Queen Bee Knits

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

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!

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.

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.

Sunday (with a very little sun)

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We had thunderstorms and heavy rain overnight and more rain this morning but by late morning it had cleared up enough for us to take our coffee outside on the porch. Through the day we have had more rain showers (hubby got drenched on the way back from getting his paper) but it’s not been a bad day.

I went up to my atelier to get some knitting to bring down to the porch and got sidetracked … as I often do. I gathered my knitting – a hat that I’m working on for a customer – and headed to the porch. I finished the hat and didn’t have a needle to thread the yarn through the last few stitches at the end. Up the stairs I trotted again for a needle and the next ball of yarn to make an identical hat, well it’s a different color but the same pattern, and thought … I have to sew the binding on Sylvie’s quilt. So, I sat down to sew the binding on. I had to go downstairs for breakfast but I got it all sewn on and then brought the quilt, my quilt clips AND the rest of the knitting stuff I needed.

I got the quilt binding clipped all around and cast on the second hat for my customer. I was feeling so good about it … and it was only noon!

So, my dear hubby has one or two more parts to play in creating a space for our granddaughter to sleep when they come up this summer. Today’s task was to attach the shelf system to the wall just in case she decides to climb it in the middle of the night or during her nap. He cut away the baseboard trim and we slipped the bookshelf into place and he screwed it to the studs so it won’t be going anywhere. AND then (he helped) I painted the space … at least I got the first coat of paint on the walls. Tomorrow I’ll get a second coat on and then I can buy the mattress and put the bed in place. It’s a tiny little nook behind the bookshelf in my atelier but it’s going to be cozy and I think she’ll love it. I would have loved it as a kid. Heck, I love it now (and you may find me napping there in the future.) Of course, all the storage boxes that fit into the shelf had to be removed so the atelier’s a mess again but I am excited to have this project finished. It is very purple (her color choice).

I have finished her purple cardigan. I got the buttons sewed on last night while we were watching “stupid tv” and I think she’s going to love it. She chose the mismatched buttons and I think they’re perfect. I also sewed the buttons on the Steek This Coffee Cosy that I made when I was teaching my colorwork workshop at the store. Two more finished objects for 2025. You can finally see that the cardigan, which doesn’t photograph well indoors, is purple. Do you see a theme here?

I am so thrilled with the Little Tern blanket that I am knitting for our future Denver grand-baby who I am calling the Nugget. I’ve written about if before but it keeps making me happy so I am going to keep on writing about it. The yarn is gorgeous and so wonderfully squishy and the pattern is engaging and requires just enough thought so that it never gets boring. I’m nearly done with the first end’s lace edging. AND I think it will be a perfect addition to the baby’s room!

I’m also continuing work on a pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks in On the Round yarn. This is another pattern that I find very engaging and it makes me so happy. It’s a free Ravelry pattern but it’s not a vanilla sock. The 4-row pattern repeat is easy to memorize and it produces a very satisfying texture … and I love the heel! This is the third (?) time I’ve used this pattern and it always makes me happy. The yarn is fabulous, too. This has been stashed for a long time. I bought it specifically to make a pair of baby socks for one of my daughter’s friends who was in Wicked on Broadway and the colorway is aptly named, “Wicked”. I have leftover yarn because baby socks.

So, now that I’ve been so productive, it’s time to sit down and work on knitting the black hat for my customer. I’m trying to get all the things that I “have” to knit done so I can have some fun and knit an animal or two out of the book Knitted Animal Friends by Louise Crowther. I have the yarn for three of her designs. So, the two hats and two Love and Light fairy light hearts need to be finished first – and none of these projects takes a long time to complete so I just need to prioritize them. (I probably have enough knitting projects and yarn in my atelier to knit for a good little while. And that good little while could be the rest of my life.)

Gone knitting.

