Queen Bee Knits

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

I Just Cleaned up After “Breakfast”!

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Things are looking up here on the health front! Finally! I had a shower today, made my own “breakfast” and then emptied the dishwasher and cleaned up the kitchen. This is the first such activity in about two weeks! Yay! My body is reminding me that I’ve been sick and I need to maintain a slower than usual pace, but I am happy to oblige because I finally feel like I’m getting better. The flu is not fun this year, folks. I hope you’re vaccinated and washing your hands a lot!!!

The last two weeks have afforded me a lot of knitting time and for the most part I’ve taken full advantage of it. Although, there have been hours of time spent just sitting and watching stupid stuff on TV. Yesterday I spent most of my knitting time working on the Gansey Afghan. I really am enjoying this project and more than I thought I would. I have made it past the forty inch mark and the final size is designed to be forty-eight inches. I think mine may be more because I’m going to try to use up all of the two balls of yarn I bought for the project. As I discovered, I have a ton of bits and bobs of left-over yarn and I haven’t used them for much. (More on this story later in this post.)

The Gansey Afghan is knitted with worsted weight yarn. I chose two balls of this dark sage-y green that was on sale at the LYS where I work. It’s Hayfield Aran with Wool and comes in 919 yard, 400 gram balls. That’s a lot of yarn. Mine was on sale so it’s was less than $60 to make the blanket. And the blanket is going to be a really good size. The pattern is several “stripes” of textured stitches divided by a 2-row reverse stockinette stitch pattern (the pattern is really more than just the two rows of reverse stockinette). It’s fun to watch the repeats turn out and it keeps the knitting interesting. I have mis-read the pattern in a couple of spots but I just kept on keeping on and have balanced the errors so they don’t stick out. I challenge you to try to figure out where the errors are. I think I’d like to make another one for my atelier next fall/winter in orange. I am loving orange these days. It would also look great in our bedroom or in our living room. We’ll see where it ends up or if it gets knitted at all. LOL. I have just finished the third repeat of the pattern and will knit one more which should use up almost all of the yarn. Fingers crossed.

I’ve not touched my husbands Christmas socks this week and I’ve only worked a little bit on my Ranunculcus sweater but I’ve already written about that. I have procured another beautiful yarn, however. I pre-ordered two hanks of Lola Bean Yarn Co’s DK weight yarn on the soy bean base. (100% merino). The colorway is “Good Trouble” and it’s a nod to the civil rights leader, John Lewis. Sales of this yarn benefitted a non-profit organization supporting civil rights but I don’t remember now which one it was. My yarn arrived this week and it’s gorgeous!!!

Lola Bean Yarn Co., DK weight Soy Bean base, colorway: Good Trouble

I’ve been texting back and forth with one of my Friday afternoon knitting students who also bought the yarn and I think we’re both going to attempt (and see how we like it) the Le Bandana pattern by Aimee Gille of La Bien Aimee. It’s a simple one-skein triangle shaped shawlette. I have a bit more yarn and will plan to make mine a bit bigger so that I use up all the yarn in the one project. (Do you see a theme here?) If I can’t return a full hank of leftover yarn, I want to use it all up!!!

Here’s the story I promised: This weekend one of my co-worker friends sent our triumvirate group the link to a pattern for the most adorable little stuffed rabbit. She’s wearing a dress, a cardigan and a headband and comes with a kitten. And she’s a free pattern. Did I say that she was adorable? See for yourself!

Well, I didn’t want to go buy more yarn if I have some that I can use so I pulled down my two bins of sport/dk weight yarn to have a look. TWO bins of leftover sport/dk yarns. This is what I pulled out of those two bins that I may want to use for the project. The bins are now back in their shelves but still mostly full … some with a sweater’s worth of yarn!) I may have a problem.

The good news is that I did find a wrapper-less gray yarn (at the front) that I hope will work for the bunny and plenty of other balls of yarn to make the garments, accessories and kitten out of. I also have enough to share with Carol if she needs it. I hope we will cast on this week. And I hope the bunny doesn’t hang out unclothed for years like my Dolores did. (I still have clothes to knit for Dolores.)

So, there you have it. I have so much knitting to do that I will leave you here and head off to my comfy chair and my knitting. The question is … do I wind up my Good Trouble and knit my shawlette or continue with the afghan in hopes of getting something finished? Stay tuned for my choice …

Gone knitting.

