Queen Bee Knits

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

Two FOs before Friday and Now it’s Sunday

Posted on August 2, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

We’ve had a couple of warm days here on the lake and a little bit of rain. We need rain! Today we’re entertaining a friend of my hubby’s from our summer camp days when we were teenagers and the guys have gone into town to see the Odyssey movie and I stayed home to enjoy the beautiful day … and knit.

I’ve taken a walk around the yard and the cone flowers, daisies and black-eyed Susans are blooming like crazy and the hydrangeas are completely abuzz with bees and other pollinators. It’s wonderful to see all the bugs because it means our property is healthy for them. Yay! The veggie garden gave us the gift of another cucumber and another zucchini today and there are a couple of summer squash still on the vine. The tomatoes are coming along … I’m still waiting for my native tomato sandwich!

And I have two FOs that I finished on Thursday night and Friday while I was teaching. I’ve finished my Easy Folded Poncho in the charcoal gray colorway. I had blocked it and just needed to seam the 13″ because I am not adding any neck. They call for a slouchy neckline but I like the poncho just as it is. I can wear it with a blouse or a tee and it works. I am so excited to have a gray poncho to wear once the weather turns cooler.

I also finished my Broadgate Tabard and I wore it to work on Friday. I am happy as can be with this project. The linen yarn has the most incredible drape and it fits beautifully. I haven’t taken a completely finished photo yet but I do have photos. I will knit with this yarn again (I just have to find it in the United States.) This is a garment that I can wear in all four seasons with different shirts underneath … tank top, tee shirt and blouse will all be great under it. I’m thrilled with this project and it wasn’t a particularly difficult knit … at least once I got the hang of the pattern and could see the crossed stitches and the “lines”. Highly recommend!

The last photo is of me trying it on after the shoulders were seamed and before I added the neckline or the ties. I chose to knit about an inch of ribbing at the neckline rather than the long turtleneck because it’ll allow me to wear it all year long (Yes, I wear linen all year!) I have already worn it once and the green colorway is still stunning and I am thrilled with how this came out.

Friday afternoon I worked some more on my Sabai Top in a cotton/linen blend yarn by Cascade. I wish I had a 100% linen for this top! The pattern begins with the neckline and then splits the front and back and each side is worked down with increases at each side for the underarms.

I’ve finished one side’s increases and have begun the second side. Once they’re both done, I’ll join them in the round and knit around and around and around forever or to the bottom ribbing. I love that I won’t have to go back and pick up stitches for the sleeve openings. I think this will be a great piece and I’m happy to be making it in black. If I love it, there may be another one in my future … this time in linen (I’ll find my green linen yarn in another great color … maybe a tomato red?) Anyway, I am enjoying the construction and the yarn and I think it’ll be a great summer top.

I also decided to cast on a new project. I have three balls of Berroco Ultra Wool Handpaint that I grabbed out of the clearance section at work ages ago. I had thought I’d make something for one of the kiddos with it and I decided to do just that and knit vests for my grand-nephews in Salem. I love the cheerful yarn and I got the larger of the two vests knitted to the split of the front for the neckline in one day – admittedly, I didn’t get much done yesterday – and it was a wonderfully written pattern (by Knitting Pure and Simple). I have knitted several of her patterns and the only “complaints” that I have are twofold: 1) the sweaters are often knitted at a very loose gauge on larger than I think are reasonable needles and 2) stitch counts are various key points at a minimum should be added. I know that knitters today are more needy than their predecessors but I think, at a minimum, key spots need to know how many stitches in total there should be but it would be nice to have a breakdown of those stitches, too. My humble opinion.

I’m very happy with this yarn and the pattern and I think it’s adorable. I can’t wait to see the boys wearing them! I’ll likely gift them in early fall and I hope we get down for a visit before too long! I miss seeing the Massachusetts family and I hate leaving home at this time of year when I can enjoy the porches and the warm. Soon enough it’ll be cold again and we’ll be complaning about that just like we complain about the heat now. Right?

My TWT Sock Sprint socks are in time out. I don’t like the yarn or the pattern that I’m knitting them with. I have to decide if I want to frog the socks entirely or keep struggling and finish them. In the meantime, I think I’m going to buy another pattern by Summer Lee, actually it’s her first cuff club collection and I really really love the socks with the flower cuff (it’s the first one in the photos on her cuff club page on Ravelry). I bought the yarn for these socks in Quebec City and I think I’ll enjoy knitting them more than the ones I’m currently working on … so, why not enjoy what I’m knitting? And having said that, I think I’ll frog the Lochside socks that I am not enjoying at all and use the yarn for another project.

