Queen Bee Knits

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

Monday Funday

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It may not be “official” but winter has descended on Central Maine! We had our first measurable snow fall this past week and have had several flurries. Snow overnight has “covered” my car. Yesterday we had the pleasure of watching a group of Bald Eagles and a crow eating something out on the ice. There were five or six eagles and our trio of eagles but only one was allowed to eat with the eagles. Mother nature may seem cruel but the circle of life is so evident here.

I’ve been busy without much of a break. School (volunteer) work has been active and continues to head in a positive direction. I’m heading to school tomorrow night for the winter recital in Maine Arts Academy’s newly finished recital hall/performance space. I’m excited to see my first performance there. I’ll also drop off my donation of books for the library and a donation for the law mower fund. (Charter School funding is not the same as the rest of public schools. We don’t get the school funding from towns that traditional public schools get which continually have us looking for money for basic needs. (Maine Arts Academy is a public charter school for grades 7-12 which means we accept all students who apply until our classes are filled. We have to follow all DOE standards of education, graduation, and in 2026 will have to have all our educators certified (we were allowed to have experts with a proven record of their expertise teach in the Arts areas. No more.) Can you tell I’m passionate about our school?

But I was going to write about my knitting and what’s been happening that keeps me busy. I’ve been pulling out Christmas decorations that I’ve not pulled out for years. Our fake tabletop Christmas tree lived on our stairway landing between the second and third floors for ages but we put it away last year. I just pulled it out of the closet and half of the lights are out – and nothing I do seems to fix them. SO …. I’ve pulled the lights off and need to find a new strand of lights. Where, if not shopping at Target or Walmart, do I find short strings of small lights? I need to give the tree a shower, too. It’s so dusty! I also pulled out and went through my Department 56 collection and put up my Dickens Village. I’m so happy to see it again! We’ve had it lit up for about a week and we’re really enjoying it. I have some random mismatched pieces that aren’t Dickens and I’m not sure what I’ll do with them (they apparently have no value today despite being very collectible 20+ years ago.) I also found a bunch of Swarovski crystal figures that my ex collected and gifted to me. What will I ever do with them?! AND I have a full box of Halloween light up houses. They’re still taped up since our move to Maine. Guess they can go, too, hun?

Much to my husband’s chagrin, I haven’t been doing any baking at all. I keep thinking about it but I haven’t made it to the kitchen yet. Maybe today. I was going to go to Costco for provisions but we have a meeting at 1pm and I won’t make it back in time if I leave now. Wednesday.

I have been knitting wonderfully irrelevant things not related to what I have to get done for Christmas – and that’s quite limited this year.

I have been working on an orange poncho called the Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Knits. I made mine in Rowan Felted Tween because I have this wonderful pair of boots and thought an orange poncho to match would be fun. I finished it this week and wore it to a funeral mass on Saturday and I was very happy with the result. I haven’t got a finished picture of it yet (I forgot.) But it came out very well. I chose to not add a cowl neckline to it because I don’t love stuff around my neck anymore. It was a good choice (and I have plenty of yarn to add one if I change my mind.)

Blocking the stockinette rectangle was a royal pain … because stockinette stitch naturally rolls, it needs to be blocked with blocking wires and it’s such a large piece (50 inches by 22 inches) I didn’t have a space to block it that wasn’t my studio floor. AND I didn’t have anywhere to pin the wires so gallons of water, some air-dry clay and a bag of unwrapped Christmas gifts worked as weights. Once blocked, you fold it in half and seam one side all but about twelve inches for the neck. It’s quite smart, really.

I have also been knitting the perfect black hat. I saw this one one a podcast and knew I had to knit one for me. I found sequin yarn in Marblehead at Thanksgiving and last week I bought some black alpaca and black mohair and the hat is knit with all three strands held together. The pattern is the City Lights Hat and it says it’ll fit an 18 inch circumference and my big fat Rockwell head is more like 23 inches. SO … I went up to a cast on of 96 stitches which means an extra 4 inches. Hopefully it’ll fit when I’m done (as you can see from the horrible selfie, it seems to be working.) The sequin yarn I found has tiny sequins on it which I love because they’re very subtle and I’m not really a sequin kind of girl. I have a few more rounds to go and it’ll be done. On Thursday at work I’ll have to buy a big black pompom for the top.

