Queen Bee Knits

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

Saturday Before Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s cloudy today but the sun is still shining on the south side of the house. Enough so that it’s warm enough to venture outside for a late morning photograph. The loons are still on the lake in their winter feathers but soon enough they’ll be gone again to their winter home on the coast.

This weekend is all about getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week. We have plans with our Massachusetts family for the day and we are looking forward to being together after what seems like “forever”. I am tasked with making a couple of desserts chosen by my nephew who will be with us after several years away at veterinary school – cheesecake and an apple pie are the requests. I have also found a recipe for pumpkin dinner rolls that I think I’ll try. I just have to get a grocery order together so I can pick it all up tomorrow or Monday. That’ll be next on my list.

This morning I’ve been catching up and trying to finish some of my crafty projects so that I can wash my favorite hand knit vest to wear around the holiday. I’ve worn it a lot and yesterday I dripped on it at lunchtime. Oops. So, today before I could block it out, I had to finish this unicorn hair clip hanger for my granddaughter. Her mother saw one on Pinterest or somewhere and made the request so Sylvie’s hair clips and headbands can be corralled and she can see them, too. I am pretty pleased with the end result. I hope they will be, too.

And I’ve been knitting a lot trying to get Christmas knitting done. I don’t have a lot left to do but I always make my hubby a pair of socks and this year I’ve decided to go with a second pair using a pattern that I’ve used before. I have some balls of Raggi yarn left that I bought when we were losing the distributor in the US at the shop and I loved knitting the first pair (despite a pattern reading mistake). I’ll knit them the right way this time. LOL. I first saw the pattern for the Thompson River Socks in Interweave Knits back in 2016 and it’s available to purchase on their website but I saved my pattern so I started knitting last week. I have to be careful to knit them when he won’t catch me so they’ll be a surprise. I hope I’ll have them both done for him in time.

I’ve finished the knitting part of the Jamberry Cardigan for Sylvie’s Christmas gift and I have begun the duplicate stitch yoke decorations. Why, I wonder, didn’t I just knit the yoke in colorwork? It would have had some long floats but the duplicate stitch floats are equally long and the process isn’t nearly as enjoyable. Regardless, I made the decision to follow the pattern and I’m duplicate stitching. It’s really a cute sweater and I hope she loves it. It does look huge! I made the 4-year size so she can grow into it and she can always roll up the sleeves if it’s too big now. I’m excited for her to see it.

I have finished the Wee Liam pullover sweater and the little Billie pants for our nugget, the grandson out in Colorado. My hubby picked the buttons and I am quite happy with these two little garments. Hopefully he hasn’t grown too much and will be able to wear them. (All the size details and yarn, etc. are on my Ravelry project page.) The buttons are solid wood and I like the way they pop off the sweater. And I love the color. It’s showing as more gray here in the photo, it’s really more of a dark sage green.

I am spending the later evenings when my eyes and brain are tired working on the endless stockinette stitch of the Easy Folded Poncho in orange (Zinnia colorway) Rowan Felted Tweed. I really like the color and it’s going to be fun to wear. I am around the 30-36″ mark, I think. I haven’t got the guts to really measure it because it seems to take forever to get any significant progress made on it. But I am making some progress.

AND I have cast on two more projects. I couldn’t wait to cast on the Alpine Bloom Hat by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve had the Patagonia Organic Merino in charcoal and light gray in my stash for a while waiting to cast this one and I need a hat that I love. I don’t like myself in hats and I’m praying that I do like this one because it makes me so happy knitting it! I’m about half-way through the chart and I made the ribbing extra long so I can fold it over. This is what I WANT to work on but I “make” myself work on the things I need to get done first and knit this as a reward.

My sister-in-love asked me to make a blanket for her brother’s partner whose daughter is about to have the first grandchild. I have also cast this on hoping that I can get it finished before Thanksgiving and hand deliver it to her. I chose Berroco Vintage Chunky in a sage green colorway and am knitting the Three Cable Baby Blanket which is a free pattern we have in the store. I’m not sure where it came from but it’s my go-to pattern for baby gifts and I’ve made several of them. I am loving the green yarn. Green is my brother’s favorite color and this is a lovely soft yarn. I got almost one hank of yarn knitted yesterday afternoon … if I stick to it, I should be able to finish it by the end of the week. Crossing my fingers. I’ll have to resist knitting everything else.

I have pulled out the beautiful green linen yarn that I bought to make the Broadgate Tabbard and I really want to start knitting that. I have a new white blouse that will be perfect under this “vest” and I can’t wait to see the color! Another new green project and I have very little that’s green. It’s never been a favorite color but when I saw it in a photograph on social media, I had to have that exact color. I think I will be able to wear the tabbard (it’s like a vest but not closed up on the sides) in the summer, too. Over a tank or a tee. We’ll see. But the color green that I bought is stunning. It will wait until I have finished my Christmas knitting.

And with that, I will sign off and get to knitting the baby blanket. If I can get it nearly to the half-way marker today, that would be a huge win … first, though, I have got to put a grocery order together. So until the next time … gone knitting!

