Queen Bee Knits

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

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.

Little Tern

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We are at the beginning of what is technically (here in Maine) tourist season which also means summer. Those of us who know Maine are laughing because this is the least summer-like weather we’ve had in forever at the end of May. It’s been gray and rainy for days … weeks! It’s leaving me a bit fatigued, maybe a bit depressed (although with the way things are in this country and around the world it makes total sense) and all I really want to do is sit and knit. I’ve been doing plenty of that.

I have finished the Little Tern blanket by Tin Can Knits in Fyberspates Vivacious DK. This photo looks more turquoise and the real color is more green but I love it and the blanket is an heirloom-quality knit. As I was knitting this blanket, the second one I’ve made, I was thinking about how much I loved making the first one and how grateful I am that I had the presence of mind to buy extra yarn so that I could make this one! I think I’ve written about this before – this pattern and yarn were one of the “kits” in A Year of Techniques, a class that I took several years ago with Jen Arnall-Culliford. It was a series of tutorials that then became a book and you could take the class with or without buying the yarn kits. I did. Mostly because I didn’t know any of the yarns that they were using for the tutorial projects and, boy, am I glad I did. This is one of my favorite yarns but there were many.

Little Tern is designed by Tin Can Knits. It uses a provisional cast on and then the body of the blanket is knit in a textured pattern that is easy enough to (almost) remember. Once the body is done, a lace edge is knitted onto the body on both ends. It’s rather ingenious, frankly. AND it’s absolutely engaging and gorgeous. I seldom knit the same pattern twice and I am actually looking forward to knitting this one again (I have a set of purple Fyberspates Vivacious DK for another blanket in my stash.)

I also finished the quilt that I made for my granddaughter’s sleeping nook at Yaya and Poppy’s house. This fabric was in my fabric collection and I only bought the one piece of flannel that is the backing. I even made the binding out of left-over bits and scraps of the fabric I used for the quilt. This week I hand-stitched the back of the binding and it’s now ready to be put to use. I think she’ll like the bright colors and the soft warm flannel on the back.

We finished painting her little nook. It’s the same width as a crib mattress and it’s really purple. Way more than I am comfortable with but I am thinking that once the wallpaper birds on a wire is up and the giraffe picture is hung, I think it will be a bit less “purple”. But it’s what she asked for … I simple neglected to think about paint colors being darker once they’re on the wall. It’s all good. We backed my IKEA Kallax storage cube unit with a “bead board” panelling, trimmed the bottom of the nook after the panelling was installed and the shelf unit was attached to the wall so it can’t tip over and then the room was painted. We need to cut some slats that will sit up a bit so the mattress is off the floor and then put up the decorations. I still have to make two pillowcases and if I have time, I’ll knit a little blanket like one she has at home. All things to make her stay here at Yaya and Poppy’s feel like home. I’m crazy like that.

I’ve been working on finishing up little projects and have done well doing that. I’ve knitted and blocked two more tams for my client. She loves these hats and they’re not a bother to make up for her. It’s nice that she appreciates them so much. I also made a little “blueberry” hat for our soon-to-be Denver nugget. I used a pattern by Ann Norling and Malabrigo Rios yarn. It’s pretty cute. Now, of course, I’m knitting a bigger one for Sylvie. She loves blueberries. I’ve been working my way down the second socks’s foot (the first one fits perfectly), and I have been picking up my Jelly Roll blanket. A customer brought in bits and bobs of leftovers and I brought home a few fingering weight yarns that she left to add to my blanket (as if I was going to run out any time soon.) I also made some strawberry jam this week and a batch of blueberry muffins for my hubby. We brought the strawberries at a very good price at Costco on Monday specifically for jam making. Yum!

I pulled another unfinished project out of my cupboard. Ages ago I bought a kit from Jimmy Beans Wool that was to make Franklin Habit’s Dolores (a sheep) and some of her outfits. I got the body finished and then the project went into time out … not because of anything other than my little cast-on-itis and there Dolores’ body has been resting waiting for me to turn my attention back to her. The other day I pulled out the bound off stitches and will be more firmly stuffing her body and then closing her up again. I will be committing time to getting her finished because she’ll be a fun addition to Sylvie’s nook. I think. AND she’ll be finished. I really am trying to get projects finished … I have a few. (Ahem.) I haven’t forgotten the pink mittens either … the first one is mostly finished and the embroidery looks pretty good, actually. Think I can get a second one done?

