Queen Bee Knits

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

Saturday is for Adventures?

Posted on November 7, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

I know we need the rain but I need some sunshine. This is the time of year that I begin my struggle with SAD (seasonal affective disorder.) I quite literally feel like staying in bed all day long and force myself to get up and go but struggle with energy enough to go for long. So, I’ve pulled out my sun light and have it on in my atelier and I just have to sit in front of it! It does seem to help. We woke up to rain and gray this morning and little has changed all day. We decided to go on a little adventure today – hubby wanted to do breakfast at Dysarts on the way to the coast and so we did. It was a delicious breakfast and we did head over to Belfast for a bit. I visited Fiddleheads fabric shop and Heavenly Yarns and picked up a few little things – some little gifts for my daughter’s stocking and snaps for me to finish her sweater. I think I’ll send it home with my son after Thanksgiving.)

Anywhooo … you’re here for the knitting, right? I had a horrible knitting day on Thursday and so I’ve got a two stories to tell to make YOU feel better about your knitting! There are two. First, I am working on a beautiful hooded scarf for my nephew’s girlfriend. The pattern is The Hooded Scarf by Shaina Bilow and I’m knitting it in a luscious Malabrigo Mecha “Ceresa” colorway. I had finished the first half of the scarf part and cast on and started the second half but I felt like the width of the second part was “off” and when I compared the two, I was right. I had cast on the pattern number of stitches for the second half but I had cast on the pattern number of stitches plus ten for the first half. Ugh! I really like the wider scarf, fortunately since that was done, so I frogged and re-started the second half and I’ll figure out how it all goes together when I get there. I’m just about at the half-way mark on the second side after working on this for about 4 hours yesterday.

Next, on Thursday evening after work I cast on to begin the second of my Reverie Socks in some stashed yarn. I’m really trying to use up some of my (extensive) sock yarn collection. I went ahead with the cast on after checking the number of stitches and began the ribbing. I’d reached the point where I had a couple more rounds to go and looked at it and thought I’d done something different to the first sock. Yup. I was right. The first sock was a 2×1 rib and I had started the second sock with a 2×2 rib. So, that was frogged and restarted, too. Ha! Ha! I am so grateful for the ability to laugh at myself. Knitting has really taught me humility! I completed the ribbing and the first repeat of the lace pattern on our drive today. Progress. Not perfection. That’s my goal.

I have also been working on a little winter hat for our grandson, Mac. He’s getting a little ear flap hat, the pattern is Knitting Pure and Simple #253. I’m using Berroco Vintage in a light oatmeal colorway and I’ll be adding little ears on the top of the hat. I finished the hat on the ride to the coast and now I just have the ears to knit. I am going to wing it with my own “pattern” here and I hope the hat is big enough because this little guy has a big head! I can hardly wait to see him in it! He’s the most adorable little guy.

I’m also working on a little cardigan for our granddaughter’s doll, Baby. I made a cardigan to Sylvie last year in this lavender yarn by King Cole (Denim?) and she loves lt because she can put it on and take it off by herself. I am hoping to make the same sweater for Baby. This past summer she spent a lot of time undressing my knitted doll, Dolores by Franklin Habit. I think she’s gotten big enough, Sylvie not Dolores, to be able to put the sweater ON her doll as well as take it off. We’ll see.

I have a new gnome project going, too. I’m knitting the Gnumpkin half of Gnumpkin and Gnettle with bits and bobs leftovers from socks and other projects. I love these little stuffies! We also made a shelf for my growing gnome collection that sits above my atelier window … just big enough for the gnomes made with fingering weight yarn. I am hoping to make more (I own a ton of patterns) to complete the collection and fill the shelf which is about half full so far.

That’s five WIPs if anybody’s counting and the shefl is a FO. Ha! Ha!

We have ordered our Christmas cards and they’ve been delivered. Last week I addressed through “o” and I’ll get to some more this week. I need to stamp the return address and stuff them and then buy some stamps. I love the time of year when you get cards in the mail and I love to send some love out, too. I also have my new Bullet Journal for 2027 out and I am moving all the really important stuff over slowly but surely. I like a paper calendar/planner and this one gives me a little room to be creative though I’m not nearly as creative as some people are … but I’m also not late for meetings and such.

