Queen Bee Knits

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

Future Planning

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Queen Bee Knits

I’ve taken the day off today, a personal day, to plan our move to Maine … well, actually, I’m planning what yarn and patterns that I will be taking with me for the summer. I’m really trying to be a “good girl” and to knit from my stash. I’ve done pretty well … with a couple of hiccups!

One Hiccup!

Cotton Blend

So far, I’ve found a couple of cardigan/vest patterns to knit from some fingering weight cotton and a cotton blend. I’ve matched a sock weight merino to knit up for a hat for my guy and have pulled out a few sock yarns to knit up for me into socks for my sock drawer project. I have a pair of worsted weight socks to knit for my guy, too.

Baby Sweater Cotton

A long time ago, I bought cotton yarn to knit up for my first niece. I never did … so I can use it now for the second niece (if I can find the pattern!) It was so pretty! I have this stinking feeling that the pattern is in one of the binders that have already been packed and are out in the boxes stacked in the garage.

I’ll definitely be bringing the pretty blue tweed yarn that I bought to knit a dress in the Elsabeth Lavold designer’s choice pattern book. It’s been waiting for me! 😉

Noro

I have a bulky weight Noro yarn that wants to be a scarf or shawl for wearing next winter. I fell in love with the colorway which is gray … and some other colors, too. You know how Noro has the most wonderful colorways!

And I’m still working away. Of course, I have the patterns that have been put into time out and those that are in process so hopefully I won’t run out before our house is built.

Gone knitting!

On the Needles

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Queen Bee Knits

I finished my taxes so I treated myself to a new project!

The Atchafalaya Swamp

When I was in Louisiana for Spring Break, I taught a couple of classes at the Yarn Nook. It’s a really wonderful shop in Lafayette, LA and it just so happens that my sister-in-love works there. When she knew I was coming for a visit she told the owners and they invited me to teach a class. It is humbling to have them ask me back and I was thrilled to accept.

Teaching aside, Wednesday was a work day for my sister-in-law, Kathy. And of course I went along! Who wouldn’t want to spend the day in a yarn shop?

While I was there, I wandered the shop to check out the yarn, bags, and all the good stuff. I happened to notice a Churchmouse Yarns pattern for a mohair striped wrap. I loved the colors, the feel of the yarn and, the fact is, I’m moving to Maine from Florida and I’m going to need warm clothes. So, all my teaching money (and then some) went to new yarn and pattern rather than gas! I purchased four balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe in four different colorways. I’m knitting it with my Knitters Pride Dreams circular needle (US 7) because the yarn is very slippery and it would slip right off my Signature needles!

“Graffiti” Sock #1

I have a pair of socks that I’m knitting from Susan B. Anderson’s “How I Make my Socks” pattern. The yarn is one that I saw on Susan’s Instagram feed and went immediately to buy from Gale’s Art on Etsy in the Graffiti colorway. I am loving the way the yarn is knitting up and I love the sock pattern. The first sock fits like a glove. (Well, not really, it fits like a sock. And it fits perfectly!) The pattern is super easy to follow and the socks are knitting up in a jiffy!

Frontenac

My Frontenac vest is knitting up bee-utifully and very quickly due to the bulkier weight yarn that I bought. The yarn is Berroco’s Inca Tweed in two colorways: 8901 Playa and 8934 Noche. One is a beige or camel color and the other is a slate gray. The front and over the shoulders will be beige and the back, gray with a turtle neck. It’s a quick and simple knit thus far and I am looking forward to wearing it over a turtleneck shirt with long sleeves when we get up to Maine! Inca Tweed is a yummy soft yarn with just enough tweedy flecks in it to make it interesting. It’s got a little bit of thick and thin going on and it’s not split-y or annoying to knit with. I’m loving this project!

Still in time out is the Lobster Hat that I started up in Maine last summer. It’s a testament to the fact that I don’t like color work and, particularly, I don’t care for carrying the yarns behind the work. I find it tedious. Maybe because I’ve not done enough of it and my tension is sometimes inconsistent but I will finish it one of these days (or years).

I frogged the Olivia Cowl that I started. I was knitting it with some bee-utiful light blue worsted-weight yarn from Swans Island Yarn Company. The yarn is too pretty to be knit into something that I don’t love. Olivia is frogged. The yarn is waiting for my calling.

