Queen Bee Knits

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Wow! What a Week!!!

Posted on December 14, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I didn’t get a photo taken before I got to work this morning. And what a morning it was! When the store is busy the time passes so quickly. it was one odd situation after another today … one of THOSE days. LOL. One of the first customers was a woman who “came in with my daughter last fall and the owner showed her a book. I wonder what that was.” She went on to tell me that it was in a shelf at the rear of the store … the hint that cut the options in half … we have only ever had crochet books at the back of the store but they’re all moved to the front this past summer. And we have a full book shelf of crochet books. In the end she decided to buy a gift card for her daughter … after I had sold the last one we had in the store. (More arrived later in the day and it all worked out well but what a start!)

I have been getting quite a bit of knitting done and I have wrapped up several projects. It’s quite wonderful to finish a few projects and I am really happy with them!

I’ve been really excited to wear my Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Yarns. I made mine in the Zinnia colorway of Rowan Felted Tweed. I love the yarn. I love the color. I love the poncho! To be honest, this is a boring knit … 50 inches of stockinette stitch. But it was a good project to work on when I was teaching and when I was watching television at the end of a long day. And the final result (the blocking was an experience, I had to use my blocking wires that I really don’t love) is wonderful and so wearable.

I found the sparkly hat on a youtube channel that I watch on occasion. I have actually knitted two and this one will be the one that I gift to someone who wants it. The other one, mine, is downstairs and has already been worn and shown off at the store on my teaching day. I found the sequin yarn over Thanksgiving at my favorite Marblehead yarn shop. When I got home I found some black alpaca and a mohair to match and the hat is knitted with all three yarns held together. Quick and very simple hat pattern and the yarn actually allowed me to make two hats. I found pompoms this week and tied them on. They are officially done. And I love mine! The pattern is called the City Lights Hat. Details are on my Ravelry project page.

I also finished the Nuuk Gloves that are actually fingerless mitts. These are going to be nice warm mittens and they’re long enough to wear in the winter in Maine when the mornings are chilly and the car’s steering wheel is chilly. You need mitts to cover your fingers so they don’t touch the wheel at least until the heater warms is up. The yarn is Knitting for Olive’s merino worsted held with a Knitting for Olive mohair. They’re knitted at quite a tight gauge which will make them extra warm. I bought this yarn on a “girls’ trip” with my coworker friends to a new LYS near us here in Central Maine. I like that it’s not a superwash. There, I’ve said it. I’m becoming a wooly wool kind of girl.

I have mostly finished our granddaughter’s Christmas gift sweater, the Jamberry Cardigan. All the duplicate stitch is done, most of the ends are woven in and I just have to sew on the buttons and give it a block. I’m quite pleased with the sweater and I know Sylvie will love it. This completes her little gifts. I’ll post a final picture when it’s actually finished. But the “hard” work is done.

I cast on a Stockholm Slipover by Petite Knits since I have finished so many little projects. It seemed fitting. Her sizing is a bit difficult for my body. One size is just about an inch of positive ease and the next size is almost six inches of positive east. One too little and the other too much. I basically threw a dart at the sizes and cast on. My gauge is good and pretty soon I can try it on. Maybe even tomorrow. I am knitting it with deeply stashed yarn. Three hanks of a clearance yarn from the store held with an alpaca/silk lace. I really like the way it’s coming out and I like the color but I fear that I have all blue, purple and gray knits. SO … in the future I need to change it up more. This pattern is really fun – it starts with the back and one shoulder and goes on from there. I’ve gotten to the point where the body is connected and I’m working my way down the body. I love knitting a vest – no sleeves!

Stockholm Slipover in Tenderfoot and Halo

I still have a pair of socks for my hubby to finish for Christmas. This week I will really focus on them during the days when he’s at work. I’m trying to keep them a surprise! I have a feeling I may get one of them made and then will finish them after the holiday – when they can be knitted in plain sight. Ha! Ha! I’ve made the gusset increases so I have a heel turn and a leg to make. I hope I can get ONE finished! Otherwise, he’ll get yarn (again) in his stocking. He’s used to it. And he loves handknit socks.