I have. new procurement, too. I can’t remember how I won but I won a $50 gift card to LolaBean Yarn Company just before Rhinebeck happened and I used it to buy two hanks of a sport-weight LBYC yarn! They arrived yesterday and they’re super yummy! I don’t know what they’ll become yet but they’ll likely be something to wear around my neck because it’s 100% merino wool. So soft! AND I love supporting a woman-owned, black-owned business! If you don’t know about LBYC, check them out on social media or their website.

It’s now seriously zero-dark-thirty (at 5:15pm … gone knitting!

WIP Wednesday

Posted on October 28, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

I’ve got a few FOs and fewer WIPs today. Yay, me!

I’ve planned a stay-at-home and get caught up around the house day today … and I have a load of laundry in, the bedroom is cleaned up, bed made. I put away the dishes in the kitchen and may have had a piece of apple cake that I made yesterday (NY Times Cooking recipe, Apple Cake by Yossy Arefi to which I added nuts for my nut-loving hubby.) It’s now time to clean up the guest room and guest bath because my “Roomie” is coming for a visit this weekend. We have been friends for 50 years since we met on our first day of college in 1976. For all of those years, she’s had my back and we pick up just where we left off the last time we were together. How lucky am I?

Since it’s WIP Wednesday, I thought I’d show you my WIPs first. I have my Reverie socks and our granddaughter’s elf hat on the needles.

I’m so close to finishing the hat. Not so much the socks – I haven’t touched them since I last spoke about them. I will, though, because these are my favorite socks at the moment. I’m hoping I can finish the hat today/tonight and buy a pompom tomorrow at work. Sylvie really wants some blue in her hat so I may go with a blue pompom but I really want a white one. We have rabbit fur little pompoms and I think that’ll be perfect. I also have to buy some yarn to make a hat for my grandson because the yarn I hoped to use for his hat is horrible and it’s going back to the store. The ball that I tried to knit with will be gifted to the free table at work tomorrow. Yuck.

My FOs are the four hats for my customer. They’re all knitted and blocked – the last one isn’t quite dry but it will be by tomorrow and I’ll take them to the store for her to pick up. I also finished my daughter’s Levitate Wrap and I just have to trim the ends that I wove in (I don’t trim until after I block) and sew in a label and then I’m shipping it off … maybe on Friday and likely to her work address so it won’t get lost. It’s a huge investment of time and money and it will be well-insured, too. I’ve lost faith in the US Postal Service and will probably send this package by UPS although they’re not great at delivering in NYC either!

I found a little bit of potential hope today when I was misting my house plants and orchids. My “Christmas” cactus are blooming and my orchids have at least one flower coming and maybe two (although the second one could be a new root, time will tell.) It is always sweet when my plants surprise me.

Gone knitting (well, actually, I’m heading back downstairs to move the laundry into the dryer … work first!)

The Beauty of Place

Posted on October 26, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

I am sitting at my desk this morning, eating my baked oatmeal and a huge pear (before it is overripe) and thinking about how fortunate I am (we are) to live here. I wrote in my last post that I brought home germs from New York City and have been feeling less than well and I’ve been home in my pajamas for the last three days. My hubby has been doing all of the cooking and making soups for dinner because that’s all I really want. I’ve been drinking tea by what feels like the gallon, and after Thursday night I’ve been knitting. Thursday night I felt too yucky to knit. Today would have been the same but I have an in-person meeting in Augusta this afternoon that I can’t miss but you can be sure I’ll be returning straight after to my PJs and my atelier. This morning, I’m up getting my calendar for the week updated and I’ll do the bind off on my daughter’s sweater that I have essentially finished.

I’ve made a lot of sweaters in my days as a knitter and this one has been fun and frustrating. I didn’t take good measurements for my daughter before I started this cardigan and I have learned that this is a must for knitting for others. I am unsure about the sleeve length but the cuffs are finished and, if need be, I can unstitch them and lengthen them or shorten them. I hope they’ll be just right – I frogged back from where I was when she tried the cardigan on in the city and they were going to be too long. I frogged back about an inch and a half and then knit the cuff. I knit the second sleeve exactly as the first one.

Knitting Tip: I use lightbulb stitch markers to mark every single decrease down the sleeve so that I. can make the second sleeve the same. In this case, I had made three 13-round decreases and several 7-round decreases to the beginning of the cuff. They should be the same. I hope her arms are the same, too. Ha! Ha!

