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!

Yeah, I Know it’s Tuesday

Posted on November 3, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

I know it’s Tuesday and this is going to be (mostly) about my WIPs and maybe I should save it for WIP Wednesday but I simply feel like writing now and I don’t want to wait until tomorrow … or maybe I’ll have more to say tomorrow. Who knows! Happy Election Day! I voted a week or so ago and my hubby voted on the last day of early voting here in Maine. I have no idea if our local poling place will be super busy with lines out the door but we chose to vote early. I hope you’ve voted today, too. It’s so important to let your voice be heard! I saw a meme that said something to the order of if you’re on an airplane and 5 passengers don’t vote, three vote to crash the plane and two vote to land safely, you’re still going to crash. I feel very strongly that if you don’t vote, you’re still voting … just for the one you probably don’t like! My father was a huge proponent of voting and he raised us all to prioritize voting. I can’t miss one! Especially one as important as this!

I’ve signed up to knit every day in November for the American Cancer Society so I’ve been knitting every day. Today it was such a gray day that I couldn’t get myself motivated to do much so I decided to head up to my atelier and work there.

My daughter’s Levitate Wrap is done! All I have to do is find a big snap for inside and sew on my Queen Bee Knits label. The snap holds the inside front part to the outside front so it won’t just hang down awkwardly. I hope I can get one tomorrow when I have to run into town for dinner. This was a very fun knit and it’s a beautiful sweater. I hope my daughter loves it and wears is a lot. I did make a change and knitted the first part of the tie onto the bottom border and I shouldn’t have. I was showing the finished sweater to my college roommate who was here for the weekend and I had an AH! HA! moment where I realized that the ties can’t both be at the ends of the bottom border, they need to cross and tie at the side. SO rather than frog the whole thing, I cut the misplaced tie, bound off the stitches left behind and then grafted the tie onto the right spot. I wasn’t sure it was going to work but it did.

I put my DPNs on each side of where I am going to cut the yarn and then carefully cut one strand and unraveled the yarn. The last shot is the two pieces now living apart. LOL. It was a success! I have been using the Italian Sewn Bind-off and it’s gorgeous for this project. Today I took the tie that I cut off and grafted it onto the body of the sweater near the side. I’m so pleased with the success of this surgical procedure! Yay, me!

WIPs … I’m making a hooded scarf (The Hooded Scarf by Shaina Bilow) as a gift for my nephew’s girlfriend who has moved from Georgia to Boston and doesn’t have a lot of cold New England weather clothes. Her favorite color is red. I’m knitting with Mecha by Malabrigo and the yarn is so soft and lovely to knit. I have finished one side of the scarf and have cast on the second side. This is a very simple pattern with larger needles and bulky yarn. It’s moving along pretty quickly.

I’ve cast on the Gnumpkin gnome a couple of nights ago when I was feeling I needed a new project. I love knitting gnomes and this one is such fun so far – the hat is so cleverly constructed. I am using left-over yarn which is good, too.

Today I cast on a new hat project. A winter hat for our grandson who takes off all of his hats (and he may take this one off, too.) This one will have a tie and ear flaps … time will tell. I’ll be making some little mittens for him too for the cold Denver winter days. I’m using Vintage by Berroco because it’ll need to be washed and it’s soft enough to put on those precious little ears. I’m using the Knitting Pure and SImple #253 Basic Hat and Mittens pattern. I’m making the smallest size which is for a 2-4 year old (he’s got a big head!) My plan is to add little ears to the top of it so he’ll resemble the teddy bear that he is.

I finished the first of my gray Reverie Socks last night before I went to bed. I love this pattern and I needed some singly-color socks to wear when I want to be “fancy”! I’ll be casting on the second sock later today or tomorrow so I can get it going and finished before November 14th when the LYS where I work is starting a Fall Sock KAL with a “cast on party” at the store. Several of us from the staff will be there to kick off the KAL and I hope I can get a pair of Christmas socks knitted for my hubby’s stocking. The goal is for everyone to finish before Christmas and we’re going to have prizes to incentivize our knitters.

I voted for her (them!) I hope you voted today!

Gone knitting.

Mistakes

Posted on August 22, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s another beautiful day at the lake. I have to admit to having headed up to my atelier before I took a photo this morning so this is one from yesterday. We’ve had a lot of hummingbird activity this week and the little needle-nosed darlings are creating quite a stir at the feeder. They must be fueling up for their big flight south. I have grown to really, intensely, dislike when they leave. I miss the sounds of their wings and their tiny squawks that we barely notice when they’re here. And, of course, it means the beginning of the end of the porch-sitting weather when mornings get cooler or cold and we begin to move inside again.