I baked this week! I haven’t baked since before Thanksgiving but I finally got into the kitchen and made some granola. We all love my granola and if I find some “extra” time this week, I will bake some for my kids for Christmas. Tomorrow my college roommate is making an appearance for about 24 hours and I want to make some blueberry muffins for her (and for my hubby). I’d love to make some rolls or something fun, too. I’ve marked several ideas for the holiday including pecan cinnamon rolls – a couple of batches will be good for Christmas morning. Yum! I also want to make some “salt dough” ornaments to decorate with the kids on Christmas eve. We are simplifying our holiday this year and doing a gift swap. We all have a secret person who we get a gift for – and we all submit a list of items we want! Easy. Time together is way more important than gifts. And I have decided I really don’t like shopping. This week, though, I have to get to work filling my hubby’s stocking.

Another couple of weeks to the New Year! I have my new planner and have begun getting it started. I love a good clean, empty book with so much to look forward to in the next months. I’m not a believer in resolutions but I do believe in having goals or hopes.

Gone knitting.

Thankful

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Rabbit! Rabbit! We are home after such a wonderful Thanksgiving that I didn’t even take one photograph! Not one. Babies, toddlers, my nephews and their parents, friends and family and I just enjoyed being together. We feel so lucky to have family members who we like and enjoy just riding along to the airport and a walk around Logan’s 9/11 memorial or lunch after they visited my s-i-l’s cousin in the hospital. We enjoy each other’s company and love our time together.

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year at my middle nephew’s request and it was delicious! I was very happy with the pumpkin dinner rolls that I brought, they had just enough pumpkin spice to be yummy and not overpowering. The apple pie (no photo of that either) was really yummy as was the cheesecake. I also brought two quiches with hash brown potato crust and they were really yummy, too. I’ll be repeating the quiches at Christmas time. Maybe the pumpkin rolls, too. We will be cooking a turkey breast at our house on Friday because I didn’t have a turkey sandwich yet. I’ll be needing to make cranberry sauce and stuffing for that event. Yum. Why don’t we all make a turkey more than once a year?

While I was away, I believe I’ve finished the fifty inches of stockinette stitch for the Easy Folded Poncho. If so, I’ll be finishing it up tomorrow. I also finished my Alpine Bloom Hat and I absolutely love it. I don’t love it ON me but I love the hat. I also have enough of the yarn left to make something else. I wish there were Alpine Bloom Mittens/Fingerless Mitts. I’m going to have to look because there may be. I cast on the fingerless mitts kit that I bought when “the girls” I work with went to visit a new to Maine yarn shop in Gorham – Olde School Fiber and Craft. Not sure how I feel about this yarn and fabric. Thank goodness they’re mitts and not a sweater. I just think it should have a softer hand than it does. They’ll be fine but not a favorite.

Oops! Just realized I have a committee meeting and the chair didn’t send out an email with an agenda … and the chair is me!

Gone knitting.

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!

Home

Posted on October 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We were welcomed home by a gorgeous lakeside sunset and so much quiet. After a couple of weeks of constant noice and activity in New York City, it’s at the same time a relief to our senses and a shock. I loved being in NY with my kids and granddaughter and I’m happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed. We both brought home a preschool crud so we are getting by on tea, Sudafed and cough syrup. All I have to do is get through Saturday and it’ll be ok.

We ended out trip to NYC by moving over to my son’s apartment that he shares with his partner. It was good to catch up with them both over the last couple of days. When everyone is home, there are a lot of beds needed as guests and babysitters are also in town. And Sylvie’s Nana and Papa from NY State were there as were my hubby and I. We all had dinner downtown between Kate’s shows on Sunday for Sylvie’s actual birthday dinner and then we had her party on Monday before Kate had to go to work. Several of Sylvie’s friends from the playground and preschool were there and the birthday girl was so happy to celebrate her day. I suspect her parents will be glad to have their lives back to normal and sleep in their own beds after all the travel and business of the last couple of weeks.

