. It’ll be interesting to see which hat fits better, which is the better size, etc.

I’ve got to get better about photographing the hats at the end … I get excited and forget. Haha! Oh well. You can get the gist of what it looks like by this photo. I added a bit of an i-cord “string” or whatever that part of the tam/beret is called that sits at the top and then began the pattern. I am really pleased with both hats.

I have a long list of projects to start in the New Year. Mostly gifts but a few for myself. Sock for my daughter, Love and Light for my nephew’s bride-to-be for their shower, another for my bonus daughter’s engagement gift I want to finish my gnome KAL and knit the Arne & Carlos Advent Christmas Stocking for myself. My stocking isn’t my favorite anymore … and needs to be changed out. I’ll keep the old one just in case we get lucky and have all the kids for Christmas at our house one year.

I’ve been working on a pair of socks for my bonus son-in-law for a future gift and my Nancy’s vest. I’ve nearly reached the end of the button hold section and will be happy to wear it in the New Year. I have to find 7 perfect buttons for it, too. I have two sleeves to finish my Norwegian knitting project … actually, it’s one sleeve and a little bit of a second. I’ve had a challenge in how to knit a chart with the wrong number of stitches while decreasing to the right number of stitches. But I’ll figure it out. I hope. I’m so close to being able to wear it!

We will be spending New Year’s Eve with my brothers and their brides and we’re excited to see them. I hope your Christmas was merry and your New Year is healthy and happy!

Gone fishing.

A Very Long Ride Home on 12/26! Lots of tail lights for sure.

Another Failed Snowmageddon

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This is our view from the front porch this morning. As you can see, there is no snow falling. The world of Maine has closed because a Snowmageddon was forecasted. We were told to get ready to hunker down, we’d be getting snow overnight last night, all day long today and tonight, too. It’s not even 10am and the snow has ended. We have about two inches here in Belgrade. Nowhere near enough to consider it worth staying home and hunkering down.

In my next life, I’d like to be a weather person. It seems to me that it’s the only job where if you’re wrong much of the time, you get to keep your job. Businesses were deciding to close yesterday, a full 24 hours in advance of a storm. The whole state is closed!

So, I have in front of me a day to do whatever I want. Normally, I’d be at the store today. I went in yesterday as a favor to the boss in advance of the storm. We were super busy and the boss’s brother was at work on day two of having tested positive for Covid. My Irish stepped in front of the normal, reasonable me and I blew a gasket. I told the boss that it was him or me going home and that she didn’t have my back and that I felt betrayed. Come to find out that the sit and knit group the day before was ushered in through the yarn doors (usually kept locked) so they didn’t have to walk by her brother … “but he was masked” and two of his employees “were ok with it”. What about the woman who came in yesterday with oxygen? What about the Colby kids who go home to a dormitory? What about those who are unable to be vaccinated or have other reasons for being high risk? Employees on the fabric side of the store were told to keep it quiet. The yarn side was told nothing. UN-believable.

Anyway, so today I have a day to do whatever I want and I “should” be finishing the vest that I have on the needles. I’m so close and it’s bright enough to pick up the stitches around the arms and neck and knit for a few rounds. It would be good to finish this before I start the Choose Your Own Path Genser class with Knitography Farm. My yarn arrived yesterday.

Traditional Norwegian Yarn for my Choose Your Own Path Genser Course

I’m excited to start this course and make a beautiful sweater! I’ve bought the book that was suggested and I love the sweater. The yarn is sport weight by American Standards, the Norwegians don’t seem to need the guidelines as we do. They know that with this yarn and these needles, they’ll get gauge and will be able to make a sweater that fits. Americans seem to need more hand-holding and guides. I’m eager to give this a shot and I already know that the pattern will make a very close-fitting pattern so I will be needing to adjust the stitches to make it fit me the way that I want it to. I like a little bit of ease in my garments. I know that Patricia will be offering lots of help with this. It’s always fun to knit something new and to learn something new.

This is the sweater that I’m making. I’ve bought the purple yarn pictured on the model in the center. I struggled with color choice, though, because there were so many lovely colorways. I don’t have anything purple in my closet so that’s what I went with.

I’m knitting socks for the hubby as part of his (past) Christmas gift. I’ve finished the first sock and will cast on the second sock today. I will be endeavoring to write down the way I made the first one because I think the pattern was wrong. I tried to follow the pattern twice and twice the ribbing didn’t line up properly. On the third try, I just watched my knitting and put the ribbing where it needed to go. They’re such pretty socks; I love the cables and the way the heel is knitted is a bit different from the sock pattern that I usually knit.

I’m also knitting little baby socks. Little Miss is now 4 months old and starting to be more talkative, rolling over and grabbing and holding her rattle and toys. Her aunt had Covid a week or so ago and, once officially negative, her priority was to go see Sylvie. She’s changing so quickly from week to week, it’s incredible. I won’t be sure that these socks fit until I try them on her but I did my best guessing. Supposedly they won’t fall off – I’ll believe it when I see it. Anyone who’s ever dressed a child knows that socks fall off almost immediately. It just happens.

On Tuesday I made my first King Cake. I have a brother and sister-in-law who live in Louisiana. Since I’m linked to the south and Mardi Gras, I saw a recipe for King Cake in the NY Times and decided I’d try it. Despite the fact that it took my dough a couple of more hours to rise than it was “supposed” to, it turned out to be pretty tasty. The recipe had caramel apples in the center of the cake which is a bit untraditional but it’s pretty tasty. Next year I’ll try a more traditional cake and I’ll have the right colors of sugar to be authentic. Haha!

