Queen Bee Knits

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

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.

Progress All Around

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning I was thinking and I feel like I’m finally feeling more like myself. The last round of Covid that I had in April (after the round I had the week before that got me “stuck” in New York City) must have affected me more than I had thought. I thought it was a mild case but it left me with some pretty severe fatigue. It seems like that fatigue is finally lifting and I am able to DO more than I have been able to do BUT I also realize that I have limitations and I need to listen to my body and quit when I am ahead.

We decided that we had to hit a few of our around-the-house chores this morning before we give in and do something more fun. I’ve been thinking about cleaning some of the more disgustingly dirty screens in our bedroom windows and in the upstairs bath. I’m happy to report that the inside part of this chore is done. The outside chore will be waiting until next spring when N is (hopefully) fully healed and has his full balance back after his hip replacement surgery. It’s been four months now and he’s made (is making) lots of progress but he overdid this week and he was hurting yesterday … enough that he got his cane out again. He’s out sanding and cleaning/refinishing our teak dining set that we have moved onto the front porch. It’s a little bit big for the porch but we are finding we like using it out there and we will probably like it even more in the early fall.

I’ve been knitting and sewing this week. I’m aiming to hand-sew something every day in order to have it become a daily habit. I’m working on a “Love Note Quilt” inspired by Heidi Parkes. I have been taking her class on Creative Bug and I really like the artistic quality of her quilts. They’re in no way traditional pieced quilts but they’re each unique and I find I am liking having the creative license to stitch what I want. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to completely quit the traditional quilting yet.

I’ve stitched another needle case. I find these little projects very fulfilling and I have an idea about what I will do with the ones I make. I will continue to show you the ones I make but I’m not going to tell you my plan. Haha. (*evil grin and hand-ringing) The most recent one used this cute vintage-y cowboy fabric and I stitched it with red floss which I think looks really cute. I didn’t applique another piece on it because I really wanted to focus on the cute little cowboys.

I’m working on a stuffed toy for my granddaughter for her birthday. She’ll be one year old in just a few short months and I’d better get moving because life is bound to get busy. My daughter, her mother, loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar book and I’m knitting a caterpillar and a sweater for S. The caterpillar pattern is free on Ravelry and you get what you pay for with this pattern. It’s not very well written and I could think of several ways that I would change it if I was to knit it again. I may actually pull out the ends and Kitchener stitch the head to the body rather than finishing it as the pattern suggests. I’ll update my project page with whatever I decide.

I knitted the little shells top for my granddaughter. This was my daughter’s idea. She asked me to knit a top to go with the mermaid tail that I made for S when she was born. Her mom wants to take some photos at the beach and we can’t have a topless mermaid, now can we!? Yaya to the rescue! I hope that I made the top so it’ll fit but I’ll bring my tools to the beach in case we need to make any adjustments. Photos will be coming soon.

I have also knitted another chemo cap for a gift for a friend who just announced that she has cancer. I wish I could do more but this is what knitters do when they can’t do more. And if she doesn’t lose her hair, she can gift it to someone who will. Passing on the good will and the love and healing wishes in every stitch.

Last but not least, I’ve pulled my Favorite Pullover for Women out of time out and have started to make some real progress on the yoke. This sweater may not even fit me. The sizes were a little bit too close to zero ease for my liking but if I add a few stitches to the under arms when I cast on after the yoke, I think I can make it work. It’s a lot of work to be sure, especially if I don’t know it’s going to fit. I have a colorwork sweater that I love the fit of and I’ll be measuring this one against that one when I get the yoke complete and before I go further. The good news is that I am wrapping up another WIP (work in progress, Muffin.) This design is only found in a book called Norwegian Knitting Designs, 90 Years Later. I’m knitting it with Norwegian wool that I bought from Knitography Farm after taking several of her classes online.

chemo about all we’ve been up to on the lake. It’s been a string of several lovely late-summer days. The lake is getting quieter as the summer people head back home to get the school year started. Maine Arts Academy, on whose board I serve, welcomes teachers and staff back tomorrow and the kids come the following week. We start this year in our new building in Augusta and we are all so excited to be independent and free to have activities after school, etc. which we couldn’t do before. We are also developing some wonderful partnership with Augusta Arts and civic groups. I’m so proud of our school!

I’ve got zucchini to grate. I’m making fritters this afternoon.

Gone knitting.

Relaxing Weekend

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Queen Bee Knits

We had a phenomenally beautiful weekend. The weather was picture perfect – not too warm and not too cool, sunny and just perfect. We had company for the weekend, too, so we were able to spend a lot of time on the porch and I got lots of time to knit.