I have a couple of deadline projects … both are Love and Light by Laura Nelkin. When a couple gets married in our family or has a baby, they get one for their home. I haven’t made one yet for Amy and Jake (they were married a year ago-ish) so I’ll make one now for their baby’s nursery. I’m calling this baby the Denver nugget and he or she is due end of August/early September. Sylvie has one in her room in NYC and it’s used as a nightlight. I’ll make one for her nook here so it’s just like home … and not at all since she won’t be sleeping in a crib for the first time ever. We are all crossing our fingers that she stays in bed like she does at home. That reminds me that I need a bookshelf for her wall.

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 Afternoon

Posted on March 18, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

What a morning! No fog today and we saw the sun come up this morning after a couple of days of fog and gray, rainy weather. It’s been downright dreary but today feels so much better. I’ve been busy tearing apart and putting back all the stuff in the sewing side of my atelier. I’m making room for my granddaughter to have a space of her own for when she comes to visit this summer. I have a few more things to do until it’s finished but step by step we are building a little nook for our little monkey.

It’s also been a good opportunity to go through and clean out a little bit more (again) and clean it all up. Spring cleaning? It feels good. Today I got a thing to hang up my ironing board and put away the iron … I had to assemble it and when I put it where I thought I wanted it, there wasn’t enough room between the wall and door to work so I moved it to another door but not before the iron fell out of the little shelf and hit my arm on its way to the floor (and it dented my floor). Oops!

I’ve been really working on my Bolin cardigan this week. I’ve mostly finished the first sleeve and I’m working my way down the second one. When they’re both at the same place (just before the ribbing) I’ll try it on and see how much more length I need to make it “just right” and then keep going. I’m getting close!

I really like the color of the fabric, too. The base is a camel color with the rosey mohair it has a haze of mauvy rosy neutral It’s different from other sweaters that I have and I think it’ll be good to wear with jeans or dresses. Time will tell.

AND I have finished my Cardoon! I wore it yesterday (without having cut all the bits left after weaving in all the ends. I’ve done that now and will probably wear it to work on Thursday. I like it a lot. I’m still not 100% sure of the way the collar/neck works but I like it.

I’ve mentioned before that I love the yarn. It was in the clearance at the LYS where I work and I brought it home a couple of years ago. It’s been sitting in my stash waiting for me to knit it up – I een knew it was going to be a Cardoon. The yarn is Fibra Natura Kingston Tweed, a DK weight wool, alpaca and rayon blend. When I wore it yesterday, it was really light but also quite warm. It’s the perfect weight sweater. Of course the yoke is doubled because it’s stranded so it keeps my shoulders warm and toasty.

I’m teaching a workshop in April and I’ve begun planning the sessions and knitting the samples and doing some research on how to teach colorwork to a continental knitter. I can knit continental but I’m naturally a thrower so I’ve got to figure out how it works so I can teach it. I know I’ll have at least one continental knitter. I have to pull together some samples of colorwork knitting from my “collection” too. I have plenty!

I’ve just finished a book I loved. The Blueberry Pickers is a Maine story about indigenous people who picked blueberries and who lost a young child. The child disappears from the field one day and her brother Joe is the last one to see her. In a parallel story Norma is an only child of a wealthy Maine family that’s dysfunctional and she searches to uncover the family secrets and the reason why. I highly recommend it. AND I’ve been baking again which tells me that my soul is either in a good place or troubled or both. I made our favorite oatmeal scones this week and a pineapple angel food cake. We’ve finished the bread I baked last week and there are a couple of banana muffins in the freezer. In the last couple of weeks I’ve made s curried red lentil stew that was sent to me in Ann Budd’s newsletter. It was delicious! I also made my “dump, dump, stir, stir” soup recipe, too. Also delicious. So, while the country is going down in flames, I’m making soup and baking and I’m so grateful that I am not in danger of losing my job and I hope and pray that some sanity and balance is found soon.

Gone knitting!

Bang Out a Sweater … and a political rant

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning’s photo was taken by my hubby, the real photographer in the family. I took one a bit later but his is exquisite. Mine is ok. We are having a warm-up here today with temps in the low 40s and two days of rain on the way. If it stays warm the road will become mud and yuck. I have to venture out the next three days to work so my car will be dirty again. What’s a girl to do?

