Queen Bee Knits

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

Sunday Funday

Posted on February 9, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Sunday morning is the only morning that I “never” have to wake up to an alarm. Most other mornings I set my alarm for 6:30am (and head to bed between 9 and 9:30pm.) This morning the alarm went off around 8am and I was still in bed sound asleep. Not a normal morning for sure. But it did feel good to sleep and maybe I will “catch up” with the sleep I’ve lost over the last week with this coughing crud I’ve had. I did get to the doctor on Tuesday and have an antibiotic but the cough remains. The sinus infection seems to be resolving, thank goodness.

So, we’ve been really spending a lot of time at home. I’m starting to get a little bit of energy back and am getting a few chores done around the house. I finally replaced the batter upstairs in the guest room (I’d disconnected the whole thing to stop the infernal beep) and I vacuumed my atelier yesterday. I need to make a trip to Costco tomorrow to stock up a bit and we’re supposed to get more snow on Thursday (my day to work).

I have been knitting! I started my “Bang Out a Sweater” project with Cardoon by Isabell Kraemer. I’ve had the yarn in my stash for this sweater, in two shades of purple tweed by Fibra Natura Kingston Tweed. I like the yarn, it’s got a wonderfully smooth hand despite being non-superwash wool. The color contrast isn’t high but I think it will be enough to work and the weight of the yarn is going to be perfect. If I can bang out the yoke, it’ll be clear sailing down the body. I made some good progress yesterday morning. I’ll work on it again for a bit today.

I finished a headband for my daughter’s friend Sheldon. I made him fingerless mitts for Christmas and he’s asked for a headband. I used the same yarn and the Petite Knits pattern, Weekend Headband. It’s an interesting construction. I made the small size and I hope it fits … I do have enough yarn to make a larger one if it doesn’t. AND if it doesn’t fit Sheldon it’ll fit Sylvie, I’ll bet. I’ll be sending it off with a headband for my daughter that I cast on yesterday. She chose another Petite Knits pattern, Ingeborg. I’m knitting it with two yarns held together a creamy white Berroco Ultra Alpaca and a silver Kid Seta lace-weight mohair silk.

I almost wrote to the designer when I could not for the life of me figure out how to make the pattern work. The pattern didn’t specify which provisional cast on to use so I used a crochet provisional cast on and then struggled to figure out how to keep the brioche rib with an odd number of stitches on the needles. BUT I pulled out some scrap yarn (because frogging with mohair is a pain) and gave it several tries and was able to figure out what the designer meant when she wrote the pattern. She doesn’t use the traditional terminology, BrK1, in the pattern which may be part of my “problem” but once I figured out the two-row pattern, I was knitting up a storm. In fact, I probably could have made two in a day if I had had a clear understanding of the pattern from the get-go. But it’s all good because I’m learning. Last night I found a partial dropped stitch in one of the brioche columns and was able to successfully drop my stitches down and fix it. That also felt really good. A few more inches and I can graft the headband and cinch it at the center front and then block it and send it off. Woo! Hoo!

I’ve pulled the pink mittens out of the time out area and had a look at what they still need to continue and finish. I think I may simply finish the one hand of embroidery on the one mitten and skip it on the second one. I’m not finding that I am enjoying the embroidery and I love the pink mittens so … it’s either cut off what I did already (and that’s not out of the running) and finish the two mittens or finish one mitten with embroidery and one mitten without. Time will tell. I’ll let you know.

I found a pattern for a really cute Jolly Gingerbread doll cushion/pillow by Jenny Watson in a WYS book. The doll is knit in a worsted/aran weight yarn. I happen to have a gingerbread cookie color of wool in my stash and I think I am going to make one for our house for next Christmas. I even have some left-overs of the sock yarn for the scarf and hat. If I love it, I may make more to give as gifts. It needs to be big enough to be easily visible, though. I also have the knitted zoo animals pattern book and yarn sitting waiting for me to prioritize them. I think I need to finish my sweater and the pink mittens before I allow myself to cast on something fun like that.