The bottom border I chose to change up a bit. The directions suggest that I should have used an Italian Cast On (I’m a pro at this now!) and then knit across the bottom of the sweater while double knitting the bottom border band and attaching it to the sweater bottom stitches. At the end I should continue with the double knitting on the border stitches only to make a tie. Then I should go back and again use an Italian Cast On to knit a second tie and graft it to the start of the bottom border band.

I don’t like grafting in ribbing. AND having knit the border band all the way around the front of the cardigan, I thought to myself … Self, why can’t I start the tie and then continue to add it to the bottom of the cardigan thus eliminating the grafting part? I figured the worst that could happen is that I have the thirteen plus inches of the tie knitted first and I’ll graft it (begrudgingly) at the end. BUT IT WORKED!!! I have a beautiful tie on the first side of the cardigan and I don’t have to go back to graft it afterward. Yay, me! (Note: for those of you who are knitters, I just want to reiterate here that a pattern is a guideline not a law. If a sweater has stripes, you can knit it in one color and, vice versa, if a sweater is one color you can color block it or stripe it. YOU are the boss of your knitting!)

Last night I finished the bottom border and the second tie and all I need to do today is to bind off with the Italian Sewn Bind-Off. I’m knitting with charcoal gray yarn and I’d rather do this work in the daylight!) Once that’s done, I’ll be blocking the sweater and weaving in all the ends. There are a lot of them. I’ll sew in my label and thnk about shipping it to her in the city – the city is famous for losing packages and the mail system is so dysfunctional right now that I worry about mailing anything of value and this sweater is a beauty that has taken lots of my time. Photos of the sweater, when it’s finished will be upcoming!

I took the opportunity to block the three hats that I have finished for my customer yesterday afternoon. AND I have started the last hat of her order. With any luck, I can get the hat finished and blocked tonight or tomorrow and the order can go with me to work on Thursday. It’s nearly done.

The mornings lately have been so stunning that I had to share a few more pictures.

Gone knitting!

Missing My Favorite Day of the Week – Love bug bugs.

Posted on October 23, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m staying home on my favorite day this week (and I missed last week to travel.) Why it is my favorite day? Because today is the day that I teach knitting to a great bunch of women at the Yardgoods Center Yarn Shop where I work. I have three classes between 10am and 5pm on Fridays but today I’m missing teaching because my little love bug sent me home with a bug. Our granddaughter had a little cold when we were in New York last week and, once again, it seems to have rubbed off on me. I managed to get through working at the store yesterday but no way I was going in today to share my germs. I’m at home, in my pjs, in my atelier, knitting. At least I am feeling well enough to knit!

I’m working on my daughter’s sweater, Levitate Wrap by My Favorite Things. I’m getting so close! My daughter tried it on when we were in the city and we think it’s going to be a really good fit. I had to frog the one sleeve back about an inch and a half to that I could add the dcuff and have it just hit her wrist. Today I’m working on the second sleeve and matching the decreases. I have been using “lightbulb” stitch markers to mark my decreases for quite a while now. I put a removable stitch marker on each decrease so I can keep track (easily) of the decreases and, thus, match them on the second sleeve so they match. Once this sleeve is finished, I will only have to seam the cuffs of both sleeves and knit the border on the bottom of the sweater and make the “ties”. I’m getting close! I am excited about finishing this project and blocking it and then gifting it before it gets really chilly in New York. Interestingly, there’s a LYS in Belfast, Maine that is doing a KAL for this pattern and I’m eager to see their finished projects, too.

Sweater Weather Gnome KAL by Sarah Schira

I did finish a project this week. Wednesday evening I finished my Sweater Weather Gnome KAL and he’s so cute! I’m not sure I love him as much as I love my Gnettle (pumpkin) gnome, but I do love him. The construction of this little guy was, once again, brilliant. The first mystery pieces were a real mystery. I’ll be knitting Gnumpkin as soon as I finish the Levitate Wrap. These gnomes do make me super happy and Gnettle needs a friend! I also want to knit one for my son-in-law who LOVES Halloween. I always forget how excited he gets about it and it’s fun to do something for him now and again. He has several knitted pumpkins that I’ve made and brings them out every October.

My hubby has planted our garlic that arrived yesterday. I made sure to buy some early this year after every last garlic bulb in the entire state of Maine was sold out last year. This year I ordered two hard-neck types from FedCo. I also ordered some narcissus and an amarylis bulb, too. I’ll be forcing them inside for the holidays when I’m feeling a bit better. Garlic is such a fulfilling crop to grow because it does all the work pretty much on its own over the winter and spring. We love gardening but we’re not very good at it … yet!