Yesterday I had an incredibly productive day and got caught up on a lot of little tasks that needed to be done … watered the plants, did the laundry, descaled the humidifiers and filled them with distilled water (we are finding out if our water is causing the white film on the furniture), grocery shopped (picked up), applied for Social Security (yes, I am that old!), and various other stuff. AND I got up to my atelier around 2 to knit.

I made great progress on my Bolin Cardigan. The fronts and back are complete and I have seamed the shoulders. I know I said it before but I love, love, love the fabric that the combinations of yarn is making. I don’t always love knitting with the two strands. Every once in a while the mohair gets stuck and makes a weird extra loop or doesn’t get knitted and I have to go back to fix it. But this sweater is going to be snuggly and warm and cropped. I tried it on after the shoulders were connected last night and it’s going to be short … I’ll have to wear it with a long tunic/blouse or a dress. At least I think so. I have marked the arm holes as noted in the pattern and with any luck will pick up the stitches for the sleeve(s) today.

Bolin Cardigan by Norah Gaughan in Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Silk Haze

I also have made a significant dent in the body of my Cardoon pullover. I have reached the eleven inches point and am ready to begin the colorwork that is at the bottom of the body. More on that after it’s done. Once the body is complete, only the sleeves remain … could I finish two sweaters in the month of March? I think I can … I think I can … I think I can!

Quick Lacy Slouch Hat in Berroco Vintage Chunky

I have finished half of my order for a customer for two more berets. The first one is black and done. The next one is navy blue and she likes a true, dark, navy that Vintage Bulky doesn’t seem to have so I will be making this one in Berroco Ultra Wool. I should really cast on and get it done today so I can block it and bring it to work this week but I have a feeling the sweaters will win today. This is an old pattern that I’ve made for this particular customer at least a dozen times over the years. She loves them and is so happy to have them. It’s nice to please a customer and I know exactly what she likes and wants.

When the world is as unsettled and ugly as it is recently, I tend to dig into my knitting even more. It is true that the rhythm of the stitches is therapeutic and it mends my distressed heart. I really dislike the nastiness that is happening in my country; the name calling and hatred being spewed by both sides. I fully support dialogue and haven’t unfriended anybody for having different views. I believe in science and researching to find out what is true and what isn’t. A lot of stuff out in the social media world is untrue. (f you don’t want to read my political rant, stop here.)

I am fully in favor of following the laws as they are set out before us in the Constitution and in the states. If we don’t agree with the laws, we should work to change them. In the US right now, the Republican party controls the White House, Congress and the Senate. They could be changing laws, policy, etc. the “right” way but they’re not. They’re standing back and allowing an unelected billionaire in an unofficial department to rampage through the government firing employees, closing departments, accessing personal information of citizens, etc. In some instances, he’s fired people who are critical to the day-to-day safe operations of such things as airlines traveling in the country and can’t find them to re-hire them. And now, it seems, the Social Security department is in his viewfinder.

We, my husband and I, are going to need our Social Security and Medicare when we fully retire. We built it into our retirement plans. I have just reached the age where I can claim my full Social Security without penalty (literally this month) and I’m hearing that SS is being called a Ponzi scheme. What!? I know what a Ponzi scheme is, I’ve been the victim of one. This is not the same unless the government was purposefully deceiving me all these years. I’ve paid into SS for my whole working life and not because I chose to … it was required, automatically deducted. It was “promised” that it would be a good way for me to save for my retirement and now I’m being threatened by a man who could, if he chose, make the program solvent for generations to come without so much as a how-do-you-do. Instead, he’s threatening to cancel Medicare, Medicaid and now Social Security (because he doesn’t understand how the department has been operating on an antiquated system and what the process was. My government is stealing my peace and threatening my financial security during the last however many years I have left.

I have a friend who is Trans, I have several friends and family members who are LGBTQ+ and they’re all being attacked. If you don’t know anybody who is Trans or gay, how can you possibly judge whether they will harm you or your children? Trans women are not sexually aggressive men in dresses. They are not interested in hurting your daughters in the bathroom. If you don’t know a trans person you don’t understand. Didn’t Jesus ask us to love our neighbors as ourselves?