I also have a sweater’s worth of Rowan Felted Tweed and a silk mohair yarn to make either a vest or a sweater. I want an orange garment to wear with my orange sueded boots – I can see my kids cringing! Ha! Ha! I like the Bolin Cardigan by Norah Gaughan that is being used as the Bang Out a Sweater pattern for the MDK month-long KAL. I’m just not sure that an orangey orange cardigan will be flattering on me. (Or will I look like a pumpkin?) I’ve swatched with two different colors of mohair …

On the left is the Felted Tweed (zinnia colorway) with a beige/tan lace-weight mohair and the right is with an orangey lace-weight mohair. Amazing difference, don’t you think? I like both combinations and the question remains, which one should I choose and for which garment? Since I can’t decide, I’m letting the yarn sit on the counter in my atelier until I can figure it out. I have the full sweater’s worth of mohair in the orange. I’d have to switch it for the tan if that’s the way I choose to go. The tan color makes the orange more subdued, for sure. Maybe I need to get my boots up next to the swatch and see what they look like together.

I’ve done a bit of work on my Jelly Roll Blanket and a little bit of the lace re-do on the Winter’s Finery Shawl. Nothing remarkable accomplished but I am trying to continue to make some progress each week. Eventually, all the projects will be completed. Right? I haven’t had the head space to work on my daughter’s fingerless mitts this week. This virus-thing has taken ahold of my brain. Lucky I only had to work one day and teach one day this week. Next week is going to be much busier with a MeAA board meeting and a MCSC business meeting to attend.

Off to move the laundry into the dryer and then it’s time to knit.

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 Case of the Tuesdays

Posted on January 21, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Today began as other days have begun … with a colorful sunrise across the lake. This morning’s sunrise was a “chilly” zero degrees (they say we made it to -2 overnight.) When I opened my atelier blinds this morning there was condensation on the inside of the windows which means it was really cold outside. Even by our Maine standards.

Yesterday there was another sunrise.

Yesterday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the US and a president was inaugurated in Washington, DC. I chose to focus on MLK Day because he was a positive, truthful man who cared about all people being equal. He was also a minister, a faithful servant, a God-fearing family man whose son and family continue his legacy. They want MLK day to be a day of service and are, in fact, “doubling down” on asking people to serve others. I believe in service to others. I believe in education and the arts and I believe in caring for our planet – leave the campground better than you found it. I will spend the next four years giving back – volunteering and teaching, setting an example.

Yesterday I chose to turn off the TV and stay off social media. I’m still thinking about the “Metav-erse” and whether or not I am going to leave it. I’m thinking I won’t … regardless of their ownership and philosophy … or lack thereof. Instead, I took care of some female health stuff and had a bone density scan in the morning, came home and cleaned up the house, did some laundry, cleaned a bathroom and straightened up my studio. I also watched a couple of podcasts that bring me joy and worked on my Jelly Roll Blanket. I’m making progress toward finishing the fifth strip!

I’ve decided to change my approach to this blanket as I’m not making a significant enough dent in my leftover sock yarn bin. SO from here on, I’ll be using two strands of bits and bobs (some of which I have nearly a whole skein) held double. It’ll change the look a little bit but I’m going to try to treat it as a fade … light colors first and darker colors later. This blanket will likely adorn our granddaughter’s new bedroom nook in my sewing studio … which I’m also creating in my mind. We will be making a trip to IKEA in Massachusetts to buy a “junior bed” and mattress and maybe some other goodies for her spot … she’s going to be too big for a pack and play crib this summer!

I worked for a bit on my New Year’s cast on project, Winter’s Finery by Rosemary Hill (Romi Designs). I had to frog back a few rows because I saw a mistake in the center spine that I almost certainly made on Friday when I was teaching and talking and knitting. Yes, I still make mistakes. Lots of them. Anyway, I frogged back and then knitting on … and I’ve now passed the point where I had been when I started frogging. Knitting takes patience and persistence, that’s for sure. This yarn is making me so happy and I’d like to do nothing but work on this project but …

I also worked on my Christmas socks and got the heel turned and the gusset is almost done … I think I have two more rounds of decreases before I can just knit knit knit to the toe. I love the way this WYS sock yarn is working up and it feels good in my hands, too. I did find a dropped stitch waaaaay down from where I was working. I’ve hiked it up a ways but will put it on a holder (here a pink lightbulb stitch marker) and will pull it back to the inside of the sock and weave it in at the end. It would make a ridge in the sock, I think, if I were to pull it all the way up. Those little stitches on US1.5 needles with fingering weight yarn make it difficult to pick up stitches. It’s ok, though, these are for me. I added a stitch on the instep needle to compensate for the dropped stitch so we’re all good.