Gone knitting.

How Did we Get Here?

Posted on October 20, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Yesterday our granddaughter officially turned four! I am not at all sure how we got here! We arrived home yesterday afternoon from being in the city for a couple of days … a couple of days of driving and a couple of days with the kids and granddaughter. I think we are both tired but very glad to have made the effort to be there for the birthday party and to celebrate our first grandchild yet again. The kids did a wonderful job planning the party. This year the theme was purple dragons (only our girl could come up with that one) and it happened at the Irish bar/restaurant just up the street from their apartment. There’s a party room upstairs and it was perfect for the family party and comfortable for the little kids running around. I think Sylvie was pleased with her party and playing with her friends was her favorite part (though I didn’t ask.) We tried to call her yesterday after school but she wasn’t in the mood to chat or even let us sing Happy Birthday … better luck next time, I guess.

While we were away, I frogged the Christmas Elf Hat because I found some fun fur yarn in my stash that I want to incorporate into the hat. I am designing this one and crossing my fingers along the way that it works. I started with the white “fur” yarn for about an inch and then changed needles and went to the worsted weight yarn and nearly doubled the stitch count. Now to knit 4-row stripes to the end of the hat. Meanwhile, I’m decreasing every 4 rounds and then every other round. I don’t want it as long as a “stocking cap” hat but am hoping it won’t stand straight up either. Time will tell. I did take a minute to try it on to make sure it wasn’t too big or too small and it will fit this year and perhaps next year, too. That’s fine with me!

I’m using one hank of Sirdar Alpine and one each of pink and purple in Cascade 220 Superwash. I believe there will be a pompom. Anyone who buys “good” yarn knows the costs are rising across the board. I have around $30 invested in yarn for this hat. I’ll have some left over with which I hope to make a matching sweater. I have another four skeins of the Cascade yarn in two colors set aside in my atelier. Maybe the sweater will get a fur collar? Anyway, my point being that when you see a handknit garment, think about the time and skills that go into making it. Knitters pay themselves too little, in my humble opinion. As $6-7 per hours for my time, this hat should easily be valued at $90-100. I’ll step off my soapbox.

I have also been working on the hats for my customer. Judy calls me every year at around this time and asks me to make her a hat … or, this year four hats. Two black and two navy blue hats in the same design that I’ve been making for several years. I should count the hats! I have finished three of the four and I will likely have the last one finished by the end of the week. It’s a simple project, bulky yarn on large-ish needles in an open, lacey pattern. The photos are never super exciting but I’ll photograph them all when they’re blocked. Suffice it to say that I am grateful she asks me every year. It’s lovely to have a happy customer.

You can see where I started on the hat on our way down to New York (way above) and where it stands now (above). I have to pull out my DPNs to get the rest of the knitting done. I still have several rounds to knit but with double decreases every other round, it should move along pretty quickly now. I’ve been using a new-to-me technique to make the stripes line up better, aka a jogless join. I’ll endeavor to explain it in photos another time but I’m quite satisfied with it and I think once blocked the joins will be mostly invisible.

Last night I worked on the gusset of my gray Reverie sock. This is still the first of the pair because I’ve been focused on knitting my daughter’s Levitate Wrap and having some fun with the hats and the Sweater Weather Gnome KAL. My little gnome sweater is blocking as we speak and as soon as it’s dry I can knit the hands and then get it finished up. The last clue came out while we were away and I knew I had to block the pieces first – which I did last night before I went to bed. I think it’s going to be a fun one! No pictures yet per the KAL rules. Sorry. But they’ll be posted soon soon.

The last photo is our granddog, Gus, all snuggled up in our bed in New York, in the sun where he loves to be. We have lots of granddogs and with the exception of the newest one, they’re all boys. Gus is a covid dog and we are so lucky to have him. Can you believe that someone returned him to the shelter? My son got so lucky that day!

This week I’m playing catch up at home and trying to be ready to head back to work on Thursday. Laundry is in process and there is food restocking the kitchen pantry and ‘fridge. I ran to Target today to get a couple of things (a soap dish being one) and I was shocked at how empty the store shelves were. Where there were tons of sheets and blankets, etc. there is none or very little. I hope it’s from a seasonal switch and not from the tariffs that we’re being saddled with or shipping delays because of the Straight being closed off to shipping. Whatever it is, I was shocked. (I don’t shop much.)

