Queen Bee Knits

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A Bee-utiful Day! A Wonderful Weekend

Posted on May 20, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

After a run of cloudy, gray days, this morning was stunningly beautiful. We had to drop my car off to get an oil change first thing this morning but after we got back, we had a cup of coffee and breakfast on the porch. Hubby was reading in the sunshine and I grabbed my crochet hook and some yarn to start yet another project that I’ve been thinking about. Castonitis is real!

At one point I looked up and the Canada Goose Family was passing by and the goslings have already gotten much bigger. We have some huge Snapping Turtles and Bald Eagles, all of whom would make a meal of a little goose. We always cross our fingers for the new babies around the lake.

AND yesterday I got so many little things checked off my list! My college roommate sent me some knits that needed repair. They’ve been sitting on the extra chair in my studio for a while now and I’ve managed to put them out of my mind but yesterday, I pulled a single crochet round off of her favorite (ugly) hat and added a new one and then blocked the hat. It’s drying as I type. She also sent me an Aran sweater that had some wear at the elbow and the folded neckline was coming apart. She’d said that she was ok with my using some visible mending and I did. The elbow will live for another few years and the neckline is repaired and the sweater has been washed and it’s drying with the hat.

I hadn’t been able to find my crochet hooks bag so I decided to clean out the cabinet that holds my “uncommitted” yarns. I emptied everything out because I also wanted to look at the collection of Jamieson & Smith 2-ply jumper weight yarn that I have for two different projects: a cowl that Goodrun Johnston is teaching in season 9 of Knits Stars AND I want to knit a clock face Yoke O’Clock. I was thinking I needed to buy a few colors of fingering weight Shetland wool but I have plenty already in my stash! I’ve now cleaned up and organized the cabinet again and put all of the like yarns in plastic bags to make finding it a wee bit easier. I hope.

I also have a sweater that I knitted for a young woman who I mentored when she was 10. She’s quite a bit older now and is about to have her third baby boy. I made her a Zip Up the Back baby sweater – pattern is Zip Up a Baby Sweater by Marge Webster. I knitted it in Cascade Pacific Prints in greens. This is a great pattern to knit and a wonderful baby sweater. What’s not so great is that I have to hand-sew a zipper into it which is not my favorite activity. But yesterday I got it done and the sweater is blocked, too. (I was shocked that a mass-manufactured yarn bled so much. The water was green!)

That’s three finished objects in one day! Yay, me! I feel lighter already. And that brings me back to the morning today – I cast on a Ruby the Mega Ray. It’s a crochet pattern that my daughter sent to me for my granddaughter and I made it relatively quickly. She suggested that I make another one for her sister and “how cool would it be if you could put one of those corn things inside” … corn things are the microwavable bags that are so wonderful on sore muscles. I’ve made a lot of them over the years. The last bunch for the kids was made after they all got sore muscles after a ski trip up here. So, I’m going to try to adapt a crochet pattern … try, I will. I have a sort-of-plan and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll go back and make the ray according to the pattern. Crossing my fingers my plan works because it sure would be cool!

I’m still making progress on my pink socks. The heel and gusset are finished and I’m working my way down the foot. And I’m also working away on the little pink cotton dress for Sylvie. It’s not a difficult pattern but it’s a lot of purling. If I were to make it again, I’d make it inside out so that there was a lot of knitting …

I’ve cast on another Emotional Support Chicken, too. I had a ball of wool that I found deep in my stash and started the tail in that and then changed to a ball of violet-ish wool that was given to me. I think she’ll have some more of the first yarn in her as stripes around her neck and that should leave me enough yarn to make yet another chicken. Ha! Ha! I’m hooked. They don’t take a ton of time or effort and I am enjoying the process of knitting them. We’ve decided that we’re going to have a chicken coop in the store window this summer and we’ve asked our customers to make Emotional Support Chickens and loan them to us for the window. We’re hearing that it’s a fun idea and hope participation will be strong.

Gone knitting!

Wow! What a Week!

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We’ve been home from our whirlwind, sad, wonderful, family-filled trip to New York City for almost a week and it’s been a super busy (almost) week. I was glad to be there for my daughter when they had to say goodbye to my first grand-dog and it’s always wonderful to squeeze all of my kids and their significant others in person. AND bonus we get to spend quality time with our granddaughter.

