Queen Bee Knits

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

10th Annual Florida Fiber In

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Queen Bee Knits

Today was spa day for my two little dogs and I decided, despite a not-so-good sleeping last night that I’d zip on down to the I-drive (aka tourist) area to see what the Florida Fiber In was all about. I’ve been here for seven of their ten years and haven’t made the event yet.

I made it just in time to catch the important particulars on Cool-Aid dying fibers.

Dying Yarn with Cool Aid

I wish that I had thought, at the end of my time there, to take a picture of the finished yarn. It was amazingly colorful (and so were the hands of the dyer!) and I can’t wait to give this a try! She was working with a Brown Sheep natural wool yarn but you can use any natural fiber yarn.

The rest of my time was spent shopping and gabbing since I forgot to bring my knitting bag. Mostly because I left before having my coffee and my head wasn’t all together yet! Regardless, I loved seeing our Florida fiber truck!

Four Purls Yarn Truck

Four Purls has been in business for several years and Laura decided to add the yarn truck to make it possible to take her business out to local events, fairs, etc. What she didn’t realize was that she couldn’t be everywhere at the same time. The truck is sleek and a really great way to spread the love of fiber! Four Purls was one of the vendors this year inside the event space and the truck was outside. I did, I must confess, buy a little yarn and a new project bag … seems I can help myself!

The vendors were great. There were multiple people demonstrating carding, spinning, and weaving on a giant triangular loom.

Seven Foot Triangular Loom

The Orlando spinners were in full force as they are at all fiber events in our area.

Spinners!

I still am waffling about whether I want to learn to spin … or not. And until then my mother’s reproduction spinning wheel (which is still broken from my move to Florida seven years ago) sits idle. And I buy yarn rather than roving! The same woman who did the class on dying gave me the name of a woman who might be able to fix my wheel for me … and that would be super cool. Even if I don’t choose to spin right now.

And, as I said before, despite saying that I wasn’t going to buy any yarn, I did manage to buy some fun things including a lovely Atenti project bag. I just loved the colors so much and the size is perfect for small projects to carry around with me!

My bag – outside!

My bag inside … dontcha just love the leopard fabric?

My haul!

I got away with the Unofficial Downton Abbey book, two patterns, four hanks of Cascade’s Souk (color 5 colorway) and the Groovy shawl pattern by Annie Lee to knit with it. Swallow Hill Creations’ April (a skinny scarf with beads) and the necessary supplies to knit it up. And a Christmas present or two will be coming from my purchases so it’s not all selfish buying!

I had a great time at the Florida Fiber In! What a great start to my day!

Gone knitting!

Home Safe Home – On Being Grateful

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Queen Bee Knits

Safe at Home

Last night one of my neighbors’ homes (only two houses away from our home) was struck by lightning and caught fire. It made for an “exciting” few minutes as I smelled smoke in our own house and after sniffing around (really, I did sniff around) realized that it was coming from down the street. N went out to help find their dog who is blind and was terrified by the storm and the emergency response vehicles.

They say that lightning doesn’t strike twice … but tonight’s storm just missed the house that was hit a few years ago (and just happens to stand between ours and the one hit last night.) Too close for comfort, in my opinion.

While I may not be knitting a whole bunch, I am living a busy and full life. My children and siblings and all their families are healthy. Our home is safe and dry. We have so much to be thankful for.

Life is good.

Gone knitting.

On Feeling Safe & Facing Fear

Posted on September 20, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

Our world is not as safe a place as it used to be. Children are kidnapped. College students are murdered. Homes are burgled in broad daylight. Even the old staple, rice, isn’t safe any more!

I wish it was different.

I’ve noticed, lately, that I don’t feel safe walking in my neighborhood. I have never noticed that feeling before (that I can remember, anyway!) When I really take the time to think about it, there are some good reasons for the feelings and I have realized that I can make certain choices to face the feelings and work to change my thinking OR I can choose to live in fear and nothing will change … at least not in any reasonable time-frame.

