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.

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.)

California Here I Come … and here I go!

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m home again after a wonderful whirlwind trip to SanDiego to help my daughter out with the kiddo while she and her husband and partner are working around the world! Far from NYC they all are. I traveled by car, bus, plane and Lyft to SanDiego on Friday and did the reverse yesterday. But I’d do it again today if asked. What fun we had! Three days jam-packed with action and laughs.

Highlights were visiting with my middle child because she was on babysitting duty the week before I arrived and we got to overlap for an evening. The Farmers Market in SanDiego on Sunday was absolutely amazing. So much beautiful food for blocks! AND our trip to Disney Land in Anaheim on Monday was so much fun. My granddaughter didn’t know where we were going and we planned the day to her liking with breaks for her to run around and a long wait for the Dumbo ride (her request) and several waits for visits with different princesses. We managed to walk into two parades where she saw Mickey and Minnie and several other characters that she knows and the piece de resistance was a visit with one of her favorites from Encanto, Mirabel! (I wish I could show you the pictures of her face when she saw her! She got her little dress all bunched up in a knot in her hands with anticipation of her turn to talk to her! Kate and I were in tears! What a moment.)

I loved SanDiego! The flora and fauna are so different from the east coast. We went on a flower hunt in the neighborhood, painted on the deck, read lots of books, had some naps, watched some movies and had a wonderful time at Sylvie’s “California house”. LOL. She’s coming back to New York with daddy this weekend and mama will come back the following week because her show, Regency Girls (at the Old Globe) was extended and, we hope, bound for Broadway!

I did finish two pairs of little socks for Sylvie before I got to California. One green pair and one purple pair and she was happy with them. The yarn is King Cole Footsie which is washable and dryable but I’m going to have to make more, bigger socks. Her little footsies are growing so fast!

I also started a cardigan for Sylvie for fall. I had real troubles figuring out what to bring for travel knitting but I knew I wanted to finish her socks. So that part was easy. I don’t think I took any finished photos. oops.

Knitting Pure and Simple #1607 Child’s Skirt and Cardigan Set in King Cole Simply Denim

I’m knitting the second size, a size 4 with a 24 inch chest measurement. I hope it’ll be big enough for fall and winter! BUT as you can see in the last photo of the group above, she has a new Disney princess sweatshirt that she wanted to wear in the car on the way home AND immediately upon waking up the next morning. So, the cardigan has some stiff competition! I brought three sets of buttons with me and she picked the ones she wants which I will reveal when it’s time for buttons. The kid knows what she wants! You’ve got to love that.

Yesterday I made my way back home with the reverse order, Lyft to plane to bus to car. My sweet hubby was waiting for me at the Portland, ME bus station and I was so happy to see him! It was a great trip and it’s always great to be home. Even if it’s only for 48 hours.

Adventure awaits! Gone knitting.

Is Everybody Sick? Not me

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We got home from a fun weekend in Marblehead with my brother and sister-in-law and their family. We were to have seen our other brother and his wife who were in Salem visiting their daughter, our niece, who is about to deliver her second child. BUT the airport made them both sick and they were quaratine-ing (is that a word?) so the mom- and dad- and big brother-to-be stayed healthy. Sad to have missed them but we’ll have to go down again before they leave.

Meanwhile, we hung out in a bar, ate dinner out, had a wonderful family Sunday dinner and got caught up with my nephew(s) and my brother and sister-in-law. I needed it.

And then when we got home this afternoon and parked the car in the driveway, I was so grateful to be home. We love being home. It’s cold today but the sun is out and I’ve jumped right back into my busy life.

I took three projects with me this weekend and worked primarily on my Cardoon. I had separated the sleeves so I was merrily stockinette stitching around and around and around. It was great knitting-while-chatting knitting. I’m almost to the spot where I begin the colorwork bit just before the hem!