This week’s knitting has been a lot of fun because I have three projects that I’m focused on and they’re all ones that I am enjoying! This morning, though, I’m going to talk about one in particular and a mistake that I made yesterday. I try to share my mistakes for two reasons: one, because even “expert” knitters make them all the time and two, so that other knitters may not make the same ones!

I’m working on the pullover called Make Mine a Double by Tribe Yarns. This pattern was made specifically for this yarn – Artyarns Double Mohair Ombre – and it caught my eye on Instagram when Millie wore it on one of her weekly videos. I was attracted to the bright colors and she looked really great. As you’ve heard here before, I loved it so much but I thought that I could find a yarn in the LYS where I work that would work just as well. I looked around the store when I was next there and didn’t find what I thought would even be close to what Millie was wearing. So, a week or more later, I announced to my hubby that i was going to pay an obscene amount for two hanks of yarn to make this sweater and I pushed the ApplePay button to confirm my purchase. The original color had been sold out and I bought a color that I thought was different for me but one that i could wear with jeans or skirts or whatever. This is my color.

In the photo above, I haven’t quite made it to the peachy-creamy color but it’s coming. I promise. I have, however, reached the point that I am going to separate the sleeves from the body. Or so I thought. Yesterday afternoon in my class, while my students were knitting away, I began the separation …. and ran into a problem … not enough stitches.

I swore that I had counted the stitches and had the right number before I put the knitting down the night before. Ha! Silly me. I had done that BUT I had missed a row of increases, the final increase row, that would have given me the right number of stitches to do what I wanted to do.

If any of you have knitted with silk mohair you know that it’s not easy to frog. Those little fuzzy bits that keep you warm despite being open and airy are also nasty grabby little bits that make going backwards very frustrating (and messy). But I had no choice other than to go back a round and a half in order to move forward.

Ta! Da! Success! I have divided the sleeves (One on the purple cord and one on the green cord and now will continue to knit down the body of the sweater until I am happy with the length. Millie wears her Make Mine a Double cropped. I will likely wear it a little bit cropped. BUT it needs to cover my belly even when I will be wearing it over a tank or tee. I am loving the colors and looking forward to getting to the place where the colors change again … this is one of the things that keep me knitting on this project … watching the colors change! Eventually the sweater becomes the creamy-peachy color which will be interesting. I almost wish that I’d started with the lighter color near my face but it’s too late for that now. I have a lot of yarn left in the first hank/skein/cake and a second one in the wings. I imagine that I’ll use the second one for the sleeves primarily. So I can probably cake it up and use some of the darker colors if the bright light bottom doesn’t suit me. (I’m also considering making the sleeves bell-shaped at the end.)

So, there you have it! My mistakes shared. The biggest one may be that I have decided to make the medium size rather than the large because I don’t like to have 10+ inches of ease in my sweaters. I hope that works out the way I hope. Time will tell.

Gone knitting.

Another Rainy Day

Posted on May 3, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

I went out this morning to take my “photo of the day” when there was a loon just sitting out in the lake … and just as I snapped this photo, it dove and it was too damp and chilly to wait for it to pop up again. Today is a good day for loons. Rainy and gray and damp but a well filler (we live on a well and are already in drought conditions) so I won’t complain … I have given myself permission, after a few crazy busy weeks, to do “nothing”. That generally means doing only what I feel like doing which today may be hanging in my atelier watching something on TV and knitting. I have another two weeks before life returns to “normal” (the boss is out of town for a month, adding to all of our work routines) and I need to stay healthy to keep up with the pace. I’m not usually at the store three or more days a week. None of us are. But when she leaves, it’s either we step up or … I’m not sure what would happen because we always step up.

This is the principal at Maine Arts Academy yesterday letting some of the artists/students add some bling to his face paint. This school, where I’m happily a volunteer and board member, is wonderful. I love being associated with it and truly believe it to be an example for public schools everywhere. Yesterday we celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Maine Arts Academy with a brunch, awards, performances, and heart. It’s been a year in the making but the event went off without a hitch and it was fantastic from start to finish. I think I can speak for all of us that we are so glad to have it in the rear view mirror – all we have left is a review and thank you notes.