I love seeing my other kids, now aunts and uncles, with Sylvie. They all adore her and are so supportive of each other which is exactly what I hope would happen when they grew up. Sibling relationships are difficult and require acceptance and flexibility and we all go through our own “stuff” … it’s wonderful to have siblings to share life with. On Mabel’s last morning on Earth, we took Sylvie to the playground for a couple of hours so that her parents could focus on Mabel and not worry about the baby. We walked up to the playground and played and then stopped at a local restaurant (ostensibly for lunch but Sylvie wanted no food) and home for a nap. It was a beautiful NY day and it was wonderful to be outside. Monk is always tired out after his visits to NY but he loves being included and staying with his nephews, Gus and Picasso, and all the sniffs he gets there.

When we arrived back home I was delighted to see the developments in our garden. We are growing TULIPS! We also have daffodils and some hyacinths coming up … well the mini-daffs are in bloom and the big daffs are coming soon. I’m super excited about the tulips, though. I’ve always had to NOT plant them because critters eat them. So far, we’ve been lucky … and I hope I’m not speaking out of turn because this is the exact moment that critters will eat them to the ground. I’m crossing my fingers.

Yesterday, we took a ride to Popham Beach State Park. We ran a few errands on the way there, took a long walk on the beach, gathered a few shells and then came home. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and I am so glad we went. It’s lovely to be by the ocean and I loved spending the time alone with my hubby. We tried to take a selfie but we both looked grumpy so I deleted it – we were not grumpy and I’d rather remember the day than see an inaccurate depiction. Ha! Ha!

I have been knitting! I really have! On the way to New York, I cast on a little cotton sundress for Sylvie in bubblegum pink cotton. Sunbeam Kids Dress in Jody Long My Little Sunshine organic cotton yarn. I like the yarn and the color will be great on her this summer. I’m babysitting at the end of May and will make sure the length is a tiny bit longer than perfect then and we should have a lot of fun watching her run on the beach in September.

I’ve got my second Emotional Support Chicken ready to seam and stuff. I love the colors of this one and I hope that my friend and former camper will love her, too. If all goes well today, I will finishe her … and since it’s raining, it looks like I’ll be spending the day in my atelier!

I’m also working on a pair of socks. This yarn has been in my stash for at least a decade. My daughter bought two balls of it for me back when she was still living in Chicago. I made one pair of socks from the first ball before I was on Ravelry and chose this yarn for my next pair because it’s pink and I seem to be in a pink phase. I’m knitting the Hermione’s Everyday Sock pattern by the Crazy Sock Lady on US 1.5 DPNs. The pattern is easy to remember and makes good car knitting. I’m ready to start the heel of the first sock today.

I’ve been working a very little, tiny, incy wincy bit on my Jelly Roll Blanket. I have a basket full of scraps of sock yarn next to my desk chair so that I can knit on it during zoom meetings. I missed a couple while we were in NYC but I’ve got more coming. This blanket will be a long-term project for sure but it’s grown a little bit.

And last but not least, yesterday on our way home from Popham Beach, we stopped at Mother of Purl in Freeport where I had ordered a Lumos Lumos, aka boob, light. I have thought about buying one of these lights for a while and LYS Day was yesterday and they had a special promotion for the lights. When we went to pick it up, I had to buy a bit of yarn, too, to make a sweater for Sylvie for the fall/winter. The pattern is Binx and it’s knit in a DK weight yarn. The store sample was in Patagonia which is currently one of my favorite yarns. I don’t seem to be allergic to this yarn and it get so soft when worked/washed/worn. I have at least one more sweater worth in my stash … maybe two. Ha! Ha! I will make myself finish at least two projects before I can cast on a new one.

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.

Adventure in Crochet

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

The other day my daughter forwarded this photo to me. It’s cute, right? Well, I found the pattern on Theresa’s Crochet Shop on Etsy and bought it … even though I really don’t crochet. Why? Because it’s utterly adorable, right!?

Despite the fact that I work in a yarn shop, we didn’t have a jumbo chenille yarn and I didn’t want to struggle with crocheting holding two strands together, too. I’ll struggle crocheting with a single strand, thank you very much. So, off to Michael’s I went on Monday and bought two balls of their Sweet Snuggles yarn in a baby blue and a cream. I wanted a teal blue but they didn’t have a great selection at the store and I didn’t want to try to order and have to wait. I also bought a Prym crochet hook in an 8mm/L.

Yesterday I had a very long meeting via Zoom and decided that it was as good a time as any to give it a try. I started twice (note: frogging chenille yarn is not an easy task!) but got the hang of it and since it’s all single crochet, I do know how to do that. I got the first part, the top, finished during the meeting.