I did not work on my fingerless mitts for my daughter yesterday. I will today. I have gotten into the charts and they’re starting to look like something. This pattern has five charts to follow. Two of them (the first and last) are just one stitch each. Not sure why they couldn’t be tacked onto their neighboring charts, but whatever … I’m getting it done and I think they’re going to be really subtle and really pretty. I have been wearing my Lumos “boob” lights to brighten up the black yarn and that really helps my “old” eyes. I wouldn’t knit with black yarn for just anybody, that’s for sure!

I did sew yesterday. I found a tutorial for a quilted journal cover for a composition notebook thingy and I know I have had some pre-cut strips that I won ages ago … so I pulled them out and had a look and decided to try to make one for my bullet journal that I use as a calendar/planner/record-of-all-things. And that’s what I spent my afternoon doing. I revved up the old Bernina and got sewing. Since my calendar isn’t the same size as the cover the tutorial made, I had to wing it and that was a learning experience but it’s all good, I did it and it fits my book. It does make my book fatter which I may decide I don’t like. But for now, I’ll try it. I added ties to keep it closed (I would have made these be a piece of elastic if I could have found some. I couldn’t … so, ties it is. My book this year is blue (I choose a particular color each year … last year was orange, the year before was pink …) and I chose blue fabric even if I don’t LOVE this fabric, it does the trick for now. I may be going to the office store to buy a composition notebook to see how that works in comparison to my hard-cover book. BUT today I’m going to rearrange furniture, clean out a few bins and knit.

Gone knitting!

(I can’t seem to find the source/artist who designed this wonderful image but I wanted to show you what I think of when I write this at the end of every post. AND since I live on a lake, “gone fishing” is the normal retort for most lakeside residents. Not this one, though. I like the giggle I get when I think of gone fishing and gone knitting being one and the same … or not.)

Tuesday Report

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It is a bit chilly today. When I woke up at 6:30am it was around 10 degrees and will only get up to 22-ish. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a day to myself today. I spent the morning having coffee and relaxing as usual, cleaned up the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher, got dressed, and after my hubby went to work I started by Christmas puzzle. Turns our my puzzle attention span is very long because it was 3pm before I stopped and went upstairs to do some work.

It’s been a good start to the week. I got some baking done yesterday and my dear hubby made vegetarian chili at my request. I’ve decided that I don’t love meat much any more and I’m exploring vegetarian eating. I’m married to a guy who needs meat at every meal and who does the majority of our cooking … it will be interesting.

I baked some pecan rolls. These are wonderful because they don’t include any yeast so they’re quick and easy to make. No waiting for the dough to rise! The one thing I do is I don’t mix the toasted pecans in with the filling because it’s more difficult to spread. I spread the filling and then sprinkle the nuts on it and roll away! The recipe is Easy No-Yeast Cinnamon Rolls (New York Times Cooking). When it’s just the two of us, we don’t put the frosting on until we warm up a roll or two and then frost them … warming up frosted cinnamon rolls makes the frosting melt away. These are delicious!

I’ve been working on a couple of different projects. Yesterday I spent a good amount of time on my Hoodola by Laura Nelkin. I”ve gotten about a third of the rows knitted and I had to put it aside to eat a few Doritos so I picked up my New Year shawl, Winter’s Finery by Romi Hill. I had to go back before I went ahead because I had made a mistake on the spine somehow and decided that I couldn’t live with the way it looked especially since it’ll be at the top of the shawl. Frogged back a few rows and the reknit it. I even made a little bit of progress.

The lobster hat chart is complete and I’ve moved on to the sea weed chart for the crown. BUT before I started the crown I put the stitches on a strand of yarn and gave it a little bit of a steam block so I could see how they’ll look when finished. I’m happy to report that they’re going to be fantastic! I put the stitches back on my needles and continued knitting.

Today I spent hours working on my Christmas puzzle and then had to pay bills and my new walking pad was delivered so I had to try it out. Next I’ll be ordering a standing desk and I hope I can write these posts while I walk … preferably without getting hurt.

What a Week!