Mother’s Day

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Yesterday was a perfect day! We had nothing on our schedule so we had coffee on the porch in the sunshine, I wrote the store newsletter, hubby made blueberry pancakes for breakfast and we went to Lowe’s to get some supplies for building the little “nook” for our granddaughter’s visit this summer. I spoke to all of our kids and got a chance to knit a little, too, before a lobster dinner (what a treat! The price of lobster is crazy right now.) I took this photo of our first humming birds who have arrived back in Maine for the summer. I love these little birds so much … and pray that their navigation skills as they zip around the house are top notch … when we sit outside we can feel their wings pass by our ears. They’re miraculous.

Mother’s Day is typically a sad-ish day for me and is often fraught with conflict in my head and heart because my mother died in 2008 which means I’ve had sixteen mother’s days without having a mother to celebrate with. All of my kiddos were already out of the house by then and having adult children living lives of their own is another strange way to experience Mother’s Day. So, I’ve spent many years being sad and having expectations about what would happen and being disappointed and lonely. SO … I’m coming around to the belief that Mother’s Day is hard when you don’t have a mother and that expectations lead to disappointment so it’s better to consider this another day that I choose to make a good day. And yesterday was a good day.

I am knitting away on several projects and have several more in the wings (that’s lined up on the shelf in my atelier). I’m working on my Hermione’s Everyday Socks in On the Round “Wicked” sock yarn. I am loving these socks. The colorway is spectacular and the pattern is soothing. (It’s also free on Ravelry!) They’re what I go to when I need something small to throw into my purse.

I worked my way down the second sleeve of my granddaughter’s purple cardigan (Knitting Pure & Simple yesterday and got the neck ribbing done. I picked up the stitches on the first front band which is the button hole band and have pinned the spots where I’ll make the holes. That means that I am so close … maybe today?

I’m almost to the part where I bind off the Little Tern blanket for our Denver Nugget and start the lace edging. I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed this blanket project again! I love the squishy yarn – Fyberspates Vivacious DK – and I love the pattern. I am so excited to gift this one (as I was excited to gift the first one. This is a family heirloom knit. Exquisite, if I do say so myself.

I have twelve projects lined up on my shelf. Twelve! And that doesn’t include my WIPS that I’m not really working on right now. LOL.

In this line-up are two tams for a customer, a cotton summer dress for Sylvie, two knitted hearts made with fairy lights, a pair of fingerless mitts for my daughter if the first one fits properly, a bulky sweater for Sylvie, more little chicken friends for Ernie, a blueberry hat for the Nugget and Sylvie, the Fair Isle bag I started in a class, my Patty tank, and another Arne & Carlos Christmas stocking. I also have yarn for a Petite Knits Slipover. AND all the animals I want to make. Good grief, I need to quit my job and quit volunteering and just spend my time knitting. (NOT!)

I also have the baby quilt to finish. I did buy some cotton flannel to back it with and I have the batting. I just have to wash the backing and put it all together. I doubt I’ll have time to take it to Candy for machine quilting on the long arm but I’ll give her a call to see. Otherwise, I’ll be quilting this myself on the machine or by hand … I haven’t decided which yet.

We bought the paneling and paint for Sylvie’s “nook” yesterday. The paneling is up on the IKEA storage unit and needs a bit of tweaking and filling in holes and then I’ll paint the whole space purple (her request) before I get the picture hung, the wallpaper up and build a mattress support so she won’t be sleeping on the floor – although she’d probably like that, too. I have a pillow cover to sew, and I hope I have enough flannel so I can make her a pillowcase. I only need to find a little book shelf for the wall and get it all done.

My next house project is to paint our guest bathroom and guest room. We’ve been in the house 10 years around Thanksgiving and we’ve not even painted all the walls yet. The primer has served us well but it’s time! I’m taking on the project hoping to energize my hubby so he will get the stairway and third floor done, too. We are also renovating our guest cottage space. We’ve torn out the bathroom from 1950 red indoor-outdoor carpet and all and we are rebuilding a bathroom that will be a little bit lighter and brighter with new shower stall and flooring. Once that’s done, we will outfit the living room with a counter (likely a buffet) and storage for the kitchen area to include a refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, electric kettle and toaster oven so that our renters can fix themselves something to eat. A new coat of paint on the outside of the cottage and it’ll be gorgeous. WE loved living up there while we built the house – until it was November and cold. It’ll be a good additional revenue stream for us and a great spot for creatives to create or for couples or singles to call home as they explore Maine. When we’ve made some progress, I’ll post about this, too.