The SAVE act will prohibit most married women from registering to vote and possibly voting. Did you know that? I almost kept my maiden name when I re-married but at the last minute my husband said he’d love it if I took his name. It was such a sweet request. Now my birth certificate says “Rockwell” and all of my other IDs say “Warner”. Most married women who have taken their husband’s name will be unable to register vote (and some say to vote) in the next election if that passes. Don’t believe me? Research it! Google it!

I believe there is probably waste and lots of it in our government. Let’s start with the lifetime salaries and health benefits that all of our elected officials. Let’s talk about security details. Let’s talk about insider trading. All of these “offenses” take place on both sides of the aisle. Let’s start there. Why is it OK for my elected senators or congressmen to have a better healthcare policy than we the people who they are sworn to represent? Lifetime paid service was never considered by the framers of the Constitution and many of the elected officials work part-time for the people and also are paid to work another job. I’ve read about companies charging our military ridiculous amounts for toilet seats, etc. How is it that nobody has stopped that from happening. Any company that tries to rip off the government should be banned from receiving government contracts in the future. In fact, cancel their contracts when extortion/fraud is found. I’ve strayed away from my point which is the current administration could be passing laws legally rather than by decree. A president hasn’t got the right to unilaterally demand that his will must be followed “or else”! That’s why the United States was begun – to get away from the rule of a king who told them how to pray and how to live.

I have heard that there should be prayer in public schools. Who shall all students pray to? How would you feel if your child was forced to pray to someone else’s god? I’ve worked in public schools in Ohio, Florida and Maine. Children can pray any time they’d like. Silently and without judgement or bullying. Isn’t that more fair to all students? Private religious schools can do whatever they want. We’re talking about public schools here – where there are children of all faiths just trying to learn.

I’ve heard that trans “men” want to play on girls sports teams to exert their superior strength. This is blatantly untrue. There are over 510,000 NCAA athletes. Ten are trans women. This is a ridiculous waste of time and energy. Trans women undergo hormone therapies and what little scientific evidence there is tends toward trans women having no clear biological advantages over cis athletes*. As an aside, Gov. Janet Mills was singled out recently and threatened to have federal education funding pulled if she doesn’t comply to the will of one man and remove all trans students from women’s sports in the state. It is not known how many trans students are playing in sports in Maine. Maine law supports equal opportunities for all students. Mills is charged with upholding Maine law. (Interestingly, other female governors are also being bullied and told what to do … Gov. Hochul of NY, for example, is being told to end the NYC congestion pricing in mid-town despite the fact that they seem to be working.)

I do not support tariffs being levied on our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. This not only hurts our neighboring countries, it is going to hurt all of us. Immediately, I can see the price of gas in Maine increasing significantly (we get our gas from Canada). It’s hovering around $3 a gallon as of yesterday. The stock market is going down fast with the announcement of the tariffs. For those Americans lucky enough to have investments, this will hurt. I hope it’s just a “blip” and the market will rally. Many of my friends in Canada say they and their friends/family will not be vacationing or visiting Maine this year. This is going to hurt Maine’s tourist economy, particularly at the coast. And the lack of migrant workers is going to destroy the Maine wild blueberry harvest, I fear. (Again! It happened the first time DT was in office. Remember?!)

There is so much more and I don’t want to write any longer. I’m going to turn on my TV and knit and watch Netfilx until it’s time to bake my bread. Tonight we’re having a vegetarian curried lentil soup and, I hope, homemade bread. I forgot how long it takes to rise! Hopeful that our extra warm laundry room with heater will cut the time by a few hours at least.

Gone knitting.

https://cces.ca/transgender-women-athletes-and-elite-sport-scientific-review

Another FO for 2025

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

The sun was up at the horizon when my alarm went off this morning which means that the days are really getting longer. Not far back, it was still dark at 6:30am. It took me a bit to get going this morning because I was knitting into the wee hours (and by wee hours I mean until almost 11pm) last night and I didn’t want to get up this morning. BUT I had a repeat blood test to get to at 8:30am so up I got.

I have to say, though, I love having an early appointment or meeting because then I can get a good start on the day. I was out of the office at 8:40am, had a phone meeting and then headed to Oakland to the post office and the bank for work-related stuff. By the time I got home, it wasn’t even 9:30 yet and I decided to start a loaf of challah bread. While I’m writing this and doing some desk work, the sponge is getting ready to become bread. I’ve not made challah for decades but it’s one of my favorite breads. I hope it’ll be delicious. I’ll report later.