We drove home yesterday and arrived to the lovely site pictured above. We unpacked the car, put stuff away and showered and put on our winter PJs and retreated to have a cup of tea in my studio and catch up on a bit of news (none of it very good) before we went to bed early and slept late. It was bliss to be in our own bed, too. We both slept almost 11 hours which is unheard of. Guess we were tired.

Maine Sea Captain’s Hat in Briggs & Little Heritage 2-Ply

On the way home yesterday, I finished a blaze orange hat for my dear hubby. His old one is a polyester blend with a little wool and it’s starting to show some wear. The new one is knit from Briggs and Little Heritage wool, worsted weight and it’ll be a warm addition to the fall/winter hat collection. I used the Maine Sea Captain’s Hat pattern which was perfect for this yarn and a quick knit. I’ll block it today and it’ll be ready for the season.

I found I’d made a mistake on the Billie Pants for our grandson, Mac. I made a mistake as I decreased the first leg and didn’t notice until I was decreasing for the second leg. I’ve frogged back to fix the second leg and then I’ll go back and fix the first one. The pants will be finished and blocked and then I’ll be ordering a bit more yarn to make a pullover to match the pants. The yarn is a bit pill-y and I hope it will hold up to several washings. I’ll let you know when we get there. Meanwhile we’ve gotten photos from Mac’s mom of our little nugget smiling at his mom and dad on purpose. Gosh we wish we lived closer!

I’m still working along on my daughter’s colorwork mitts, too. Slow going while we were in NY but it should pick up now that we’re home. I’m planning to finish the little Sorento Cardigan today and get it shipped off to Louisiana and its new owner. It’s been blocked and all I have to do is add the buttons, trim the yarn ends that are woven in, and add a label. It’ll be good to have it off my list for sure.

The Sorento Cardigan for my client is hereby finished. I sewed the buttons on. I had several buttons to choose from and decided finally to use the shell buttons that I use a lot. They’re a natural material and they brighten up the sweater. Plus they’re light and don’t weigh down the fine yarn. I hope my customer will be pleased. Off to Louisiana it goes tomorrow.

I’ve got so many projects in my queue and am heading into a three-day work weekend but I hope the following week will be quiet and I can get some work done. The holidays are coming and I know I need to knit a pair of socks for the hubby and a sweater for the granddaughter but I think that may be all for this year. We aren’t sure where we’re going for the holiday but likely NYC unless they come here which is unlikely this year, I think. Time will tell.

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.

FOs and WIPs and Some Travel, too!

Posted on September 30, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We got home from Denver Sunday night and we were fried! We had no delays or challenges but it was a 16 hour travel day … and I don’t sleep well when I have to travel early in the morning. I really didn’t sleep well the whole time we were there but it was so worth the trip. We went out so I could meet our new grandson, Mac Thomas who is a month old. He is adorable, perfect in every way and his parents are doing a great job keeping it all together. We are really excited to have another grand baby and will be traveling to Denver more often so that Mac will know us.

I cast on in the Portland, ME airport for a hat that I just happened to find on social media. The Coby Baby Hat is adorable lace and bobbles in a tiny size and I just happened to have a hank of baby alpaca in a worsted weight which was exactly what was called for. I forgot to change to the US 8 needles after the ribbing but it wasn’t a big deal and the hat came out really well. I left it in Denver because it may be the first Yaya-made hat that fits the kiddo.

While in Denver we had an excellent adventure to see if we could find some Inciardi Mini Print machines. There are two in the Denver area. One was a bust and has very limited hours but the second was a total hit and a wonderful place with helpful, friendly staff! We visited Leven and found the machine where I bought six prints. (one was a duplicate but it was one of my favorites and is going to a special friend who told me about the prints.)

Each of the prints is a little work of art by an artist named Ana Inciardi who is from Brooklyn, NY but based in Portland, ME! Her prints are all over the country and my friend Carol has been collecting them in Maine. After finding the machine at Leven, I think we’re on the band wagon! They’re so much fun!!! Leven was also a boon for baked goods we bought some cheese and a baguette for our supper and some drinks and they kindly gave us a couple of cookies and a brownie … the brownie (we got a print of a brownie there) was phenomenal. A fun visit all around … and I spoke with two of their customers who asked about the machine and bought some prints, too. The prints are $1 each (four quarters go into the vending machine) so they’re accessible for everyone. I won’t be buying six from every machine I find! Ha! Ha!