I’ve been working a lot this weekend on a gift for my niece and her husband who are expecting their first baby, a boy, in just about a month. I’ve got several gifts ready to send or bring to them but this is the one that I am most excited about. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog (I’m pretty sure that there are only a handful of you who do, so I’m going to risk posting progress photos of it.

The pattern is called Owl Baby Vest and it’s a free pattern on Ravelry. I am knitting it with a great red Vintage DK yarn. I have one skein and it should be enough to finish the whole garment. When I saw it I knew it HAD to be the “sweater” for my niece who loves owls (and her husband is an Alabama fan so the color is spot on, too.)

The pattern has been an interesting experience. I don’t believe it’s been tech edited so the language and the steps aren’t always clear. I have minimally altered several of the steps, starting with the very beginning. I didn’t want the starting point to be under an arm but I wanted it at the center back which meant knitting 27 stitches before starting the owl pattern. I also had to “fix” the underarm decreases and the setup for dividing the back from the front and the two sides of the front, too. I’ll put the specific steps that I made differently into the notes on my Ravelry project page for this little vest.

As of today, I’ve attached the shoulders and I’ve picked up the stitches around the collar (t’s a v-neck vest so there were quite a few stitches to pick up.) I’ll get them stitched in the next couple of days and the arms, too. I’m excited to see what it looks like when the pieces are all done! My plan is to add stitched on eyes for the owls – I haven’t decided if I will sew on eye buttons or if I’ll keep it even safer and stitch on eyes with yarn. But the cabled owls need eyes.

I’ll update this post when the little owl vest is finished.

Today I pulled out my Aeslight Shawl again after a brief vest knitting respite. I have finished all but the knitted on edging. It also occurred to me that I don’t have enough of the yarn for the larger size shawl which is the one that I’ve knitted of course. So, I’ll be hoping to find another skein of yarn, Malabrigo Sock in the Tiziano Red colorway. I’ll be crossing my fingers and toes. If I don’t find the red, I’ll be forced to choose a second colorway for the edging which isn’t my preferred result but I think it will be acceptable. If it’s not, I’ll be starting it over with a new yarn because I really love this shawl. AND I chose it to knit because my friend and coworker just came home from Shetland.

Aeslight is knit in traditional Shetland construction: a garter stitch triangle and then stitches are picked up in the yarn-over edge and you knit a border which, in this case, is a bird’s eye lace pattern that I loved knitting once I learned to look at my knitting. The third section is a knitted-on edging. I’ve just completed two repeats of the edging and it’s fun but my tired brain needed to rest tonight. And, I’m not sure about the yarn amounts. So … it’ll have to wait until I get to the store and see if there is one more skein of red yarn. Or not. What a rookie mistake!

Gone knitting.

Queen Bee Sews, too!

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Queen Bee Knits

Back in the 80s, I made a quilt for my second daughter. It hung over her crib in our house in Sharon, Connecticut. This year, my daughter turns 35. The quilt has been in my care for most of the years since I was divorced because she didn’t have room for it in her apartments but a year or so ago she asked for it and took it home. And then she called me to tell me that he unsupervised puppy had chomped the edge. Could I fix it?

What kind of a mom would I be if I didn’t answer in the affirmative – “of course I can fix it!” So I got the quilt back.

30+ years ago, I made this Trip Around the World quilt. It was a tied quilt with a polyester quilt batting (it was all that was available back then.) Over the years as it was used, the batting had separated and settled. It had a few little holes and some seams had separated and, of course, the outside border was chomped on one side.

I cut the ties, ripped the seams and tossed the batting and backing and then took off the outside border. Then I took what was left of the quilt top to a fabric shop to find a replacement border and backing. I got lucky in Bangor, Maine at the Cotton Cupboard. A solid blue for the borders and an extra-wide blue floral fabric for the backing … I also got help figuring out how much of each fabric I needed! And then everything sat in my sewing room for ages … maybe a year? Maybe longer. And then eventually I cut the borders. Months later, I sewed them together and attached them to the quilt. I also spent some time patching the seams that had separated and the little holes. I used the old border (the part that wasn’t chewed by Severus.)

With the quilt top back to its original size (-ish), I decided to take it to a friend who owns a long arm machine and have it quilted. Really quilted. I had bought a “new-fangled” quilt batting that is cotton and brought all of the parts to Candy at In Stitches Sewing School. Last week I picked up the quilt. I am so excited! It looks amazing and it’s going to wear much better because the quilting stitches and the new batting make the quilt top much more stable.

As of today, I’ve made the binding out of the left-over backing fabric and I’ve sewn it onto the edge of the quilt. Tomorrow I’ll start hand sewing the back of the binding and then I’ll make a label and I’ll be delivering it for my daughter’s birthday at the end of the month.