In my relationships, I can clearly and calmly talk about my feelings and my thoughts about them. I have lived in a relationship that was seriously flawed, built on deception, and that will not be acceptable in my life in any other relationship at any time. I’ve found out a lot about who my real friends are in the last few years and it’s been hurtful but I’ve also learned a lot. Friends who I can’t lean on in the tough times, those who have abandoned me at the most difficult hour are not deserving of my friendship. Period. Now that I’ve done some healing post-divorce, I am more clear about that than ever before and each friendship is examined periodically to make sure that it’s still “working” for me.

In my working world, I’ve been dragging my feet to commit to one thing or the other. While applying for jobs all over the country, I’ve decided to commit to myself. I love my knitting and teaching knitting and I have to figure out how to turn that into a small profitable business for me until my physical yarn/knitting shop opportunity opens itself to me.

My brother, a California retirement advisor & investment genius (not that I’m partial or proud) tells me that I am in pretty good shape financially and so I have to trust that the universe will take care of me and act “as if” it is all falling into place. So, I will start searching for people who want to learn to knit individually and in small groups! I’ve also started my facebook page, Knitting Lessons. Proof that I am moving forward with my passion and expecting something wonderful to happen!

So, I am choosing to set walk into and through my fear. Trusting that the universe will provide for me and willing to take the steps to do whatever it takes! I’ll be rinsing my rice and eating no more than two servings a week. I’ll be watching less TV news. I’ll be making a gratitude list and acknowledging my blessings every day. Look out world, here I come!

Gone knitting!

Destruction before Construction

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

The short story is this …

N. bought this house from a bank. Our inspector found a bunch of stuff wrong with it. The bank and N. came to an agreement over the price. The bank neglected to share that there was a known permitting problem with the county. A year or so after the closing, N. was “served” with notice, by the county, that he was being taken to court because of a lack of permitting on the “addition” … we were clueless!

Banks are unethical in every way. Not only do they loan money to poor suckers that they can’t afford but they also don’t have to (and don’t choose to) share potential problems that they know about because they don’t live in the house! Ugh.

So, now our back wall is being taken out (at our expense) and it’s hurricane season!

Before – just without curtains!

Off we go on another adventure!

Gone knitting!

Green Cleaning Recipes

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

Essential Oils - Clean Without Chemicals

I found this wonderful article in a magazine for home-made cleaners that will clean your home (and my home) without using chemicals. This is important to me because I have some pretty wicked allergies … and chemicals and perfumes make me cough. It’s so bad that I don’t even have any pretty perfume to wear. It’s not worth it for me. This article provided recipes for cleaners using essential oils which, first and foremost, can be expensive. But they are also natural and many have antimicrobial properties so they can disinfect and smell great, too.

Note: not all oils are created equal … make sure that you are buying 100% pure essential oils (not fragrance oils or nature-identical or perfume oils which may be oils combined with chemicals.) Also, buy oils in dark glass bottles without rubber stopper tops which can degrade oils. Buying oils in small (4 oz or smaller) dark or opaque glass bottles.

Anyway, I wanted to share these recipes with you (and, honestly, I want to throw away the little piece of paper that I saved, too.)

Surface cleaner – 2 cups of water in a spay bottle and add seven drops of one of the following essential oils (lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree, cinnamon, clove, thyme, pine, grapefruit or oregano). Spray on surfaces.

Kitchen Cleaner – 2 cups of water in a spray bottle and add eight drops of essential oils mixture. Spray on surfaces. (The mixture is as follows: 8 drops lavender,10 drops lemon, 5 drops eucalyptus, 8 drops rosewood,and 3 drops palma rose.)

Floor Cleaner – Combine 1/4 cup white vinegar with 10 drops lemon oil and 4 drops oregano oil. Add to a bucket of water. For extra cleaning strength, add several drops of dish soap (but follow with a clean-water mop so floors are not slippery!)

Flea Killer – Mix 2 cups borax with 10 to 15 drops of essential oils. Try pine or balsam fir in the winter; lemongrass or lavender or a citrus oil in the spring and summer. Sprinkle on carpets … wait a few minutes and then vacuum.

So, there you go! A few recipes for chemical-free cleaners. We work hard to keep our house clean for ourselves and our pets (and the kids when they visit) and I plan to try a few of these to see how they work – if you try them, let me know!

Gone knitting!