I’m working on a pair of Christmas socks for my hubby, too. It’s a tradition. I always put a pair of new socks in his stocking. These may or may not be done by then. I’m trying to keep them a secret but he hasn’t been working (his boss keeps calling it off) so I only have Friday to knit. This past Friday I worked on them for quite a while and then noticed I’d skipped a round somewhere in the chart and I had to frog back (rip it, rip it) several rounds before it was ok. I am now re-knitting them and have reached (almost) the end of the heel gusset. I’m knitting the Thompson River Socks in Raggi yarn that I’ve hoarded for all these years waiting to make a pair again (since the first pair was not perfect but that’s a long story.) These socks are toe up (not my favorite) but goals have been set ages ago and I’m meeting them this year.

Sylvie’s Jamberry sweater has been sitting in the project bag completely ignored. Maybe today I’ll get the duplicate stitching finished on the yoke and block the sweater. It’s going to be adorable and I have a feeling she’s going to love it but I am not a fan of all the duplicate stitch and wish I’d just knitted it in. (I wasn’t paying attention to the pattern, I guess, and I never read the pattern all the way through. Oh well. I just need to do it.

I am working on a pair of fingerless mitts. A kit that I bought at a new yarn/needlework shop that the “girls” and I visited a few weeks ago. It’s a kit they put together for a pair of Nuuk Gloves by Pernille Larsen out of Knitting for Olive worsted weight wool and mohair (two strands held together.) The first glove is finished except for the thumb and I will work the second one to the same point and then add both thumbs together at the same time. The color is a new one for my pallet but I like it a lot. Not sure who they’re for but they’re going to be warm.

I still have Noah the horse in a project bag in my atelier. And the Jelly Roll blanket. And the pink embroidered mittens. BUT I chose to cast on the Stockholm Slipover by Petite Knits. I’ve been wanting to cast on for this for a long time and I thought I had stashed yarn to make it and then doubted myself and then found the yarn again and dove right in. I am knitting with a fingering weight (EYC Tenderfoot) and a lace weight mohair which is actually a suri alpaca (Halo by the Alpaca Yarn Co) held together. The fabric is dense and on gauge so it’ll be a warm vest. I am choosing the rounded collar and if I like it I may make the v-neck, too.

So there you go! I’ve been gifted so many days of life so far and am grateful and hopeful that there will be many more. I lost a college classmate this past week and two of my friends/coworkers lost their mothers. Both lived long lives. But this reminds me that there is no generation between me and death. I am one of the old folks now. (I still can’t believe it and don’t feel like it!) My tea bag gave me a good message the other day and I wanted to share it here as a reminder – it may be my theme for the next year.

It sure is! Gone knitting.

Saturday Before Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s cloudy today but the sun is still shining on the south side of the house. Enough so that it’s warm enough to venture outside for a late morning photograph. The loons are still on the lake in their winter feathers but soon enough they’ll be gone again to their winter home on the coast.

This weekend is all about getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week. We have plans with our Massachusetts family for the day and we are looking forward to being together after what seems like “forever”. I am tasked with making a couple of desserts chosen by my nephew who will be with us after several years away at veterinary school – cheesecake and an apple pie are the requests. I have also found a recipe for pumpkin dinner rolls that I think I’ll try. I just have to get a grocery order together so I can pick it all up tomorrow or Monday. That’ll be next on my list.

This morning I’ve been catching up and trying to finish some of my crafty projects so that I can wash my favorite hand knit vest to wear around the holiday. I’ve worn it a lot and yesterday I dripped on it at lunchtime. Oops. So, today before I could block it out, I had to finish this unicorn hair clip hanger for my granddaughter. Her mother saw one on Pinterest or somewhere and made the request so Sylvie’s hair clips and headbands can be corralled and she can see them, too. I am pretty pleased with the end result. I hope they will be, too.