WIP Wednesday

Posted on November 12, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Sunrise this morning was pretty spectacular. I woke myself up at 5am coughing … my sinuses continue to take away my sleep. Ugh. BUT what a view to wake up to! We installed insulated curtains in our living room where there is a wall of glass looking at the lake. It feels cold when the sun goes down now and we were hoping to warm it up a bit. We’ve been talking about it for a year or more. Anyway, we finally made it happen with curtain wires from IKEA and linen-look draperies from Amazon and we do feel like it’s warmed up the downstairs. Mission accomplished.

Yesterday the “girls” I work with went to visit a new yarn shop in Maine. New to us, anyway. Seems it’s been open since May. Olde School Fiber and Craft is in Gorham, Maine. It is described as “A curated fiber craft supply shop + community: encouraging a slower lifestyle that embraces time for making.” We all agreed that this was perfectly described. There is a curated collection of yarns that are thoughtfully displayed in a clean, orderly, quite beautiful way. We all ooohed and aaaahed over the knitting needle cabinet that held needles out of sight and neatly organized. There is also a lovely collection of needlework and sewing kits and materials that would delight any maker. I found the perfect little “sewing” kit for my granddaughter that’s similar to the lacing kits I’ve seen elsewhere and I think it’s going to be a perfect Christmas gift to work on with Yaya.

We also ventured to Mother of Purl in Freeport, Maine. Mostly because it was right where we met our coastal buddy at the park and ride and we couldn’t go home without going in, right? The shop has changed ownership since I’ve been in and it was, as it has been, a lovely visit with the most beautiful samples all around the store. I think they may win the beautiful sample contest in the state of Maine. (There is no such contest but maybe there should be?) Anyway, I behaved well and bought only one little ball of pompom yarn in almost neon colors and I’ll be making a hat for Sylvie, once again. It was a sample they had right inside the front (darn!) door

They carry Knitting for Olive yarns and others. Not a lot of yarn but lots of interesting brands that you don’t see everywhere else. I bought a pre-made kit for a pair of fingerless mitts – it was beautifully packaged with the yarn and pattern included. I’m excited to cast them on … but I’m requiring that I finish a couple of little sweaters first. Three to be exact.

The first one is in my last post and hasn’t changed one bit since I wrote about it. It’s been terrorizing me from my desk as I sit in my knitting chair working. I’ll get to it this weekend and finish it up. This one is my granddaughter’s Christmas sweater for 2025 and is a “Frozen” themed pullover. I sure hope she loves it.

The next two are gifts for the grands. Sylvie is getting a Jamberry Cardigan. Her mother reports that she loves the purple cardigan that I made for her over the summer and she thinks she likes it because she can put it on and take it off herself. And she picked the buttons. So, for Christmas, when I saw the Jamberry cardigan at the Cashmere Goat in Camden, Maine, I had to buy the yarn to make it for her – she loves the book! And for our grandson, Mac, a Wee Lima by Taiga Hilliard. I’m using washable yarns for both sweaters. Jamberry is in Berroco Vintage DK in three colors and there is some duplicate stitching to be done on the yoke when the knitting is finished. I found five buttons in what I believe to be the perfect purple yesterday at Olde School. Wee Lima I’m making in Cascade 220 Superwash Merino to “match” the Billie Pants I made in the same yarn. It’s perfect for wearing against the skin of a baby. I have no idea how it will wear considering that it’s Merino (short staple fiber, susceptible to pilling) but we’ll see. He’s a baby, he’ll grow out of it before it’s too “worn” right? The photo above is from last night before I went to bed. I’m making the 3-6 month size so it’s quick to knit – got that much done in an evening. I’m working down the body today and hope to get started on a sleeve tonight.

Rowan Felted Tweed in Zinnia – brighter than my “normal” pallet but wow!

I have another WIP to report on. I had bought, ages ago, some Rowan Felted Tweed in the Zinnia colorway. It’s a pretty bright orange for me but I have a pair of orange boots that I love and thought it’d be fun to have a poncho thing to match them. So, when I saw the orange Felted Tweed I bought it to make a vest or poncho and I’ve been admiring the Churchmouse Yarn Easy Folded Poncho pattern, for ages, too. SO guess who’s knitting the Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Yarn in orange Felted Tweed? You’re right, this girl. I’ve got a little less than 50 inches of stockinette stitch to knit. Yes, you heard me right – 50 inches of stockinette stitch. I found right away that I had trouble remembering to slip the first stitch at the start of every row so I have put a marker in both ends to remind me and that seems to be working well. It’s perfect knitting for watching TV or driving in the car or for working on when I’m teaching class. I hope it won’t take me forever because I have so many sweaters that I want to knit. I’ve cast on the Poet sweater but haven’t gotten very far with it and I think I may have to knit the green vest that I bought the yarn for next. After the Christmas knitting is done.

I “finished” the red onion socks for Sylvie but one sock is slightly longer than the other. I just need to measure them both and figure out which one is closer to her size and adjust the other one. No worries with that. I’d love to get them finished and sent off with the crazy little hat I made as a sample for the store that’s for her … I’ll send both in a bit, maybe next week. Even the “experts” make mistakes. LOL

We are having some beautiful fall/winter weather here. Yesterday and last night we had some fun snow flurries. We woke up to a thin coat of snow on the grass but it was gone by the time I left for Bangor this morning. Soon enough it’ll be a winter wonderland here at home. I spent the day on Sunday in my atelier getting it cleaned up and a little bit of organizing. My yarn shelves have all been cleared off, cleaned, lavender refreshed, yarn re-stacked and some has been photographed for my stash and so I remember why I bought it. Some I’ve already forgotten but suffice it to say that I have several sweaters worth of yarn tucked away. I should be good in case there’s another pandemic – God forbid.