Musselburgh in Pink and Charcoal

Posted on January 4, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

This is the first time I’ve “written” 2026! Happy New Year! I’ve ushered the New Year in with a cold kindly gifted to me by my hubby. I’ve been feeling pretty zapped energetically and haven’t done much other than knit. (Is that a good thing or a bad thing?)

I’ve been working on three WIPs and specifically wanted to write about my Musselburgh which has been a yarn challenge. I started off with a pink yarn, Hu Made Twist fingering weight in the Sakura Petals colorway that I bought in New York City last winter. I matched it with a strand of Berroco Aerial silk mohair in the Strawberry colorway. It’s a wonderful blend. BUT despite thinking I’d make the entire hat in the pink, I ran a bit short and had to figure out a second color to finish the hat. I went to my stash and chose a charcoal gray alpaca blend and started to knit. About an inch or two in, I thought I should have added a strand of mohair to this as well … but I didn’t have any dark gray or black … at least I didn’t find any for a bit. So I worked on my Gansey Afghan.

AND then I found some black mohair when I was cleaning up a little bit. It was left over from my sparkly City Lights Hat and hidden away under my needles. So, I added the mohair in and started knitting again. I had about two inches of charcoal alone and a line where the black mohair began but I was ok with that. The hat is for me AND the brim of the hat will be folded over hiding the gray. But last night I ran out of black mohair. Now I have some choices to make. I either buy a new ball of black mohair and continue knitting OR I knit a bit with what’s left of the pink and then finish with gray alone (or buy mohair and knit with 2 strands at the end.) I’m bummed because I really wanted to get this hat finished this weekend and should be able to if I had the right yarns in my stash. This is where knitters get in trouble.

My other choice is to frog back and take the black mohair OUT of the hat and reknit in the gray only. I’m thinking this is what I am leaning toward. One of my goals is to move yarn OUT of my stash and not add to it this year. Little bits and bobs are not what I want hanging around in my atelier. The lazy me wants to just keep knitting but the knitter me is not happy with the piecemeal method of making this hat work. And, frankly, it’s not really working. And, more honesty, I am also not happy with the gray at all. I’d rather be working with a brown or rusty brown yarn because that’s what the flecks in the pink yarn are. So, I think my first job today will be to frog the gray – at least back to the beginning of the black mohair – and see what happens.

I put all of my stitches on a barber cord and used my needle to pick up the right leg of every stitch all the way around just a row or two above the “line” where the black mohair meets the gray alpaca and then frog all the stitches back. and Ta! Da! I’m back at the spot that I THINK I want to knit from again … that is if I decide to keep knitting in gray.

And just so you know, I’ve finished the first of my hubby’s Christmas socks and it fits! That’s always a very good thing. Today the plan is to cast on the second sock today. So, for now I’m going. to set the hat aside and work on the sock … or the afghan. I’m trying really really hard NOT to cast on something new until I finish just one thing. I need a first FO for 2026!

Gone knitting.

Deep Freeze, Raw Emotions

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

My emotions have been very close to the surface recently. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m mourning the last year that we’ve “lost” because of Covid-19 or because there is finally a sense of calm in our Nation’s capital with the new administration. I’m not sure what it is that I am feeling so deeply or that’s bubbling up but it’s there and with this post I am acknowledging it. I am looking forward to the day when it feels safe to leave the house and when I can see my family again. I miss them all so much but I am also so grateful that they’ve all remained healthy.

We woke to sub-zero temperatures today and lots of wind gusts! It was blowing all night but we have been fortunate to retain our power today while lots of other communities in Maine have not. The sun is out and the sky is bluebird blue and that always helps my “attitude”. I would love to see a really good snowstorm before spring but they posted our road yesterday and our camp road has been a muddy mess for a week or more so I may not get my wish.

Today I finally seamed the underarms of my test knit sweater, Crofter’s Smock by Gudrun Johnston. I like it more than I thought I would before it was blocked. The fabric relaxed a lot in its bath. I also learned a few new techniques: folded cuffs and neck and saddle shoulders. This sweater was fun to knit, partly because it’s somewhat cropped and knit in an Aran weight yarn. I used Hayfield Bonus Aran with Wool (a washable acrylic and wool blend) and it was heavy on the US8 needles … my hands got tired knitting! After seaming the underarms, I put the sweater on – this is the coldest day of our winter so far – and it’s nice and warm, the sleeve length is perfect and I like the pockets placed on the side of the sweater. I can’t show you any photographs yet but when I have permission, I’ll add them here.