I have been having a challenging knitting week. It seems like everything I knit I un-knit. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m inattentive or what but I’ve been making all the silly mistakes. Knitting sure can humble you.

I’m working my way down the foot of my Escher sock #2. Somewhere along the line, I changed from using DPNs to a nine-inch circular needle and guess what? The gauge of the sock has also changed. So, having completed the same number of pattern repeats, I am still an inch shy of where the toe decreases should go. (The circumference is a bit narrower, too.) I like the fabric of the second sock better so I am going to finish it to be the correct foot length and I probably have enough yarn to make a third sock if I need to. I am also going to go ahead and knit the heel of the first sock (probably before finishing the second sock’s foot) and see how it fits. When they say that it makes a difference what needles you use, they’re so right! I certainly know better but I really did want to try the 9″ circs and when I happened to be at a yarn shop that had one, I jumped. Oh well.

I’ve also been working (and reworking) on my Hansel Hap. I stopped paying attention somewhere along the line and worked well past a row that needed to be a “lace” row and it would have affected the pattern had I ignored it and gone on. So, I frogged back a few rows and then re-knit. At the same time, I ran out of one colorway that I was using … most of the way across the second row … and had to adjust that, too. I tried to just change colors but that didn’t work and I ended up frogging back and changing the colorway entirely. Thank goodness the pattern is somewhat flexible with the color order. I am one row from doing the edge border and then it will be done … just in time for summer?

I’ve also been working on my roommate’s Vanilla Sweater and have finished the body and started the second sleeve. I was waiting for her measurement specifications before finishing the lengths of the sleeves and the body but now I’m on the way. I added a couple of extra rows of seed stitch to the split hem in hopes that it won’t roll up like mine does. The color is really lovely and the yarn is so wonderful to work with. I love working with wooly wool and spit-splicing the yarn so there are not too many ends to weave in at the end. This should be finished in the next week or so and blocked and sent off to Connecticut.

I’ve finished the two little purple crowns for my granddaughter and her little friend, Madeline. They’ll be sent off to NYC this week (or if I can figure out a way to get down there, I’ll carry them down.) I’ve also finished a gnome MKAL (mystery knit along). Sarah Schira is brilliant and I always enjoy her gnome patterns. This one is no exception. I am collecting quite a few of her patterns and have knitted a bunch including one in worsted weight so he’s HUGE! I have several that I have never knitted and this reminds me to knit more of them. Maybe I need to collect them all from my atelier and take them outside some day to photograph! Anyway, this one was another fun knit and I do love her – her name is Gneddy, according to the designer. I finally went out and bought a big bag of the poly pellets to weigh their little bodies down so they don’t tip over. I have put beans in before but I’m worried that the organic origin of beans may be problematic over the years. Isn’t she cute?

The day lilies are about six-inches tall now and the forsythia bush is still waiting to bloom. I did a little walk around the yard to see how it was going and the perennials are coming back and greening up. I discovered that our forsythia has sprouted a second plant that we’ll dig out and move after they bloom. They should bloom soon. Meanwhile, the Maple trees have popped and the leaves are opening. Spring is here in Maine and we are so grateful for longer days. (The full moon the other night sure did throw off my sleep! It was a powerful moon, big and bright, it lit up the whole inside of our bedroom!)

The windows need washing (again!)

Gone knitting.

WIP Wednesday

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a busy week and it’s not over yet! I am missing the sun this morning and the “energy” that comes with it but I’m trying to make it a good day. We had our coffee indoors this morning; between the lack of sun, wind and lower temps it was too cool to sit outside. BUT as you’ll see, our dock is in and summer can begin whenever it would like to!

I’ve been working away at finishing a few little projects and working on some bigger ones, too. My Hansel Hap Half has been languishing in its project bag untouched while I get the Vanilla Sweater for my college roomie finished. I’ll start with the Vanilla Sweater.

I’ve completed the first sleeve and have picked up where I left off at the bottom of the body. I have split the hem and am working my way down the back half. I’ll knit a couple of extra rows so it doesn’t flip up like mine does. One day I may even go back and add a couple of rows to mine. Stay tuned.

I’ve been participating in the Mystery KAL Beary Cozy Gnome by Sarah Schira and we have received the final clue. I was a little bit behind and hope to catch up today but my volunteer job with Maine Arts Academy is taking a bit of extra time this week because we have our tenth anniversary celebration on Saturday. Regardless, I’m doing some knitting and this is so close! I won’t post any photos today so I don’t spoil the mystery part. Stay tuned.