Posted on November 25, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Well, the last one has been a tough week. I seem to be suffering from a bit of a depressive episode, not atypical for me at this time of year, due to the stretch of gray days and less light. I’ve hooked up the light thingy that I have and hope that will help and today it’s actually sunny which will also help. I also lost a dear family friend this week. We met when our kids were little at the beach in Weekapaug, RI. The Shelby family quickly became good friends because my eldest daughter and their youngest daughter bonded immediately. They’re still close all these 30-some years later. Anyway, Linda was a dear friend, always laughing and sarcastically funny, bright, creative and just a great woman. Linda got Alzheimer’s Disease, just like my mother, at an early age. She passed away Thursday at 72 years of age. Way too young. I will miss her and I’m grateful that she’s no longer suffering. That’s also brought up feelings around the loss of my mother at 76 back in 2008. I’m glad it’s Thanksgiving week and I don’t have to be anywhere so I can just be … and work through the feelings as they roll in. Nobody said that life would be easy.

I’ve had a big frustration with a commission that I had, too. I was asked to knit an adult-sized “Have You Seen My Octopus” hat for a high school friend who saw the one I made for our granddaughter. I bought the Malabrigo yarn and after ripping the hat back more than once, finally got the knitting done to my satisfaction. I blocked it – and it GREW! I’ve never had anything grow like this hat. If a hat is too big for my big fat head, it says a lot. So, because there’s no los when the hat is way too big, I wet it again and put it in the dryer alone. Twenty minutes and no change at all. SO I threw it in with a wet load of laundry and let it go … and it felted up to a decent size but it was too fluffy and looked “worn”. I reached out to my customer and told her about it and we decided that I’d send it to her so she can see what it looks like and it’s up to her to keep it or not. I’ve got almost $40 in yarn and about 10 (probably more) hours of work into the hat … ugh.

not really the color but the size is good

Yesterday I took the second part of the Fair Isle knitting class online with Janette Budge. What a generous teacher she is! I started knitting my bag/swatch after the class and ran into a color conundrum … if I continued knitting as planned, I’d have a yellow/gold motif colorway at the middle of the design AND a yellow background color. I didn’t think that would work. So, I emailed Janette and had a thoughtful answer back in a very short while. I am very grateful and can continue knitting now with renewed hope that the colors will work.

This is the gathering of colors that I chose. In the front are the background colors, theoretically a gradual shade change from white to yellow. In the back (at the top of the photo) are the motif colors. Again, they’re supposed to be a fade from dark to light. The bag will start and end with navy and the salmon color will be the “pop” of color in the middle of the motif. As I’d planned it, though, the yellow of the background colors and the third or fourth motif color (the golds) would be at the middle of the motif at the same time with little contrast and too much yellow! I think I’ll just leave out the yellow for the background (and hope I have enough of the beige.)

My Christmas stocking MKAL is ending today and I’ve fallen behind. I’m on day 17 or so and have several days to catch up on before knitting the afterthought heel and finishing. But I’ll get there. I have been enjoying the project … until the darkness got the better of me.

I’ve cast on a new pair of Christmas boot sock for my sister-in-love in Massachusetts. She is very knit worthy and I think she’ll enjoy the warm wool socks. I hope she can remember not to dry them. LOL. I have several skeins of Raggi sock yarn that I bought at my LYS before we couldn’t get it in the USA and this pair of skeins with a Christmas theme will be perfect for her. I haven’t taken any photos yet but the first sock is finished. I love knitting worsted weight socks! They knit up so quickly.

I’ve finished the knitting on my pink version of the “Lanes Island Pullover” and just have to start seaming the shoulders. Maybe I’ll get to that today. I’d love to have it to wear over Thanksgiving weekend. We’ll see how I do – the shoulders are the most difficult part to seam. The rest is a piece of cake … and I will have to knit the collar at the end. Send me good seaming juju, will you please?

I’ve still got to finish the Christmas sweater for our granddaughter, too. Not much to do there, either. I think I just have to knit the button plackets and add the buttons – the ones I got a really fun! Another project that shouldn’t take long to finish but I’ve not had the bandwidth to do anything other than simple simple simple whatever. I hope today will feel a little bit better and that I can conquer at least ONE of these undone projects.

Gone knitting.

You CAN Teach an Old Dog!

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been a challenging last couple of knitting days. I’ll share the challenges with you in a bit but I want to also tell you about an exciting class that I took online yesterday with Janette Budge.

Janette is a knitwear designer in Shetland. Shetland is an island off the coast of Scotland and is known for its nearly treeless landscape, its free-roaming iconic Shetland sheep and its long history of hand-knitting. Janette told our class that her mother used to knit hundreds of colorwork sweater yokes each year onto machine knitted sweater bodies. The majority were knitted in the darker. months when there was less to do on the croft.