Our heat is fully on in the house on the lake. Morning temps are consistently in the 30s and 40s. Our trees are probably past their peak but it was a gloriously colorful fall with the oranges and yellows really showing off. There were some breathtakingly brilliant spots that I’ve passed as I’ve been running around. How lucky we are to live here!

Gone knitting!

Monday, Monday …

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

It was a bit cloudy and very dramatic when I went outside to take the photo this morning. It’s now, three hours later, sunny and gorgeous outside. Fall has taken hold and the temperatures require a sweater which makes this knitter extremely happy.

I’ve been working on our family Christmas card this morning. Hubby’s computer is old and we have trouble with it … it refused to do our taxes this year and it’s getting grumpy about media transferrals … but it worked out after a few tries and I’m going to hit the order button later this morning after hubby sees it.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my gnome KAL and I’ve been keeping up with the clues. I won’t show photos of my WIP (except for the first one that gives absolutely nothing away) in accordance with KAL rules. Suffice it to say that piece 1 is sitting at the bottom of my gnome gnitting – yes, intentional spelling – bag and piece two just keeps growing. Sarah is brilliant the way she creates these patterns and this one is another unique construction. I appreciate that I have gazillions of bits of leftover sock yarn that I can use up when I knit gnomes even though the “collection” doesn’t seem to diminish much.

I have cast on two new projects, finished one and cast on another. I have a customer who calls annually to order hats. The same hat every time in the same colors for the most part. This year she wants two navy and two black. I’ve completed one navy and started a black one. They don’t take long to knit but I’d love to get them off my to-do list. I love checking off a list!

I have cast on the first Christmas knit. Someone (Sylvie) requested a pink and purple stripe elf hat this year. I just realized that I should have added “fur” because I have some furreal that’s white … I may frog what I’ve done and reknit the hat. Anyway, she’s getting what she asked for and I will be knitting a sweater to match. Maybe also with fur (on the collar and cuffs?)

I’ve been trying to make good progress on my daughter’s Levitate Wrap sweater and I have made progress. I’m still a little bit worried that it’s not going to be as boxy as I think she wanted it to be. Nevertheless, I’m continuing with knitting one sleeve as the pattern requests and re-working the border around the front of the sweater. The border is lovely, double knit, 11 stitches, applied as you go to the front of the sweater. I’ve reached the middle and expect to have it almost to the bottom of the second side today if I don’t spend too much time writing or baking. The good news is it’s really starting to look like a sweater now. Progress!

I’m going to sign off here and go bake some granola for my kids. Two of the three have requested my granola and if I make it for two …

Gone Knitting.

Class of ’76 Celebrating 50 Years

Posted on October 5, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

It wasn’t a gorgeous sunny morning this morning and it wasn’t very cool BUT we got a little bit of rain after we finished our yard clean-up and we got our new garden started. We bought a couple bags of soil several weeks (months?) ago and they’ve just been sitting waiting to become our new flower bed. We are populating the new bed with plants that we’re going to split off from our currently overgrown beds around the house. Today we started that process … and in so doing, had to go buy more dirt and some peat moss, too. We are now “done” for the time being because hauling the dirt, mixing it, spreading it and then adding a couple of Shasta Daisy clumps and some Narcissus and Grape Hyacinth bulbs, we need to sit down. Gardening is hard work and we aren’t very good at it but we try. I hope the new bed will be a success. If not, we’ll try again in the spring.

This past weekend was my 50th high school reunion. I am THAT old but I don’t FEEL that old. It was so much fun. I drove to West Hartford, Connecticut on Friday and got home yesterday. It was a wonderful reunion of friends. I loved seeing so many friends who I haven’t seen for decades and some that I had seen about 10 years ago at the last event I attended. We had a cocktail party on Friday night, a memorial ceremony and an awards ceremony on Saturday morning followed by lunch in the snazzy new cafeteria at school. Saturday night was our big shindig … cocktails and dinner with a visit by the head of school. All I can say is that I didn’t take one photograph the whole time. I was too busy hugging and catching up. I am sure someone took photos but they’ve not been shared yet.

This is me on Friday night gesticulating to a friend through her husband. He was in my class and she chose to stay home ( she was a friend in high school but in the class after us.) That’s all I’ve got to remember it by. Hahaha!

I have finished my Make Mine a Double and it’s all blocked and ready to wear. I’ll take some photos this week and post them in another post. I’ll talk about modifications I made as well.