On my queue are a few other projects … worsted-weight “hiking” socks for my sweetie, a sock-weight hat for him, too. I have a dress that I want to knit, too. And a “boxy” sweater, probably a cardigan, to knit for me. Of course, when I finish my second graffiti sock, I’ll have to start another pair!

Gone knitting!

A Hare Pair (Rabbit Hat by Jane Terrza)

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Queen Bee Knits

I have had this ball of white-ish yarn (Oasis Farm Fiber Mill “Bunny Yarn”) in my stash for years. It’s tried to be a scarf a couple of times and, subsequently, frogged. I had set it aside because I didn’t know what it wanted to be. Until I saw the Rabbit Hat by Jane Terrza on Facebook one morning a couple of weeks ago.

I have two adorable nieces in northern California and I just HAD to make the Rabbit Hats for them for Easter!

I used the following yarns from my stash for the hats: Oasis Farm Fiber Mill Classic Bunny in white. I had two skeins that I wound into one huge cake. I used about half of the two skein cake for both hats. (Don’t you love knitting for children and babies?) I needed something pink for the inside of the ears in a similar weight. I had a skein of Lorna’s Laces Sportweight wool in a very pale pink (pale pink colorway, I think) that I won in a contest for a soapbox package. It was perfect!

First Hat

The first hat was the larger of the two and I made it as the pattern was written with a kitchener stitch graft at the top of the hat and reverse stockinette on the inside of the ears (the pink part).

Reverse stockinette inside the ears

The pattern was easy to follow and the hat is adorable. The hat is knit in the round and the ears are knit in two pieces each from stitches placed on stitch holders. Once knitted, the ears are seamed. Easy enough.

What I found “awkward” was that all of the decreases for the ears were all done as K2tog. It seemed to me that the top of the hat could be more easily seamed with a 3 needle bind off rather than kitchener stitch and be nearly as pretty (and take a lot less time to seam). I guess it will be up to you to decide what you want to do but I wanted to share with you what I did with the second little hat for the baby sister!

Hat 2

I knit the hat just as the pattern was written. (I happen to love a little rolled brim on a hat!)

The changes that I made came in the top seam and the ears.

For the top of the hat, I did a 3 needle bind off. Next time I would turn the hat inside out first but I am not unhappy with the little seam on the top of the hat. I took a bit of time to adjust the stitches onto holders … I had to knit the first six stitches to get the yarn into the right place to bind off the top of the hat but otherwise, it was a cinch!

I knit the ears with a K2tog (knit two together) decrease for a right-leaning decrease on the left sides of the ear pieces and a SSK (slip slip knit) decrease for a left-leaning decrease on the right sides of the ear pieces rather than always using a K2tog decrease as written in the pattern. I think this looks a little bit prettier. I also was thinking about treating the ear as one piece circularly and carrying the contrasting yarn across. I decided to seam them instead to save the yarn. (Hey! I am a Yankee at heart!)

Stockinette inside the ears … by mistake but it still looks cute.

Because it was the second hat, I wasn’t paying attention to the pattern directions and totally forgot about the reverse stockinette on the inside of the ears. As a result, they are stockinette stitch. And it’s fine. Bonus! I find the seaming easier this way.

Since I was using natural fibers, I steam blocked both hats and made sure the pink insides of the ears were “hugged” by the creamy white backs of the ears all around. I think they are adorable and can’t wait to see my little nieces wearing them!

A Pair of Hare Hats … blocked and heading to California!

Which one do you like best? The pattern can be found on Ravelry and is a minimal charge … buy the pattern and support the designer!

Gone knitting!

Knitt-ah. N. A person who knits (in Maine).

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Queen Bee Knits

I love knitting. I love teaching people to knit.

In my next life, I want to work in a yarn shop or around yarn and teach knitting. I have come to know that I am a really good teacher and I know my craft well. I want to use the passion that I have for teaching and learn more about yarn and fibers. Working in a yarn shop will help me get there.

That next life is coming screaming around the corner on two wheels!

For Sale!