Gone knitting.

Live From New York!

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Today’s outdoor shot is from my eldest daughter’s family home in Washington Heights in New York City. We are here to provide grandparenting support to their little family while some are traveling for work and some are working in the city during the day and at night. My daughter is going into the off Broadway show, Heathers, tomorrow (or maybe today). Today is the first day that it really feels like fall and I am happily wearing a sweater and socks today with my jeans rather than a short-sleeved dress. The sun is shining and I’m trying to get a little bit of my work done while our granddaughter is in school. This afternoon we are planning our first subway ride to mid-town to visit a museum that my hubby wants to see and we’ll see how Sylvie does. She’s an experienced subway traveler and can probably teach us a thing or two. *wink

I’ve been doing just a tiny little bit of knitting since we’ve been here but this morning I frogged the work I had managed to do because I thought I knew what I was doing and started knitting the hand of the second mitt just like the first one … forgetting, of course, that there is a definite left and right. SO … I frogged it back and will start anew. Thankfully, I hadn’t made a ton of progress because there would have been more to frog.

These mitts are a lot of effort for a couple of reasons. They’re black and blue which is a really stunning color combination but hard on old eyes. I wish I’d brought my neck light so that I could really see the stitches. I need to sit in bright light when I work on these and do it in the morning when I’m rested. The first one is done but for the thumb so I have a bit of a ways to go. I’ve been having a bunch of volunteer meetings this week and some school stuff that needed my attention but, for the most part, my mornings during the week are going to be my own next week and I hope to make some good progress. I’d love to get them finished and delivered before the end of the month. Lofty goals.

I have two finished objects to report about. I finished my Murmuration Socks and I’ve worn them already. I really like the way these came out and I made the leg shorter than usual hoping they’ll be fun to wear with my Blundstones now that it’s cooler. I also finished the knitting on the Sorento Cardigan (the photo doesn’t represent that, obviously since it has no collar) that I’m making for a client. I have to decide on the buttons and put them on when we arrive back home. It’s blocked and ends are woven in and once it has buttons, it’ll get a Queen Bee Knits label and be sent off to Louisiana. It’s a lovely sweater and I hope my client will be as happy with it as I am.

AAAAnd, since I finished a couple of projects, I cast on a couple of projects, too. I have started a “hunting orange” hat for my hubby in a wooly wool, Briggs and LIttle Heritage 2-ply. It’ll be a workhorse hat for him in the fall and winter. I also cast on for a pair of Billie pants for our grandson in Denver. I’m using Cascade’s 220 Superwash Merino for this project and I love this yarn for baby garments. It’s incredibly soft for being against baby skin. I just wish I had bought a little bit more so I could make a matching sweater. I may need to reach out to the Denver yarn shop and see if I can get one more ball, even if I buy a second color and do a striped sweater. Regardless, it’s all good and the pants will be adorable on baby Mac.

We have been spending a lot of time at the playground after school and having fun with our littlest girl. We’ve even made apple pie together; she cut up a lot of apples! And our time isn’t nearly done. This weekend her daddy is home for a couple of days and mom has two-show days so we hope to get to the Botanical Gardens or the Zoo or even out to a sculpture garden outside of the city. This afternoon we are headed to an art museum at Columbus Circle and we’ll see how much she likes an adult museum. We may end up playing in Central Park instead. We are all learning about living in New York City as grandparents and grandchild. I’m so grateful to be able to have the chance and to be physically able to do the job. (I’m really tired by the time she’s asleep!)

Gone knitting.

Did You Miss Me?

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m baaack! It was a chilly wake-up this morning but we spent at least a bit of time out on the porch with our coffee. Hubby wore a hat to bed last night and was still wearing it this morning. We’ve been on our annual family vacation to Weekapaug, Rhode Island and it was good.

When my kids were little my mom used to rent a cottage at Weekapaug for a month. When she passed away she left me a little bit of money and I wanted to do something as a family to remember her … and so, at the suggestion of my kids, we found a cottage to rent for a week at the end of the season (beginning of the low season) that can hold all of us. This was our fourth year back and it was just as good as all the rest of the years. Maybe better. Beach buttons, beach boxes, fabulous sunsets, lots of good beach time (even though the weather was a bit chillier than past years) and good time together. That’s what we love most.

Since Weekapaug is, for the most part, a summer community, most of the restaurants are closed and the what shops are still open, are open weekends. We visited Watch Hill a couple of times for ice cream at the Annex (peach was mom’s favorite and has become a favorite of all of us, too.) We watched the Watch Hill historic “flying horses” carousel, we visited the Fantastic Umbrella Factory with an umbrella in the rain, played games almost every night and just enjoyed being together and away from jobs, work and television.

I did precious little knitting but I did get a little bit done! I have been working down the body of my Vanilla Sweater by Corine Tomlinson at the Wooly Thistle. I bought this as a kit with enough Rauma Garn Finull (fingering weight wool) and the pattern for the sweater as part of the Wooly Thistle’s Sweater KAL 2025. I’ve separated the sleeves and am about 8 inches down the body … the pattern says 10 inches and I may have to go a bit further. It’s almost time to try it on. I completely fell in love with this color which is completely out of my comfort zone but I am really excited to wear it and it’s cool enough now, at least in the morning, to wear it.