If I showed you photos now, I’d have to kill you. LOL … I am such a pacifist, there’s not any chance of that happening. But I promise that once it’s finished and delivered, I’ll add photos here on this post.

Gone sewing!

Gifts of Art

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

We have had a very busy last week, filled with guests and puppies and gifts of art.

I was at a board of trustees meeting on Wednesday night when I got a text from a high school friend. A very dear high school friend. She and her husband were coming to visit.

Back in the day, we had perused the Sunday paper for vans to buy and convert so we could go camping together when we were 17. Sharon and her husband just bought their camper van and we’re coming to park in our yard.

What a blast! We spent the better part of two days reconnecting and connecting with each other’s husbands. And I didn’t take a single photo of us. But they signed our guest book and Chuck left is this beautiful gift of art.

A gift of art is a personal, thoughtful, almost intimate gift. We were touched and moved. and we can’t wait to get together again. As Chuck said, it could have been really uncomfortable and he had never met us. Sharon and I haven’t spent significant time together since 1976 and a lot can change in that long. But it wasn’t difficult or uncomfortable. It was wonderful. Time flew by and I’m still smiling.

Yesterday my sweetie and I took a walk down the road. Our blackberries are ripening and in the mailbox was a second gift of art. My little cousin sent a beautiful picture thanking me for “magic towels.” You’ve seen them, I’m sure. Little discs that when placed in water, expand to be a little cotton washcloth, often with a picture of something. These were Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

I love art made by children. It’s so pure ans expressive and Penelope is an artist. Her dad said she was very excited about me getting her picture. I was excited to find it in my mailbox.

Both fabulous pieces of art will be proudly displayed at our house. We are grateful.

Gone knitting.

A Quick Post

Posted on April 18, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

I knitted this Wee Wonder Woman wrap for my granddaughter in France. I wanted to get a photo of her favorite family member wearing the wrap before I wrapped it up to put it in the mail. This is the result of that photo shoot. Well, I have a few somewhat better pictures but this one makes me laugh. Good old Monk loves his treats and you can’t see my hubby who’s holding a treat to get Monk to focus. Needless to say, the anticipation is making him drool. And it got so bad that I had to get the wrap off of him before it got drool on the clean, blocked little shawl.

I made this little shawl with Sisu yarn. One 50g ball of each color. I made an executive decision to NOT knit this is red and gold which are very bright and not my Rosey’s colors. I think the pink and white will be perfect. I can hardly contain myself waiting to see her receive this little gift. Wonder Woman has a special significance in their family and I hope it makes her happy.

Wee Wonder Woman is a free pattern on Ravelry and requires about 50 grams of two colors of fingering weight yarn. I chose Sisu (wool and nylon blend) because I liked the pink. I followed the pattern exactly.

Gone knitting.

Maybe the Best Scones Ever

Posted on January 12, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

One of the things that I got for Christmas this year is a New York Times Food subscription. I am wanting to make cooking (and you all know I love baking) more fun and maybe attempt to get out of our cooking “rut”.

I was reading something online and saw a photograph of these scones. They looked really yummy and the idea of Cinnamon Roll Scones … well, suffice it to say, the hubby and I were delighted with the idea! So, since I had all of the ingredients (I had half and half not cream) in the house, I jumped in!

Oh. My. Goodness!!! They were divine. So much so that we considered not sharing with our neighbor who loves baked goods but doesn’t have a spouse that bakes. (We did share in the end.)

Gift Delivered

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

So, now it’s safe to share with you …

I got a sweet text message yesterday from the “little girl” that I’ve mentored since she was 9 years old. I met her in Florida when I was looking for a volunteer job and it turned out to be one of the best “jobs” I’ve ever had. Kind of like my job as a mother!

So, my girl is having her first baby in December … early December. They live in Florida right now but they’re moving to Colorado soon after the baby is born so he’s going to need lots of warm clothes!

Knitting Pure and Simple #295 Bulky Baby Pullover

I love this sweater. Plain and simply love it. I made my first iteration of this sweater for my “niece-to-be” when I found a bulky hand-dyed yarn in Massachusetts! We had gone to Gloucester to drop off a box of books for a friend in Florida on our way (from Florida) to Maine for the summer. We just happened to find a yarn shop … hey! There was a big sign on the sidewalk!

Ha! Well, this time, the sweater was knit up in Hayfield’s Baby Blossom Chunky. This yarn is mostly acrylic (man-made fiber) and is machine washable and dry-able. Any of us who have been fortunate enough to have children know that it is really important, especially the first time, to have easy-care hand-knits! I made the whole kit and caboodle with this yarn and I really liked the way it felt in my hands. If it feels soft and cozy, it’s good for a new baby! Right?