And I’ve been knitting a lot trying to get Christmas knitting done. I don’t have a lot left to do but I always make my hubby a pair of socks and this year I’ve decided to go with a second pair using a pattern that I’ve used before. I have some balls of Raggi yarn left that I bought when we were losing the distributor in the US at the shop and I loved knitting the first pair (despite a pattern reading mistake). I’ll knit them the right way this time. LOL. I first saw the pattern for the Thompson River Socks in Interweave Knits back in 2016 and it’s available to purchase on their website but I saved my pattern so I started knitting last week. I have to be careful to knit them when he won’t catch me so they’ll be a surprise. I hope I’ll have them both done for him in time.

I’ve finished the knitting part of the Jamberry Cardigan for Sylvie’s Christmas gift and I have begun the duplicate stitch yoke decorations. Why, I wonder, didn’t I just knit the yoke in colorwork? It would have had some long floats but the duplicate stitch floats are equally long and the process isn’t nearly as enjoyable. Regardless, I made the decision to follow the pattern and I’m duplicate stitching. It’s really a cute sweater and I hope she loves it. It does look huge! I made the 4-year size so she can grow into it and she can always roll up the sleeves if it’s too big now. I’m excited for her to see it.

I have finished the Wee Liam pullover sweater and the little Billie pants for our nugget, the grandson out in Colorado. My hubby picked the buttons and I am quite happy with these two little garments. Hopefully he hasn’t grown too much and will be able to wear them. (All the size details and yarn, etc. are on my Ravelry project page.) The buttons are solid wood and I like the way they pop off the sweater. And I love the color. It’s showing as more gray here in the photo, it’s really more of a dark sage green.

I am spending the later evenings when my eyes and brain are tired working on the endless stockinette stitch of the Easy Folded Poncho in orange (Zinnia colorway) Rowan Felted Tweed. I really like the color and it’s going to be fun to wear. I am around the 30-36″ mark, I think. I haven’t got the guts to really measure it because it seems to take forever to get any significant progress made on it. But I am making some progress.

AND I have cast on two more projects. I couldn’t wait to cast on the Alpine Bloom Hat by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve had the Patagonia Organic Merino in charcoal and light gray in my stash for a while waiting to cast this one and I need a hat that I love. I don’t like myself in hats and I’m praying that I do like this one because it makes me so happy knitting it! I’m about half-way through the chart and I made the ribbing extra long so I can fold it over. This is what I WANT to work on but I “make” myself work on the things I need to get done first and knit this as a reward.

My sister-in-love asked me to make a blanket for her brother’s partner whose daughter is about to have the first grandchild. I have also cast this on hoping that I can get it finished before Thanksgiving and hand deliver it to her. I chose Berroco Vintage Chunky in a sage green colorway and am knitting the Three Cable Baby Blanket which is a free pattern we have in the store. I’m not sure where it came from but it’s my go-to pattern for baby gifts and I’ve made several of them. I am loving the green yarn. Green is my brother’s favorite color and this is a lovely soft yarn. I got almost one hank of yarn knitted yesterday afternoon … if I stick to it, I should be able to finish it by the end of the week. Crossing my fingers. I’ll have to resist knitting everything else.

I have pulled out the beautiful green linen yarn that I bought to make the Broadgate Tabbard and I really want to start knitting that. I have a new white blouse that will be perfect under this “vest” and I can’t wait to see the color! Another new green project and I have very little that’s green. It’s never been a favorite color but when I saw it in a photograph on social media, I had to have that exact color. I think I will be able to wear the tabbard (it’s like a vest but not closed up on the sides) in the summer, too. Over a tank or a tee. We’ll see. But the color green that I bought is stunning. It will wait until I have finished my Christmas knitting.