I’ve also been working on my Escher Socks by Summer Lee. I love this pattern and the socks are going to be gorgeous! I am now past the heel on the second sock. I worked on this sock and the gnome all day yesterday (well, as I had time).

The socks absolutely will not match and that’s ok with me. I just started working the second sock where the first sock left off. I think they’ll be even more fun this way. Not everything has to be matchy matchy.

I have two finished little purple crowns that will be sent to NYC as soon as they’re dry. AND I have finished the new store sample for Mothers Day. Both were interesting “challenges”. The shop sample is the Pressed Flowers Kerchief made in a yarn that we “found” in the shop, in kits that haven’t sold. We thought if we could come up with a cute pattern they might sell in smaller kits. This is the pattern of our choice and it’s adorable and a fun knit. If I had my druthers, I’d have made it a little bit bigger but the thing about sample knitting is that you have to follow the pattern directions. Period. No playing with it. So, this is the kerchief knitted to the pattern specifications and it’s a small kerchief. 30 inches long and about 9 inches deep. Big enough to wrap around your head or your neck. The yarn is very soft and it was a fun, quick knit. I am guessing that you could knit two of them from the two hanks of yarn. There’s a lot left over. Maybe to be sure, you could reverse the colors – I keep meaning to weigh the kerchief and the left-over yarn but my husband took the kitchen scale back to the kitchen. Horrors. 🙂

The crown are another laughable story where I initially looked at the shop sample and assumed that the crown was knitted from the band out. I started knitting and the directions were “wrong” immediately. What was actually wrong was my assumption. The crown is knitted from the pointy bits down to the band. I should know by now that when I assume things or think I know what I’m doing is when I make my best mistakes. Anyway, I have managed to finish two purple crowns and they’re blocked and drying. And I am humbled once again.

The plants around the house are starting to pop their heads up out of the soil. I love this time of year! My bulbs are bulb-ing and the bleeding heart and day lilies are growing so fast you can almost watch them grow. We’ve (the royal we) been out raking leaves out of the gardens and trimming back the bushes and trees. We’ve also had some fun birds at the feeder – yesterday I was watching the Hairy Woodpecker, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Goldfinch, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, and a few others who never leave. The Chickadee’s call will forever be a sound of Maine to take with me. The loons are back, and little Mayflies, too.

Gone knitting.

WIP Wednesday

Posted on February 5, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s a beautiful blue bird day here on the lake today. I have had a slow morning, a late wake-up after a middle of the night interruption by the smoke detector battery at 3:30am. I’ve been on meds for my sinus infection for 24 hours and hope to feel like a new woman by tomorrow. (No worries, right?)

I’ve been working away bit by bit on my Jelly Roll Blanket and yesterday came across a very pleasing combination of colors. I tried to take a photograph of them but it’s not coming out very true so you’ll have to just trust me. When I can knit outdoors again, maybe I can get a really good photo. Ha! I still have a basket and more of bits and bobs of fingering weight yarn scraps so I am planning to keep going. Maybe I’m half-way there? I knew this was going to be a long-term project.

I’ve picked up and am just finished grafting the seam on the headband I’m making for one of my daughter’s friends who is like another one of my kids. He’s an avid runner, even in the winter in New York City. For Christmas, I made Sheldon a pair of fingerless mitts for running in his signature shade of blue. I had an extra skein of the yarn and offered to make him a headband or hat. I decided on Petite Knits’ Weekend Headband which is a 1×1 rib, cast on with live stitches so that they can be grafted at the end. I made a mistake at the point of the cast on without realizing it until I was ready to graft in 1×1 rib and realized I had live stitches from the cast on that were all knit stitches. Hmm. What’s a knitter to do? I certainly wasn’t going to frog and begin again. So, my answer was to knit a round of stitches and graft them in regular Kitchener stitch. While the graft doesn’t look bad, it would look MUCH better in rib but since it’ll be on the inside of the headband, I think it’s passable. The headband is soaking now and will be blocked and sent off. I made the smaller size because he doesn’t have a big head. I hope it’ll work. I still have more yarn, just in case.

Meanwhile, my daughter has also asked for a new headband so once I’ve finished another project on the needles, I’ll have to find a pattern for hers. AND finish her sister’s fingerless mitts. Since I’ve been under the weather, I haven’t had the headspace to work on them.