The blanket is a 3-cable baby blanket out of the same yarn. This pattern was a free pattern (is a free pattern) at the yarn shop where I work. Super simple (unless you twist a cable the wrong way like I did) and I have loved it both in this printed yarn and in the solid yarn, too.

I also knitted a little hat with a pompom. I didn’t use a pattern for this and I hope it’ll turn out to fit the baby at about the same time as the sweater. If it doesn’t, so be it. I’m not even sure I wrote down what I did with the hat but if I did, it’ll be on my project page on Ravelry.

The little bonus was the pair of booties and the socks. Both of which I loved making and think are so stinking cute! Sue’s Baby Booties are one of those “vintage” patterns that I can’t find on Ravelry but have made for years (dare I say, decades?) I love making them with Cascade Fixation yarn because they tend to stretch a bit and not fall off as easily as anything you put on baby feet does. I have added an icord lace for my booties in a contrasting color and these make me really happy.

The littlest socks are from Yankee Knitter’s pattern “Socks for the Family” which is my go-to pattern when I am knitting socks. These tiny ones are the smallest size and in fingering weight yarn. The yarn is Paton’s Kroy which is a heavy fingering but I love this print and have had it in my stash for a while. Perfect time to use up a bit of it and keep a baby’s toes warm at the same time. I’ll knit more baby-sized socks when the Christmas knitting jobs are all done.

I have a lot of “fun” knitting I want to do … a couple of sweaters or six, Frog and Toad (have you seen this pattern?), I want to finish my Dolores by Franklin Habit and knit her some outfits, too, and there is a KAL with Arne and Carlos for 24 new Christmas balls (I’ve bought the yarn for that and it starts 12/1). There’s a gnome KAL starting in December and I have a pattern for a Scandinavian doll that I’ve been wanting to knit forever. I have a MochiMochi bee kit to knit, too.

I’m hoping to get the Christmas stocking knitted in good part today … no time like the present!

Gone knitting!

Three Little Pumpkins

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

I have finished these adorable little pumpkins and I love them! I found a few skeins of Lion Brand Thick and Quick in my stash and, you all know, that I’ve been working hard to knit down my stash. Many of the yarns that I have are nearly antiques! (Some are legit antiques but that’s another story.)

Three Little Pumpkins

I have knitted this pattern before. It’s “Pumpkin” by Marnie Ann Joyce and it’s free on Ravelry. I’ve made these little pumpkins in super bulky and worsted weight yarns before. So when I found the leftovers of orange and green Lion Brand Yarns Thick and Quick, I knew what I needed to do – and the timing is so right on! Right?

I used US 10 1/2 DPNs for this project which made them a little smaller than previous versions but they’re perfect this way because none of the stuffing shows through and they’re pretty indestructible … and since they’re going west to my nieces and nephew, they’ll be bounced around a little bit (or a lot!)

These guys knit up in a flash. I was able to finish one in about two hours. I added the icord stem by knitting a 5-stitch icord for two or three rounds, and then decreasing to a 4-stitch icord for a couple of rounds and ended up with a 3-stitch icord until I thought it was the way I liked it. The green pumpkin has a special curved stem that has two stitches (one leg of each stitch) knitted together to stick them that way forever!

Gone knitting.

About Yesterday

Posted on April 2, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

Yesterday was a difficult day in corona virus isolation. I wasn’t in a good head space and I was really struggling with anxiety. Because of my chronic cough/allergies and my age, I’m in a higher risk group of (crap!) older people. I woke up yesterday morning feeling a little bit off … and I couldn’t pick myself up all darn day. And it was a beautiful day, too!

We started the day with accidents in the house. Two little dogs both getting old and they’re having some health challenges right now. Both of them together. So, we started the morning cleaning up after little white dogs. The rest of the day, I spent trying to focus on anything other than worry …

But you’re not reading this blog to (necessarily) hear all about my ‘crazy’ days. I have been able to knit some more of the Arne and Carlos blocks for their Quarantine KAL. If you’re not following this KAL, they were on a cruise away from home and were ordered to quarantine for 14 days after their arrival back. While in quarantine, they decided to do a KAL. I’ve really enjoyed it. I haven’t been able to watch all the videos yet but I have gotten many of the blocks finished. There have been ten designed for the first two weeks and there will be ten more coming … they’ve decided to do an additional two weeks because we’re all enjoying it so much!

My first nine! Not all blocked … but I’m happy with them!

I also started on the socks for my neighbor’s birthday. She was kind enough to trace her foot so they’ll be a perfect fit! I got one finished yesterday and I started the second one today after I did some baking. I made my hubby’s favorite scones. He’s been asking for them forever! It’s only fair since he went to take my car to get the snow tires taken off and took some mail to the post office for me. We freeze the scones so he can have one a day!

By the end of the day I was feeling better and went to bed early … today is a new day!

Gone knitting!