Queen Bee Knits

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

WIP Wednesday

Posted on January 15, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

My amaryllis is in full bloom this morning as it has been for a few days. I’ve been ignoring it despite its beauty and it probably needs water. I’ll get there, I promise. BUT it’s a glorious sunny day today and I don’t have a meeting until 2 so I thought I’d take a few minutes to write about WIPs (Works In Process, Muffin). I have several and a couple of FOs, too.

I’ve finished a couple of projects and one has been sent off already. I finished the pink sparkly blanket for my granddaughter’s baby, Baby. She requested the color and the “spahkly” and what kind of a grandmother would I be if I didn’t knit what she really wants?! Ha! Ha! The blanket should arrive on Friday and I hope I get to see her open it. Thank the heavens for FaceTime!

I have also finished knitting two tams for a long-time customer, Judy. I think I’ve knitted twenty of these tams for Judy over the years. The pattern is no longer available on Ravelry (not sure why, but I had to reach out to the designer for a copy as I’d cleaned out my paper patterns in favor of electronic copies on Ravelry. Thankfully, she was kind enough to email me a copy.) Anywho … the hat is the Quick Lacy Slouch hat knit, this time, in Berroco Vintage Chunky. One black and one a dark navy blue. They’re drying as I write after wet blocking.

The little red square is a sample for the store for our Valentine’s knit kit. We will have a crochet kit, too, but I am not a confident crocheter so one of our other “girls” has made the sample. I’ll put them together this week at work. Tomorrow.

Last, but not least, my daughter sent me a stocking that was made for her ex-husband and I’ve removed his name from the stocking and some evening soon I’ll be adding her dog’s name to the stocking so she can still use it. This was a kit by Accessories Unlimited.

Not really knitting but I also finished a puzzle this week. I was sent this for Christmas and while I don’t get the gaming part of the puzzle, it was a challenge to make and has an extra bonus – when you finish the puzzle you switch the three sections around and there’s an extra section to build. It was fun and I got a sticker that says …

OK, it’s WIP time.

I’ve got a Hoodola on the needles. Using stashed yarn by Berroco, a discontinued yarn, Inca Gold. It’s a DK weight combination of merino and silk so it’s really wear-it-next-to-the-skin soft. I didn’t swatch for it so I hope I have enough to cover my huge noggin. I do have a skein or two of a dark green if I need it for the cowl or the cinch. It’s a very clever design with an applied icord edge and a seamless cast on that starts at the top of the crown of the head, if that makes sense. I missed one of the decreases on one side so I’ll have to remember to add an extra decrease at the end to make the stitch count right.

I still have a pair of Christmas socks on the needles. I’ve finished one sock and have begun the second … working my way down the leg of the sock. This is my go-to project if I am walking on my walking pad or in a meeting because I really don’t have to look at it for the most part.

My other WIP is my New Year’s cast on which is Winter’s Finery by Rosemary Hill (Designs by Romi). I love her shawls and this is a special skein from when I went to Knit City in Montreal and the dyer is a friend of a friend. The colorway is perfect for this shawl. You’ll see!

Other WIPs that I haven’t really done anything with for a while are as follows:

Honestly, the only ones I really should count are the ones I plan to knit and that’s the first two. The pink mittens I bought the kit for the embroidery at Knit City and I’m not enjoying the embroidery … it’s way too fiddly. BUT I’ve gotten too far to go backwards, I think, so I’ll finish the embroidery on this one and will likely NOT embroider the second mitten. I do want to wear these because the color is lovely. (I don’t really NEED a new pair of mittens, but …) Second is the gift bag that I am knitting as a swatch for a class that I took in Shetland colorwork and color choices, in particular for that style of knitting. I loved the class but I haven’t begun to make progress on the project. I really need to pick it up … but the holidays weren’t a time when I had the head space for stitch counting. Now I think I’m ready.

I’m going to frog (rip it, rip it!) the next two. One is the sweater I wanted to knit in a 3T size for my granddaughter for next winter. I’ve adjusted the needle size and the sweater is coming out too small so I will frog it and work on it later in the year. I have the same yarn in pink, too. AND I’m going to frog what little I’ve done on the Three Season Cardigan that I started ages ago. I love the yarn but it’s a bugger to frog. Regardless, it’s been sitting on the needles for too long and I fear for my tension. Frog I must.