Our home here in Florida is on the market and we are looking forward to moving to Maine. It’s where we feel most grounded. N has had the constancy of the house there in his life for all of his life. We were there are crazy-in-love teenagers. We started our life together with a summer there after our divorces. It is home. The old house is coming down to make way for a very similar house that we can live in year-round. N will be hammering and sawing and nailing. I will be compiling my list of classes that I can teach and going around to meet yarn shop owners to put it out there that I would like to teach in their shops. I also want to send a note to the LYS shop owner I know whose shop is closest to our house to see if she’d be interested in hiring me to work in the shop part-time and to teach some classes. All of this will be happening sooner than I can imagine. Life continues to zoom past at an increasing speed!

I’m putting it all out there. Being open to the ideas that may be created and open to the suggestions of my peers. I want to visit the markets and fiber events as a blogger and knitter and teacher. That’s where my heart is leading me and I’m choosing to follow my heart.

As our house sale comes together and the move starts to be planned, I am so grateful for the wonderful life that I live. My friends and family who support me (and us.) Life is so good!

Gone knitting.

K1FB Increasing Without Tears …or those pesky little “purl bumps”

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning I happened across a video for adding a stitch in your knitting without that funny little purl bumpy thing that happens when you knit one into the front and back of the stitch (K1FB). I have gone back to try to find the video but I can’t find it. So, in my own inimitable fashion, I’m going to attempt to show you, dear patient readers, with words and photographs what the video said.

There are many increases to use when you’re knitting. The “quickest and easiest” is K1FB or knit one into the front and back of a stitch. You can use this increase when you see “M1” in a pattern but I’d recommend that you use this as a generic increase rather than a M1 (make one).

When you get to the place where you need to increase, you are going to knit into the front of the stitch (which I’ve already done in the photo below) and then, without dropping the stitch off the left-hand needle, you’re going to knit into the back of the stitch. The photo below shows the stitch that I am adding by knitting into the back … I’m ready to wrap and then slip the stitch off the left-hand needle.

I’ve knitted two stitches and am knitting into the front and back of the third stitch. I’ve already knitted into the front and now I’m knitting into the back.

OK, so, I’ve wrapped the yarn around the working needle and slipped the stitch off the left-hand needle and this is what it looks like. There are my three “old” stitches and my “new” or “added’ or “increased” stitch. (Remember the first stitch is the the one to the right in the photo. The added stitch is the left-most stitch, the stitch just worked.)

Three stitches is now FOUR! But can you see the “purl bump” on the fourth stitch (the left-most)?

So, we’ve accomplished our goal which was to increase one stitch. That stitch, however, isn’t invisible because of the little purl-like bump that is sitting in front of it. There’s nothing you can really do about it. And most times when you increase using the K1FB method, you’ll be increasing close to the side of a garment and those stitches will be swallowed up in a seam and will be virtually invisible after seaming.

BUT there is a way to make the stitches less visible and this is how you do it!

The first step is to knit into the front of the stitch but (again) don’t slip the stitch off the left-hand needle. (This is the exact same as the K1FB that I illustrated above.)

When you get to the stitch where you want to increase, knit into the front of the stitch.

The second half of the stitch needs to be reoriented so that the stitches don’t wrap around the front of the work. So, you’ll slip the next stitch knitwise by inserting the tip of the right needle from left to right (just like you were knitting the stitch) and slip the stitch from the left-hand to the right-hand needle.

Next, insert your working (right-hand) needle into the front leg of the next stitch to be worked on the left-hand needle knitwise.

I know it sounds confusing, but I am at a disadvantage not being able to film myself in a video here! It forces me to find the right words to explain the process clearly and that’s good for both of us!

Next you’re going to slip the stitch back onto the left-hand needle to finish the process. Insert the tip of your left-hand needle purlwise into the stitch you just slipped to the right needle. Slip the stitch back to the left-hand needle.

Slip the stitch purlwise back to the left-hand needle … you’re almost there!

All you’ve done is slipped the second part of the stitch increase from the left to the right knitwise (as if to knit) and then back from the right to the left purlwise (as if to purl). This has reoriented the legs of the stitch so that when you (next!) knit it, the stitch isn’t wrapped with yarn (and it doesn’t look as much like a purl bump.)

This is how your reoriented stitch looks … and now you are going to knit it.

Go ahead, knit the stitch and slip it off the left-hand needle. There! You have increased one stitch.

If you look at the next photo now, you’ll see that there is a “normal” K1FB increase and a K1FB increase where I’ve changed the orientation of the increased stitch.