Meanwhile, what I AM supposed to be chronicling is that I have completely finished my Winter’s Finery shawl by Rosemary Hill. This is a one-skein-wonder that I knitted up with a special skein of hand-dyed yarn that I bought at Knit City Montreal two (or almost three) years ago. The yarn is dyed by Mailles a Part, based in Quebec. It’s a 75% superwash Bluefaced Leicester, 25% nylon yarn in the colorway “Maree”.It’s a dusty blue with specks of gray. I loved it from my first glance. The pattern is another wonderful Romi pattern with clear directions and simple to follow. I keep remembering, though, that I have to LOOK at my knitting and read my stitches because I am apt to make mistakes when I don’t read my knitting. Can you imagine that?! Once the shawl is finished you knit on the ornaments and I chose to do rainbow-colored ornaments to reflect my stance that all people should be accepted as they are. I am so disappointed in my country right now and with the hatred that is being spread based on lack of understanding and familiarity. Without getting political, although knitting is historically political, I know that change is difficult. Sometimes change can be baffling. It can be a struggle to accept change at face value. BUT I firmly believe that if we trust that every person is God’s creation then none of them is wrong or bad, they’re just different and there must be a reason that they’re here in front of us. And if you make an effort to learn about their truth, you’ll grow as a person.

I love my shawl and am wearing it today and will probably wear it to work on Thursday.

Today I’ll continue work on my Cardoon because last night I separated the sleeves and that means lots of stockinette stitching in the round which is great knitting for after work or when I’m teaching classes. I am also going to give my Bolin Cardigan some love today. I’ve gotten to the short rows on the first (left) side of the cardigan and I need to pay attention to these when I’m doing them so that I get it right the first time. I’ll pop in a lifeline before I start just in case. Frogging when mohair is involved is a royal pain in the patoot. This sweater is cropped and knitted on large-ish needles and it’s knitting up pretty quickly. I’m looking forward to the sleeves where there is a nice big cable down the side. It’s not often that I look forward to “sleeve island”!

Got to run down and see if my sponge is ready to have the rest of the ingredients added and the laundry is ready for the dryer. I love being home today in the house with one sleepy dog.

Gone knitting.

A Full Week

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a busy and full week with some adjustments to our “normal” as my schedule changed a bit to help my co-workers. I started off by working Monday instead of Thursday which made the whole week feel funny. My days were mixed up but we managed to muddle through by checking the calendar each day and checking my phone and watch often. I had my normal teaching day on Friday and it was my Saturday to work (yesterday).

On Tuesday I drove down to Costco to pick up my new glasses. Because they’re so affordable and because I have an annual eyeglass insurance “stipend”, I decided to get a pair of sunglasses and a spare pair. I’m so happy to be able to see and have choices! This is me at 66 and almost 8 months. I already wrote about my adventure in yarn at Grace Robinson here.

Since the boss is away, I’ve been asked to do the banking for the store and went into town on Wednesday to do the first wave of collections. On Thursday I went to the bank to make deposits and ran my errands. I decided to stop at Marden’s to look for fabric for my granddaughter’s quilt for her bed a Yaya and Poppy’s house and, while I bought no fabric, I did find a treasure trove of J. Jill clothes on the racks and bought myself several shirts and slacks. I got the house straightened up, plants taken care of, laundry done, bed changed and sheets and towels washed … and there was, of course, lots of time to knit.

I have jumped headlong into my “Bang Out a Sweater” project after buying my new yarn at Grace Robinson. I’ve split the body and started up the front on one side. The cardigan, Bolin, is cropped (we’ll see how I like that) so it was only 9 inches on the body before it was split and I have another (almost) 9 to go. But I love the fabric and the color. I may not make the end of February deadline but I will not be far behind.

I bound off my Winter’s Finery shawl and stitched on the ornaments at the middle of the week. On Friday I wove in all the ends into the teeny tiny ornaments and today I will give it a good soak and block it. I’m excited to see how it will look when it’s all stretched out. I’ll post photos when I get it blocked.

I’ve got a lot to do today so that I can get to work tomorrow so I’ll end here and move on to the next thing but I also got into the kitchen and made some cinnamon rolls. I love the NY Times Food recipe. No yeast, no proofing time. Delicious! We’ve started to hold off on the frosting until we warm the rolls up … fresh frosting on warm cinnamon rolls is yumm-o!

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.