I should have taken some to work yesterday to share! I think this may be more cake than two people can eat before it gets stale. Or maybe I can freeze it. Note to self: don’t frost the whole cake at once unless you have an army ready to eat it. It doesn’t hold up under plastic wrap.

Gone knitting.

Our First (Post Pandemic) Car Trip

Posted on June 19, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

We always have trouble leaving home (and we were both a little cranky packing on Thursday night) but we really wanted to see N’s eldest daughter’s “new” home in suburban DC. So … off we went on Friday morning. Traffic was HORRIBLE and turned a 7-8 hours trip to southern New Jersey and our stop for the first night into 11 1/2 hours. It was a long day but it afforded us to get a glimpse of the new Tappanzee/Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge and wave toward my three kiddos in New York City. I finished N’s birthday socks and he’s happy about them. Thank you Yankee Knitter for the wonderful pattern. We were traveling with our dogs and have always liked staying at LaQuinta Hotels that are dog friendly (dogs stay for free!) Cheers at the end of the day in plastic hotel cups and a nearby restaurant for to-go food eaten in the hotel.

Day two we made it to Maryland early (it was only a couple of hours to Robin’s house.) As is my habit, I completely forgot to take photographs of the kids or their house or their cats who were mostly invisible. I mentioned that we traveled with our dogs, right? Needless to say, though, we had a wonderful time!

Art projects (not pictured), wonderful African food (I didn’t photograph that either) and Acai bowls, Lola in diapers and knitting projects.

Part two was three days with the kids and adventures in the Greater Washington, DC area. N lived here as a young child and my grandparents are buried here. Go figure. A walk down memory lane led us to Oak Hill Cemetery where my Rockwell family is buried. Oak Hill is an historic cemetery and parts of it, including where my family rests, is very old.

You can’t see the names of my grandmother, Elizabeth Sheldon Dow Rockwell (June 1887 – March 1984), or my grandfather, Horace Lewis Rockwell (August 1886 – December 1942) without zooming in, but they share the side of the monument with Sarah Alice Rockwell who died at 18 months of age.

According to my family genealogy, my great-great-grandfather, Henry Ensign Rockwell (3/24/1811 – 1/22/1882) was the Secretary of the US Fish Commission. In 1867 he was a Representative in the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from Millbury. He is buried here with his second wife, Sarah Jemima Hathaway Rockwell (9/25/1824 – 2/6/1898). They were married in Boston on September 25, 1824. She lived a good long life, passing at age 73. Henry and Sarah had three children: Julius Ensign, Sarah Alice and Julia Lee all buried here. Julius and his wife Mabel Rose had two sons: Henry Ensign and Horace Lewis (my grandfather) who was a patent attorney and a Second Lieutenant in WW I. When he died, my grandmother had a “nervous breakdown” and was institutionalized at the Institute for Living in Hartford, CT. The children, my father included, were sent to live with friends of the family.

Next we were on to visit N’s special place, the Tastee Diner, that his father started in the 1940s. It has been moved from its original location but it remains very similar … including the original countertop in the diner section. Our “snack” became dinner … the dinner of champions! LOL

One of Robin’s requests was to make a pie. We ended up making a galette with fresh blueberries after a visit to a huge and wonderful Wegman’s grocery store! Galettes are so simple because you don’t need a special pan or other baking utensils. A little flour, sugar and butter, add fruit and voila! I hope she’ll try to make another galette when her mom visits!

Too soon we were back on the road back home and leg three of our trip. This time through Hartford, CT and the LaQuinta in Windsor Locks. We visited my parents who are buried at the Fairview Cemetery in West Hartford. The last time I visited the area was for my 40th high school reunion and I couldn’t find the plot. I’ve decided that I have to claim having the very worst sense of direction of any human on this planet. Thankfully, my sweet husband has a good sense of direction and we did manage to find them this time!

We had dinner with two dear high school friends on Tuesday night in Windsor, CT. The only time I remember visiting the Windsor area was to go to the airport but it’s a lovely area and there are some wonderful sculptures. It was a wonderful reunion.

Wednesday morning we got up early again and headed to East Cemetery in Manchester where I needed to find my grandmother Barnard who was my favorite person in my family when she was alive. I have so many wonderful memories of doing things with Gram. She didn’t have a lot of money but she spent time with me and that’s what I will always treasure.

I don’t know who all the “players” in the Robb family are so I will do some research one day. But I found my grandmother, Maude Elizabeth Robb Barnard and her husband, my grandfather, Irwin Henry “Jack” Barnard. We found them first. I had assumed that Gram would be buried by her sister Ethel and was surprised to see that they’re actually at opposite ends of the cemetery.

We hunted for my great-aunt, Ethel May Robb next. Aunt Ethel was the principal at Wadsworth Elementary School in Manchester and we spent a lot of time with her, too, as children. Aunt Ethel took me on my college visits. Ethel is buried with the rest of the Robb family near the Robb Monument. I’ll assume that Josiah Robb and his wife, Eliza Jackson (?) are the parents of Ethel, Maude, Willard and Gladys. I remember Aunt Violet who I believe was married to Willard. Gladys died young and I never met her. More work to be done on this part of the family!

The last couple of days I focused on my Fine Sand Cardigan and made great progress with it. I’m closing in on the bottom of the body – woo! hoo! When we arrived at home, we found that the resident woodchucks had decimated my hollyhocks which were nearly six feet high when we left. The rubble left from them is above right. It’s war, now! They also ate every single petunia in the pot on our front steps. Grrr.

There’s no place like home!

Gone knitting!