In the queue are a couple more (mind you, these are all in project bags around my atelier and they’re starting to bug me. So I have to make some tough decisions. All wound up and ready to start is a Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer in two shades of purple. If I would just cast this on and get through the yoke, it’d be a quick knit. Alas, I haven’t. Next is a new idea, Bang out a Sweater month is February so I found this great orange (ginger colorway?) yarn and I want to bang out a Bolin cardigan by Norah Gaughan which I will cast on on January 31. I will finish it in February. I will! Next up is a pair of fingerless mitts to replace my daughter’s favorite pair, Chivalry Mitts which have a “L heart T” on the gusset. The T is gone now and she needs a new pair for her new life wherever that leads. She’s doing really well and I’m so proud of her. These are a priority. The yarn is currently sitting on my desk. Next, I have yarn for a hat or headband for my daughter’s friend, Sheldon. I made him mitts for his early morning runs for Christmas and he’d like a hat. He’s a very knit-worthy person (and he “stole” the socks I knitted as a wedding gift for his husband when they divorced because Sheldon loves his hand-knit socks.) On my windowsill is yarn I pulled out of my stash to make a gnome. I’ve bought the pattern and it won’t take long but it hasn’t been a priority so it still sits on the windowsill. AND not pictured is Doris. She’s hidden away in my cabinet, mostly finished and just not put together. Poor Doris. One day, Sylvie will love to have her to play with and I think Doris will like being played with. She’s naughty like that. Doris, that is.

Gone knitting.

Snow Machines have quilted the ice-scape – out my atelier window this morning

Tuesday Report

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It is a bit chilly today. When I woke up at 6:30am it was around 10 degrees and will only get up to 22-ish. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a day to myself today. I spent the morning having coffee and relaxing as usual, cleaned up the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher, got dressed, and after my hubby went to work I started by Christmas puzzle. Turns our my puzzle attention span is very long because it was 3pm before I stopped and went upstairs to do some work.

It’s been a good start to the week. I got some baking done yesterday and my dear hubby made vegetarian chili at my request. I’ve decided that I don’t love meat much any more and I’m exploring vegetarian eating. I’m married to a guy who needs meat at every meal and who does the majority of our cooking … it will be interesting.

I baked some pecan rolls. These are wonderful because they don’t include any yeast so they’re quick and easy to make. No waiting for the dough to rise! The one thing I do is I don’t mix the toasted pecans in with the filling because it’s more difficult to spread. I spread the filling and then sprinkle the nuts on it and roll away! The recipe is Easy No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls (New York Times Cooking). When it’s just the two of us, we don’t put the frosting on until we warm up a roll or two and then frost them … warming up frosted cinnamon rolls makes the frosting melt away. These are delicious!

I’ve been working on a couple of different projects. Yesterday I spent a good amount of time on my Hoodola by Laura Nelkin. I”ve gotten about a third of the rows knitted and I had to put it aside to eat a few Doritos so I picked up my New Year shawl, Winter’s Finery by Romi Hill. I had to go back before I went ahead because I had made a mistake on the spine somehow and decided that I couldn’t live with the way it looked especially since it’ll be at the top of the shawl. Frogged back a few rows and the reknit it. I even made a little bit of progress.

The lobster hat chart is complete and I’ve moved on to the sea weed chart for the crown. BUT before I started the crown I put the stitches on a strand of yarn and gave it a little bit of a steam block so I could see how they’ll look when finished. I’m happy to report that they’re going to be fantastic! I put the stitches back on my needles and continued knitting.

Today I spent hours working on my Christmas puzzle and then had to pay bills and my new walking pad was delivered so I had to try it out. Next I’ll be ordering a standing desk and I hope I can write these posts while I walk … preferably without getting hurt.

WIPs … What to carry into the New Year

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

My Amarylis is Blooming! Happy, bright colors help in Maine winters!

I started 2020 with a list of WIPs.

Dolores by Franklin Habit
Bristol Ivy’s shawl
~~Clog Socks (one was done, this was the second one needed)~~
Lobster Hat
Hope Cardigan
Good Karma Shawl
Mitts for Flo
Battenberg Blanket
Socks for Rose
~~Maine Mittens~~

This year I finished the The Shape of a Bay shawl. It was a kit that I bought at Medomak Fiber Arts Camp two summers ago. it got sidelined but I really wanted to finish it and wear it! It’s a beauty! I also finished the socks for my granddaughter, Rose.