And with that, I will sign off and get to knitting the baby blanket. If I can get it nearly to the half-way marker today, that would be a huge win … first, though, I have got to put a grocery order together. So until the next time … gone knitting!

Home

Posted on October 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We were welcomed home by a gorgeous lakeside sunset and so much quiet. After a couple of weeks of constant noice and activity in New York City, it’s at the same time a relief to our senses and a shock. I loved being in NY with my kids and granddaughter and I’m happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed. We both brought home a preschool crud so we are getting by on tea, Sudafed and cough syrup. All I have to do is get through Saturday and it’ll be ok.

We ended out trip to NYC by moving over to my son’s apartment that he shares with his partner. It was good to catch up with them both over the last couple of days. When everyone is home, there are a lot of beds needed as guests and babysitters are also in town. And Sylvie’s Nana and Papa from NY State were there as were my hubby and I. We all had dinner downtown between Kate’s shows on Sunday for Sylvie’s actual birthday dinner and then we had her party on Monday before Kate had to go to work. Several of Sylvie’s friends from the playground and preschool were there and the birthday girl was so happy to celebrate her day. I suspect her parents will be glad to have their lives back to normal and sleep in their own beds after all the travel and business of the last couple of weeks.

We drove home yesterday and arrived to the lovely site pictured above. We unpacked the car, put stuff away and showered and put on our winter PJs and retreated to have a cup of tea in my studio and catch up on a bit of news (none of it very good) before we went to bed early and slept late. It was bliss to be in our own bed, too. We both slept almost 11 hours which is unheard of. Guess we were tired.

Maine Sea Captain’s Hat in Briggs & Little Heritage 2-Ply

On the way home yesterday, I finished a blaze orange hat for my dear hubby. His old one is a polyester blend with a little wool and it’s starting to show some wear. The new one is knit from Briggs and Little Heritage wool, worsted weight and it’ll be a warm addition to the fall/winter hat collection. I used the Maine Sea Captain’s Hat pattern which was perfect for this yarn and a quick knit. I’ll block it today and it’ll be ready for the season.

I found I’d made a mistake on the Billie Pants for our grandson, Mac. I made a mistake as I decreased the first leg and didn’t notice until I was decreasing for the second leg. I’ve frogged back to fix the second leg and then I’ll go back and fix the first one. The pants will be finished and blocked and then I’ll be ordering a bit more yarn to make a pullover to match the pants. The yarn is a bit pill-y and I hope it will hold up to several washings. I’ll let you know when we get there. Meanwhile we’ve gotten photos from Mac’s mom of our little nugget smiling at his mom and dad on purpose. Gosh we wish we lived closer!

I’m still working along on my daughter’s colorwork mitts, too. Slow going while we were in NY but it should pick up now that we’re home. I’m planning to finish the little Sorento Cardigan today and get it shipped off to Louisiana and its new owner. It’s been blocked and all I have to do is add the buttons, trim the yarn ends that are woven in, and add a label. It’ll be good to have it off my list for sure.

The Sorento Cardigan for my client is hereby finished. I sewed the buttons on. I had several buttons to choose from and decided finally to use the shell buttons that I use a lot. They’re a natural material and they brighten up the sweater. Plus they’re light and don’t weigh down the fine yarn. I hope my customer will be pleased. Off to Louisiana it goes tomorrow.

I’ve got so many projects in my queue and am heading into a three-day work weekend but I hope the following week will be quiet and I can get some work done. The holidays are coming and I know I need to knit a pair of socks for the hubby and a sweater for the granddaughter but I think that may be all for this year. We aren’t sure where we’re going for the holiday but likely NYC unless they come here which is unlikely this year, I think. Time will tell.

Gone knitting.

Monday, Monday

Posted on July 15, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I’ll be honest and tell you that this photo was taken a couple of days ago but it’s still a reflection of our vegetable garden this summer … at least in the new raised bed. We’ve already harvested three summer squash and some Swiss chard and kale all of which are growing really well. The tomatoes in the other big raised bed are not doing as well. We must need to give it some extra nutrients or something because the tomatoes are pretty pathetic. Oh well, we will learn and do better next year.