We also went to this food hall in Denver where we found a yarn shop. I enjoyed visiting the shop and found some fun gifts for my co-workers and some Cascade merino (that we don’t carry at my LYS) that we picked out to make a pair of pants and a sweater for baby Mac. The store was well-organized, clean with plenty of space to maneuver around. They had some lovely books and just a little bit of local yarn. A big wooden table at the center front of the store looked like a wonderful place to gather for a little knitting time or a class. I hope they’re very successful. The food hall idea seems brilliant to me. Lots of little restaurants, like food court sized shops in a mall, with all sorts of different international and regional foods. We stopped at the bar for a daytime beverage so the new parents could feel like real people, too. Fun!

I got all of the knitting done for the Sorento Cardigan that I’m making for a client. I knitted both sleeves at once so that they’d be the same and finished them on the plane on the way back home. I’ve pressed the pieces gently and tomorrow I’ll sew them together in the morning when my mind, eyes and body are feeling fresh. I’ll only have the neck to finish and then add buttons and fully block before sending it off to its new home. The color is so cheerful and I hope she’s tickled with the sweater.

The pieces will go together much better since they’re lightly pressed. I can hardly wait to get this to Louisiana and see what my client thinks! It’s exciting when a garment comes out well.

Last project I took along with me is the September socks for my SISC (self-imposed sock club). The SISC hasn’t been a big success at work but it’s kicked my butt into gear … and this is the 3rd pair of socks that I will have made OUT OF MY STASH! I have a ton of sock yarn and often only one skein of any color … I used to buy one skein when I went somewhere, no more. A project quantity or nothing at all. Anyway, the Murmuration Socks are a lace pattern and I’ve reall enjoyed them. The second sock’s heel is turned and the gusset is decreased. I’m going to try to finish the foot tonight … not sure I can get it done but it’ll be done tomorrow for sure. I love this yarn so much for knitting socks (or anything, honestly!)

Murmuration Socks by Summer Lee in CoopKnits Sock Yeah!

We are off again on Sunday for a couple of weeks babysitting for our granddaughter. Her mom is in rehearsal for a play off Broadway that she goes into on October 10 for a month. Heathers is the name of the show, I hear it’s a “darker” Mean Girls and was very popular in the younger generation of the 90s. She’s excited to have some fun work and we’re excited to be able to help and at the end of it we’ll attend her 3rd birthday party! How quickly time flies.

Next on the needles, I have to finish my daughter’s fingerless mitts. I finally remembered to have her try them on at the beach. I have one mitt (mostly) finished and just one more to go. I’ll also be casting on the Poet pullover by Sari Nordlund in Julie Asselin Nurtured Fine that I bought a Knit City Montreal a couple of years ago. I hope this sweater pattern works for me in this yarn. I have to finish Noah the horse by Christmastime. Other than that, I’m not sure I’ll be knitting for Christmas other than the grandkiddos. Duh.

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.

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.

Cleaned up & Ready to Stay-cation

Posted on July 14, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We have “finished” our cleaning up and are ready for our company to arrive … well, I have one more window to wash and a cake to bake. As soon as my 9am meeting is over, it’s into the kitchen for me and while the cake bakes, I’ll wash the window and water the plants!

Yesterday we ran out to run a couple of errands. We’ve gotten a new mattress for our room on Saturday. The delivery guys helped us move our old bed to the guest room and the old guest room bed to the guest cottage. I have found new bedding for our bed and have washed all the new guest room bedding. AND I made up the three beds up on the third floor because we’re about to have a house full & that’s always the most fun! The quilt I made for our old bed is in the dryer and then the guest room bed will be ready, too. My brother and sister-in-love and their son and his family are coming up for a night. The cake is to celebrate all of their birthdays that were in May. We may have bought some mini-whoopie pies, too, because it’s Maine and I’ll bet the kids have never had one.