I didn’t even begin two of the “WIPs” … so, do they even count as WIPs if I didn’t ever start them? Maybe they should have been put on a wish list rather than a WIPs list. Anyway, the Good Karma shawl and mitts for Flo have not even seen the needles yet. Needless to say, I’ll carry them along.

I frogged the clog sock because who knew, all those months later, what size I made (I didn’t mark my pattern well before I put it in time out.) I also frogged the Maine mittens. I have two skeins of Bartlett yarn and ton of stashed fingering bits and bobs enough for clog socks. I won’t carry them forward but I will eventually make the clog socks again (I’ve felted a couple of pairs) and I really want to make the mittens but they were too hard on my hands this year.

Remaining on my needles, or off of them and in time out, are Dolores, Lobster Hat, Hope Cardigan and the Battenberg Blanket.

I got some good progress done on the Hope Cardigan this year and I’m excited to keep going on it. I like the weight and the different construction of this sweater so I’ll take it with me into 2021. I’ll also commit to finishing Dolores (and the outfits that I have bought) and the Battenberg Blanket. Although I won’t make any more tiny granny squares, I’ll just attach them and make do with whatever size it makes. The assembly is what I find way too tedious!

I had 10 WIPs on my list in my new Bullet Journal planner. I listened to the Yarniacs podcast this morning and I decided to look at those WIPs and decide how many I really want/NEED to carry along into the New Year.

I have decided to cut my WIPs down to

Dolores
Hope Cardigan
Battenberg Blanket
Fine Sand Sweater
Arne & Carlos Quarantine KAL cushion

I’ll add Mitts for Flo, Good Karma shawl and Fish #3 to my list of things I want to knit … maybe my Ravelry queue would be a more appropriate place for them to sit since they’ve never been started and they’re not technically WIPs. That will feel better.

While I was adding to my Ravelry queue, I deleted a bunch of projects/patterns that I had marked as favorites or put on my queue and that lightened my load a bit more. Now, if I could only get that efficiency in the house … closets, drawers, pantry …

As we step out of 2020 and into 2021, I’d like to wish each of you a lightened load. This has been a trying time and it sounds like masks and distancing will continue in the future. It’s all about how we carry these “restrictions” with us. I choose to take the blessings with me – our health, my love of family, gratitude for a roof over our heads and food in our pantry among others – When I can do that I make my life easier and happier. Light, love and laughter keep me smiling (and I can see it in the eyes of others!) I’m so grateful to be a maker this year. Making – knitting, baking, sewing, etc. keeps me focused on a forward-looking task. While I am sometimes fearful, I am mostly content and I wish you the same contentment. Thank you for reading my blog and I appreciate the sweet comments and encouragement you’ve offered over this year. I know 2021 is going to be another great year. Cheers!

What is a Weekend?

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

Here we are on Saturday again. I’m trying like crazy to make the weekends feel like a weekend, like normal. At least a new normal. Today we went on a drive to Farmington, Maine to get some lobster and steamers for dinner, They were out of fish already. There was a long line of people, respectfully standing six feet apart, some with masks. I stayed in the car while my hubby went to get the food. I am realizing that I am fearful of other people and I need to conquer that fear because my dear hubby is at risk, too. Not just me.

The drive was enjoyable and I was glad to leave “campus” (home). It was actually sunnier in Farmington than it was here today. But we are enjoying the merganzers and loons and other feathered creatures returning to the lake. We scared a critter swimming by the house early this morning – the tail slap told us that it was a beaver. Pretty wonderful.

I’ve finished a dishcloth promised to my middle child. I had made one for her brother for Christmas and she wanted the same one because she liked the larger size.

Not Really a Mystery Dish Cloth in Sugar and Cream

I’ve also finished my son’s birthday socks. If you see him, please don’t tell him about them. He’s entitled to one pleasant surprise on his 30th birthday. This will be a tough day for all of us when we can’t be together to celebrate but when this is over, there’s going to be a massive celebration!