Meanwhile, I have cast on a pair of socks for my March 2021 Sock Challenge. This month I’m knitting worsted weight boot socks in Raggi yarn. Gray and white marled leg and foot, red cuff and toe. I’ve nearly got one sock finished and will have to attach sock #2 as soon as #1 is finished. These will be super warm socks and they’re so cute!

I’ve also chosen to participate in the Confident Knitting year-long program hosted by Jen Arnall-Culliford. I also chose to splurge and purchase their yarns – typically not yarns we carry at the yarn shop where I work here in Maine. It’s a great chance to taste yarns that I may otherwise not get a chance to work with. AND they had a cool pink project bag!

I’ve started the March project, Flux Handwarmers by Martina Behm. The techniques learned this month are crochet provisional cast on and a folded edge. I chose to do a picot edge which is so cute! This month’s yarn is the springtime colorway of a Crazy Zauberball. These mitts will be a nice weight and they’ll be so cheerful. I’ve participated in A Year of Techniques and Boost Your Knitting for the two previous years and I learned a lot. I’m sure I’ll learn some new tricks this year, too! What I love about these programs is that there are detailed tutorials on all of the techniques and even when I already know one, I can find something to learn (or it just hammers it into my head.)

I’ve been spending a lot of time “worrying” about my sweet Lola. She’s not eating well and her hind legs are unstable. She sleeps most of the day but she still finds a tail wag or two to gift me with every day. For months I’ve been looking at the little kit that I bought when I was out shopping pre-pandemic. The little felt mitten has a bee on it and I couldn’t resist. This will eventually live on our Christmas tree but until Christmas, it’ll likely live on my desk lamp!

I finished two black tams for a customer and they’ve been delivered to the store for her to pick up. She wants two more navy blue ones. It’s sweet of her to ask me. I made a tarte tatin over the weekend. It was delicious! A few apples, some sugar, butter and a home made crust and it was dessert for two for several days. Yummy!

We’ve been spending lots of time doing puzzles. My hubby gave me a really difficult puzzle for Christmas and we stuck to it and finished it … and he ordered another one for Valentine’s day which we’re working on at the dining room table. Luckily, there are only the two of us so we only need one end of the table for eating (although we generally eat up in my studio and watch the news.)

Gone knitting!

Crofter’s Smock Test Knit

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

I swatched and swatched and swatched again! The first swatch, the pink-ish yarn was on target but the red, that I thought would be perfect for this project wasn’t right. This swatch was knitted flat before I discovered the instructions to knit the swatch in the round … so I got my needles back out and swatched again, this time in the round, with the red yarn. It was close “enough” and would probably have given me a little bit larger sweater when finished. But then I thought, since I can’t identify the yarn because it was gifted to me, that wouldn’t help the designer. So back to work. I dove into my stash and thought that Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted is a heavy worsted. But I didn’t get gauge. Last chance was a stashed Hayfield Aran with Wool and my gauge was spot on! Woo! Hoo!

Next day I was off to my LYS (Yardgoods Center in Waterville, Maine) to see what two (big) balls were in stock for this sweater. I’d done a bit of research into colors so I did have some idea what I wanted to do and found Celtic Grey (is it grey or gray?) I also happened to grab a couple of balls of Raggi worsted sock yarn and ordered some Lettlopi for a future Stopover Sweater and Mary Jane Mucklestone’s new Heart Mittens. They’ll both be a “reward” for finishing my test knit.

I’ve been knitting away as often as I can manage between work and my volunteer board meetings and phone calls and as of this afternoon I have passed the seven inches mark. I checked the Google doc for the test knitting group to pass information to Gudrun and I’m doing pretty well … even if some of the testers have moved on to the sleeves. A few more inches to the armpits!

Crofter’s Smock by Gudrun Johnston in Hayfield Aran With Wool

I am enjoying the mixture of textures in the body of the sweater and it’s simple enough to not have to look at the pattern. So, I’d best get back to work so I can keep the progress rolling! One stitch at a time! I’ll be back soon with a post about measuring gauge (just in case you don’t know how to do it!)

Gone knitting!