I had planned to complete it today but got busy cleaning up our primary bedroom and bath and then cooking all the veggies that I had bought to roast for my week. I’ve been dragging since the time change and it’s been a struggle to get as much done as I’d like. So, I’ve not gotten a lot of crocheting done today but I did manage to write my store newsletter and print a recipe for a customer friend … now I just have to remember who that was.

I’ll get to it this weekend. The head is next and it can’t take too long – it’s small. And then the bottom of the body. I have to remember to buy some stuffing at work this week so I can stuff it properly. And I need to find the safety eyes. Nothing else will be quite right. Right?

It was a beautiful day at the lake today … it warmed to 50 degrees and the ice is starting to melt. It wasn’t much of a winter and I hope the Browntail Moths don’t thrive with this warmer winter. I will never be able to work in our yard if they’re as bad as they’ve been the last two years. Spring is coming!

Until next time … gone knitting.

In and Out

Posted on March 9, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning and, as usual, it made the start of the day at 5:45am perfectly fine. Although it felt like noon at 8am when I thought I needed to get moving and get some chores and errands run. Ha! Ha!

I spent the morning writing the store newsletter and getting the weekend plans and reminders together and planning my calendar for next week. I went downstairs for breakfast after 11am and we went out to run some errands around noon time.

I was sent a photo of a crocheted ray by my daughter that she saw on Instagram. We don’t carry the yarn at Yardgoods so today, one of my errands was to go to Michael’s to see if they had any there. I bought two balls of Michael’s Sweet Snuggles a jumbo weight chenille yarn. They had a limited choice of colors in the store but light blue and cream will work. I also bought a L crochet hook … wish me luck. I may be an expert knitter but I’m a mediocre crocheter at best.

Ray … I’ll be attempting this someday soon

I’ve been rolling along on my Stashbuster Shawl. I’m nearing the end of the project and have taken a bit of time to count my stitches and estimate how much yarn I will need for casting off. I typically give myself three times the width of the edge to be cast off. I made a knot there and I’ll knit up to that knot or very close to it and then bind off with my fingers and toes crossed and my legs, too, maybe. When I bought this yarn I thought it was in shades of gray. Turns out that it’s navy blule. It’s all good, I wear a lot of blue and this one is slightly larger than the multi-colored Stashbuster that I knitted a while back. I think it’s going to be a good addition to my shawl collection.

Haven’t made a lot of progress on my daughter’s Christmas socks or the Oorik slip over for my granddaughter. I hope it’ll fit her in the fall but I’d still like to check it off the list. I haven’t touched the Fiddlehead mittens or my pink embroidered mittens but I’ll get to them. I’m enjoying all the knitting that I’m doing so it’s all good.

This afternoon we attempted to install a new digital TV antenna on our roof. The original one hasn’t been working for a while. We got a few channels but none of the ones that we really want from more than 60 miles away so we will return this one and get one with a larger range. For a couple of “old” people we can still crawl in and out of the windows and walk on the roof. My husband has a new hip and it seems to be working well. I’m grateful for that!

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.

What a Week!

Posted on February 11, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m sitting at my desk having finished my newsletter for the store and adding the subscribers to the list. I don’t love “working” on Sunday. I like to keep it set aside as a day for me but some weeks this just doesn’t happen. This was one of those weeks.

We drove back from New York City on Monday after a fun but disappointing visit. We had gone down to meet a little dog at the Humane Society that we’ve been approved to adopt. She’s a 4 year-old shitzu, bichon and maybe a bit of poodle thrown in mix. I fully expected to bring her home with us but got a call on Sunday night with a health update that triggered me as my Boq died with the same two “issues”. I ended up cancelling my meeting and we came home requesting more time for me to think about whether we want to adopt a young dog with potential health issues that might require a special diet and/or medication. I’m so grateful for the understanding and caring response from the Humane Society. We’re now on hold until we get back from a family wedding in a few weeks and we’ll see if the medical issues have resolved and decide about next steps. This is a great and very thorough place that really wants adoptions to succeed and so do we. I know I’ll fall in love with her if I see her so I’m trying to step back from the emotion and take care of myself first in this instance. After 40+ years of taking care of everybody else first, I’m really trying to listen to myself and leave space for me to practice self-care first. I was proud that I could speak my truth and name my concerns and ask for some more time. I was rewarded with a wonderful conversation and a mutual understanding. Bravo, me!