For a while the guest room mattress and boxspring was in our living room and there were several pictures that needed to be pulled off the wall to bring the beds down and up. That was another whole process because who knew that cobwebs gather on the backs of photographs? I have now taken down all of the photos on all of the stairway walls, cleaned the glass, dusted the frames and wiped down the walls, too. AND the curiosity cabinet full of old stuff from the old house has been cleaned and the dead “Christmas” lights have been thrown away. The stairs have been swept and damp mopped … if we only had time to paint the walls! HA! HA!

The yard is blooming! The Shasta daisies and hydrangeas are full-blooming in white and one of my irises is blooming. The black-eyed Susans are just about ready to pop, too! Our gardens are full of weeds but they look happy this summer. The veggies I planted a couple of weeks ago are growing and we keep watering them in hopes that we weren’t too late. Last summer we had tomatoes when our granddaughter arrived. Not so, this year. Oh well, we’ll watch them grow and care for them. Maybe we can plant some seeds for peas or beans when the garlic is pulled.

As for knitting, you know I haven’t stopped. There’s not a day that I’ve missed. I’ve been really focused on my Big Love now that the Anker’s Summer Shirt is finished. I’m just a tubular bind off away from finishing the body and have two sleeves after that. Near enough to feeling really good about two summer sweaters and planning the next ones to attack! She doesn’t photograph well right now but I’ll share a photo as soon as I get her bound off.

I started a self-imposed sock club at the store copying The Yarn Harlot, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, because I have way too much single skeins of sock yarns. AND a lot of bits and bobs of sock yarns, too. Stephanie tucked away 12 hanks of sock yarn and a pattern for each pair and picks a bag each month to make. I decided that I’m going to knit through the new Summer Lee Sock Project book and use up as much as I can and then I’ll add a few more. I want to try Laura Nelkin’s Larch Peds, I got a free pattern from the Wooly Thistle for a pair of socks (in my sock yarn kit! OMG! See below!) and I have a couple of other socks I’ve marked as “need to knit” in my Ravelry favorites.

I started on the first sock this week after I finished my vanilla mystery socks (they’re for my daughter who likes my socks). I’m using stashed ends of yarn. The green and blue are both Trekking Sport yarn from a former project that I didn’t finish. (Imagine that!) I have plenty of the blue and green to make a pair of shortie socks. I had my US 1.5 DPNs out and started the first sock with them. They’re a bit looser than I would prefer. Guess I need to follow the pattern suggestion of US 1 for a better fit, but it’s all good. I’m zipping down the foot of the first sock.

I jumped off the deep end when I decided to buy two kits from the Wooly Thistle. I’ve been wanting to visit their new store in New Hampshire (turns out it’s right near where my father was born) but when they offered their summer sock yarn kits, I couldn’t stop myself. Since I work in a yarn shop, I buy almost all of my yarn there. When I do buy yarn elsewhere, I buy only yarns that we don’t carry at Yardgoods Yarn. Rambler in the rusty orange, is TWTs own yarn. Biches et Bouches I’ve never knitted with (it’s the two shades of orange) and then there’s the green Exmoor Sock by John Arbon Textiles. Last there’s a blue Schoppel Admiral. Strangely enough, I realized only this week that we do carry this yarn and I had already bought a ball in white for my SISC. So, now I have two colorways of the same yarn and that’s fine, too. With this kit I received a download for a sock pattern and a couple of cute stickers and a notions box all with the adorable otter theme.

I also may have purchased Corrine’s Vanilla Sweater kit which included the download of the pattern and a bunch of the beautiful golden brownish greenish wool yarn by Rauma. I am so excited to get started on this sweater! I think I really HAVE to knit the black linen tank that I have yarn for and can wear this summer before I cast on my Vanilla sweater but I am so excited and I love, love, love the color. The yarn is a fingering weight Norwegian wool and it’s a wooly wool that will bloom when it’s blocked. Yummy. AND the project bag from TWT is absolutely one of my favorite store bags ever, especially the quote on the back, “All knitting is good knitting!” AMEN!

Gone knitting!