The class is to learn about picking colors for Fair Isle and to make a small knitted bag as a good way to swatch with our color choices. The first of this two-part classes was lots of talking about the traditional Shetland color pallets and how to choose colors for the background and the motif. It was fascinating! We have been given a pattern for the small bag that we’ll knit as our “swatch” and we have been encouraged to get a start knitting before our next class on Sunday.

After the class ended I pulled out my collection of Jamieson & Smith yarns to figure out what colors I have that will work on this design. I always like to use “bee” colors but I want it to really work in the Shetland manner. I first spread out all of my J&S yarns and organized them by color group. Since this bag doesn’t require a lot of yarn and, in fact, is perfect for using up bits and bobs of yarn which is typical of most knitters (and Shetland knitters only use Shetland yarns when knitting so they have a lot and they’re practical about using up all the little bits.) I wanted to use the colors that I’ve used previously since this is, technically, a swatch. So …

These are all of my attempts at making a color choice for my bag. I believe the last photo are my final choices using two or three background colors in the traditional white-yellow and then the motif colors in golds and browns with a pop of salmon. The base of the bag will be navy blue. The motif is a traditional star and tree and we were told to use two colors only if we’d never done stranded knitting and up to 9 colors if we had. I’ve got 9 but may use only 8. I will be emailing my choice to Janette for her counsel before I start knitting. I’ll let you know how I’ve done. (Crossing my fingers!)

This is my challenge from yesterday. I was happily knitting right along on the “Have You Seen My Octopus Hat” for a customer/friend and noticed this error. Can you see it? This is supposed to be a tentacle in a spiral and yet it’s got a couple of extra purple stitches that don’t belong. I considered leaving it and duplicate stitching blue over it but that didn’t last long as it’s not for me and I want it to be “right”. So, I frogged back to below the mistake and have been re-knitting since. I am reminded why I love Malabrigo Rios and why I don’t love it in colorwork projects. The stitches simply don’t “blend” in superwash yarns but it’s beautiful anyway. The hat has four repeats of the colorwork motif as you go around the hat and it’s easy enough to memorize what you’re doing in the subsequent sections and I can’t believe I added the two stitches, but there you are! I’m going to look at this project tomorrow in the light of day, early in the day, because I may have inconsistent stitch tension in the first few rounds … and that will mean that I am going to pull it all out once more and re-start. When someone buys a garment from me, they should know that it’s my best work. And I want only my best work to go out of my studio.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Arne & Carlos Christmas 2024 MKAL. We know it’s a Christmas stocking and once I got caught up to the MKAL, it’s been a very manageable 6 (or 12) rounds a day to keep up. I am loving this project in part because I love the yarn I’m using and it’s perfect for colorwork (not superwash and 100% wool). I’m using Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia Organic Merino. This stocking will likely be a decoration and not as a “real” stocking and it will match the 24 Advent Jumpers that I knitted in the last couple of years. I hope to get them hung up this year for the first time!

I’ve got a couple of other little projects on the needles, too. I sewed an advent calendar for my granddaughter and I’m filling the little pockets with treats and tiny toys (not too tiny, I promise!) In one of the pockets is a little hand-knit teddy bear and I’m knitting a pair of little socks in a new-to-me yarn by King Cole. It’s machine washable and dryable which is what my daughter wants to make their laundry a bit simpler. The socks are super cute. I’m using my Yankee Knitter pattern and knitting the child size. (They look HUGE!) I’m also knitting her Christmas sweater which she needs. Mom and Dad and Sylvie went to a Christmas themed restaurant in NYC last night and Sylvie wore last year’s sweater which is decidedly too small (but the Santa hat still fits!) She’s grown up so much in a year’s time!

Today, with any luck I’m going to start the sleeves on the sweater and tomorrow I’ll attack the Octopus hat. My car will be in the shop and I’m going to be stuck at home. Yay! I am always happy to be stuck at home because that means I have “nothing” to do and can spend the whole day in the atelier … or baking in the kitchen … or both.

Gone knitting.

Home Again Home Again …

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We’re home again as you can see by my photo of the lake this morning. I am happy to be home and ready to sleep in my own bed tonight. But we are going to miss our little muffin like crazy! We’ve had a full ten days in NYC with the family there and our hearts are so happy. We have been making memories.