Reading from right to left: K2, K1FB (the old way where it looks as if the fourth stitch has a purl bump), K1, K1FB (the new way with changing the orientation of the increased stitch.)

See! No purl bump thingy! Now I’ll purl back across the stitches and you can see the fabric again …

Again, reading from right to left you’ll see three knit stitches, one knit stitch with the “purl bump” below it and another two knit stitches and a new stitch from our reoriented K1FB.

There you have it! Two ways to increase in your knitting with K1FB (knit one front and back).

The first increase in stitch #3 (read from right to left) was the “old” knit one into the front and back of the third stitch which creates a fourth stitch with a “purl bump”. This is an excellent way to increase! Super quick and easy, just a bit visible in some circumstances.

The second increase in stitch #7 is done similarly but with a little twist of the second half of the increase where we reoriented or changed the orientation of the stitch before knitting it. This creates an added stitch without a wrap or “purl bump”. It’s pretty cool, isn’t it?

Learning to read your stitches is essential to your success as a knitter. I’m getting more skilled at it every time I take on a new project and teaching has helped me tremendously. This photograph, however, is such a clear one … and I get all excited.

When looking at this last photo, I can see the stitches added! Take a good look. The stitches in a each row are all lined up like a v on top of a v. Nice and neat! You can follow the stitches up in the center of the v. Where the increased stitches are added, it’s a little bit squeezed and the pretty symetry

VVVVV

VVVVV

VVVVV

When we increase a stitch, it squishes an extra stitch into the nice neat lines.

vvVvvVV

VVVVV

VVVVV

It’s a good attempt to illustrate with my limited illustration skills. I think. 🙂

Now that you’ve seen my excellent illustration, go back and have a look at the last photograph (I’ve added it below for you). Start at a stitch on the needle and follow the “v” down the rows. See how they line up? And can you see where the increased stitch just kind of pops up out of nowhere? It doesn’t have a nicely stacked column of “v”s to sit on top of … it’s just out there. The first K1FB increase (with the “purl bump” below it) stands out a lot more than it’s “cousin” the second K1FB “with a twist” but similarly, it just kind of gets nestled in between two stitches … each of the stitches has its column of “v”s but the increased stitch is sitting out there without a column. Can you see it now? Isn’t it exciting? You’re reading your knitting!

Read your knitting!!! Stitches are sitting in a column of “v”s; row sits squarely on the row below it … until you have an increased stitch!

There you have it! How to make a K1FB increase without having that wrapped stitch that looks like a purl bump. I am such a knitting geek!

What else do you want to learn about increases?

Gone knitting!

Knitting Rules – The Truth about Slipped Stitches

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Queen Bee Knits

Mojo Jojo Cowl in Berroco Mojo

I just completed a quick-knit cowl with some lovely yarn Santa brought for me. The yarn, Berroco’s Mojo in a bee-utiful shade of blues (Color 8001/Dye lot 2078). With two stitches to an inch on size US15 needles, this super bulky yarn knits up really quickly … the cowl took maybe four hours of knitting (and I’m a slow knitter).

The pattern, Mojo Jojo, is a free Ravelry pattern. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to knit up with the two hanks that Santa brought me but when I searched Ravelry (and I am moving to Maine in a few months) I found the cowl pattern and decided that THIS was a good plan. The pattern uses what is called a “faux cable”. I’m not sure that I agree with that term as it looks more like a stretched stitch to me but if you really want to stand back a few feet and squint, I guess one might say it looks like a cable … or maybe not. Regardless, the cowl is very attractive and it was a quick and easy knit project that I completed in a few hours. I will get a lot of wear out of it in Maine next winter.

Mojo Jojo Cowl Close-up … faux cable?

The faux cable is created by slipping one stitch, knitting four stitches and then passing the slipped stitch over the four knitted stitches. When knitting this cowl, I followed my slipping stitches rule #2. I slipped the first stitch knitwise because I was going to use it again in the next row.

So, let’s talk about slipping stitches in knitting.

A lot of knitters struggle with how to slip stitches and what is the “right” way to slip a stitch. So, here are the rules of slipping stitches according to me (the Queen Bee!)

