Queen Bee Knits

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

Sunday Funday

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Sunday morning is the only morning that I “never” have to wake up to an alarm. Most other mornings I set my alarm for 6:30am (and head to bed between 9 and 9:30pm.) This morning the alarm went off around 8am and I was still in bed sound asleep. Not a normal morning for sure. But it did feel good to sleep and maybe I will “catch up” with the sleep I’ve lost over the last week with this coughing crud I’ve had. I did get to the doctor on Tuesday and have an antibiotic but the cough remains. The sinus infection seems to be resolving, thank goodness.

So, we’ve been really spending a lot of time at home. I’m starting to get a little bit of energy back and am getting a few chores done around the house. I finally replaced the batter upstairs in the guest room (I’d disconnected the whole thing to stop the infernal beep) and I vacuumed my atelier yesterday. I need to make a trip to Costco tomorrow to stock up a bit and we’re supposed to get more snow on Thursday (my day to work).

I have been knitting! I started my “Bang Out a Sweater” project with Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer. I’ve had the yarn in my stash for this sweater, in two shades of purple tweed by Fibra Natura Kingston Tweed. I like the yarn, it’s got a wonderfully smooth hand despite being non-superwash wool. The color contrast isn’t high but I think it will be enough to work and the weight of the yarn is going to be perfect. If I can bang out the yoke, it’ll be clear sailing down the body. I made some good progress yesterday morning. I’ll work on it again for a bit today.

I finished a headband for my daughter’s friend Sheldon. I made him fingerless mitts for Christmas and he’s asked for a headband. I used the same yarn and the Petite Knits pattern, Weekend Headband. It’s an interesting construction. I made the small size and I hope it fits … I do have enough yarn to make a larger one if it doesn’t. AND if it doesn’t fit Sheldon it’ll fit Sylvie, I’ll bet. I’ll be sending it off with a headband for my daughter that I cast on yesterday. She chose another Petite Knits pattern, Ingeborg. I’m knitting it with two yarns held together a creamy white Berroco Ultra Alpaca and a silver Kid Seta lace-weight mohair silk.

I almost wrote to the designer when I could not for the life of me figure out how to make the pattern work. The pattern didn’t specify which provisional cast on to use so I used a crochet provisional cast on and then struggled to figure out how to keep the brioche rib with an odd number of stitches on the needles. BUT I pulled out some scrap yarn (because frogging with mohair is a pain) and gave it several tries and was able to figure out what the designer meant when she wrote the pattern. She doesn’t use the traditional terminology, BrK1, in the pattern which may be part of my “problem” but once I figured out the two-row pattern, I was knitting up a storm. In fact, I probably could have made two in a day if I had had a clear understanding of the pattern from the get-go. But it’s all good because I’m learning. Last night I found a partial dropped stitch in one of the brioche columns and was able to successfully drop my stitches down and fix it. That also felt really good. A few more inches and I can graft the headband and cinch it at the center front and then block it and send it off. Woo! Hoo!

I’ve pulled the pink mittens out of the time out area and had a look at what they still need to continue and finish. I think I may simply finish the one hand of embroidery on the one mitten and skip it on the second one. I’m not finding that I am enjoying the embroidery and I love the pink mittens so … it’s either cut off what I did already (and that’s not out of the running) and finish the two mittens or finish one mitten with embroidery and one mitten without. Time will tell. I’ll let you know.

I found a pattern for a really cute Jolly Gingerbread doll cushion/pillow by Jenny Watson in a WYS book. The doll is knit in a worsted/aran weight yarn. I happen to have a gingerbread cookie color of wool in my stash and I think I am going to make one for our house for next Christmas. I even have some left-overs of the sock yarn for the scarf and hat. If I love it, I may make more to give as gifts. It needs to be big enough to be easily visible, though. I also have the knitted zoo animals pattern book and yarn sitting waiting for me to prioritize them. I think I need to finish my sweater and the pink mittens before I allow myself to cast on something fun like that.