I cast on a new project that I’m trying NOT to work on. It’s an Osaka Scarf but I’m knitting it in the round with a bunch of scraps and leftovers of lace weight silk mohair. I’ve chose about half of the colors that I have, most of them shades of blue and I’ll just knit around until the yarn is used up. I have weighed the yarn so it’s equivalent to the yarn used in the Osaka Scarf. I started it during the opening ceremony of Shetland Wool Week. I bought a virtual membership this year to support the organization that leads the event and I was pleased by the virtual “tickets” I got to attend three different chats.

I have been working on my second, gray, pair of Reverie Socks. I took them to Reunion but didn’t knit much at all. Since I got home I’ve turned the heel on the first sock and I’ll keep working on it. I’ve also been working on my daughter’s gray Levitate Wrap sweater. Suffice it to say that it doesn’t photograph well. I’m enjoying the knitting part of this sweater but I’m a little worried about how cropped it seems. I’m going to start working on the sleeves and stop working on the neck border which is done using double knitting and is a fantastic finish. I’ll perhaps take a photo next week sometime when the sleeve(s?) are at least begun to show you the progress.

This afternoon the sun came out and I had a little rest in the yard until the acorns started to fall and I ran into the house. Our colors are nearly past peak and the leaves are beginning to fall. I love the slowing down at this time of year and I wish I felt like we are going to slow down, too. I guess we will after our granddaughter’s 4th birthday party in a couple of weeks. It’ll be a quick trip to NYC for that since we’re both working ad I’m volunteering and we have commitments at home. Life is good, just busy.

Gone knitting.

Home Again … a Wonderful Vacation

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

We’re baaack! We had the most wonderful week in Weekapaug, RI. We were joined by all three of my kids and their families. Seven adults, five dogs and one granddaughter were in residence for all or part of the week and we had a wonderful time. I’ve written about why we vacation there before but I’ll briefly say that my mother rented a house there for the month of July when my kids were little and before she had Alzheimer’s Disease. After she passed away I asked my kids what they’d like to do with the little bit of money that I have to draw from her IRA each year and the answer was Weekapaug. We found a wonderful house to rent after labor day and it’s turned into a weekly vacation that we all love! We spend time at the beach, cook our meals (or most of them), spend time at Watch Hill at the Annex eating peach iced cream (my mom’s favorite flavor) and this year our granddaughter was big enough to ride the Flying Horses for the first time.

And now we’re home with smiles on our faces and more memories made.

I’ve been working on getting everything washed and put away so that I can go back to work tomorrow. I’ve run three loads of laundry (one more to wash the octopus costume) and made three dozen muffins (pumpkin, banana nut and wild Maine blueberry) to take to a meeting on Saturday morning. I’ll take half with me and leave half at home for us.

My knitting has suffered while we were away. I think I may have knitted more on the drive home yesterday than for the whole week we were in Rhode Island. But I read a lot of books, played all sorts of imaginative games (that the granddaughter made up) and listened to songs and stories galore. One lovely addition this year was an overnight visit by my brother and his wife. We all loved having them join us even briefly!

I’ve taking my Make Mine a Double sweater off the needles so I could work on my daughter’s Levitate Wrap cardigan while I had her to try on as I went. I added three rows of stockinette stitch to add to the length before I connected the fronts and back and that seems to have made all the difference in the way it fit. I am now working my way down the body of the sweater and increasing for the overlapped fronts. I’m using Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia organic merino held double with Berroco Aerial silk mohair lace. The fabric is really nice to work with but I find I do “miss” the lace every once in a while (and have to go back to make sure it’s not just hanging out in front of the fabric. Regardless, it’s knitting up pretty quickly and I think I will probably have to make it a little bit longer which means added rows. I don’t remember if I made the row gauge. That might be a good idea to look at right now so I can decide how to best add length if needed.

A while ago I bought a hank of self-striping sock yarn because a good self-striping sock yarn is difficult to find. I bought it from Must Stash yarn because they’ve got a remarkable base and their colorways are fantastic! I’ve made it to the foot of the first sock. It’s a fun knit for sure. I’m knitting a mixed pattern with details pulled from Yankee Knitter and Summer Lee and it’ll be fun to see how they fit. I really like knititng socks on US1 needles (I’m using DPNs this time.)

I haven’t taken any new photos of anything knitting but I will and I’ll post again on Sunday!

Gone knitting.