Rule 1. If the pattern doesn’t state how to slip the stitch, the default is to slip the stitch from the holding needle (usually the left-hand) to the working needle (usually the right-hand) purlwise. There is no twist to the stitch, it’s passed from one needle to the other. Insert your working needle (right) purlwise (from the right to the left) into the first stitch.

Slip purlwise

Rule 2. If you are going to use the slipped stitch again in the same row, then slip the stitch knitwise as in a SSK (slip slip knit) or PSSO (pass the slipped stitch over). This way the stitch is twisted as it is slipped from one needle to the other.

Slip Knitwise

Rule 3. If the directions tell you to slip the stitch(es) knitwise, then follow the instructions.

There you go! So simple that I even complicated the process with adding rule number three which, technically, is an obvious rule and should not even be mentioned. However, I have learned that I should not ever assume so the obvious becomes rule number three.

Gone knitting!

Blue Beanie Beret (Knitted Beret)

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

I needed to do some selfish knitting between the Christmas gifts that I’ve been making this year. Mostly because I needed some mittens for our trip to the North this winter.

Lovely by Suann Wentworth

I dug some Noro Taiyo Aran yarn out of my stash. It was calling to me to be knitted up. But as my friend Beverly says, I gave the mouse a cookie and you know what happens when you feed the mouse? I needed a hat.

I remembered seeing one in this book (on my shelf. One of these days I will attempt to knit a tea cozy or two from the book … which is why I bought the book in the first place.)

The hat in the book is called Blue Beanie Beret. Mine is anything but blue … more pink, purple, teal, purple, green, and did I mention purple? While purple is not necessarily my favorite color, I love the colors that are in Noro yarns and this one is no exception. I do think I would like to make another hat in a plain or tweed yarn because it’ll be very different.

This was a simple knit on circular needles starting at the top of the hat and knitting to the brim. Because the yarn is bulky (heavy worsted, actually) it knits up very quickly and I had the hat completed in a couple of days. Easy peasy!

Top of the hat … lovely!

Construction starts at the top of the hat with eight stitches … Increasing to make the beret top and then decreasing to where it is knit plain and ending with a stretchy bind off. Loani Prior has designed a great hat that I am eager to wear!

The finishing touch was/is a little rose. It is the designer’s intent for you to knit it in a contrasting yarn. Mine is in the same yarn because I was lazy. (I’m honest.) I have a bit more of the yarn and it’s the teal part of the colorway which I think might be a nice (nicer?) contrast on the rather pink brim of the hat. I’m going to sew mine onto a pin so that I can wear the hat with or without the rose.

A rose is a rose …

I think my Lovely mittens and my (Anything but) Blue Beanie Beret are wonderful. Can’t wait to wear them at Christmas time when I’m up in New England!

Gone knitting!

Hat for Haley … a Chemo Princess

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Princess Hat

I had a message from a friend in Ohio requesting a chemo hat to be made for a friend’s three year old daughter who has cancer. As I’ve said before, maybe not here in the blog, the words cancer and child should never be seen in the same sentence.

When a special friend asks and because my three children are healthy, I agreed to put aside my personal knitting and make a gift for a little girl who faces some yucky days. I needed to know her name and her favorite color. I had some fun purple (Haley’s favorite color) yarn in my stash and I went over to Ravelry to look for patterns.

I was originally thinking about a striped hat that I’ve made before. It’s a great hat. I’ve made a couple of them to donate for fund-raisers or whatever. Although, this old girl forgot, it seems, to take any photographs of them. Oops!

Anyway, I was looking around and found a lot of cute hats … and then I found THE hat.

I knew it was perfect (and I had just put aside some sparkly gold specialty yarn that I have had for ages to see if someone in my knitting group wanted to use it.) So, I pulled out the gold yarn and my stashed purple Cascade 220 and I got started.

The hat is called “Princess Crown” and can be found, free, on Ravelry. It’s one of many adorable patterns in Allison Stewart-Guinee’s Fairytale Knits book. And it was just perfect. I knew it in my heart immediately. What little girl doesn’t love to wear a crown?

Purple is Haley’s favorite color … and this is more like the actual color of her Princess Hat

The hat knitted up very easily and has just a touch of lacey-ness in the body of the hat which carries down the hat making it look as if it’s a real crown. The golden crown part is knit up separately on circular needles and then stitched together with the hat. Once together, the band is knit and it even has a pretty picot edge stitched right in.