Nuno Felting Class

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

I spent the day as a fill-in yesterday at the Orlando home of Terri Pike, Queen of Nuno Felting and all things felted. A pair of ladies had signed up to take the class and one needed to cancel, leaving a spot open … and I “nabbed”! Boy, am I glad I did! What a blast!

I’ve admired Terri’s creations over the months that we’ve been knitting together and listened to her felting stories.

We started the day with picking our silks and then choosing roving and other yarns, beads, etc. to use as decoration for the scarves in process! Decorating both sides of the scarves to make a reversible or two-sided garment/art piece.

Side one … my inspiration started out to be a Monet painting. More the idea of one than one in particular. Like a huge flower garden when you’re standing ten feet back and squinting (thank you Leslie for your theatrical perspective!) Anyway … you layer sheets of silk and wool roving and trips to make your design and then you carefully (with plastic wrap and long (I mean long!) pieces of insulation boards) flip it over.

Side two! This is the side that the fringe is on (if you want a fringe!) I decided to try it because I wanted to try just about everything possible to see how it’s done. And, you know, if I were a betting woman, I’d bet just about anybody with a pair of strong hands and a supplies list could do this successfully … IF (and that’s a big if) they were smart enough to use Terri’s videos!

So, here are some more photos of my scarf and Jane’s. It’s really fun to see how two people with the same teacher and the same supplies can make something totally different … and they’re both so pretty! Enjoy!

Jane’s beautiful scarf was on a rose colored silk with blues and pinks. More abstract than mine but I love the white “bobbles” in the trip and on the other side she used a “sparkly” fun fur yarn as a trim.

On top of bubble wrap and under plastic wrap … getting ready to roll … and roll, and roll, and roll (switch) and roll, and roll ….

My scarf had to have a bee, of course! (There’s actually one on either side of the scarf!)

My scarf has been rolled (for nearly an hour and a half!) All the plastic wrap has been removed and it’s time to get it wet. The design is covered with a bit of netting while we get it wet!

After wetting and rolling and rolling, we shocked the piece with really REALLY HOT water and rubbed it by hand (more like wet felting). Then it was time to rinse!

What a great day!

Terri can bee (ha! Freudian?) found on Facebook and on the internet. Watch her videos, buy her e-book. Check out her website!

Gone to trim my fringe!

Terrified

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m writing this today (4/12/12) and have no intent to publish it until I have the test results back and have nothing to be terrified about. Here’s what’s happened … happening and why I’m terrified.

I went to the doctor/OBGyn for my normal annual check up a week or so ago. Everything normal, no history of anything (me or my family) and feeling good. Happy, healing from the ravages of a divorce, ready to move forward and working to build a new life. When she “felt my belly” (my words, not hers) I had a tender spot on the lower left side. To be safe, a sonogram was scheduled. I have had fibroids before but never anything to worry about or even think about.

Sonogram day arrived and after the procedure met with the nurse practitioner/midwife who I’ve followed to a new practice because I liked her so much. Fibroids were still there. Still small. No big deal but there was a thickening of the endometrium – “normally” 4mm, mine, 1.4mm. To be safe, we’ll check it out with a biopsy to rule out the nasty big C. As in CRAP, could I have cancer?!

For the last couple of days I’ve been trying to conceptualize a diagnosis of uteran/endometrial cancer … and it simply doesn’t fit. I’ve never been really sick. Had a bout years ago with depression but have worked that through and feel great. (Dumping an alcoholic, over-spending, dishonest husband has helped a lot!) My sweetheart and I are in a good place, a better place and are learning how to navigate the rough spots in life together. My knitting business and teaching are starting to fill in and take off and I’m excited about what the future will bring. I’m so full of gratitude for having been so healthy. I’ve never been sick and really would prefer to stay that way!

Today was my biopsy. The process wasn’t so bad. A bit of cramp stuff when she clamped my cervix. I couldn’t read the magazine uncomfortable but I could still look at the photos. Hearing about the woman “the other day” whose cervix was as tight as a rat’s ass … well, truth be told she was tight as a rat’s ass, too) made me smile. My cervix cooperated and I was done in 5 minutes or so. Now the hard part – waiting for the results which will be a week or so.