Monday evening I was dropped off at Maine Arts Academy in Augusta to attend a board meeting. It was a great meeting and I’m so proud of our school and proud to be associated with it, too. We had a student visit to update us on her life today after we granted her an early graduation last year. She’s an incredible young woman who will do great things and it was so thoughtful that she wanted to thank us and update us on her life.

The next couple of days I got all the house and home stuff caught up so that I could work at the end of the week. I baked some bread and some hermits (read about it here) and it’s been fun to share the cookies at work with my wonderful co-worker friends. I am so fortunate to work with some excellent, creative, smart women! I’ve been at the store working and teaching for the last three days and today is (finally) a day for me to catch up … again. Ha! Ha!

Photo by Melissa Blackall Photography – “Of This Place”

Friday night we went to Colby College to see the performance of “Of This Place” in the new Gordon Center. The new theater space is amazing and I really enjoyed the performance. My only criticism is that they’ve not completed the sound system and it was difficult to hear some parts of the spoken words. I loved that it was a multi-generational collaborative performance that included kids from a Waterville elementary school, staff and alumni, students from Colby and Maine Arts Academy, and professional dancers, too. I’m not a dancer and don’t pretend to be but I do like to watch dance and admire people who can dance.

All of this to say that I haven’t gotten a lot of knitting done this week. When I was teaching class on Friday morning I realized that I didn’t have some of the stuff I needed to knit, other projects needed more attention than I could give at that time and place. What’s a knitter to do? I have worked a little bit on the second sleeve of my Norwegian sweater and I’m up to the heel of my Hermione’s Everyday sock. My friend Glenda and I are going to do another self-imposed KAL and we’ve picked Christopher’s Bunny by Susan B. Anderson to be our project. I may choose to cast on today … although, I’d love to finish the sleeves of my sweater. I’m so close that I’m not sure why I’m continuing to put it off. I NEED to do our laundry because I have one pair of underwear left in my bureau. Ha! Ha! I SHOULD vacuum and wet mop the upstairs because my allergies are showing their ugly heads … between the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow, I’m afraid it’s going to be a really bad year for allergies. Our road is already thinking it’s mud season and I was white-knuckling the drive home last night as my car was sucked into the muddy ruts.

Enough “griping” … I’m off to attack this beauty of a day. Wish me luck.

Gone knitting … I think.

After Christmas Report

Posted on December 27, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

We are back home after a wonderful whirlwind Christmas trip to New York City. Rather than spending the holiday staring at each other, we decided to head to the city to spend the holiday with our NY family and, maybe most importantly, our granddaughter.

We ate and drank and played games and watched movies, we spent lots of time together enjoying each other’s company. Christmas Eve we ate beef stew and shrimp scampi at B&K’s apartment and Christmas morning was also at their place where we had cinnamon rolls, muffins, mimosas and eggs and bacon. Christmas dinner was at K&S’s apartment and we had lasagna two ways, garlic bread and kale salad. I so love spending time with my family. We fit in time for baking Spritz cookies which is a family tradition and the kids even snuck a few into our bag when we were heading home. A nice surprise!

I designed my first “real” sweater for my granddaughter’s second Christmas and I wanted to show it to you. I have to look into how to grade and tech edit (and test knit) the pattern and decide if it’s worth it to publish the pattern. It’s a chimney sweater and popping out of the chimney is the jolly old elf. I had to re-knit the yoke to make it deep enough to fit a pair of little arms but I am pleased with the way it fit our little elf.

The sweater is knit in a DK weight yarn and fits my darling elf perfectly. The hat is a special addition because I wanted it to look like Santa’s head is popping out of the chimney. I added the little green garland to give it a pop of color. It’s sewn on with cotton thread. The little hat also fit perfectly and my daughter loved it. I’m guessing an elf hat will be requested another time.

I also knitted two berets for my future daughter-in-love. She requested spring weight hats for her golfing when the days are a bit chilly. I pulled tan yarn from around the store one day and she chose two favorites. A Malabrigo Arroyo in colorway 131 Sandbank. I wouldn’t have looked at this color twice (or once) but I really love the color and the hat is stunning. I loved the icord edging and will be looking forward to the report from the wearer. I was so excited to finish the hat before leaving the city that I forgot to photograph it. I have one in-process photo.