Because the format on the Amazon site is supposed to be laid out as a book, it can be a little bit confusing to follow. Just beware! I did get lost at one point and had to frog and re-knit a couple of rows. If you can follow the format of the pattern, though, the pattern is clearly written and simple to knit. It looks like you’re an expert, too!

Wet blocking so the hat has some shape!

I have wet blocked the hat and used a large handful of plastic grocery bags as a form to have the purple “hat” part block out. I can’t wait for it to dry so I can get it into the mail! I hope Haley is going to love it and that it brings her smiles on the crummy days when she doesn’t feel well. There’s lots of love in that little hat and it’s all heading to Ohio and Haley!

Gone Knitting.

Travel (Jet Blue) Blues

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

I travel with two adorable and helpful dogs. They are both Registered Service Animals. I don’t want to go into a lot of personal details but they are my little helpers. All sorts of animals provide services to people with disabilities … visible and invisible … dogs, cats, rats, snakes, horses and others, too.

Yesterday, like every time I fly, I started by presenting my ID and documentation for my dogs. The good people at Jet Blue held me at the ticketing desk for at least 20-25 minutes. Questioning me and, at the end, telling me that I could take them both on the plane “this time” but that in the future I needed additional documentation. Jet Blue will allow me to have one dog per “affliction”. I’ve been traveling with the two dogs. both registered (I provided a doctor’s note and veterinary note to get them registered) in the same bag for eight years with no problems … until yesterday. Apparently Jet Blue holds sway over the ADA who says that I can travel with my documented Registered Service Dogs.

I was a wreck. Anxious that they would not let me fly home without paying for an additional seat for my “extra” dog to sit under. Or that they would refuse me the right to board the plane. Or that I would miss my flight because of their delays.

Fortunately, I will not have to fly again for awhile, and when I do fly again, it will probably be on good old Delta where, when I show my documentation, I am not delayed and discussed everywhere I go. If only these people at the gates were better trained to be compassionate, life would be so much less embarrassing.

Gone knitting!

Getting Projects Finished! (And Sewing, too!)

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Sunrise over Messalonskee

Well, my time in my happy place is coming quickly to an end. Last Wednesday I said, “good-bye for now” and “see you next summer” to my knitting friends. It’s always sad for me to say good-bye to my knitting friends both here and in Florida.

I had my last day sewing with my friends Beverly and Lorry yesterday. We finished a project for Lorry to take to her friend in France and I made another great bag (with a lot of help.) It’s fabulous and I love it. I love it because it’s a team effort and that my friends found three of the five fabrics for me when they were on a road trip to a quilting shop in New Hampshire. Four fabrics with bees and one with flowers and a lot of patience and I have a bag that I will carry in the winter months. Full of the love of my friends here in Maine.

My Wonderful Wallaby is almost done. I’m just knitting the hood which is simple stockinette stitch all the way to the Kitchener stitch at the top. I took a break when I got to the neck to try it on and it fits perfectly. I’m so pleased that I have lost a little weight because now it’s perfect. Just the way I like it. Now my sweet man thinks he’d like to have one, too.

I finished the darling striped baby cardigan and the booties for my niece-to-be. I even bought the buttons. I’ll have to sew them on tonight so I can post a picture here. The booties are Sue’s Bootie’s and the pattern was begged for (by me) at my knitting class. They no longer had it at the shop and I couldn’t find it on the internet. They are adorable and super easy to knit. I loved the combination of colorways that my friends were using and I followed their lead using two different colors of Fixation. Fixation, if you don’t know, is slightly elastic and makes great baby booties and socks and it’s difficult for the baby to kick them off … well, relatively difficult anyway.

I’m ignoring the fingerless mitts that I dragged all the way from Florida to Maine … and will drag all the way back, too.

“Lobster On the Rocks” Hat designed by Donna Frost Ritchie

I’m slowly making progress on a lobster hat for my daughter. It was going to be for her birthday but it will be a late gift … thank heavens I have another couple of months until it gets cold in New York. I’m thinking that perhaps color work is not my thing. But I’ll keep trying.

I have a wonderful stash of yarn to take back to Florida with me and work with over the next ten months until I can be back here again. With any luck, my whole atelier will be coming with me then because we’re moving here permanently. This is where my heart lives.

Gone knitting.