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!

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.

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.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Posted on June 24, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Oh, Boy! It’s hot outside today. We are already nearing the forecasted high of 94 degrees (Fahrenheit) and we may get higher than that. Luckily there is a bit of a breeze but we’ve got our air conditioners in the living room window and my atelier and it’s pleasantly cool inside. If I had to live without a/c, I’d have to sit in front of a fan without moving all day and I have never been content to do nothing … even if I’m knitting.

So today I sewed a tutu for my granddaughter and her doll, Baby. I brought home two shades of pink tulle from the store (it’s been around for decades) and I’d already planned to cut it at 24″ and fold it in half and put it on a one inch elastic to go around her waist. Today I did the sewing and the finishing. I hope it’ll fit as I’ve sewn it but I can always take the elastic apart and lengthen of shorten the waist band. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. While I was sewing, I made a tiny tutu for Baby, too. I think Sylvie will like putting it on and taking it off of her doll.

She was home sick from school today so I showed it to her and I think she’s going to love dancing around. She’s excited to come to our house in a couple of weeks and we’re excited to have her! Her parents, too, of course. It’s so much fun re-living parenting through the next generation. I loved having my kids at home and being with them and I love watching them parent this kiddo.

I’ve spent some time at the desk doing Board of Trustees work today and sent a few emails, etc. Last night my iPad was dead so I couldn’t access my Big Love pattern so I just knitted a new kitchen dish rag. I’m really liking orange, I guess, because the colorways that I chose both have orange in them. Ours are getting pretty tired and yucky looking. I thing they’re ready for the landfill. I’ll get three out of the two balls of Sugar and Cream that I bought and it’ll be a refresh for our kitchen.

It looks like this afternoon is going to be for knitting in the cool. I’d like to make some blueberry muffins but it may be too hot for that. For now …

Gone knitting.

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

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love and Light by Laura Nelkin … with a QBK twist

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

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

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

Gone knitting.

A Making Weekend

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What a Wonderful Week!

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Today started out as so many have this spring … gray and overcast. Dreary. I had to get out of the house by 11am to pick up my friend, Janna, and get over to Augusta for the Maine Arts Academy graduation ceremony and just as Janna and I left her road the sun came out.

This week our MeAA strings group performed the National Anthem at the Maine Statehouse on Wednesday when the Senate opened and two of our students were pages for the day and then today was graduation. And graduation was wonderful! The student performances were amazing.

This week I have an evening meeting with a potential new board member on Monday, a committee meeting on Tuesday and a meeting at school with the Maine Charter School Commission on our 5-year renewal on Wednesday. It’s going to be another busy week but it’s always fun. So, today I’m getting my calendar ready for the week so I don’t miss anything. I live by my Bullet Journal. I handwrite a calendar that I create every week. It has everything I ever need in it (passwords, income, books I’ve read and want to read, projects I’ve completed for Queen Bee Knits, teaching records, and more. It’s the best way for me to keep track of everything – my knitting business, teaching, workshops I teach, and my calendar for work and volunteer efforts. And it can be creative. Sometimes it’s creative.

This week I also worked a half-day at the store restocking and reorganizing. I taught my three knitting classes on Friday and I baked for the hubby’s birthday. This week was my mother’s birthday (she would have been 93 this year but she’s been gone 17 years) and my hubby’s birthday and my big brother’s birthday so we got to make and receive lots of phone calls celebrating our family. We are shopping for a new bed so we can move things around a bit and we bought a new chandelier for our dining room, finally, to replace the one that we took down 2 years ago. (Yes, we’ve been living in the dark. LOL) Note that it’s been ordered, it’s not installed!

I have been knitting away and am happy to say that I’ve finished Dolores after she hid out in the cupboard for the last seven years and she’s taken up residency in my studio/atelier where she sits in my chair and looks at me with judgement all day long. She’s demanding that I get on with knitting her some new outfits now that she has a face and can talk to me. Franklin warned me, he did!

Last night I finished another pair of socks. I love this pair – in On The Round Signature Sock yarn in the Wicked colorway. I originally bought the yarn because one of my daughter’s friends was having a baby and she was in the Broadway production of Wicked. It was so appropriate, right? I made the baby (now a big kid) a pair of socks with it. But that left a lot of yarn and I decided its time had come and made myself another pair of socks. I used the free pattern on Ravelry by the Crazy Sock Lady called Hermione’s Everyday Socks. I love the texture that is knitted into these socks and I am excited to wear them one day soon.

And what these two FOs mean is that I need to find some more projects! I have been working along in the evenings when we’re watching television on my Jelly Roll Blanket. I’ve just begun another strip … when this one is finished, I may be half way done with the project. It’ll be awhile before it’s really done but it’s a great way to deal with all the bits and bobs of fingering weight sock yarns that I’ve collected over the last 40-ish years. I still have to work on the pink mittens … I’ve got no idea why I am putting this project off all the time. I’ve got to get them finished before winter. They’re so pretty. I guess I just haven’t enjoyed the embroidery. And I’ll need to do some on the second mitten, too.

I have four outfits to knit for Dolores and three stuffed animals that I bought yarn for … and a blanket that I bought yarn for, too. Lots of things that I could work on … so now, what do I WANT to work on?

Gone knitting.

Little Tern

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gone knitting.