The ride home was wonderful too. We stopped last night at my college roommate’s house in Connecticut for the night and a really sweet visit. Our almost 50-year-old friendship is so special!!! She’s moved into a new house and we got a chance to see it and catch up … even though I was whispering!

I’ve got a cast of laryngitis, I guess. We went to the NYCFC game in New York on Saturday with my future daughter-in-love (my son was called to Washington, DC for work unexpectedly) and we had such fun. We’d never been to a soccer game before but we have watched Ted Lasson so we have a bit of soccer knowledge … and we had fun. New York City was playing Cincinnati (where I raised my family) so I was torn about who to root for but I chose NYC and they won! (Apologies Cincinnati.)

In the past ten days I have gotten the first part of the sleeves of my pink Lane’s Island sweater knitted. There is four inches of ribbing and then it changes to stockinette stitch forever. I’m nearly done with the first set of increases. We had some new stitch markers arrive at the store and I bought a couple of packs before I left. I’m using them to mark my increases so I know how many I’ve made. It’s another wonderful tool for us knitters. More updates coming soon.

Gone knitting!

Grand-Parenting in the Big City

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We have been in New York babysitting for our granddaughter while her parents take a little anniversary holiday in Costa Rica. It was all planned out so that we would have a bit of a break when Sylvie went to school on weekday mornings … but you know about the saying, “when you plan, God laughs”, right?

On Monday morning we were so proud of ourselves, we got the little miss up and dressed, fed and out the door … delivered to school at 8:00am. We got to the grocery store and back home and I pulled out my knitting after I cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed up the dog hair and put a load of wash in … and the phone rang. School was asking for us to pick her up; she had bumps on her hand and face and they suspected HFMD. So we packed up the stroller for the second trip to school to pick her up and on the way called the pediatrician to make an appointment for a sick child visit … and she was sick! Hand, foot and mouth it is and she’s out of school for at least this week. So, no more breaks for Yaya and Poppi, but I’m proud to say that we’ve fared very well partly because we go to bed early and partly because she takes a good nap in the afternoon. BUT we are re-learning what a challenge a 2-year old can be! Ha! Ha! Yaya has a lot more patience for toddler antics than Poppi does but we are tag-teaming it and we are winning!

With HFMD she’s not allowed in proximity to other children or people so we are trying to keep her busy without the playground and we’ve been pretty successful. Yesterday we went out to the courtyard in her building to carve our little pumpkin and the day before we made cookies. Today we went back into the courtyard with sidewalk chalk and bubbles.

We had a pizza party with her aunts and uncle on Sunday and she’s eaten left-over pizza a couple of times. Yesterday may have been a three-cookie day … she ate mine! And playing in the leaves is still fun when you’re two! She loves coloring inside and out, and she can put her own shoes on! She’s brilliant. We’ve been singing SO many songs and she loves Miss Rachel – when Yaya and Poppi need a breather we will turn her on for a few minutes.

AND while all of this is going on, they’re fixing the facade of the building right outside of the apartment … jackhammers on the walls, brick bits falling onto the windows. As if New York wasn’t loud enough for these Mainers! What an experience! Thank goodness they’re gone by four o’clock or so in the evening. But the New York City kiddo is SLEEPING through it all! What a trooper.

I fixed the neck of an anchor sweater that I made as a sample for a workshop that I taught that just happens to be the right size for Sylvie right now. It didn’t go over her head the way I’d made it so I pulled the neck ribbing out and re-knit it and used a stretchy bind off and now she can wear it.

I have finished the front and back of my pink Lane’s Island sweater and I’ve started the sleeves. I’m knitting both sleeves at the same time and had mostly completed the four inches of ribbing for the sleeves and I’ve managed to knit eight rows of stockinette stitch. Not much knitting going on here! But I’ll have plenty of knitting time “soon soon” when her parents get home. I’m going to hate to leave.

Making memories. Call me Yaya! Gone knitting.

Ahhhh … Sunday

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

I turned my alarm off this morning and slept for an extra (almost) hour! It was lovely to ignore my alarm. We had coffee indoors because the morning was a bit too cool for outside on the porch but it’s warmed up quite nicely and I think I will be opening a window or two today.