I also brought along my Murmuration Socks by Summer Lee from the Sock Project book. I have the heel turned and the gusset decreased and I’m working my way down the foot of the first sock. I love this yarn, another color that’s out of my normal color zone. How adventurous I’m getting in my “old age”!

I also brought along some Plymouth Encore with which I made my granddaughter a couple of headbands because she said she’d like some purple sparkly mittens. I cast them on and got them finished just after we arrived home. I had knit the first mitten and it was about a half inch too short in the hand so I frogged back to before the decreases and knit to about 4 1/2 inches beyond the cuff before decreasing and these should fit better. I also made her the little string, a 3-stitch i-cord) so that she won’t lose her mittens at school. They’re pretty cute and we’ll bring them to NYC when we go to babysit in October.

I brought everything zucchini to the beach – zucchini bread, banana zucchini muffins, and chocolate zucchini muffins, and I still have shredded zucchini in the freezer. We also brought Maine peaches, blueberries and apples (and brought some back home, too.)

We saw a huge flock of migrating swifts one day at the beach. They were fascinating to watch. We had a couple of monarch caterpillars on some milkweed in the garden and the little one grew exponentially over the course of the week. I brought a craft project – paint and cut out egg containers to paint caterpillars. Next time I’ll make the caterpillars shorter, “our” collective attention spans weren’t into it. We saw a Bald Eagle at the pickle ball courts and a swan flying along the coast at the beach. The beautiful berries were abundant … I still don’t know what they are … and I want to see if I can find a yarn dyer to make a Weekapaug, RI colorway with the berries’ colors. They’re so pretty!

It was a wonderful week and I’m so grateful that all of my kids and their families: dogs, and significant others and the grandest granddaughter took the time out of their busy lives to spend a week at the beach with us. We love being able to provide a week in one of our favorite places and hope we’ll be invited to rent there again next year.

AND just like that we’re back home. Another place we love to be. Our calendar is full heading out of September and into October as we’re heading to Denver so that I can meet our new grandson and then to New York to babysit so my daughter, Kate, can rehearse to go into the off Broadway show, Heathers. We also hope to see the new interactive production at the Shed where my daughter, Libet, works. We’ll be there a good long time and the baby is in school weekdays so we can spend some time “playing” in the city and I can visit a yarn shop or two.

Gone knitting.

It’s Been a Long Week

Posted on August 25, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It may be Monday but I’m calling it Sunday. My day of rest. Last week I was in the store four out of six days, twice my normal schedule and I could feel it on Saturday afternoon. I’d also been awake since 4:30am when my hubby left to head out to Denver for the arrival of grandchild #2. I’ve been feeling “off” ever since. Partly because it’s lonely here without him and because I’m just weary, I think. Today it’s gray and threatening rain and I sure do hope we get some. Our gardens are so dry and I’m trying to water with great conservation because we have a well and you know what happens to wells in droughts, right? So we flush less frequently (TMI?) and do fewer loads of laundry and water only when really necessary.

I finished my second pair of shortie socks for my August SISC (self-imposed sock club). I thought they’d fit me but they don’t so they’ll be gifted to someone with slightly smaller feet. These have an afterthought heel and having made them, I am reminded why I like a heel flap heel when I’m knitting socks. I’ve cast on a new pair that will be top down and with a heel flap. Photos will be coming soon.

I’ve been working on knitting one of the animals in the Knitted Animal Friends book by Louise Crowther. I’ve had the book and the yarn for quite some time and never seem to have found (made?) the time to knit one. This week I decided to change that and cast on for Noah the horse. These patterns are knit on US 2, 2.75mm needles (suffice it to say, if you’re not a knitter, that these are basically toothpicks) and at a tight gauge. My hands certainly feel it but I am making progress. I’ve got the head, mane, tail and ears finished and am working my way down the body. Nothing is tricky in this pattern other than the tight gauge on tiny needles. I’m going back and forth between DPNs, a 40″ circular and straight needles depending on what needs to be worked. The body parts are knitted flat and seamed so nothing looks like it will when it’s stuffed and assembled. I have to remember to buy some safety eyes.

I had to laugh at the line of eleven pieces of i-cord for the mane. They remind me of tampons and once seen, I can’t unsee it. LOL. The yarn is Sheepjes Stonewashed and I am enjoying the yarn for the most part. Some of the increases are difficult to make without splitting the yarn but I think that’s more about the gauge of the stitches rather than the yarn. I have the Catona for the clothes, too, as the pattern requested. I thought I’d like to make the animals in the original yarn this time and see how it works up. So far so good.

Today I’d love to finish the body and get a start on the legs and arms but I also want to pick up the commission piece that I’ve been working on – I haven’t touched it since early last week when I was working on the back. There’s not much to do to get the back finished and the second side shouldn’t take long either. Then a couple of sleeves and finishing and I can send it off to my client in Louisiana. I’ve promised it in the early winter but I hope to deliver it earlier than that.