I’ve also made some good progress on my Bang Out a Sweater, Bolin Cardigan. The fabric is so soft and it’s going to be a lovely sweater; soft and really warm! I’m knitting it with a strand of Rowan Felted Tweed and a strand of Rowan Kid Silk Haze held together. One yarn is camel colored and the other is a fuzzy rosey mauve. Together it looks wonderful! I’ve got one front and the back up to the shoulders and have started the second front. Soon I will be seaming shoulders and knitting sleeves with gorgeous big cables down the side. This is my first design by Norah Gaughan and the body has been simple enough but I’ve been waiting to knit the sleeves!!!

Bolin Cardigan in Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Silk Haze held together

AND, this morning after my zoom meeting (on my phone, in the car) I worked on my On the Round socks. With a nearly vintage On the Round sock yarn, I’m knitting the Yankee Knitter #29 Sock pattern with a 3×1 rib on the leg and top of the foot. I’m almost at the toe of the first sock.

Yankee Knitter Socks in On the Round yarn

I have one half of an almost FO, too! I’ve finished, well almost finished the first of the mitts for my daughter. Whew! Knitting with black yarn is a challenge and the result is incredible. I really love the colors she chose and the mitts are going to be stunning. And they’ll be warm, too. I’m going to knit the second mitt next and then finish both thumbs.

Rain Shadow Mitts in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Fingering

The colors aren’t really accurate. They’re a true black and a denim blue. But they’re going to be really pretty!

Tomorrow I’ll be grocery shopping, doing the laundry and writing the newsletter for the store in preparation for working the last three days of the week. Including Saturday. It’s my weekend this weekend! Ha! Ha! And tonight we’ll be sleeping in our own bed.

Gone knittng.

A Very Merry Christmas – 2024 Wrap Up

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We got home from our Christmas trip yesterday afternoon and it was dark before I could sneak outside to take a photo of our homecoming. BUT suffice it to say that despite the unseasonably warm temps yesterday, the lake remains frozen. (It was not frozen when we left.) As with any time away, the laundry is up to the rafters, the mailbox was full, and there is a lot to “catch up” on. And then there is the end-of-year wrap up, bills to pay, projects to finish (or add to the list to transfer to the New Year), etc. It would be overwhelming if I allowed it to be. I’m not allowing it. I will take it bite by bite and not let the stuff get the better of me.

We made a trip before Christmas to Costco in Manhattan (it was packed!) to buy supplies for dinner on Christmas Eve and a few other things. We cooked a marvelous Christmas eve meal at my son and his fiancee’s house, we had a lot of fun on Christmas day at my daughter and her husband’s house and another great meal. We went to SOHO to get a bracelet at Catbird (mine was a gift from my daughter for Christmas). We visited Knit City on the upper west side and I bought a skein of yarn to make a Musselburgh hat.

We went to see my son’s Broadway debut. He’s a lighting designer/electrician and has worked hard (even with the pandemic) to become a member of the electrician’s union in the city. It’s quite a feat as you can imagine but he did it! He is operating the light board at the Manhattan Theater Club’s Friedman Theater in Eureka Day. We loved the show and the lighting, of course, was masterful!

We played with toys: dog toys and Sylvie toys. We gave her one of her big “wants” this year, a doll stroller for her baby (she’d been trying to “steal” them from other kids at the playground when we were in the city in October.) Her expression both verbal and visual was delicious and delighted this Yaya! I may have cried a little. We ate and drank and chatted into the wee hours.

We went to the art exhibit at the performance space where my younger daughter works: The Shed. The Luna Luna exhibit was also masterfully produced and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s re-constructed pieces of a circus that was created by famous artists that had been hidden away in storage for decades, recently discovered and brought back to life, so to speak at the Shed NYC in Hudson Yards. We spent over an hour walking through the interactive art piece. It was colorful and creative and fun for all ages. Bravo!

I did a little bit of knitting on the drive to NYC and after Christmas. I gave my husband an unfinished pair of wool boot socks. I’m nearly finished with them now … they’ll be my first FO of 2025. And I started a pair of Christmas socks to give me something that I didn’t have to think about to knit. I have a few WIPs that will be carried into the New Year again (and a few that I carried into 2024 that still have to be finished.) But I spent my energy over the week in NYC having fun with my kids and their families. We even got a chance to see my hubby’s eldest daughter and her husband who came up from the Washington, DC area for a couple of nights.