I spent a block of time yesterday in my atelier catching up with some of my favorite YouTube channels and knitting on my Lattice Have Pie kitchen towel that I’m knitting for my step-daughter. I am really having fun with this project. The yarn is Tahki Stacy Charles Classic Cotton and I chose two colors of blue because her wedding colors were blue and white. I didn’t want to make a white or even partially white dish towel. Yuck. I’m working this on a US7/4.5mm straight needle since it’s all back and forth and slipped stitches are so much fun! There’s not one fancy complicated stranded row in the whole caboodle. I find it relaxing working on this project and I can see doing more.

The pattern is a purchased pattern on Ravelry and it has charted and written instructions. The process is simple enough – follow the steps on the first pattern row and then knit the knit stitches and slip the slipped stitches. Easy as … pie!

I started with the rolling pin design (because it was first in the pattern directions) but you can knit the designs in any order you choose. I then decided to knit the finished pie with steam and all and then I’ll knit the pieces of pie next. I hope it’ll be long enough at that point, otherwise, I’ll knit the rolling pin once more. It’s fun to watch the stitches turn into a picture! It will be washable and dryable and it will be sent with a knitted heart light-up wall hanging that I’ve also given to other couples that I love who got married. I think they’ll like it.

We’ve had an extended time of unseasonably hot weather here in Maine and we’re all “complaining” about the heat. This is like the Florida weather that we came to Maine to avoid. Until a few years ago we only had fans in the house and we only needed them a few days a summer. And when the days got a bit warmer, we added a window air conditioning unit to the living room and then to my studio and my hubby’s man cave, too, but we only ran them for a couple of days in August. This year we installed them in mid-June and have been running them pretty constantly. Yuck! This weather can go straight back to Florida!

Gone knitting.

French Macaroon by Caroline Hewger for the Noble Thread

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It was gray and hazy when we woke up this morning and we’ve since had a really good rain storm. Think rain boots and full-length yellow raincoats with a hood pulled up rain storm. The plants will thank us for it, I’m sure. I had intended to start the day with a trip to Target to return some stuff I bought last week that didn’t fit as intended but I went up to my atelier instead.

AND I’m happy to report that I’ve finished the first French Macaroon sweater. This was a simple/boring knit until the finishing part. The garter stitch body starts with the main color and then you cast on the stitches for the sleeves on each side of the body in a contrasting color resulting in a little “T” shaped boxy form. The second side is pretty much the same except for a button hole at the middle of the back. Then it’s a three needle bind off at the shoulders/sleeves and seam the sides and underarms are you’re good to go. BUT I realized a little too late this time that the sleeves are meant to be folded back so the next time I make this sweater I’ll weave in well past the normal distance.

I left the cast on tail extra long at the very beginning so I could use it to seam the body in the main color and I cut off a length of the left-over contrast color to seam the underarms. Seaming Garter Stitch is pretty simple if you look at what you’re doing and know how to read your knitting. On the sides, you grab the bars behind the smiles or frowns (look at your knitting and you’ll see what I mean!) on one side and then go to the other side and do the same. On little garments I tend to use every stitch rather than two at a time which I sometimes do for adult garments.

Under the sleeves it’s a bit different but still simple enough if you read your knitting. I took a few in-process photos to show you what I mean.

I marked my stitches on the top of the underarm with grellow “loops” and I use the bottoms of the loops where the “v” is to insert my needle. Can you see the lower “v” that’s in front of my needle? (There’s another loop with a “v” stacked on top of where my needle is. I am careful to catch the two legs of the bottom “v” (the stitch) when I am seaming.

This is half of the seaming … seaming requires two sides. In this case I’m holding my sleeve horizontally so I have a top and a bottom that I am sewing together. Here’s the bottom.