This morning I was up early and had my coffee before 8am and I decided to bake. Made some granola for our house and a blueberry cake for a neighbor who’s having some health challenges. I’ll run the cake down later today – when it’s cooled. I saw several emergency vehicles at their house on Friday morning on the way to work and heard from another neighbor about what’s happening. I’m guessing a bit of sweet will be helpful in the short term. I have shredded a huge zucchini and if I get some more baking energy, I’ll make zucchini bread or chocolate zucchini bread. Or both. I still have another huge zucchini in the fridge.

I’ve been checking out the vegetable garden and have picked our first tomatoes. I only grew two kinds of tomatoes this year – yellow tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. We haven’t had a lot of either but I now have two yellow ones and will have a tomato sandwich for lunches this week. We have been gifted some cucumbers, green pepper, beets and one huge zucchini from a work friend and I’ll get the beets roasted (one of my favorites with tomatoes and some feta or goat cheese YUM!). I’m not eating a lot of meat this week because I am cooking and don’t love it any more so roasted veggies, cauliflower crust pizza and maybe some grains will be served. Cooking for one isn’t a lot of fun and I’m not one who loves cooking anyway. What’s a girl to do? I can’t just eat ice cream … that’s what I might have done back in the day.

Hubby pulled our garlic before he left and it’s time to cut off the roots, clean it up a bit and start using it. We will plant more garlic in the fall since we seem to have the knack of it now. My biggest yellow tomato is palm-sized and we have another Delicata squash coming along. That makes three. The bees are happy in our squash blossoms and without them, we’d have no squash. One more zucchini is on the vine and the peas are over a foot tall now and starting to climb. I love the veggie garden!

I’m loving watching our loon family fishing just in front of the house today. The baby is getting its adult feathers and is acting more like an adult but the parents are both working hard to continue feeding it, too. They were close enough to hear their little “peeps” to each other. And I’ve heard from two friends on other Maine lakes that they’ve had no surviving chicks this year. (Eagles.) We are very lucky to have four chicks on our lake and I haven’t heard that any have been taken. There is a real emotional investment in these special creatures on the lake. Between boats, eagles and snapping turtles the dangers are real.

We’ve also seen a lot of Hummingbirds lately. They’ve been draining the feeders and that means they’re starting to fatten up and gather the energy to start their trip back south. It’s always sad when the hummers leave. They add a lot of entertainment on the porch, often flying into the porch and seeming to just stop mid-air to look at us as we watch them. We have at least three females now, and a couple of males … I can only identify the females (one looks older, one has a long neck and the third is smaller).

And last night we welcomed a new grandchild. I have just seen him on a facetime chat and he’s absolutely perfect. I am having wicked FOMO watching my hubby hold him but we’ll be heading out so I can meet him in person soon. We are so grateful for a healthy mother and baby. A grandson!

Gone Knitting.

And Just like that, it’s Sunday Again!

Posted on August 17, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s another gloriously sunny summer day in Maine. Sadly, though, we are in a drought and we really wish it would rain. So far our well is holding strong but many Mainers aren’t so lucky. We are hoping we will be lucky enough to remain able to shower and wash dishes and clothes and flush toilets. We are being very careful not to waste any water. But the sunshine has been really welcome and I am noticing that the days are shortening, too.

Last week was really busy with volunteer stuff and this week it’s going to be the store where I work. Our boss is away and we’re covering all the shifts. Ha! Ha! This week is the one week that I will be at the store four days (out of six). My bigger paycheck will help me pay off my car loan even more quickly (I have only a couple more payments!) Anyway … I’ve been knitting and finishing and starting projects. Let me tell you about a few, ok?

I’ve finished two shorty socks from the Sock Project book (sock #2) with an afterthought heel. The yarn is stashed yarn and I just wanted to get rid of a few bits of sock yarn because my collection has become obscene! These socks are knitted from some old trekking yarn that I bought and the toes is also trekking that was given to me after a friend made socks. Now I’ve just got to open up the heels and knit them … it won’t take but a few minutes but I wasn’t going to attempt it last night when I was tired.

The other day I started to make one of the stuffed toys in the Knitted Animals book by Louise Crowther. I bought the yarn to make three of the dolls – the horse, duck and pig. I’m starting with Noah the horse which will be a gift for my daughter, Libet, who loves horses. The pattern calls for straight needles and I started with straight needles but can I tell you how much is dislike knitting on straight needles after knitting on circular needles for so long? So, I’ve switched to a long circular needle (US2) and it feels much better. The pattern has you start with the head and then move on to the body, etc. I may choose to change my needles with each different body part. Time will tell. The yarn is from Scheepjes Stonewashed and Catona which I bought online since my LYS doesn’t carry the yarn that is suggested and I really wanted to try it out. I can tell you that I like it so far. The head is knitted with the Stonewashed in two colors using the intarsia technique – and the most incredible part is that they put a little sticker on the tail of the yarn so it’s easy to pull out! Brilliant! No more yarn barf. I’m plugging along with this but because it’s knitted on such small needles at a tight gauge, I’m taking my time and trying to save my hands/arms the pain … especially since I have a lot of knitting to do.

