Queen Bee Knits

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

Yummy Yarn and One I Can’t Find in Maine

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

I bought the most wonderful yarn to make my big brother a pair of socks for his double nickel birthday. I had to really search my brain to remember where I found this picture which was and is my inspiration for the pair that I’m knitting. But, I found it on Ravelry when I was searching for a pattern for a pair of socks for a man (with pictures and free.) The pattern was found on Ravelry (if you’re a knitter and don’t know about Ravelry, I’m sure you must have just crawled out from under a rock in a far, far off land!) but it was originally from Knitty (again … if you don’t know about it, not sure where you’ve been living.) If you visit the Knitty Website and search for “Java”, you’ll find this lovely sock pattern (and many other patterns) for FREE!

Anywhoooo … I have my very own tried and true pattern and since these are a gift, I’m going to use my trusty old pattern and I’m going to endeavor to add a couple of these beautiful cables. BUT, the reason that I’m writing about this picture really, is all about the yarn.

I loved the name, Java, first and foremost because I love coffee and so does my big brother. I’m not, however, a huge fan of brown but this pattern showed a lovely mix or tones of brown and so I decided to look into the yarn and the place from whence it comes. Which lead me to String Theory and their hand-dyed Bluestocking yarns. Imagine my surprise, when I realized that they’re only about two hours away in Blue Hill, Maine! So, feeling like this was karma, I ordered a skein of the yarn and had it mailed to our “camp” in Maine hoping that it would arrive before we had to leave for a weekend in Florida. Which, thanks to the good old US Postal Service (thank you very much!), it did!

And it is the yummiest yarn I’ve had the pleasure to knit with since knitting the Senorita Lolita sweater with the Koigu KPPM yarn (“skeinlettes” that I won in the Jimmy Beans Wool facebook design contest ever so long ago and which, it seems, I can’t yet buy in Maine despite the fact that it’s made just over the border in Canada!) I’ve wandered off again but as I reign myself back in to talk about the Bluestocking yarn from Maine, it’s the softest yarn and it’s a delight to knit with – never splitting and sliding smoothly over my needles and off. And … it really is pretty, too! And now I’m going to have to beg for another fiber field trip to the shop where maybe I can witness some dyeing!

… and according to the String Theory Website, there’s a fiber fair coming up really soon and I’m wondering what I’d have to promise my sweetie in order to get there for a workshop or two!

Gone knitting!

From Soft Ball to Hard Crack

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

This photo is from 2010 ... not yesterday!

I got three loads of laundry done yesterday. It’s a bit different here. I always know we’re home in Belgrade when the first load of wash goes up on the line. It’s totally old fashioned or retro or green or whatever you want to call it, but it’s comforting and I love looking out to see the clean clothes flapping in the breeze (or gale) off the lake. Towels were drying in an hour yesterday despite no sun. Everything smells better when it’s been dried outside – the towels are only a bit rougher!

Yesterday was a productive day – may be because the sun actually peeked it’s head out. I made some really yummy toffee with cashews in it (and dark chocolate on it!) Making candy is really a cinch if you can resist touching it when it’s all in the pan. It wasn’t easy the first time I did it but this time, I didn’t mind at all. A good candy thermometer is just about all you need … watch the mercury rise from soft ball to hard crack and then turn off the heat! The candy is yum-ers! If you’d like to get the recipe for the Sea Salt Chocolate Cashew Toffee, visit this wonderful blog … just click HERE and you’ll be magically transported (you may have to search for the recipe, links aren’t working properly, sorry!)! Since I changed a couple of things, you’ll have to know my toffee doesn’t look exactly like this (this is pretty but too “fussy” for me in Maine). I didn’t use sea salt because I used salted cashews. I had no Karo Syrup so I substituted honey. Finally, I used one 13 oz. bag of dark chocolate chips which I spread on top of the hot but starting to set toffee rather than dipping it in melted chocolate. If you let it get warmed up sitting on top of the hardening candy, you can easily spread it around with a knife. Then watch it disappear!

I’m finishing several little side projects.

You’ve already seen the picture of the Senorita Lolita Sweater (the first design for Prima Dogma by Queen Bee Knits). In case you’ve missed it, I’m providing another shot of the first and second iterations here. The first one “placed” in a design contest using Koigu skein-ettes. I am over the top pleased with it! The second, while it is not nearly as special visually, it’s perhaps more special to me in that it means that the pattern is written down and I’m making progress!!!

I have finished the fingerless mittens … these are a gift for a very special person. The pattern was great to follow and you can find it HERE … I did change just a few little things. I didn’t use the smaller needles to cast on (because I like the wider, looser, mitten cuffs and these climb up your arm), I likewise, didn’t cast off two stitches for the thumb (thought it might be too tight). But I love the yarn I used and they’re really pretty – can’t wait to present them to my sweet girl recipient (ha! thought I’d tell you who they are for, didn’t you?! Ha!) I used some yarn that my daughter gave me for my birthday last summer from KnitPicks. Click HERE to be magically transported … I used the “Enchanted” colorway. Pretty!

I did finish the boulette blanket (and wrote down the free pattern which is posted here in my blog) and it was really warm. Ugly but warm for the baby when he was here visiting!