I also have a sweater’s worth of Rowan Felted Tweed and a silk mohair yarn to make either a vest or a sweater. I want an orange garment to wear with my orange sueded boots – I can see my kids cringing! Ha! Ha! I like the Bolin Cardigan by Norah Gaughan that is being used as the Bang Out a Sweater pattern for the MDK month-long KAL. I’m just not sure that an orangey orange cardigan will be flattering on me. (Or will I look like a pumpkin?) I’ve swatched with two different colors of mohair …

On the left is the Felted Tweed (zinnia colorway) with a beige/tan lace-weight mohair and the right is with an orangey lace-weight mohair. Amazing difference, don’t you think? I like both combinations and the question remains, which one should I choose and for which garment? Since I can’t decide, I’m letting the yarn sit on the counter in my atelier until I can figure it out. I have the full sweater’s worth of mohair in the orange. I’d have to switch it for the tan if that’s the way I choose to go. The tan color makes the orange more subdued, for sure. Maybe I need to get my boots up next to the swatch and see what they look like together.

I’ve done a bit of work on my Jelly Roll Blanket and a little bit of the lace re-do on the Winter’s Finery Shawl. Nothing remarkable accomplished but I am trying to continue to make some progress each week. Eventually, all the projects will be completed. Right? I haven’t had the head space to work on my daughter’s fingerless mitts this week. This virus-thing has taken ahold of my brain. Lucky I only had to work one day and teach one day this week. Next week is going to be much busier with a MeAA board meeting and a MCSC business meeting to attend.

Off to move the laundry into the dryer and then it’s time to knit.

Gone knitting!

Another Day Another Post

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

A view from my desk this morning of the lake and the sunshine! Sunshine! Everything in our house is damp and it’s a relief to see the sun today. It rained most of the night last night and the haze is noticeable this morning. But I am so happy to see the sun.

I’ve put our sofa cover on the porch to dry since the dryer didn’t finish the job, made my chicken salad for my summer book club this afternoon and have begun our laundry. We were so lucky to have had a surprise visit from my brother and sister-in-law and my niece and great-nephew for one night last weekend. It was short but super sweet. Noah is a month older than Sylvie and it’s fun to watch the two of them grow and change!

I’ve been knitting away and have finished three baby hats, two pairs of matching baby mittens and two pairs of toddler mittens. I wrote about the hats in my last post. The mittens are a simple little pattern that I picked up at my LYS and made them with the same yarn that the hats are made of … with a bit of yarn left over. I’m considering an i-cord string to keep mittens in their jackets but wonder if new parents of infants will be ok with putting a string in back of a baby’s neck. Your thoughts?

Infant Top Knot hats, my design in Lang Merino 200 Bebe

There is one more pair of infant mittens to go … maybe my nephew in AZ will take the baby outside on a cold day. Having lived in Florida, I know temperature is relative. And the toddler mittens with the cable are done and ready to be gifted. In fact, I will probably send my brother and sister-in-law home with Noah’s pair just in case we don’t get to see him for a bit. We may only be three hours away but it sometimes feels like it’s triple that! We sure do seem to be busy!

I’m trying to finish up Noah’s Macaroon sweater, too. I’m working my way up the back and will hit the button placket soon enough. I love the colors that I chose for his sweater and it makes me think that I may change up the colors I chose for Sylvie’s sweater. I hope to have hers done by the time we go to the beach in September for our annual family gathering.

French Macaroon Sweater in Berroco Vintage DK

I also have been working on my brother-in-law’s socks. I love the yarn, it’s so soft and I’m knitting the Yankee Knitter’s sock pattern. US2 DPNs and 64 stitches. This is my favorite sock pattern of all time and I have it mostly memorized. Whenever I sell one of these at work I tell them about my first copy that I’ve used so much that it is in four pieces. I’ve bought the pattern twice more since then: a new printed copy and an electronic version. You never can have just one!

Yankee Knitter #29 Socks pattern on Online Supersocke 4-fach Merino

Today I will be winding the yarn to being my Christmas stocking commission for my college roommate’s new grandson. I want to get that one done and dusted (and sent off) before we head out for vacation. I’m pretty sure I can do that if I focus on it during the daytime. My aging brain likes to knit without thinking in the evening. And fortunately my boss is coming back from her extended vacation this weekend so my double and at times triple hours will be ending. I’m grateful for larger paychecks during her absence and will be grateful for the extra time, too.

I’ve got to end here and run down to swap out the laundry and get myself ready for the day. I’m working on a new ending to my posts because “gone knitting” (a knitterly twist on gone fishing which nobody may have picked up on, I don’t know.) Let me know if you like “gone knitting” … for now, it’s not very truthful but I will knit at some point today.

Gone knitting.