Spam Spam Spam Spam

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s a bit cloudy and a bit chilly this Saturday morning! I am happy for both. We desperately need the rain here in Maine as most of our state is under drought conditions. We have a well so it’s a serious issue that needs our awareness. We have stopped watering the gardens and have put our water conservation efforts in the house on high! We’ll be fine. Hopefully.

This week I got several lovely, thoughtful comments on several posts from a “man” named John Smith. I almost always check profiles before accepting comments on my blog and I am grateful that I stopped to look … it’s an AI platform and, I suspect, an AI response which, upon my review was more a summary of what I posted than a thoughtful human response. I won’t approve them and I may choose to mark them as spam. Progress is a double-edged sword.

I’ve had a busy and quite wonderful week! I started out the week with meetings, meetings, meetings and then finished the week with my teaching gig. In between was a lot of house cleaning, knitting, some stitching and even some baking. I was able to chat with almost all of our kids and am looking forward to seeing some of them soon.

I have a FO! One of my wonderful students pointed out Summer Lee’s new sock pattern to me and I loved it so much I immediately went to my stash to find some yarn to cast on. I have loved knitting these socks (despite the mistake I made on the first round of the first sock.) I am wearing them today because without the sun it’s a bit chilly and my feet are very happy. I knit these in some stashed Socks Yeah! yarn in a pale pink colorway. The lace repeat was easy enough to memorize and I am tickled with the result. I really like the shorter leg length even if that leaves me with more bits and bobs of fingering weight yarn.

Once I finished my Reverie Socks, I immediately went back to my stash to find some more yarn. I forgot that I bought this self-striping yarn that is packaged in two half-skeins so that the socks are identical. My husband had already gone to bed when I started caking up the first hank and (despite the fact that he can’t ever hear me) he complained that the swift was too noisy. I’ll wind the second bit today. LOL. I love a good self-striping sock. I think I have decided that I’d like to find a contrasting color to make my heels and toes … I’ll search for that today. Heaven knows I have quite a collection of bits and bobs. I’m using the Yankee Knitter and Summer Lee and maybe other patterns that I’ve used before. I did about an inch of 1×1 rib and then I’m just going to knit the leg. I’ll do a heel flap and gusset in a solid colored yarn and then knit the foot down to the toe and change the toe color, too. I could use more than one color, too … thoughts? I’ll show you what I choose!

I had to frog back my Jaunty this morning … only about an inch but I found a spot where I switched my knit belows and purls and the pattern looked off. It was almost something I could ignore but I decided it was only a few rows back and I decided to fix it instead. I’ve now got the stitches back on the needles and I’m ready to move on down the last part of the project.

I’ve really enjoyed knitting Jaunty! I am loving the yarn and the stitch pattern. I chose to knit with Ewetopia Helix DK in two different colorways because I thought I loved the purple one best and we only had two hanks in the store. BUT the blue colorway had enough purple that I thought it would also work and give me enough yarn to make the large sized Jaunty. I was right and I am very happy with the whole project. Well, not so much with the silly mistake I made but it’s fixed now and I can move on toward the end of the project. Maybe I’ll have another FO by the end of this coming week (or sooner). (And please note the cute sock on my foot!)

So, I know have my Make Mine a Double to figure out and I have had several helpful comments on that. Thank you. I think I’m going to rewind the hank and wind off the chocolate (dark) brown color and use the blue/brown/taupe medium colors on the first and then the second sleeve, breaking the yarn in between. It’s not my first preference, I’d love the yarn to be all one thread BUT I do think that the sleeves need to have some consistent color and I think that’s the right thing to do. I’ll finish them both with the lighter beige into the creamy color so they’ll “match” the body of the sweater (sort of). I am almost to the ribbing … there’s two inches of it … but I have to try it on again to see if it’s long enough to wear with my jeans. No midriff revelations at my age! Ha! Ha!

Early next week I’ll be seeing my daughter and she can try on her Levitate Wrap cardigan to make sure it’s going to be a good fit. I didn’t have her in my house to measure so we have guessed, albeit an educated guess, at her sizing. The sweater is supposed to be a boxy fit and I am on gauge so I am hopeful that it’ll be a go. I hope to make some good progress on that next week after the fitting. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I’ve read two good books about relationships that I thought I’d suggest here. The first one is Ann Patchett’s Whistler. I read this for my summer book club. We all loved it and I think I may have to re-read it because after our discussion I may be able to notice more details. Ann Patchett is an incredible writer and it’s a wonderful read. The second book was initially the book club book but was changed (to Whistler) and I missed the memo because I missed the first book club meeting. Anyway, the second book is Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. Both books are pictured below. Crossing to Safety is an older book but I still enjoyed it .. even with a brief break to read the correct book club book, I wanted to go back and finish it. And now I’m going back to the first book club book which was Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I took a break from Braiding Sweetgrass to read Crossing to Safety … well, you get the idea. I have to finish Braiding Sweetgrass, too. Worthy of a read. I loved learning more about the cultural beliefs of the native Americans, in particular.