I’m finishing all these little already-on-the-needles projects because I forgot all the patterns that I had intended to knit while we’re back East. They’re all down south. Go figure. Lucky we’ve got an event to attend and are flying back there for a long weekend so I can get the patterns and continue my knitting progress.

In the meantime, I have a cowl on the needles and the second design for the Prima Dogma line. Only “problem” is that with all our gray and rainy weather, this designer doesn’t feel a lot like designing.

I have a third pair of Birthday Party socks (thanks to my sister Kathy for the name!) on the needles, too. The first pair was a gift to Kathy for her birthday. The second pair is for sale in my Etsy shop. You can click HERE if you’d like to visit my shop. (Thank you, BTW, for supporting the talented artisans on Etsy.com … if you’ve never visited the site, it’s really quite amazing.)

So, I’m going to go out and brave the wind off the lake and the drizzly rain … just as soon as I have a cup of tea!

Gone knitting!

Scrappy Socks … and Low Socks

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

Finishing some projects and it feels oh, so very good!

I’ve been making a concerted effort to use my stashed yarn to clean out the closet and while I’ve been knitting away, the closet doesn’t seem to have a lot more space. Oh well, it will!

I’ve finished Cousin Lisa’s cowl and all it needs is some buttons and it can be wrapped and mailed. Now that it’s warm up north, she will be able to put it in moth balls and wait to wear it in the fall/winter! It turned out to be quite pretty.

I made a pair of socks … well, I started to make a pair of socks ages ago for my daughter’s friend Peter (who collects socks). Got all the way to the tip of the toe and realized that I wasn’t going to have enough yarn to finish two socks. Ok. What to do in this situation? I searched my LYS to see if I could match the yarn and do a toe in a complementary yarn. No such luck. SO, I just frogged them and put the yarn back in the stash and used another different yarn to complete the gift for Peter. Last week, I made a pair of “low” socks with the yarn and then started a pair of “Scrappy” socks to use up the many bits and pieces of sock yarn that I’ve collected (because I can’t throw it away!)

Anyway, I’m knitting … and that’s a good thing!

Same old Pictures, Same old Projects

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

Why is it that some days (or series of days) seem to bring up all the ugly in the world?

I’ve got three WIPs and I don’t like the way any of them are knitting up. The last project that I finished (a bee-utiful cowl for moi) is way too huge to even consider wear it – it would be too big to fit a COW, for God’s sake.

My motivation has fallen and can’t get up, I’m feeling frustrated and frozen. Ugh.

So, when I was lolling in my tub this evening, I wondered … so, why is it that I attack myself and think that I’m doing a crappy job and can’t even knit decently these days? Why don’t I blame the pattern or the yarn or the crappy, sticky needles with the inflexible cords?

WIP #1 – a Gaia Shoulder Hug made from Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn that I bought up in Maine last fall. The sample in the store was really pretty. Mine, not so much. The colors are too muted and it’s difficult to figure out when the colors start to change, my needles (old ones that I don’t even know what the brand is but they’re awful!) are way too sticky and the cord in inflexible. Add to that the yarn is scratchy and stiff – I sure hope it softens up! I’m actually hating it.

WIP #2 – a Thermis cowl for my cousin. I had enough navy blue left from her hat and mittens to make half a cowl. My LYS had none of the same yarn so I bought some similar (match the fiber and the weight, color must blend) and “blend” the two yarns. I’ve gotten up to where the button placket starts and I’m not sure how to blend the yarns without having ends to weave in on each end of each row. Even an “old” knitter like me needs help so tomorrow I’ll go ask Laura at my LYS. She’s a GENIUS!

WIP #3 – the third (fourth?) iteration of the Senorita Lolita sweater that I designed oh so many months ago which is pictured above … and didn’t write down the pattern as I went. Big mistake! Now, trying to re-knit it and writing it down, I am struggling. Big time. I’ve made it to the spot where it’s time for sleeves … and I just don’t want to pick it up.

So, just for today, I’ve decided to put aside the knitting (I know, everyone knows that one of my favorite lines is, “I have to finish this row”) and pick up a book or maybe a knitting magazine … I have at least three new ones that I haven’t really read … I’ve glanced at the pictures. And that will be ok. I am a good knitter, I’m a good designer, I’m a good person … I know that. It must be the needles! (They’re going in the trash just as soon as the Gaia is complete.

Koigu Skeinlettes Are in the Building!

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Queen Bee Knits

Yesterday my wonderful, handsome (pretty?), super special mail delivery person had this envelope of yarn-y love for me! Woo-Hoo! I am so excited to get knitting!

These are the skeinlettes from Koigu yarns that I won – actually the contest was on the Koigu Facebook page but the yarn was send by Jimmy Beans Wool.

Gotta get my needles out and warm them up … I have exactly 18 days to design and knit a darling roll-neck sweater for my little Lola (who hates wearing clothes)!

I’m thinking that since she was named after “Senorita Lolita” from Damn Yankees, something a little sassy and saucy, a little glitzy, maybe a ruffle but certainly lots of color … because we all know that “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets”!

Give me a few days and I’ll have a plan! Knitting to win! Go!

Watch Gwen Verdon sing Whatever Lola Wants in Damn Yankees by clicking here!