I spent some time going through my stash this past week-ish and found several skeins that I’ve finished the projects for and didn’t use all the yarn that I bought. I am fortunate to work in a LYS that has a liberal return policy and I have returned twelve hanks of yarn for credit which means that I have some shopping to do. I have an extensive queue of projects that I want to knit and need to knit a Christmas sweater for my granddaughter and a Santa hat as well. I’d like to knit a Christmas sweater for my grandson, too. I passed the little Santa hat on to his mom when they were here. It’ll be perfect for him this year.

I have also procured some new yarn this week. I loved the design by Isabell Kraemer called It is Magic and I liked the pop of color. I’ve sat on that thought for quite a while and bit the bullet this week and bought the kit which was discounted by mYak yarn company. I am excited to get the yarn and knit the sweater including the little patch (mine won’t say “I want magic” but will likely say “be kind” or similar). I sitll have the two hanks of hand-dyed silk mohair from Art Yarns, too, and the pattern to make the boxy sweater that I saw on Tribe Yarns socials. Good grief, I need to get off social media, it’s costing me a fortune. (*wink)

So many patterns, so little time. Gone knitting.

Finishing

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Our Messalonskee “TV” station has been providing so much entertainment in the last few days. We heard these two chirping at each other before we found them – it took a minute or two to figure out they were sitting in the tree at the corner of our shared driveway. And there they sat until my DH (dear hubby) had to chase down our naughty, wandering dog. We’ve seen a “critter” swimming by a couple of times and once it dove with a slap of its tail (a beaver). I’ve heard the owls in the evenings again which tells me they’re coming back out of the deep woods. And until this morning we had a couple of female hummingbirds. There’s been a lot of activity on and around the water with cormorants, gulls, loons, ducks and even a dead pike.

I’ve been at work inside finishing projects and just got back from a Target run to buy wrapping paper and tissue paper so that I can package them up and send them off on Monday. I’ll have one to deliver locally in late November but the rest will be fully checked off my list. Yay!

I’ve spoken about the baby hats and matching thumbless mittens. I’ve shown you the French Macaroon and cabled toddler mittens for my great-nephew’s birthday. And today I blocked my Fiddlehead Mittens and I’m tickled pink with them. They turned out beautifully if I do say so. I knit them with a partial skein of Patagonia organic merino by Juniper Moon Farm and a skein of handspun by Clarion Call Fiber Arts that my daughter gifted to me several years ago. I finally found the perfect project for it. The lining is knitted using a hank of yarn that I must have bought at Mardens years ago it’s Classic Elite Yarns, Escape. The Classic Elite company has closed. Despite the fact that these aren’t “my” colors, I love them.

And once blocked, the stitches have evened out and they are simply stunning. I have knitted a lot of colorwork but I love these the most of any. The lining yarn is so soft (I hated knitting with it!) and the little bit of yak in it will make these mittens so warm and cozy.

I have packed up the little Oorik vest, with another little toddler-sized sweater that I made for a workshop that I taught and a pair of the toddler cabled mittens for my darling granddaughter. I have five more packages to wrap and get ready to ship off on Monday. I’m very pleased with myself. This leaves me the Christmas stocking to knit for my college roommate’s grandson and a pair of socks for my brother-in-love. I have caked up my son’s hat yarn and will likely cake up his fiancees hat yarn, too. I believe these will be my last projects for Christmas 2024 leaving me open to start a couple of sweaters that I am itching to knit.

I have several to choose from and that I already have the yarn in my stash:
Big Love in Berroco Pima 100, Lane’s Island in Berroco Remix Light, Ouzo in Patagonia (or Wool and Honey), Poet in Julie Aslin fingering from Knit City Montreal, Cardoon in a yarn (forget it’s name) that I bought on clearance at work, Diggory Venn in Lore and there may be a few others in my stash but this is a good start. Ha! Ha!

Aaaaand, on that note, I’m going to sign off and get cracking on the stocking. Think I can get it done in a couple of days? Yeah, maybe not.

Gone knitting.

Just Keep Knitting …

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

The world is getting uglier and I am feeling more tense and anxious. I dislike conflict and I really despise lies and there is a lot of conflict and a lot of lies flying around in America in advance of the November election.

If I ruled the world, PACs wouldn’t be allowed to advertise. They’re the most hateful and dishonest advertisers. Candidates would only be allowed to advertise about themselves; what they believe, what they stand for, what they will do if elected. If I ruled the world, Facebook posts that call people names would be immediately deleted, even if it was calling someone a republican or a democrat, a liberal or a conservative or any of the mangled iterations of those words we’ve come to accept as normal.