We are busy and contented and life is good. We are so grateful to call this place home.

Gone knitting.

Our Denver Nugget

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We made it home this morning. Whew! What a trip. The final leg of our flights returning from Denver from Baltimore to Portland was delayed 42 minutes and we ended up leaving an hour and a quarter late. So, our almost 11pm turned into after midnight and we ended up booking a room near the airport. I thought I was booking a hotel ON the airport grounds but it ended up being several miles from the airport closer to the Maine Mall. We arrived, checked in and went to park the car and that’s when the sky opened up and we got soaked walking to the side door (where there was no overhang) and the key didn’t get us in. We walked in a literal downpour to the front door and we were drenched. Water was dripping from my hair. And then the room smelled like wet dog when we went in. They’d overbooked king beds and only had an “accessible” room on the first floor. If you know me you know smells are a problem for my allergies so we asked for a different roon and were given the one next door to the stinky one, with an adjoining door and two double beds. Guess what!? It smelled like wet dog, too. By that time I just wanted to lie down. The bed was the worst bed I’ve ever slept in at a hotel. Hard as a rock. I figured I was so tired I could sleep anywhere but I was wrong … my brain was running a triathlon and I couldn’t stop it. I’m paying for it today but I will sleep well tonight in my own bed.

BUT despite the difficult return flight, we had the most wonderful time in Denver visiting my dear hubby’s youngest who is delivering us grand-baby #2, our Denver Little Nugget, in late August. She looks wonderful and healthy and so happy and her husband is amazing, too. We loved being together and look forward to going back soon. We took a day trip up to the Rocky Mountain National Park (we have a lifetime senior pass) and saw lots of elk out there. We took a bag lunch from a great little shop in Lyons, CO and had a picnic lunch and walked around Sprague Lake after lunch. We went to visit Littleton, CO on Sunday, had a snack break at a restaurant there and wandered around and then on Monday we drove out to Fort Collins, CO to have lunch with my nephew who is finishing up his vet school clinicals our there. We went to a nursery to buy a lilac bush in remembrance of Grandma Penny who passed away Friday and we found a second-hand baby store where the books were 10 for $10. The Nugget’s library has begun.

We all love being together and we are going to try to make quarterly visits out there. It must be time for a Southwest mileage credit card! Ha! Ha!

I didn’t get a lot of knitting done when we were there but I did make a little progress on Sylvie’s purple cardigan. One sleeve is done and the second sleeve is on the needles. I cast on a little hat to match the Nugget’s Newborn Vertebrae cardigan and got a few of the 5″ of ribbing and stockinette done. More coming. I also knitted one sock in On the Round Signature Sock yarn in the Wicked colorway and got the second sock started. I have a long list of knitting to accomplish before the baby arrives. The hat, the blanket needs to be finished and a (fairy llight) heart needs to be knitted. I have two hats for a customer done (she’s already paid me in full for them.) And I have several other projects to finish … the pink embroidered mittens is one.

Hermione’s Everyday Socks in On the Round Signature Sock “Wicked” colorway

Since I have only taken a photo of the sock, that’s all you’re getting today. Sorry, I’m totally wiped out and I’m going to go park my body in my dad’s old easy chair and watch some stupid TV. We went to Ken’s Food Truck in Winslow for some fried seafood. Hubby had the fried clams and I had the fried scallops. Dinner is taken care of so now we wait until it’s reasonable to go to bed. LOL

We came home to budding leaves, bleeding heart in bloom and new daffodils and tulips. The yard and house were a welcome sight. The dock is in so I went out for a look. Home feels good today.

Gone knitting (maybe.)