Subways, brunches, Lyfts, lots of walking, SOHO, Washington Heights, dog walks, Hudson Yards, coffee shops, lots of walking and stair climbing, all in a week in New York. We’re making memories!

Tonight we’re going to a neighbor’s house for a bit to celebrate the arrival of 2025. 2024 was a difficult year in many ways and a wonderful year in many ways. We are so grateful to be healthy and strong so we can babysit and travel and continue to work at jobs we like. I am grateful to the community that I’m building here in Maine and here online. Thanks to those who are following my antics here at Queen Bee Knits. I hope it’s entertaining and that you may have learned something about knitting or just about life and had a little fun with me along the way.

Wishing you and yours a healthy, creative, peaceful, love-filled 2025.

Gone knitting.

Home Again Home Again …

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We’re home again as you can see by my photo of the lake this morning. I am happy to be home and ready to sleep in my own bed tonight. But we are going to miss our little muffin like crazy! We’ve had a full ten days in NYC with the family there and our hearts are so happy. We have been making memories.

The ride home was wonderful too. We stopped last night at my college roommate’s house in Connecticut for the night and a really sweet visit. Our almost 50-year-old friendship is so special!!! She’s moved into a new house and we got a chance to see it and catch up … even though I was whispering!

I’ve got a cast of laryngitis, I guess. We went to the NYCFC game in New York on Saturday with my future daughter-in-love (my son was called to Washington, DC for work unexpectedly) and we had such fun. We’d never been to a soccer game before but we have watched Ted Lasson so we have a bit of soccer knowledge … and we had fun. New York City was playing Cincinnati (where I raised my family) so I was torn about who to root for but I chose NYC and they won! (Apologies Cincinnati.)

In the past ten days I have gotten the first part of the sleeves of my pink Lane’s Island sweater knitted. There is four inches of ribbing and then it changes to stockinette stitch forever. I’m nearly done with the first set of increases. We had some new stitch markers arrive at the store and I bought a couple of packs before I left. I’m using them to mark my increases so I know how many I’ve made. It’s another wonderful tool for us knitters. More updates coming soon.

Gone knitting!

Wedding Travel Diary, Yarn Purchase and a New Project

Posted on July 4, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We arrived home last night after a week of travel to Denver and Fort Collins and a wedding of my husband’s youngest daughter to the love of her life. The wedding was perfect, the travel was acceptable and relatively trouble free and it was fun to spend some quality time with hubby’s older daughter and her hubby. Bonus was that I got to meet up with a childhood family friend and my former mentee and visited a couple of yarn shops, too!

So, we flew out of Portland, ME to Baltimore where we met up with my hubby’s daughter, Robin, and her husband Evan. Our flight to Denver was only delayed a bit and we arrived our Airbnb in Wheat Ridge, CO by 9:30 or 10pm (with a time change). Wednesday we picked up the dance floor and made a visit to Fancy Tiger Crafts, a co-op with yarn. I may have bought some local yarn and a US7 knitting needle. The project that I had intended to work on while we were away was NOT going to make me happy so I frogged it and found another project to use the yarn in.

Frogged – Staple Tank Top by Joji Locatelli

Before leaving for the wedding venue in Fort Collins, we made goodie bags and the bride’s and bridesmaids’ bouquets and arranged some flowers for the reception. The flowers were all white and they were gorgeous. Amy, the bride, ordered the flowers from Costco. They arrived on Wednesday (for the wedding on Saturday) and I had some serious concern that they wouldn’t hold up all that time but they sure did! Not one rose was droopy on Saturday afternoon! I’d say that was a success.

the bride, her mom and sister getting our mani-pedis on

From Denver to Fort Collins we went on Thursday. The wedding party and lots of guests stayed at the Armstrong Hotel. It’s a beautiful hotel, we loved the decor and the sidewalk cafe. We unloaded the bride’s car into their room and we checked in at our Airbnb there. Thursday night we had dinner as the family of the bride at a taco restaurant and it was good.