My Winter’s Finery shawl has taken some backwards steps. I thought I had finished the lace through the last chart row and something didn’t line up. I frogged a few rows to see if I could fix it and just kept needing to go back again. So, finally, I decided just to go back to the start of the lace and start over and this time I won’t knit the lace while watching the final few episodes of Outlander. (If you haven’t watched Outlander, you’re really missing something quite wonderful. Part time-travel, part love story, part historical fiction, I have really enjoyed it.)

I started my “Bang Out a Sweater” sweater on January 31 and then it stalled. Seems I have all of my US 6 needles out in projects somewhere. I’m not sure how that could be but it seems to be true. SO … it’s sitting and waiting for me to finish my Winter’s Finery shawl or get the store for work tomorrow and buy an extra needle (or two). I can’t believe I have no US 6 needles that will work for this sweater. I will work on the shawl today … and if I can get close to 11 rows of lace knitted, I’ll finish the shawl first. If I don’t, I’ll buy new needles. Don’t tell my husband. Ha!

I have a sweater’s worth of so many yarns in my atelier. A rust-colored organic merino, a navy blue worsted wool, sport weight grey (with a red for some contrast/pattern), and an orange felted tweed and complimentary orange lace weight silk mohair. What do you think of an orange cardigan? I’m not getting a lot of knitting done this week because I don’t feel well, but I may have to cast on another something … the two hats for my client, the headband for my daughter. Something that doesn’t take too much headspace.

Gone knitting.

A Quick Story

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Last night I decided to try on my first sock. That was not such a good idea because it led me down a rabbit hole. The sock, Hermione’s Everyday Sock by the Crazy Sock Lady (it may be my new favorite sock pattern), was too long. What was I thinking when I knitted the foot/toe? I wear a size 9 1/2 shoe and that means I knit to 7″ and then do the toe decreases. For some reason, I was thinking that I needed to knit to 8″ … and you know what that means, right? The sock is too long by an inch!!!

So, frog I did.

I pulled out the needles and pulled and wound up the (now) extra yarn so that when I reach the correct length, I can re-knit the toe. And then the “hard” part is to find the right stitches for each of the three needles. Luckily, the pattern repeat for the sock is 4 rounds and I could tell where the pattern started so I could easily find the top of the foot stitches and get them on the needle. Which left the other half of the sock to be divided onto the two remaining needles. Now, all I have to do is knit the toe. AGAIN!

One would think that after knitting several dozen pairs of sock that one would not make mistakes any more … and one would be wrong. This is how expectations lead to negative thinking and I started to beat myself up with “what a dope” and “dummy” … but as I realized what I was saying to myself, I stopped and remembered that I simply made a mistake and it’s all good. We all make mistakes, even experts, and I gave myself a pat on the back for catching the mistake before I tried to wear the sock.

I thought it looked long. I tell others all the time to trust their gut. I will remember to listen to my own good advice and trust my gut.

Gone knitting.

Making the Big Decisions

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Queen Bee Knits

Last summer I bought the most beautiful yarn at the Maine Fiber Frolic.

Seacolors Yarn

And I also got a “free” pattern with the sweater. I really liked the idea of the boxy cardigan with this yarn using a random pattern with the three colors. Different sleeves. Not too matchy-matchy.

Over the summer and fall, I got all the pieces knitted and was ready to put them together. The shoulders and sleeves, though, didn’t fit. They were at least two inches off (the sleeves were too small for the space that they were supposed to fit into). Well, what to do?

I mulled it over and decided that I had to re-knit the sleeves. Frog them and re-knit them with more increases so that they’d fit into the space … and then as I prepared to frog the sleeves and re-knit them, I noticed that I had (for some unknown reason) joined two balls of yarn in the middle of the back right about exactly where it would be most noticeable. What was I thinking? So, I decided to frog the back to the join and re-knit that, too. And then when I got that far down and was ready to rejoin the yarn, I noticed that I did it not once, but twice and there was another join just about two inches below the first one.

A second join in the middle of the back … what was I thinking?

That did it. I frogged the whole sweater. It went from this …

All the pieces were finished and blocked …

To this … in just a few minutes!

Oh well, that’s one of the most wonderful things about knitting … you can start anything over if it isn’t pleasing you. This one wasn’t pleasing me at all. But I do love the yarn!

And if anyone is wondering why we may be allergic to wool? Well, check out what was left on my desk after I frogged and re-wound the wool!

Wool dust … ahhhhh – choo!

Gone knitting!