Earlier this week, I got a text from a friend with a photo of Boo the Bat by Anna Hrachovec, aka Mochimochiland. Said friend thought the bat was adorable (and it is.) As the week went on, I thought about it and felt I needed to knit one for her as a little gift surprise. So, yesterday I dug into my worsted weight wool scraps and found a light and darker gray yarn to make a Boo for Dru. It knits up surprisingly quickly and it’s really cute. I didn’t have any safety eyes so I used buttons instead and since she’s an adult, I don’t think she’ll be eating the buttons. LOL I blocked the wings last night and they’ll be added to the little Boo today and I’ll need to find a stick for her to hang from (her feet are knitted in the round so she can hang, brilliant!)

I’ve been working away at the little cardigan commission that I have promised for the early winter. This yarn is the most delicious colorway ever and happens to be the same name as my client’s granddaughter, Eliana Zoe. It’s a lovely peachy pink with some deeper tones here and there. I love it! It’s a joyful color. I’ve finished one side of the front and will next work on the back. It’s coming along and I have started it early enough that I don’t have to stress about it. I am actually hoping to deliver it early. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, the pattern is fun to knit and a little bit different from the typical top-down raglans, it’s a bottom-up raglan done with no seaming (at least not yet. I imagine I’ll be seaming to sew up the pieces after they’re finished and adding the sleeves but I love to wait to see as the pattern unveils itself.) I’m still working on the first hank of yarn and I’m happy that it’s going so far … I was initially worried that I might be playing yarn chicken with this one (or shortening the sleeves to 3/4 length. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.) I’ve also chosen several sets of buttons for my client to choose from. I’ll show you my choices when we get there.

I’ve worked a little bit on my All About the Ruffle shawl but it hasn’t changed substantially so I’ll show you an old photo. It’s gotten bigger as I’m working up to having over 300 stitches on the needles but I’m not quite there. I sure hope I love this shawl because up to this point, the knitting part is boring. (There, I’ve said it.) I do love the colorway of Emma’s yarn Practically Perfect Sock.

Finally, a FO (finished object). I’ve finished Dolores #2 Sensuous Caftan and Turban. What a fun project this was. I think Franklin Habit is a freaking genius! Dolores has a big attitude for a sheep and this outfit totally fits that personality. I love the sparkly purple get-up but this! Ha! Ha! Soon I’m going to have to buy a wardrobe for her outfits. I have two more kits that I bought from Webs way back when … I’ll get to them after a bit but suffice it to say that I’m really sorry I didn’t buy all the kits they made and wish they’d bring the whole bunch back! They bring such joy in such a troubled world.

Even with the drought conditions, we are grateful for the flowers and veggies that are growing in our gardens. They feed so much more than our bodies. We have our first Delicata squash growing and a second one coming! I’m so excited! The zucchini and summer squash have been coming in bit by bit (and that’s ok since sometimes zucchini can be overwhelming). We have some big tomatoes growing and some cherry tomatoes as well. The red one may have been popped into my mouth after the photo was taken. Oops. Our granddaughter helped plant some pea seeds and they’re growing up and up. A couple of the plants dried out but we hope with minimal watering they’ll give us a few peas to send to NYC and maybe to enjoy here, too. We harvested our garlic and it was a good year. This year we’re going to try to plant even more so we can save some to use as seeds the following year. We have to really add to the soil again though … stay tuned.

We remain so grateful for this place that nourishes us body and soul and for the hobbies that we have that keep us engaged. My hubby’s father bought a fishing camp in the 1940s that has been a summer home to visit for his family and is now our home. We remember him and the family often and the memories that we’ve all gathered at the lake. How lucky we are! Gone knitting.

All Things Blueberry and Family

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gone knitting.

Sunday is for Sitting – What do you WANT to do today?

Posted on July 6, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

My hubby asked me this morning what I want to do today and all I heard from my brain is that I should vacuum, finish folding the laundry, clean the third floor, etc. What I wanted to do was to sit right here on the porch and drink my coffee. So seldom do I allow myself to sit and do “nothing”. So, after I finished my second cup, I headed up to my atelier to get my yarn and check my calendar and here I am writing about what I want to do. This is NOT a should. I love writing about my life.

We have another week to prepare for our family visiting and we’re excited to have them all here. We have bought a new mattress for our bedroom and upgraded to a king-sized mattress. Our bed will head up to our guest room and the guest room bed will head up to the guest cottage. To be fair, we may end up upgrading that bed once we finish the guest cottage. We are going to try to move the guest room bed ourselves this week; piece by piece. We hope we can encourage the delivery drivers on Saturday to move our bed up to the guest room. It’s really heavy!!!

We’ve been working to get stuff done around the house and it’s been a great couple of weeks! Hubby is making great progress in the guest cottage. The shower is built (I hate it but it’s done. It’s just not what I had envisioned but it will serve) and the porch is re-screened. The water is connected but the water heater is blown and needs replacing. Boo. We still have the “kitchen” to install and a deep cleaning to get done. I’ve been busy planting our vegetable garden and flower pots and weeding gardens and walkways. I’ve also been cleaning drawers and refrigerators and laundry rooms as they come … and there is so much more to do.

I haven’t cooked as. much as last week but I did bake a batch of blueberry muffins for hubby’s morning sweet treat. I had thought about baking cinnamon buns but never got around to it. Something keeps happening that sidetracks me, I guess. But it’s all good.

