Queen Bee Knits

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

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.

Making Progress

Posted on December 9, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We woke to snow and a thin span of ice next to the shore around (at least out part of) the lake. The first sight of ice this year. It’s been really cold lately. But by 9:00am or so, the ice was gone and the snow had stopped. My DH ran the snowblower for the first time and cleaned up so we could get out … later this week it’s supposed to be warming to 50 and rain is in the forecast. It’ll either make the snow all go away again or it’ll turn everything to ice.

I have finished the colorwork on the Arne & Carlos 2024 MKAL. Today I completed the ribbing as well and picked up the stitches so that I can finish the heel. I’m going to rewatch how Arne does the heel decreases before I attempt it. The afterthought heels are not something I’m terribly familiar with as I prefer a heel flap and gusset on my socks … but I”ll do it their way this time and, since it’s a Christmas stocking, it’ll be quick and easy. I hope. I am excited to get the knitting done so I can steam block it and see it in all its splendor. Blocking colorwork, especially when it’s made with 100% wool, is such a miracle. Once the heel is done, I only need to make an icord loop to hang it with.

I’ve been busy ticking items off my ever lengthening list. Between Christmas and knitting this is a busy time of the year. I finished my last two Christmas knits and one is blocked, dry and labeled. The second one is nearly dry and the label is written. This may be the earliest I’ve ever been done knitting for Christmas. OR I’ve forgotten something. Ha! Ha!

I’ve got a pair of shorty socks on the needles for my daughter. They’ll match our granddaughter’s Advent socks. Should be fun for a few laughs at Christmas time. The first sock is finished and the second one is started, I’m about half-way through the heel flap so it won’t take too long to finish. Friday I seamed the shoulders of my pink Lane’s Island and the plan is to pick up stitches around the neck this evening and get the neck done. All I will have left is to sew in the sleeves and seam the sides. I am excited to wear it!

Our Christmas card list gets shorter each year but they’re all addressed and stamped and ready to go to the post office tomorrow. I’ve also done our laundry for the week … and then some and have been washing/re-blocking DH’s hats and fingerless mitts. Whew! They needed it. Changed a bed, bought some holiday-ish plants, and I think I’ve ordered all the Christmas gifts I need. Even my DH’s gift is ordered and I sure hope it arrives before Christmas. I’m crossing my fingers and toes.

We both got into the dermatologist last week after five years. I checked out and he had some pre-cancerous bits removed from his head. Bald heads are prey for the sunshine and my DH’s bald head seldom sees sunblock. He’s been lucky so far. And I’ve had the little red bump removed from my eyelid after decades of living with it. It was large enough to require two tiny sutures and they’ve caused some bruising but it feels good, no pain at all, and I hope the little bit of swelling and the redness will go away soon. The sutures will dissolve. So, we’re good to head into the holidays having done all we can to make sure we remain healthy and praying that the New Year is gentle with us all.

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.

Most Excellent Family Stay-cation

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Today we’re back to my hubby and me. We’ve had the most excellent family time at our house for the last (almost) two weeks. My eldest daughter, Kate, and her husband and our granddaughter arrived last Tuesday and my son arrived Tuesday night with his two doggos. We had lots of fun swimming, playing with bubbles, visiting some fun spots and eating SO much great food. We’re early to bed and early to rise around here and the kids, despite their NYC lives, always fall into it, too. Coffee on the porch, blueberry picking, Belgrade Lakes Farmer’s Market … and did I mention swimming? Sylvie is a little fish! She loved the lake and became more and more confident over the time she was here – even confident enough to “fall” in twice on their last day. Of course we were right there to pull her out but we also have to let her fall so she knows the truth about the lake – it is fun and wonderful but it’s also frightening. (She was not a fan of falling in.) We went on some fun boat rides, saw eagles, counted loons, and we tried (and failed) to outrun a rain storm but arrived home safe, sound and in time to see a full rainbow across the lake.

She has started to put together two-word sentences like “Monk, no!” and “Help, please” and she is singing chunks of her favorite songs. For a kiddo with a slight verbal delay, she’s adding new words every day. We had so much fun watching her pretend with her new (to her) kitchen set and we found out that she will eat anything worthy of feeing to ducks – lettuce and frozen peas were a fun snack. Who knew? Otherwise, she always wants pizza, blueberries, milk and “bubbles” (seltzer).

We ate local corn, the last of the local strawberries, tons of blueberries, we found a farm where we bought local pork and beef (the pork was amazing!), lobster, blueberry buckle, blueberry muffins, mixed berry pie from Winterberry farm, an ice cream cake and a divine Da-Da-Made chocolate cake among others.

And … are you wondering if I did any knitting? I had made what I thought was great progress on my River Cowl. Turns out I missed a very important part of the first sentence in the main section directions where it says to knit so many rounds “as follows”. I read it as knit all the rounds and when I got to the 62nd round it was already as long as it needed to be. Ugh~ I frogged it back to where I pick up the 270 stitches around the cabled edge and started over again. So, I’ve actually moved backwards on my knitting over the last weeks. Ha! Ha! Humbled once more by my knitting.

I’ve not touched my Christmas stocking, my sister’s socks or the dish towel but I am sure that after a few good nights of sleep I will be back to my knitting practice with gusto and maybe even a renewed affection. It’s possible.

For now, this Yaya has a full heart and so many new memories; so many reasons to remember and smile. We are looking forward to our next time together in September at the beach!

Gone knitting.