Grateful

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

I started this post after Thanksgiving having spent several days with two thirds of my kids, their significant others, my brothers and sisters-in-love and their kids and some of their significant others. Being with family is my drug. I left Massachusetts with my heart full and my soul warmed. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday just before all of the pressure heading into Christmas begins. I’m so grateful that my children and their cousins know each other and that they enjoy spending time together and we enjoyed spending time together, too!

And now we’re well into the Christmas rush. Rushing to get the tree decorated and the presents bought and mostly shipped to their recipients but some to put under the tree and into stockings for Christmas day. I’m working hard to keep the gratitude and warm fuzzies in my heart that I had a Thanksgiving and to be fully honest here, I’m struggling. My dear husband’s daughters and one of their boyfriends are scheduled to be here for Christmas this year. It seems that because of a sick dog, one won’t be able to come. The other daughter’s boyfriend seems to be rethinking the trip because he’s spent a lot of time in Florida with his family. I was really looking forward to seeing them because we haven’t seen each other for a long time. We haven’t seen the dog mom daughter for a year and a half.

Today I’m trying to wrap my head around having Christmas at home with my little family – me and my husband. It seems that it’s entirely possible again this year. Somehow I have to make it ok and I’m not sure how to do that. It’s going to be difficult to make any major changes because I’m now scheduled to work since we were going to be celebrating here with my step-daughters. It’ll be near-impossible to kennel the dog at this point to fly anywhere and a drive to their homes is at least a two day drive each way … leaving two days to visit. We don’t relish the idea of four days in the car for a two-day visit. The NYC kids are having a Christmas dinner to which we’ve been invited but I don’t know what kind of hotel or extra bed situation we’d be looking at and the dog still needs to be kenneled. I guess we will look at our options if we find it’ll be just us for sure.

Meanwhile, I’m knitting. A lot. I’ve been finishing some projects, too. I have so many things that I want to knit and with my schedule, I’ve been lining them up for when I have some time to knit “what I want”. I’ve knitted several gifts for the kids in NYC and they’ve been sent on. We are going to go to the beach in Rhode Island again in September and that’s their big gift. Since they haven’t opened gifts, I’ll not discuss what I’ve made until after Christmas – and I even forgot to photograph a couple of the gifts. Oops!

The Slip Stitch Hat by Tanis Williams is a sweet hat with a slip stitch section around the head. It makes the sport/dk weight hat a bit warmer around the ears. I used a bit of a handspun yarn that I was gifted with a wool/silk blend yarn that I found at Marden’s here in Maine. It was a yarn company close out sale and was a great deal. This hat will be going to Yardgoods Center’s February hat drive for the needy in our community.

The beaded tape measure is a new activity that I’ve been doing with my Friday knitters, one of whom is a phenomenal talent at beading and quilting in addition to being a great knitter. Anyway, we bought a kit online (Etsy) and we had a class at the end of my teaching day a few weeks ago. What fun! I love the way the tape measure looks so much but I admit that I’m a bit hesitant to put it into my knitting bag for fear that it will be damaged or get dirty.

Evergreen Socks by Madeline Gannon are so much fun! I loved knitting these. I used deeply stashed yarn from Buffalo Wool Company. I’ve had this yarn from a bunch of years ago when I signed up for their monthly yarn club. It’s a fingering weight blend of wool and buffalo so these socks are likely to be nice and warm. I think these will be for me. I only have one daughter who has the same size feet as I do and she likes shorty socks.

Husband’s Christmas (last year) sweater. Well, he loves it and it’s a perfect fit. I gave him the yarn for this sweater last year at Christmas. His face when he opened it was a classic. He wondered if I was going to teach him to knit! LOL. Needless to say, here it is almost Christmas again and I have finally gotten it done. I loved loved loved knitting with Cascade 220 worsted yarn. I’ve not knitted with it before (I know, I was surprised, too) and it’s so much softer and more luxurious feeling that the Ella Rae wool that I’ve knitted with several times. The price point isn’t that different anymore so I’d prefer the Cascade; especially when it’s a garment. We’ll see how it wears and how it pills. The pattern is Knitting Plain and Simple #991 and it is simple but the heathered yarn makes is anything but plain.

Oh, Arne and Carlos, how I love you. I started knitting the Christmas balls last year and got about six of them finished. I haven’t tried to knit any this year because these stinking cute mini jumpers came out and that’s all I wanted to knit. I have managed to get five done and will pick up the rest of the 24 and hope to get them finished before next Christmas. I’m using Patagonia organic merino in three colors. I decided to keep the traditional holiday colors for our house. We shall see. But I love them so much!