I have been a wreck waiting for the biopsy appointment. It feels like my body is on high alert (and maybe it is!) Fizzy, energy running through my veins, high alert. I know I’ve done all that I can do and I can’t control the outcome. I am just learning to take better care of myself and am learning to speak my mind and have an opinion after years of stuffing it all down in favor of someone else’s opinions. I’ve parented well. I have handled myself well – honestly, with grace and dignity. I have no regrets but I know I can continue to improve and do better.

I have had no symptoms. My doctor feels like this will be nothing. So does my old Roomie. I’m trying to be positive and know that whatever God has in mind for me, I can handle this, too, with strength and grace and I’m learning every day just how strong I really am. As the old adage goes, I just “wish She didn’t trust me so much!”

Crossing my fingers and saying my prayers. I’ve never felt quite so terrified!

Gone knitting!

Moved to Tears

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

Several times in the last week or so, I’ve been moved to tears.

Those who really know me wouldn’t be at all surprised. My heart is worn on my sleeve. And now that I’m starting to come out of the post-divorce fog, I am finding my heart to be more vulnerable than it has been in a long while.

Compassion for the people who feel unlovable. For those who have been beaten. For those who are lonely. Even for one person who has hurt me very badly but is hurting himself even more. Gratitude for my friends and family who listen and advise and support me so completely. There are fewer friends and more family and I am so lucky. I have a man who would drive for four days to support me as I support my kids – even if it means pizza and bagels and half-price book shopping by ourselves and 2,000 miles on the road for a dinner with my kids. Love for my brothers and my sisters and my children and the love of my life. Love for my “old” Roomie who is still my bestest buddy 36 years later!

I may not be wealthy right now but I’m certainly rich – rich with blessings of people who love me and for that I’m so lucky. Life is full of silver linings. I’m so glad that I can find them today.

Gone knitting.

Mrs. Clean Battles the Stinky Dish Washer

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

My muscles are not nearly as well-defined!

When I turned the dishwasher on the other day, I figured the stench that was emanating from it would go away once the dishes were clean. That the fish residue was causing the odoriferous cloud.

NOT!

Just read a blog post that said I can replace the expensive rinse aid (the light was blinking that the rinse aid was low) with white vinegar. Wow! I just HAD to share this! I’ve been buying that blue bottle of stuff for years. If only I’d known! A teeny weeny bottle of a well-known brand is quite an expenditure. Using vinegar is a lot (note: A LOT!) less expensive and better for the environment, too. One thing to note, however, make sure the rinse agent stuff is all gone before you add vinegar. Lots of chemicals used in the normal course of life don’t like each other and make a toxic blend! So, err on the side of caution.

But get rid of the blue stuff you’ve been using because the packet came with the washer! You’ll save enough money to buy more yarn! 🙂

Gone knitting

PS – wanted to add one more thing about vinegar. It has anti-microbial/anti-bacterial properties and is edible and biodegradable. It will not harm children or pets. Put full-strength vinegar in a spray bottle and use for disinfecting countertops and bathrooms. This “cleaner” can be used for so many things – and has no chemicals which makes it safe for humans and pets with allergies and asthma. Forget about “convenient” (and expensive) throw-away cleaners. Vinegar is a fabulous all-purpose, green, frugal household cleaner!

Big Life, Small Life? Thinking about Jon’s Question

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

: Choosing the Big Life

I read Jon’s Bedlam Farm Journal post about “Big Life, Small Life” this morning.

As usual, Jon asks a thoughtful question at the end and as I ponder it, I reflect on different “chapters” of my life and whether they were Big Life or Small Life and I am believing that they were a mix of both but I can see the Small Life peeking it’s head into the past more often and with not always the best results.

Today, I choose to live the Big Life. For me, that means living in the present and being willing to look forward instead of back (because nothing about the past can be changed.) To be strong. To believe in myself. To love my children the best way that I know how. To care for the Earth and be grateful for the gifts that it brings me. To love with all my heart. To be supportive and encouraging of others. To honor my creativity. To enjoy each day and find gratitude for what I have. To be open to new experiences. To be fearless.

Gone Knitting!