Here are some photos from around the house this week …

My bee planter is full of flowers (and needs watering all the time). I love the dooryard when it’s full of flowers and the addition of our red Adirondack chairs is a perfect lead up to our front door … also red! I’ve been almost monogamously working on my Anker’s Summer Shirt and my mystery yarn socks. I have started a “self-imposed sock club” at work and I have to finish these before I start my July socks. I’m using the Yankee Knitter sock pattern which I know by heart. This yarn needed to be simple vanilla socks so the yarn could get all the attention. It’s so pretty! My Anker is on sleeve island and I hope I can get it finished today – maybe that’s what I WANT to do!

Our flag was flying on the 4th of July and all we did was go to the town’s library book sale which is a fundraiser for our library. My goal was to get some children’s books to add to our library. I was successful and am very happy about my haul. We had a fabulous avian visitor to the other side of our boat house this week, too. A Great Blue Heron! Some people see them as a positive omen often associated with patience, self-reliance and finding inner peace. I’ll take it! I spent a good chunk of the day with one of my knitting student friends sewing … or trying to sew. I’m making a supreme effort to get some of my sewing WIPs finished, too. Now if only I can remember how to do the paper piecing. Ha! Ha!

Blueberry muffins were all that I baked this week. But hubby is happy with that. AND I may have bought a bit of yarn this week, too. I ordered a sweater quantity/kit for Corinne’s Vanilla Sweater and the Hot Summer Days sock yarn collection. Oops! BUT it’s just in time for my SISC at work … even though my initial thought was to use my (substantial) stash for this! Life is too short to knit with cheap yarn. I may have also bought the beautiful green linen yarn I need to knit the vest in the photo above. I’m not a lover of green but that color is spectacular and I can for sure wear it with my white linen blouses or t-shirts. So many things to knit and not enough time. I’ll be set for my retirement (If i ever fully retire.)

So, back to what I want to do today … I’m going to sign off here and take my knitting downstairs to the porch and spend some time knitting before it gets too warm to be outside. And then I may come back upstairs to knit in the air conditioning.

Gone knitting.

Monday Monday!

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m taking the time to blog today because we’ve been busy getting projects done and the sun came out! Today it was beautiful and sunny and the lake was calm for coffee on the porch. My mullein plant is getting really big and soon (maybe tomorrow) I’m going to pick a leaf or two to make a tincture. Mullein is supposed to be good for the respiratory system and anybody who knows me knows that my respiratory system is challenged by allergies and a chronic allergic cough.

This morning I cut the garlic scapes! And then I ran out to do a couple of errands and made a stop at the store to help with getting ready for the Maine Yarn Cruise to begin. Tickets for drawings, stamp and ink for the passports, a QR code for the digital guests, and just plain remembering what we need to have tomorrow. This is the 8th year and, woo doggies, it’s another challenge. The boss insists on water and snacks and free books which all sounds great until there is a crowd around the register and all the pieces need to be done which adds to the regular craziness that is a family business. It’ll be “fun” they said. Ha! Ha!

When I got home I started making some of the food I have been craving … lobsters were on sale yesterday so I had Hannaford steam two for me and I made lobster salad for lunch and while I was chopping celery for lobster salad, I chopped some for potato salad. Summer and potato salad just go together. My mom always added onion, hard boiled eggs, and mayo and mustard and a few spices. It’s in the fridge all ready for dinner. I also chopped a bunch of veggies for Ratatouille which will be ready for dinner, too. Yummm!

This weekend we bought veggie plants for our raised beds and the compost to amend the soil. The compost was added yesterday and tomorrow I’ll put the plants in when it’s a bit cooler in the morning. BUT I did get the flowers into the window box and the front porch pot and I also got two of my lemon trees (started from seeds) re-potted and settled in the dooryard for the summer months. I just have to give them a good trim to shape them up a bit.

We bought a pair of Adirondack chairs for our afternoons outside. We often have a good stiff breeze off the lake in the afternoon so we sit around back to get some calm. These chairs and the table that will go between them will be so comfortable after a busy day. I’m quite pleased with the way the dooryard is shaping up. I’d love to have a flagstone patio built next with a path to the garage when it gets built. So many projects!

And I have been knitting, too. I finished three dishcloths for our kitchen and put them in the rotation already. They’re quite cheery. I also have been working on Delores’s caftan outfit and yesterday I made it to the second shoulder. It’s a different way to build a caftan but it works. It does make me giggle when I think of knitting for a sheep (and a stuffed one at that.) She makes me happy. I’ve also made some good progress on my Big Love cardigan. I’m well into the button band decreases and pretty soon I will have the body done. The pattern makes a cropped cardigan and I think I’ll make mine a little bit longer than cropped. I’m not sure of cropped garments on me … my Bolin cardigan is cropped and I think I’ll have to be particular about what I wear it with but rest assured that there will be no midriff showing on this girl.

And last but not least, my hubby has been working away to create a gate on the end of our porch to keep little ones, both two-legged and four, safely on the porch. The lake is so close and kids move so quickly, I think this will make it possible for Sylvie to have some freedom this summer when they’re here. She will, of course, be reminded over and over, to stay off the dock and out of the water when she’s not with an adult, too. One can never be too careful around water. Hubby’s guest cottage bathroom project is almost complete, too. The new shower stall is built, the floor is in and the holes in the porch and the porch screens have been repaired. He’s working on the screen door now. Soon, we will get it all cleaned up and buy a bed for it and then it’ll be available for friends and family to use when they come to Maine. I think we’ll be putting it up on AirBnB or one of those apps next year as a weekend rental. See how it goes.