Classic Socks for the Family by Yankee Knitter

I used a KFI sock yarn that is cashmere and wool and these are so soft! I made a pair for my sweet hubby for Christmas with the same yarn. I liked it so much that I bought a second ball to make for my boy. I had a kerfuffle around the number of stitches on the first sock so I had to frog a bit and reknit, but they’re done and they’re lovely. I hope he will love them and know how much I love him – he has huge feet and his socks take forever to knit.

Once I got my Find Sand sweater to the place where I divided the sleeves from the body, I tried it on. Boy, am I glad I did. I didn’t do a swatch for this sweater and I should have. Call me lazy. I have frogged the whole project and will now do a swatch and reknit the pattern. It was too small and my stitch count was way off. I had two more stitches per two inches … when you’re making a “me-size” sweater, you will have a significantly smaller sweater if you’re this far off. No amount of blocking will help. Hence, frogging. If I didn’t laugh at myself, I’d be miserable. I can laugh, give myself a brief slap on the wrist and then move on. This is one of the great lessons that I’ve learned from knitting. Forgiveness of self.

Arne and Carlos Quarantine KAL “Patches”

I’ve finished 18 patches for the Arne and Carlos Quarantine KAL and they’re great! This has been such a happy project for this difficult time. While I was unable to focus on larger projects, as I’ve said before, I could focus on these little ones. I am waiting to see what Arne and Carlos say that we’re making before I finish mine but I am thinking that I’d like to make a wall hanging rather than a pair of pillows. BUT with that said, I kind of like the idea of pillows, too. I’d back mine with denim and they’ll match the pillow I wove at Medomak Fiber Arts Retreat last summer. I’ll let you know.

Gone knitting!

View from my Atelier window … there’s a loon out there, fishing

Find all the details on these projects and more on my Ravelry project page. I’m lindar on Ravelry. Find me on Facebook at Queen Bee Knits by LindaWarner and on Instagram as @QueenBeeKnits

Frogged Again!

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

The sun is out again today and it’s a beautiful day in our neighborhood. It’s not even that cold! Somehow, the days keep ticking by and are filled with all sorts of different activities.

Yesterday I made five face masks.

They’re not perfect but they’ll work and they’re all made with lots of love! I hope they’ll help people who need them. I bought a kit from a store in Auburn, Maine and I got about 30 pairs of fabric rectangles all cut out to 7×9 inches. I also got the elastic cord that you can’t find anywhere around these days! I am a very slow stitcher and it took me forever to get these done, but I did it and I will do the rest over a few days. Or weeks.

I posted this picture a few posts back. This is a shawl that I am test knitting for Lori Versaci (VersaciKnits). I am having focus problems that I’ve written about earlier. Well, this is no exception. I have knitted and frogged and knitted and frogged again on one section. I don’t seem to be able to count to three, yarn over and go again. Ha! Ha! I am going to try once more and have the right number of stitches on row 4. On I go … and I hope I can count and yarn over this time. I can certainly count my stitches and read my knitting but this is ridiculous!

I am attributing this lack of focus to the corona virus pandemic and my concern about my little Lola who hasn’t eaten again today. It looks like the dreaded three hour drive to Massachusetts is on for tomorrow. We will drive down, drop her at my brother’s office and wait for her tests to be done. Then we’ll drive back home. We will wear gloves, wash our hands, bring our own lunch and shower when we get home. And we will have some answers.

I continue to knock out the Arne and Carlos blocks for their Quarantine KAL. We are up to day eight and I have through day six finished (one block needs ends woven in.) I continue to enjoy this. It’s in manageable bites and it feels good to be able to manage something in this chaos.

I also got my neighbor’s birthday gift delivered back to me. She turned 60 a month or so ago and I gave her yarn for her birthday with the promise to make her a pair of socks. They’ll be worsted weight and shorted in the leg so they can be worn as slipper socks or socks. I’ve not knitted with the yarn before – it’s new to our shop. I’ll get pictures up and the story of the pattern as I get something knitted and have something to show!

Gone knitting!

Footie Socks Failure

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Queen Bee Knits

Last night I was up until 11pm finishing my first Footie Socks by Miriam Felton. I’ve made a pair before but I was especially excited to use my Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the Rockwell colorway.

When I put the sock on my foot I was really disappointed … it didn’t fit! I had an extra inch or so of space at the heel. The foot was a bit too loose too. I’m not sure how I was so far off! The picture below shows how much fabric I can easily pinch … way too much for the sock to stay as it is. Boo.