Friday I had breakfast and visited a yarn shop, Lamb Spun of Colorado, in Fort Collins where I may have bought a little more yarn. We also hunted for a book store to buy me a new book since I finished “Frozen River” by Ariel Lawhon on the airplane. The rehearsal dinner was at a great brewery and the caterers were amazing! We had a delicious dinner and then the rest of the guests were invited to gather at a Welcome Party. A wonderful day and a fantastic dinner.

The wedding day was perfect and the weather couldn’t have been better. It had been unseasonably warm in Colorado (like in Maine) but Saturday gave us all a break – a little cooler and cloud cover for the ceremony. Another perfect dinner and great party. We even got lifted up in chairs with all of the parents during the Hora!

So, let’s talk about yarn … I had been knitting the Staple Linen Top by Joji Locatelli in Sonder Yarn Company’s Muse in a shade of pink that I really fell in love with up in Montreal. I thought I’d like the tank top but to get gauge I had to get out a bigger needle and it was going to be way too sheer for me to wear without another tank under it. SO … I frogged it and just happened to see a shawl/cowl pattern on Facebook that uses the same weight of yarn and I think it’ll be really beautiful. The new pattern is called River by Yumiko Alexander. It starts with a long narrow piece of cables and dropped stitches (I’m making the largest one and it’s five repeats of 66 rows.) I’m pretty sure that from there I’m going to pick up stitches along one edge and knit the rest of the cowl. I loved the photo in Ravelry with a shawl pin and I have a few that will be fun to wear with this. I’m enjoying the cables and drop stitches … there’s something really fun about dropping stitches and unravelling them all the way down!

I still have the second Hermione’s sock on the needles. I didn’t do a ton of knitting while we were traveling … there may have been other things to do!

We have started a Christmas in July KAL/CAL at work and I have to pick a pattern and cast on my stocking. I knitted one years ago that I don’t love any more so I want to knit a new one. I also have one more to make for a friend of our family. I’ve been thinking about knitting an Arne & Carlos pattern that they used as an Advent KAL last fall/winter in Patagonia Organic Merino. Or the other option is the pattern that I made for my daughter. It was a kit that I bought. I’d buy Cascade 220 for this one. Both are stranded colorwork and 100% wool because it’s the best for colorwork. Update just as soon as I get into the store!

Gone knitting!

What I Know for Sure …

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning the sun was shining when I woke up and I woke up early. We have train tracks behind our house and the train came by at 6am honking its horn all the way up the tracks. When I opened my eyes, it was fully morning; the sun was up and wayyy over to the left again as it should be in the spring.

I got home last night from a reunion (and a short family visit, too) with an au pair who was in my cluster in Cincinnati, Ohio way back when. I’m not sure I’ve spoken about those years here yet. I worked for InterExchange/AuPair USA based in New York City when my children were young. One of my neighborhood friends had started an au pair group that was getting too big for her to manage alone so I started a group, too. We managed an international group of young adults that grew to be about 50 at its largest. What I loved most about it was learning about all the cultures around the world. At that time, I had a world map and knew where all the different countries were. I had au pairs whose countries were at war, I had parents of au pairs calling me when Cincinnati’s race riots were exploding, I had au pairs with health scares and au pairs who disappeared at the end of their year. I had au pairs who stayed in the US and worked and married. It was a wonderful experience.

Janine contacted me a few months ago as they made plans to come to the states on holiday. They visited Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City and Boston. I managed to get away to Massachusetts on Sunday to meet up with her (and her husband and daughter) in Marblehead. It was a cup-filler for sure!

I am so blessed to have had these women and men in my life. Janine is one of the special ones. And there were many. It had been 27 years since we had seen each other and it was as if all the years between were erased and we picked up again from the day we said farewell. EXCEPT that I have gray hair and she has two grown daughters, one of whom was with her, and a husband. We had lunch and a stroll around Fort Sewell in Marblehead and then it was time to part again, hopeful that it won’t be another 27 years before the next reunion.

Au Pair agencies still exist out there and welcoming an international “student” (the men and women come to the US on a student visa and there is an education part to the program) is a rewarding and often times life changing experience. Au Pairs provide childcare for a minimal stipend and an opportunity to live with an American family to learn English and gain experience. A good local coordinator is essential and families need to be willing to welcome this young person as a member of their family; take them on family vacations, out for meals and family activities, etc. Done well, your family grows by one with each au pair you host. While I didn’t have an au pair myself, my family grew by many over the years and I value the contact and communication that I’ve had as I watch these “kids” get married and have families of their own. Getting to meet Janine’s family was the cherry on top!