I’ve got a zoom meeting to attend so I’m off. Gone knitting.

Happy (Yucky) Saturday!

Posted on June 28, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

And just like that we have nearly reached the end of yet another month. The year is zipping by! Today is like every other Saturday we’ve had for ages in Maine – yucky. It started out cool and breezy and right now it’s actually raining. The windows are all closed up and the lights are on in my atelier. Yuck! But we are making the best of another rainy, dreary, yucky (did I say it enough? day.

We had coffee inside this morning. When I got up my dear hubby was in the living room with a cap on his head. LOL. We chatted about taking best advantage of a rather dreary Saturday and going to pick strawberries but we opted to stay home and get our projects done and maybe tomorrow will be a better day. Even I don’t want to pick strawberries in the rain. So he went to the dump with the dog and I repotted two of my lemon trees that I’ve grown from seeds. They may never flower and fruit, or they might. For now I’m celebrating that I’ve kept them alive long enough that the biggest one now requires a pot that will be so heavy that I can’t lift it. We’ve got it outside for the summer and will have to find it a roller to get it in when fall arrives. It’s smaller sibling/cousin will still be pick-up-able but not for long. AND much like the book When You Give a Mouse a Cookie, I then had to pull the weeds that have grown up around the pot I used and into the garden and around the edge of the house … it never ends.

I’ve written the store newsletter and updated the database with a few new contacts, and emptied the trash cans on the second floor of the house. I wrapped two gifts and put them downstairs to be given. And am preparing to clean out the “curiosities” cabinet in our stairway. It really needs a glass door to keep out the dust because after nearly 10 years, it’s really dusty. Ha! Ha! It needs it badly but we have cleaned it out before. AND I noticed that someone has spilled coffee on the stairs so they need to be swept and washed. If I can get those two things done today, I’ll be very happy to sit and knit for the rest of the afternoon.

I’ve been knitting like mad trying to finish my “summer” sweaters before summer is done. I’m doing really well with my Ankers Summer Shirt. I’m a few inches away from the bottom ribbing on the body and the sleeves aren’t long so they won’t take much time at all. I’m still loving the color of this top and I can’t wait to wear it with m white pants and a tanned face. I hope the sun will come out eventually this summer. The Hei Hei rooster needle tip protectors sure do make me smile!

I cast on the second outfit for Dolores. This one is a caftan designed by Franklin Habit. So far, it’s a breeze of stripes with one row that has a pair of eyelets. Yesterday I reached the point where I am going to divide for the neck/shoulders but I didn’t have any stitch holders or scrap yarn with me so I put it on hold and I’ll work on it again later today. I can’t imagine that it’ll take too much time to wrap this one up. It does make me giggle and I am thinking I may need to have some hangers to display her outfits near where she ends up living in my house. Time will tell. It’s a shame to put these fun and funny outfits away once they’re made, right? When the granddaughter gets older she’s going to love playing with her.

I’ve made a little progress on my Big Love but It’s not one that I can easily work on now that I’m going back and forth across the entire sweater AND decreasing at the button bands. Once I get settled into the new rhythm, I’ll be fine though. I do love this Pima 100 by Berroco. It’s the softest cotton and it’ll be really snuggly. I think I may have to knit a cotton blanket for the living room in the future sometime. In an orange? (Orange is my favorite color these days, go figure.)

What I am really loving about this cardigan and what surprised me about it when I started knitting it is the texture. I had thought it was just stockinette stitch. Ha! I was wrong. It’s a simple enough four-row repeat with a 1×1 ribbed button band that is knitted on from the collar down. I am assuming that somewhere in the pattern, they’re going to have me stitch together the two pieces of the collar where the whole sweater started. But it’s a really pretty sort-of-ribbing texture that is easy enough to remember. I’m readjusting my memorized stitch pattern now, though, since all the pieces are now combined with a false seam between them. I have a feeling that I will make another one of these one day in wool … and maybe a size larger so it’s really cozy to wrap up in. This one, I hope, will be a bit more tailored for summer.

I did make a delicious zucchini galette this week. I found the recipe online from the Smitten Kitchen and I happened to have a bunch of zucchini from my Costco shopping trip that needed to be cooked before it got really gross. We both liked the recipe very much. I liked it because it’s vegetarian for the most part and my hubby cooked himself a sausage to eat with it because he can’t miss meat at any meal. We served it with a salad and it was yummy. I’ll make it again.

I had a fun day on Wednesday with some of the women from my Friday morning knitting class. I headed up to St. Albans to “sew” for the day but I left my sewing at home by mistake. Thankfully, I did have my knitting. Next time I’ll remember the sewing stuff because they’re inspiring me to do more sewing. I learned how to make a disappearing 9-patch and we did a lot of laughing. A lot! It was a much needed mid-week break from the news of the world. I’m so grateful to have these women in my life.

I need to bake again. I have oodles of frozen Maine blueberries to use before blueberry season is here again. I think I’ll make a blueberry cobbler and some blueberry muffins to have in the freezer for our company that’s coming in July and we are going to have quite a bit of it. We are really looking forward to the family that’s coming up and the house is always fun when it’s filled up. (And a bit sad when it’s empty again; at least for a little bit.)

Gone knitting.