This morning I frogged the sock and rewound it. I’ll remeasure my feet and start again … being more aware of the heel to make sure I get all the wraps and turns right. I love the new method of short rows that she describes! It makes seeing the short row wraps so much easier! More on that later.

Gone knitting.

Making the Big Decisions

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Queen Bee Knits

Last summer I bought the most beautiful yarn at the Maine Fiber Frolic.

Seacolors Yarn

And I also got a “free” pattern with the sweater. I really liked the idea of the boxy cardigan with this yarn using a random pattern with the three colors. Different sleeves. Not too matchy-matchy.

Over the summer and fall, I got all the pieces knitted and was ready to put them together. The shoulders and sleeves, though, didn’t fit. They were at least two inches off (the sleeves were too small for the space that they were supposed to fit into). Well, what to do?

I mulled it over and decided that I had to re-knit the sleeves. Frog them and re-knit them with more increases so that they’d fit into the space … and then as I prepared to frog the sleeves and re-knit them, I noticed that I had (for some unknown reason) joined two balls of yarn in the middle of the back right about exactly where it would be most noticeable. What was I thinking? So, I decided to frog the back to the join and re-knit that, too. And then when I got that far down and was ready to rejoin the yarn, I noticed that I did it not once, but twice and there was another join just about two inches below the first one.

A second join in the middle of the back … what was I thinking?

That did it. I frogged the whole sweater. It went from this …

All the pieces were finished and blocked …

To this … in just a few minutes!

Oh well, that’s one of the most wonderful things about knitting … you can start anything over if it isn’t pleasing you. This one wasn’t pleasing me at all. But I do love the yarn!

And if anyone is wondering why we may be allergic to wool? Well, check out what was left on my desk after I frogged and re-wound the wool!

Wool dust … ahhhhh – choo!

Gone knitting!

Frustration Strikes!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Queen Bee Knits

Yes, it did strike today … and on more than one level. Kind of like the s#%t that hit the fan a couple of days/posts ago. Many little annoyances … placed carefully in one day so that I’ll appreciate the easier days, perhaps?

I had gotten pretty close to done with the back of my Dropps tunic. Only to realize today that I was making the XXL size rather than the XL. I’m simply not an XXL. So … without further ado, I had to frog it. Had to. There was no way to finagle it to be right without a battle. I’ve pulled my beautiful green Signature needles out again and have cast on the proper number of stitches for the XL tunic and will get back to where I need to be!

I did finish the fingerless mitts that have been languishing in my project bag for ages. I think they were started way back before Christmas when I was making oodles of fingerless mitts for an order. These were made with Lana Bamboo by Cascade and they’re really pretty – will go well with denim as they’re a lovely mottled blue color way. I am pleased with the pattern even though I didn’t care for the needles that I used (at least for the second one). Nor did I mark the pattern well when I knitted up the first mitt so that I made a couple of matching errors on mitt number two. No matter, I frogged a few rows and started again so they were “right” and they matched each other.

The “throne” at our Maine house has been malfunctioning this summer. It’s been “out of service” for several days. Today I was told it was finished and ready to be used again. Discovered that it’s not really and will have to wait until Thursday … in the meantime, I guess I’m grateful for the upstairs bathroom!

Company arrives Thursday and we still haven’t gotten a new vacuum – well, we did but it didn’t suck. Literally. It’s been returned but the house needs vacuuming NOW! 🙂 Maybe we can get a new vacuum with suction included tomorrow. I don’t think our blankets will be back from the dry cleaner in time for their beds. Sure hope the weekend is warmer than it’s been so they don’t miss them. Antique wool blankets are wonderful but they do have to be cleaned once every decade or so. LOL!

Please don’t notice the dirty/old stove! Thanks!

I did make a successful breakfast food – pull-apart cinnamon bread. It looks pretty good and I hope it tastes equally good. I was in the way in the kitchen but dinner was also on the table at a decent hour. With construction and dogs and all that has been happening in this house over the last few days, it’s a miracle that I can get anything accomplished.

If I could see in the dark, I’d be going for a bit of a walk tonight to walk off the frustration. For now, I’m not knitting. I’m just done. Maybe it’s time for bed.