The pattern, Bisbis by Sari Nordlund, is simple enough for an adventurous beginner, starting with an i-cord and increasing rapidly. It’s a bit fiddly to do because you have only a few stitches on DPNs but it was easily completed in about 7 hours total knitting. I started it on Friday in my knitting class holding a strand of mohair with the sport weight superwash but I didn’t like the fuzziness. So, on Saturday on the ride into NYC, I frogged it and started again with just the Arroyo. I loved it.

The other hat is One Day Beret by Kristin Kapur. This one was knit in Cascade’s Aegean Tweed which is an organic merino wool and I used two colors and knitted two-round stripes. I carried the yarn on the inside of the hat so I didn’t have lots of ends to weave in. I also loved the way this hat knit up and the yarn is wonderful to work with. In fact, it was very similar to my favorite yarn, Patagonia by Juniper Moon Farms. Both are organic merino and they’re similar weights. This hat is a bit larger than Bisbis and ends in ribbing. It’ll be interesting to see which hat fits better, which is the better size, etc.

I’ve got to get better about photographing the hats at the end … I get excited and forget. Haha! Oh well. You can get the gist of what it looks like by this photo. I added a bit of an i-cord “string” or whatever that part of the tam/beret is called that sits at the top and then began the pattern. I am really pleased with both hats.

I have a long list of projects to start in the New Year. Mostly gifts but a few for myself. Sock for my daughter, Love and Light for my nephew’s bride-to-be for their shower, another for my bonus daughter’s engagement gift I want to finish my gnome KAL and knit the Arne & Carlos Advent Christmas Stocking for myself. My stocking isn’t my favorite anymore … and needs to be changed out. I’ll keep the old one just in case we get lucky and have all the kids for Christmas at our house one year.

I’ve been working on a pair of socks for my bonus son-in-law for a future gift and my Nancy’s vest. I’ve nearly reached the end of the button hold section and will be happy to wear it in the New Year. I have to find 7 perfect buttons for it, too. I have two sleeves to finish my Norwegian knitting project … actually, it’s one sleeve and a little bit of a second. I’ve had a challenge in how to knit a chart with the wrong number of stitches while decreasing to the right number of stitches. But I’ll figure it out. I hope. I’m so close to being able to wear it!

We will be spending New Year’s Eve with my brothers and their brides and we’re excited to see them. I hope your Christmas was merry and your New Year is healthy and happy!

Gone fishing.

A Very Long Ride Home on 12/26! Lots of tail lights for sure.

Back to the Drawing Board

Posted on December 10, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m posting a photo from yesterday because this morning we are facing a wall of fog. The air is relatively warm and the ground is cold after several days of unusually cold weather and our first plowable snow. We were in New York City taking care of our granddaughter and missed the snow – it’s not yet shoveled from the driveway and if we actually get rain today as the weathermen suggest, what little we have will be melted away.

We had a wonderful time in New York with the kids and grand. My eldest and her husband took off for Miami for a few days and we stepped in and stepped up to watch the baby and their very senior dog. And we had a wonderful time! Sylvie is engaging and has a great sense of humor. She’s adding new skills daily and communicates with baby sign language (hungry, more, all done). We both adore her and she really loves her Poppy.

While we were there I attached some legs to the Very Hungry Caterpillar that I knitted for her (and she loves). The pattern was simple enough to knit but didn’t have any legs in the pattern. I knitted six legs at home and brought them to NY to attach, a good choice since I didn’t knit more than a couple of rounds the entire six days we were there. I was playing with Sylvie or cleaning up or sleeping. Regardless, the caterpillar now looks more like the illustrations in the books.

If I were to knit this stuffed toy again, I would make the body and head in one piece rather than making them separately and stitching them together. I made the legs with a 4-stitch i-cord and they’re about an inch long. I pulled the yarn through after sewing them on the body and then tightened it up to make the legs “bend”. Because Sylvie is a chewer and everything goes into her mouth, the eyes and nose are sewn on, too. No buttons for this child.

I have designed and knitted her Christmas sweater for 2023. Unfortunately, I need to rework the upper part and, frankly, if I had time, I’d take off the binding at the bottom and extend the brick pattern by one or two repeats. But I don’t have time so I’m going to lengthen the chest/upper body and then block the sweater a little more aggressively than I would normally to widen it a bit and lengthen it, too.

I will be writing up the pattern and hope to find someone to help me grade the sizes. I think it’s super cute. I will be taking the top back to the first few round of raglan decreases and will add several more rounds to make the top a little deeper (and the sleeves a little wider at the shoulder). Overall, the size I made is too small for Sylvie. It would be pretty perfect for a 6-9 month old I think. She’ll wear it for a few photos and then take it off … lessons learned. Knitting is so good at making me feel more humble.