Ok, it’s Saturday and I have a lot of ideas on what I want to do today beginning with lunch with my favorite hubby. We’re heading into town to try a new Chinese restaurant that’s not far from work (and there’s another few restaurants we need to try, too.) Neither of us loves to leave “campus” when we’re home on the weekends so this is a stretch but we also realize we don’t get out much. We’re trying.

Gone knitting.

This is 68!

Posted on July 27, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Well, I’m not sure I believe that I’ve had another birthday! I was talking to my aunt today and she said that she’s 83 and I’m 68? How the heck did that happen? Neither one of us should be that old. And we sure don’t feel this old! Regardless, I had a most remarkable, memorable birthday! My daughter asked me to do an errand for her and pick up something she had made by an artist in Freedom, Maine. When I was thinking about going to pick it up (we’d agreed on Sunday morning) it occurred to me that we’d be close to the Lost Kitchen and had heard they were serving lunch on a “first come first served” basis. BUT they were closed on Sunday so we reached out to the artist and switched it to Saturday morning and figured we’d head to TLK after that. And we did.

The bridge to The Lost Kitchen, Freedom, Maine

We were 15th in line waiting for their 11am opening. Unsure about whether the dogs would be ok (they are) and what to expect about waiting because we read it could be a wait of up to 3 hours, we took our spot in line at 10:15-ish and forty-five minutes later, we were crossing the bridge.

They managed the line, which was longer behind us than ahead of us by 11am, efficiently and with care. Once across, we headed into the Little Lost Kitchen to order our food. We ordered one of each item on the list and tried their house-made drinks – unsweet iced tea, a fruit shrub and a lemonade. Everything was presented beautifully and everything was delicious. ~~We seem to have neglected taking a photo of the vanilla custard dessert which was all of our favorite~~. We all shared all the dishes and we all had our favorites: the fried chicken was one as was the roasted vegetable focacia. The caesar salad ~~(also un-photographed)~~ was gorgeous and delicious. Overall it was an extraordinary experience. 10 out of 10. Highly recommend!

We went on to Liberty to visit Liberty Tool and Liberty Graphics, got iced cream at Johns and then headed home. Everything fell into place on my special day and I was so grateful that my son and his girlfriend and their dogs came all the way up to celebrate witThe h me. We had a Dairy Queen cake after the kids made “ramen” for dinner with all sorts of leftovers from the fridge. We are well-fed with full hearts, too.

I haven’t been knitting much! I’ve worked a few rounds on my Lochside socks and have taken several rounds back to correct mistakes that I made. Ha! Ha! The pattern is so simple but when I get involved in conversations … oops! I’ve got a few more inches on the foot and then I’ll knit the second sock. I’m not a huge fan of the yarn as it seems “fuzzy” and my needles are so pointy that it’s splitting a lot, too. So, it’s slow going but it’s moving along. Progress is being made.

I’ve gotten some time this afternoon to work on the Easy Folded Poncho, too. I’m getting close to the 50 inches of fabric and then it’ll be blocked and seamed and ready to wear when the weather starts to cool off. We’ve had some lovely cool nights that are perfect for sleeping! My body has been healing from my pneumonia “adventure” and I find I am sleeping more and even napping. I seldom nap.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to finish the front of my tabard and get the pieces blocked before they’re seamed. I will have to make the ties that hold the sides together, too, but that’s not big deal. Once that’s finished (I have only one side of the front shoulder to finish) I am going to cast on my Sabai Top. I have some black linen for my Sabai and I am planning to knit the ribbed neckline. I think it’ll be a great top to make and wear. In early September, I’ll measure my daughter and pick up her Levitate Wrap. I don’t want to knit further before I am sure it’s going to fit – frogging anything with mohair is a monster!

August is going to be a busy month for work, volunteering at school and my knitting life, too. So, for now I’m going to sign off … gone knitting!