I spent the night with my Marblehead and Salem family and when I got home yesterday afternoon I find this … yup, I’m a lucky woman! Gone knitting.

Family Time

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

My nephew got married on Friday in Lafayette, Louisiana to an absolutely adorable, smart, organized, lovely and loving woman. We are all thrilled for the newlyweds and their boys. It was a wonderful event. I took NO photographs. My phone remained in my purse and I was thoroughly present with my family.

Some of the highlights were seeing the great-nephews who have really grown up since they were last at our house and a sisters trip to the beauty parlor to have our hair and makeup done for the wedding. Let me repeat that we didn’t take any photos of us in our makeup (and three of us washed it off as soon as we got home, haha!) The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun and we got to meet lots of the Louisiana people whose names we’ve heard for over a decade. The wedding was one of the prettiest I’ve attended and my great-nephew read his vows to his dad and new mom – there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. All of the siblings and their “spice” had dinner together at my brother and sister’s (adoptive) mom’s favorite restaurant on Saturday night and that was special. I wish I’d known her but I’m so grateful that she provided a loving home for my brother. And I know both Betsy and my mother are celebrating that we found each other.

We headed into the New Orleans on Sunday for the night before our flight out. If you’ve ever gotten stuck on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, you’ll know why. We returned our rental car and took an Uber into the French Quarter for a quick walk around. We stopped at the historic Pat O’Brien’s for a Hurricane and then out onto the streets to have a quick visit. We traveled back to the hotel to change for dinner at Commander’s Palace. We had the most enjoyable experience there. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was impeccable. What a way to end a fantastic trip to Louisiana.

Our flights were uneventful, the weather was cool for Louisiana but the sun came out ever so briefly for the wedding ceremony and I am so grateful that we were able to take the time off to make the trip. There’s nothing better than hugging my family. None of us is as young and healthy as we were 15 years ago and I’ll always try to make the time so we can spend time together. How lucky I am to have such wonderful family.

I hardly knitted at all. More on that later. I just wanted to take the time to write about our visit before too much time passes. We leave feeling lots of love with hearts full.

Gone knitting. This time I mean it … my knitting chair awaits.

Afternoon Quickie

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a beautiful but cold day today in Maine. I took off this morning to North Whitefield to have a look at some SL sheepskins that I’ve been wondering about for a while now. I really want one for my desk chair and/or my knitting chair. It just so happened that they were having a special sale and I could save $10 if I picked it up. So, today I drove over to Swallowtail Farm and I can’t wait to go back. I have a gorgeous creamy white XL sheepskin and ran a couple of errands and then came home to knit.

I’ve been watching some new podcasts lately and I knew that I had to knit up a gift for my nephew and his soon-to-be wife. I’ve bought the supplies and they’ve been sitting in my atelier for several months now. It’s a sweet pattern and I love to give it as gifts. I think they’ll appreciate it.

I sat down at my desk and cast on the first “lobe” of the heart at around 3pm. The heart pattern is called “Love and Light” by Laura Nelkin. I chose to knit the larger one which requires a 200 light/ 66 foot strand of fairy lights. I bought mine here. If you want to try this, buy more than one set of lights because it’s addictive. I think I’ve knit half a dozen or more. They also look wonderful in colors, too. We have one hanging in our living room window and it’s a beacon of light in the evenings after the sun goes down. They make me extremely happy.

The pictures above show you the progress from 3pm until the heart was finished and “massaged” into it’s final shape. One more plug-in to make sure I didn’t break the connections as I was knitting and I was done. It was 4:00pm. That’s right, it took an hour and a half of my time to make even though it’s tough on my hands, it’s totally worth it. I love the way these turn out!

Leftovers tonight for dinner and the bread I baked yesterday is perfect yet again. This bread baking gig is pretty cool and the house smells so good when I bake bread! What a glorious life!

Gone knitting.