The photo on the left shows the little smiles and frowns that are on the bottom row of the sleeve seam. I am going to go under the smile in this case and grab both legs of the stitch and in this case, they’re an upside down “v” (an “A”?). You’ll notice that the smiles are above and between two frowns.

Now you’re going to loosely sew between the top and the bottom of the sleeve leaving the stitches loose for about an inch or two and it will look like the first photo below. I’ll take hold of the tail of the yarn and pull the working end/ where the needle is … gently! until all of the stitches are zipped up tightly. I pull once more from each end of the working yarn to ensure that the seam is taught and will lie straight. Continue across the underarm a couple of inches at a time until all the stitches are used up.

Ta! Da! You’re done! I find seaming really satisfying when you (finally) learn how to handle the different types of seaming that you’re asked to do in knitting. After 40-ish years, I am finally settling in to being comfortable with seaming and don’t dread it like I used to. I knitted seamless garments for years because I was so intimidated by seams but as I started to learn more techniques for finishing and seaming, I got more comfortable. Kind of like everything in life, right? Thus the statement, “The more you know” (remember the PSAs on NBC?)

I knitted this little Macaroon sweater in Berroco Vintage DK rather than the intended cotton yarn. I don’t love knitting with cotton and Vintage has a bit more stretch and it’s soft and washable. This one is going to live with a friend’s baby who is bi-coastal and he should be able to wear it in the fall. The fact that the sleeves can be rolled back is a good thing because it’ll give him a few months more wear because they grow almost fast enough that you can see them grow out of clothes from day to day.

I have two more of these sweet sweaters to knit for other babies in my life. I think I’ll take one of them with me on my next travel excursion and in the mean time, I’m working on a pair of Hermione’s Everyday socks for my sister and I cast on a tank top for me last night.

Hermione’s Everyday Socks is a free pattern on Ravelry by the Crazy Sock Lady. I have written about it before and I love this pattern. These are knitted with Coop Yarn’s Socks Yeah! fingering weight superwash wool with nylon. I love this yarn! I had gotten several hanks of it when I joined A Year of Techniques with Jen Arnall-Culliford back in the day and chose not to make the projects in the class. Years later, I made a pair of orangey-pink socks for myself and I want to send a great pair like this to my sweet sister. I like this pattern with variegated and solid yarns and it’s easy to memorize. I’ve started the second sock and they’re almost always with me just in case I have a few minutes to knit.

Last night I cast on the Staple Linen Top by Joji Locatelli in Muse, a merino/linen blend yarn that I bought when I attended Knit City Montreal. I’m eager to see how the yarn knits up. This pattern was one of the shop models at Sonder Yarn Company’s booth and I thought it would be a good summer garment and I hope it will fit well and look a little dressier than a t-shirt. I loved the pale pink Grand Ballet colorway. Crossing my fingers. Ha! Ha!

I’ve gone on too long. The rain has stopped and I can go get dressed and head to Target for my returns. Gone knitting.

Afternoon Quickie

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a beautiful but cold day today in Maine. I took off this morning to North Whitefield to have a look at some SL sheepskins that I’ve been wondering about for a while now. I really want one for my desk chair and/or my knitting chair. It just so happened that they were having a special sale and I could save $10 if I picked it up. So, today I drove over to Swallowtail Farm and I can’t wait to go back. I have a gorgeous creamy white XL sheepskin and ran a couple of errands and then came home to knit.

I’ve been watching some new podcasts lately and I knew that I had to knit up a gift for my nephew and his soon-to-be wife. I’ve bought the supplies and they’ve been sitting in my atelier for several months now. It’s a sweet pattern and I love to give it as gifts. I think they’ll appreciate it.

I sat down at my desk and cast on the first “lobe” of the heart at around 3pm. The heart pattern is called “Love and Light” by Laura Nelkin. I chose to knit the larger one which requires a 200 light/ 66 foot strand of fairy lights. I bought mine here. If you want to try this, buy more than one set of lights because it’s addictive. I think I’ve knit half a dozen or more. They also look wonderful in colors, too. We have one hanging in our living room window and it’s a beacon of light in the evenings after the sun goes down. They make me extremely happy.