To deal with my anxiety, I’ve been following some sage advice:

Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.
Elizabeth Zimmerman

This is my newest grand-dog, Gus. My son adopted Gus and asked me to knit him a sweater because … well, just because I can. I found a sweater specifically for Pugs on Ravelry, Pug Dog Sweater. This seemed a really good place to begin. I measured Gus and knit the XXXS, Sammie Size in a lovely shade of green. Yarn is Berroco Vintage, a worsted weight acrylic and wool blend that is machine washable and dryable. The pattern is a simple and quick knit, especially when you’re knitting a teeny tiny sweater for a little puppy. (Have a gander at the Pug photos in sweaters on the pattern page and you’ll notice that our Gus isn’t a typically shaped Pug.) The green sweater fit around him perfectly IF he isn’t wearing his harness but it’s a couple of inches too short.

So, back to the drawing board I went and knit him a blue version, also in Vintage, in the next size up, XXS. It’s in the mail as we speak and I am eager to see how this one fits. Pictures will follow.

I’ve also been knitting socks like crazy for the 2020 Sock Challenge that we were having at the shop and that I announced to my FB followers. To my delight, some of my FB followers have gotten in on the fun! I’ve just finished my September socks … there are two pairs because I finished the main pair in record time and decided a pair of baby socks in a ball of yarn that I’v had sitting around forever (since before I knew that you needed three balls of this yarn to make an adult pair of socks, perhaps?)

The first pair are in Raggi sock yarn. I love this yarn and I love that it knits up so quickly in an Aran weight. These socks are Urban Rustic Socks by Elizabeth McCarten. This is a new to me (free) pattern that used a seeded rib (which I’d never knitted before) and a new-to-me heel construction. It’s a heel flap and gusset but knitted differently than I’ve ever seen. I love that there is no pattern below the ankle because my feet don’t like patterns on them, apparently. These socks come in two sizes, I made the smaller size. I can’t wait for boot weather now!

The bonus socks this month are a pair of teeny tiny baby socks. I had a ball of Patons Kroy Sock yarn in my stash that I’ve been itching to knit with because I only had the one ball. (I also have a couple of single balls of Regia baby sock yarn to use up.) I used my favorite sock pattern for this one, Yankee Knitter’s Classic Socks #29 by Melinda Goodfellow. If you don’t have this pattern, you need it. NEED it! I did my best without sweating it too much – because I am knitting to be LESS anxious, right? – to match the two socks and they’re pretty close. I love this yarn and they’re really soft for baby. I have more yarn and will knit more little bitty socks as time allows.

My Hope Cardigan is once again on the needles … the first half of the sweater, pictured above, is done and I have gotten most of the way up the second arm. This sweater is knitted from cuff to middle twice and then stitched together (don’t ask me how, I’ve not read that far ahead.) I am not sure what I did for the first sleeve, however, and I’ve reached the end of the written instructions for the second sleeve and it’s about two and a half inches shorter than it needs to be. So … today I’ll be having a closer look in the good daytime light to see what I did on the first sleeve so I can complete the second sleeve and move on. This pattern is only available in Making Magazine #3, Dots. These magazines are a bit pricey but they’re so worth it. I love the variation of crafts that they feature in the books and I have made quite a few projects out of them. I’m knitting my Hope Cardigan in the suggested yarn, Berroco Remix Light. I love the drape and weight of this yarn. I also love the feel of it against my skin.

I made a Khamaseen in 2017 with this yarn and I love wearing it alone and with a shirt under it.

I wore my Humulus sweater for the first time this week and I was so excited about the way it fit! It’s going to be one that I wear a lot this fall and winter. I love the colors that I chose and I love the weight of it. I have loved this sweater since I saw it on the MDK March Mayhem pattern bracket back in 2017 (I think.) I loved the colors that the original sweater was knitted up in (yellow and grey are my colors!) but I wanted something more sedate and I wear a lot of blue so … when we got a shipment of Ella Rae Classic Wool into the shop, on sale no less, I jumped and bought enough for the Humulus. I went back a forth a few times with the contrasting color for the yoke but I’m very happy with the blue that I settled on.

While I’m knocking knits off my list, the list isn’t getting any shorter. My step-daughter has requested an afghan for their new house for Christmas in a denim-y blue. A college friend asked me to knit a family favorite Christmas stocking for her nephew’s new fiancee. And I still have at least six sweaters worth of yarn in my stash. I can tell you that once the Hope cardigan is finished, I’ll be casting on my Dissent Cardigan by Andrea Rangel. I have black as the main color and a cream for the contrasting color. I’ll diverge from the pattern, which is written to knit back and forth, and knit this one with a steek. I much prefer to knit in the round if at all possible. I look forward to wearing it and honoring the Notorious RBG.

Gone knitting!

More details about each of my projects is on my Ravelry Project page. I’m lindar on Ravelry. You can follow me on Instragram @QueenBeeKnits and on FB at Queen Bee Knits by LindaWarner.