I also finished knitting the i-cord “string” for Sylvie’s second pair of thumbless mittens. These are red (duh!) and are quick to knit. I’m amazed to report that she even leaves them on! Next year we will graduate to larger mittens with thumbs but this year those little fingers spread out and it would be impossible to get a little thumb into a mitten thumb.

The last photo is exactly how much knitting I got done this past week. For someone who prides herself on daily knitting practice, I was SO busy with Sylvie, getting her fed, bathed, and changed, etc. that I just fell into bed at the end of the day. I didn’t read much or knit much at all. The car rides to and fro were different, however!

On my needles Christmas edition (I have more but they’ve been set aside for deadline knitting!)

A hat to match Sylvie’s Christmas sweater … my thought is to make it appear that she’s the Santa popping out of the chimney.
Socks in Paton’s Kroy in blue stripes
I have yet to start and must get going on a golf tam for Kyla in beige
AND I have to frog and reknit the Christmas sweater itself

Life is good. Gone knitting.

With Gratitude for all of our Blessings

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

We got home last night from a wonderful Thanksgiving trip to see Ned’s youngest and her fiance and to meet her future in-laws. His oldest daughter and her husband came out, too. It was a wonderful (almost) week with our family!!!

We went for a great walk on their near-by bike trail, spent lots of time eating and chatting, had the most wonderful Thanksgiving feast with Jake’s family, went bowling (and tested Ned’s new hip), ate at a delicious Indian restaurant with Jake’s family and went for a drive to the mountains and had lunch in Golden.

Highlights were seeing a pair of buck moose on the way to a state park photo spot. They were just enjoying their nibbles a bit off the side of the street. We stopped, of course, like foolish tourists and took photos. We supposed that they wouldn’t be able to reach us quickly because there was a six-foot barbed wire fence between us … we also did not try to annoy them closer to us. AND when we got to the scenic overlook of the mountains it was breathtakingly beautiful. Those mountains are incredible. We were treated to witnessing a proposal. We saw a woman “lurking” at the side of the trail and a couple walked hand-in-hand to a little clearing near the trail and before we knew it, they were face to face (at a distance from where we were standing and he got down on one knee. The lurker was a photographer and we were the unintended witnesses. A privilege to witness such a special intimate moment in a couple’s life.

We adore the new family we are adding to ours and are so excited for Amy & Jake’s wedding so we can get back to Denver. I missed being able to visit with my “little mentee” from Florida who has moved to the Denver environs with her little family. She was sick and I couldn’t risk getting sick because I have babysitting duty in NYC this weekend. I also was reminded that an Instagram knitting friend is in Denver but their Thanksgiving was on the day that we had time/opportunity to visit so we’ve postponed both until June. I also didn’t get to visit any yarn shops which will happen in June. But it was an excellent visit and we look forward to more in the future. Guess it’s time to get a Southwest Airlines credit card for the points, right?

My knitting sure took a back seat to visiting with the kids and family. I worked a bit on the blue baby sweater for one of my daughter’s bestie’s new baby boy. I have to finish the button bands and block it and get some buttons on Thursday at work and it’ll be done. I frogged the mistakes in my Nancy’s vest and have begun re-knitting with ten rows between buttonholes. Good grief, I can’t believe I read the pattern so badly the first time. I’ve said before that knitting is a humbling experience and this was once again proof of that. I started a pair of socks with yarn that has been deeply stashed (another one, yes!) in a Maine Lobster colorway. My intent is that they’re for me this time. The last ones I knit for me years ago felted slightly in the wash despite them being superwash wool … and I gifted them to Kate who has smaller feet.

I adore this man and the family that we’ve built together. I hope we get at least another 20 years to watch them all grow together! We are so lucky to have found each other and to have weathered the weirdness that we’ve been through at different times. We are grateful to live in our beautiful home and to have some wonderful friends who make our life richer and we are most thankful for our health and our children, children-in-love, and of course our grandchild.

Life is good. Our hearts are full. Gone knitting.

PS. While we were gone, we started the process of fixing up our little wonky cabin which will be available for rent (hopefully) next summer. We lived in the cabin for seven months when we were building our house. I think it’s especially a great place for writers, artists, contemplation … I know we did a lot of growing together in those seven months (and it was darned cold for the last few weeks!) More on that to follow.