The pictures above show you the progress from 3pm until the heart was finished and “massaged” into it’s final shape. One more plug-in to make sure I didn’t break the connections as I was knitting and I was done. It was 4:00pm. That’s right, it took an hour and a half of my time to make even though it’s tough on my hands, it’s totally worth it. I love the way these turn out!

Leftovers tonight for dinner and the bread I baked yesterday is perfect yet again. This bread baking gig is pretty cool and the house smells so good when I bake bread! What a glorious life!

Gone knitting.

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.

One More Week …

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning’s sunrise was one of those spectacular sunrises that gets you out of bed and downstairs to take a photograph. Mother Nature sure got her paint set out this morning. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was warm and cozy in bed but when I rolled over and saw the colors in the sky, I had to get a photo. Yowza! And it was almost warm enough outside to sit on the porch – but then the breeze blew up and sent us indoors again.

I ran some errands after coffee and got the rest of my Christmas shopping done, returned some stuff at Target and came home to wrap. My gifts for work, and the last packages to be shipped are ready for delivery on Monday. I wrote two weeks of my newsletter for work and finally sat down in the late afternoon for a little bit of knitting.

I’ve promised a beret for Christmas for my son’s fiancee or my future daughter-in-law. She asked for a spring-weight cap to keep her warm on the golf course in a beige and white. A few weeks ago I went through the entire store (I work at a yarn shop, remember?) pulling shades of beige and white yarn off the shelves. She liked two different ones and those are the ones I bought – I’ll try both and see which one fits better and I’ll happily alter either one to make sure they’ll work for her.

Yesterday I cast on the One Day Beret by Kirsten Kapur. This hat is designed to be worked in any weight of yarn because it’s knitted from the top down so it can be adjusted as it goes. The only thing I don’t know is how big her head is. I’m going to work on the assumption that she has a head that’s smaller than my huge noggin and I’ve googled the average head circumference of a woman and it comes out at an average of 22 inches. I’m crossing my fingers. It’s easy enough to re-do the ribbing if the size is off. I’m getting used to knitting and re-knitting … more coming soon.

I’ve reached the place in the pattern where the hat is ready to begin decreasing. I suppose it might be a one day beret if you start early in the morning with worsted weight yarn and one color. I’m knitting two rounds of two colors so that it’s striped. A little jazzier than a solid color, right? Anyway, at the end of knitting yesterday, this was what I had …

I’ve checked with KJW and she likes the stripes. Yay! The pattern is a free one so I don’t thinkI’m giving anything away when I say that it wants you to knit until the circumference is about 8 1/2 inches across and then knit 3 1/2 to 4 inches without increasing. Yesterday I got to part way to 3 1/2 inches and today I’ve finished that. Now it’s time to decrease until it’s the right size (22 inches). So it’s time for some math. My gauge is 22 stitches in 4 inches. 22 divided by 4 equalls 5 1/2 stitches to one inch. If I want a 22 inch hat minus 2 inches or 20 inches so my answer is …

20 x 5.5 = 110 stitches

So, I have to decrease until I have 110 stitches. The truth will be when KJW tries on the hat on Christmas morning. I’ll let you know how it goes!

My second attempt will be a one-color hat in Malabrigo Arroyo. For this beret, I’ll be knitting BisBis Beret by Sari Nordlund. It’s another top-down beret pattern and it’s written for a fingering weight yarn held double with a lace weight mohair. I think that’s going to feel too wintery so I’m going for a simpler plain sport weight. I still have a week! More on this one to come soon.