Last but not least, I have cast on for a new pair of mittens for me. I love my “old” snowflake mittens a lot. These new ones are similar and very different. These are the Northman Mittens by David Schultz and I’ve chosen to knit with the same yarn as the design calls for. It just so happens that we have a great selection of Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn. I’ve changed my mind already several times but I can’t change it again. I am knitting with a light tealy-blue-green and a light gray shade. The lining will be knit in a pink for a pop of color and you can find all the gory details for this and all of my other projects on my Ravelry project page. (I”m “lindar” on Ravelry.)

I am knitting a sweater for my almost-93 year old student who is having memory challenges and she was unable to be successful with this Plain and Simple pattern. I’ll get the sleeves finished this week and will present it to her as my gift on her 93rd birthday which is on Friday … and a cake! She’s one of my favorites and it’s crushing to see her struggle to knit. She was a wonderful knitter back in the day.

There you have it. I’ve caught you up to date. I’m sorry for the downer at the start of this post but I have promised myself that I would be authentic here and show you how life and knitting weave together to make me who I am. I won’t apologize for who I am and I am an emotional person. I’ve mentioned before my “ocular incontinence”, right? I will make the best of whatever Christmas brings, I’m just struggling with it for now. It’s all good. We love all of our kids and this won’t change that, of course.

Gone knitting.

Winter’s Refusal … getting stuck

Posted on March 18, 2018 by Queen Bee Knits

Snow! Snow! Snow!

It seems that Winter is not quite ready to concede to Spring. At least not yet. It’s really cold here again and we have been warned by the weather-people that we are likely to have more snow on Tuesday.

I’ve got some great knitting projects on my needles and have been plugging right along on Ma Belle Amie for my aunt. This is a remarkably simple cowl but I love the way that it gives the yarn permission to shine. I’ve made one in a discontinued Maine yarn, Apogee, for myself. You can see it on my Ravlery project page here. The yarn, conveniently, came in four colors. Just what the cowl required. It is a very wearable accessory! The current version is being knitted in three solid colors of Berroco’s Folio and a variegated Folio Color. This is a great project to work on when you’re having an adult beverage or sitting in a knitting group and want to chat instead of counting.

I’ve also been working on Susan B. Anderson’s Split Back Snowflake Hat which I’m knitting in Berroco Yarn’s Ultra Alpaca worsted-weight yarn. I’ve chosen a medium gray and a white/cream. I love this hat because I love cables and color work. This hat has both … and it’s satisfying to knit hats because they don’t take forever to knit. Finishing projects makes me feel good about myself and makes me feel accomplished because I start and complete a project within a “reasonable” time frame!

Last, but certainly not least, I’m working on a pair of Maine Woods and Rivers Mittens for a college friend. This is what made me think about writing this post today.

This project began upon my friend seeing this photograph on my Facebook page.

Maine Woods and Rivers Mittens; top by Terri and bottom by Peggy

The two pairs of mittens above were knit by a talented student and a talented co-worker. A customer wore another pair of mittens into the shop one Friday and we all fell in love with the pattern. It’s free on Ravelry here. I can’t tell you that my attempts to knit these have been easy. I’ve knitted and frogged them multiple times.

Sometimes I think I have a mental block and am quite literally more challenged by some patterns/projects. I didn’t pay attention at the thumb gusset in one attempt and when I looked down, it was a mess. Back I ripped to before the gusset increases. The stream pattern didn’t have the right stitch count. Back I went to the top of the cuff. This is not a difficult pattern. I’ve knitted color work mittens before. So, why, for heaven’s sake, does this pattern present such a challenge for me? I wish I had the answer.

My mittens have one difference. I used an i-cord cast on so that the edge doesn’t roll. And I like the way the edge looks. (Another option would be to cast on the stitches and then purl one round.)

I remain a firm believer in patience in the process. I take a deep breath and frog whatever needs to be re-knit. …If I was knitting for myself, I might not be so particular and “make” it work a bit more “creatively,” but when I am knitting for someone else I am particular about doing it “right”. Knitting soothes my soul and helps me relax. My day isn’t complete when I don’t knit.

Gone knitting.

You can find more details about my projects on my Ravelry project page. My Ravelry name is lindar. Follow me on Facebook at Queen Bee Knits by LindaWarner.

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