I’ve also frogged back the collar and chest of my granddaughter’s Christmas sweater so that I could make it a little bit longer because it was too difficult to get her little arms/hands into the sleeves. I frogged back until I reached where I had attached the “garland” which was a round or two from where the brick pattern ended. I decreased every third round until I had 80 stitches (I think. I have to go back and count the collar stitches.) It looks much better to me and, once again, I will have my answer when I get to New York for Christmas and try it on the baby. I hope I have time to make her a little Santa hat, too. My idea was to have her little face look like she’s Santa with her head sticking up out of the chimney. Ha! Ha! I’m not quite there but I think it’ll do.

I’m not going to post a picture of the final final until it’s on the baby and we see if it fits. After Christmas I’ll post pictures of all of the knitted items (and hopefully on their recipient!)

My Nancy Vest is getting there veeeeeery slowly. I’ve picked it up a couple of times when I didn’t want to think about my knitting. It is growing so slowly that I am a little bit concerned that I have enough yarn. That would be such a bummer. I have my Three Seasons Cardigan to pick up again after Christmas, my pink embroidered mittens, a couple of pairs of socks and there may be more.

But I digress. I’ve got to get moving on the striped beret.

Gone knititng.

Patrick’s Pumpkin

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a beautiful day at the lake and I am grateful for a day to “do nothing”. We had coffee on the porch this morning and those mornings will end soon enough and we’ll be inside again for our coffee. But today we got to be outside and it was so quiet and quite warm as the sun rose higher in the sky.

I spent the day “catching up” after having taken a couple of days to visit with my family in Marblehead. I drove down yesterday, spent the day with my brothers and sisters-in-love, niece and her husband, great-nephew and nephew. We had an incredible dinner of chicken parmesan cooked by my Marblehead sister-in-love, Annie. I’ve never had a bad meal in that house! It was delicious. The next morning we visited again and then I headed home in the early afternoon. We all hope to get together for a longer time when the Louisiana family is here in December. Maybe they’ll even get up to Maine!

I brought my Nordic pullover with me and didn’t knit a stitch. I am plugging away at the body of the sweater and all that garter stitch when I don’t have family to visit with and my great-nephew to play with. He’s a happy boy and cute as a button. I am determined to getting it finished before the really cold weather settles in.

I’ve been working on a pair of pumpkin hats for my daughter’s friends’ two sons. I made lots of these hats several years back and thought that they might be a fun surprise. I’m making two large hats and hope that they’ll fit the boys. I have made a few minor modifications which may change the sizing just a wee bit. Instead of holding the yarn double for the band of the hat, I am knitting with a single strand and on the increase round, I increased with a M1 increase to have the correct number of stitches for the pumpkin part.

The first hat, the one that is pictured here, is a bit “tight” around so I hope this one will fit the baby. But children’s heads don’t grow too quickly so the second one that I’m making I’m changing up just a bit. I’m still making the large hat but this time, I knitted the last round of green with a double strand and increased per the instructions. The band of the hat is a bit more stretchy so I hope this one will fit the big brother. I’ve gotten an inch or so into the pumpkin part of the second hat so I hope that I can get it finished by the end of next week. I have an extraordinarily busy next few days and I’m unlikely to get a lot of knitting done.

The pattern for the pumpkin hats is called Patrick’s Pumpkin and it’s a Fiber Trends pattern that I have had for decades. Yes, decades. I made them for my children when they were young. I always used Brown Sheep’s Cotton Fleece yarn in the past but I didn’t have any on hand and decided to make these hats with Plymouth Encore yarn. The colors are pretty perfect and I had the yarn on hand because … we knitters, when we get an idea, we want to knit it right now!

I found some daisy buttons for the yoked baby cardigan that I made with donated Plymouth Encore and it’s really cute! I have also washed and blocked the sweater and the hat. They’re ready for new homes. I have several items that I think I will be putting up for sale in the near future so that I can make some room in my studio for some new yarn. Ha! Ha! Like I need new yarn. I hope someone will want to have some mittens, hats and scarves that are knitted by me to give or to keep. What doesn’t sell will be donated to a good cause.

I’ll write more later about selling hand knits. For now I’ll sign off. 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.