I went upstairs to get some knitting and got sidetracked as often happens. First because I didn’t feel like knitting my sweater and I’ve finished a couple of projects this week. More on those later. So, I went up to my studio and started looking through my Ravelry queue and found the cowl pattern that Glenda and I bought on our trip to Knit City Montreal. I had seen what I thought was the same cowl on my bosses FB page this morning, too, which was partly why I thought about the next project to cast on. Anyway, I pulled out the yarn (a full hank of peach and two mini hanks of black, all tweed, all really soft and will be great against the skin) and wound it up. When I had a first glance at the pattern, though, I realized that I didn’t feel confident with the cast on and so I sat down to watch the tutorial suggested by the designer and thought … why not just cast on with the video? So, got my needles and yarn and sat down again. Needless to say, I have my stitches cast on, the tubular cast on is completed and I have my 168 stitches on the needles.

The yarn is so pretty and the sunshine so glorious that I thought I should take a photo of my new start … that’s when I realized that I had downloaded a NEW pattern by the same designer and I had already bought the original pattern a year ago … AND the original pattern has six fewer stitches. So, now I have to decide whether I want to decrease six stitches in my first row after the ribbing and knit the pattern I bought the yarn for OR whether I keep going on the newer pattern (the one my boss saw) and I think I like the original pattern better. So … stay tuned. Hahaha!

So, I will be knitting the First Snowfall Neckwarmer by Runningyarn. With the pretty yarn that I bought at Knit City Montreal when we went two (?) years ago. I loved the peach color even if the combo is a bit unusual for snowflakes, I liked it and chose it and am going to knit it now. I’m on a colorwork spree. I’m about to pull out the provisional cast on stitches and then I’m off and running.

Finished this week … two projects, both quick and easy, taking a couple of days each. First up, the Have Your Seen My Octopus Hat for our granddaughter who just turned two yesterday. This hat is a blast to make and went together so easily and quickly. I will make the pompom today and add it to the top (the body of the octopus) and will take one last photograph of it.

I also started and finished the Writers Mitts (I have no idea where you can find this pattern, sorry). I was given the pattern by our Berroco Yarn rep, Andra, who had knitted a sample pair in the new sport weight Lopi yarn called Fjallalopi in this pretty pink colorway. I was gifted the yarn and when I saw Andra’s mitts, it was obvious what I was going to make. Since I had to buy more pink Remix light, I cast these on Thursday night and knitted them Friday and Saturday and blocked them last night. Super simple pattern, super simple mitts and they’ll be fun to wear in the cooler weather. Or maybe I’ll gift them to somebody … they’re almost dry and ready to go.

I finally remembered to ask my sweet hubby to cut a dowel for me so I can hang the Advent calendar that I made for Sylvie. I have a few things to fill the pockets (a little gift a day) and I guess I’m about 15 short of a complete calendar. I’ve got my work cut out for me between now and Thanksgiving … maybe several packets of organic gummy snacks of some kind will suffice in a pinch. Meanwhile, I’ll check Target this week. I wish we still had the Christmas Tree Shops.

So, I said I’d be out on the porch a while ago and I’d best keep my word. I’m going to stop writing and head out to knit while the weather is so pretty. Meanwhile, a shot of my three little knitted pumpkins on the windowsill with the window open this afternoon. (I’m still in my PJs!) It’s raining leaves!

Gone knitting.

Hello October!

Posted on October 2, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

What a beautiful if cool sunrise this morning. I love these cool nights and later sunrises and am grateful to have had a good sleep last night. I’m heading to Rockland to visit with my friend Lori today, a bit later than we’d thought because the Vinylhaven ferry is experiencing a staff shortage and her 8:45am ferry was cancelled. It’s ok, we’ll meet at noon and see what we decide to do with our shortened day.

I have re-started a commissioned Christmas stocking and then put it off for a bit to get a couple of quick projects done (and vacation knitting that I didn’t have to think about). Yesterday I got through the first intarsia design, the Santas and even wove in some of the ends. Today I won’t have a lot of time to knit but I’ll pick it up again over the weekend.

This is the half-way point of the first section. Front side looks sane and organized. Back side … not so much. I had to giggle to myself while knitting this because this is the way I’ve been feeling lately – I look like I have it all together but I’m a hot mess underneath. There’s been a lot going on in life and in my volunteer life, too. I’m managing but I’m not going to lie, I’m losing some sleep over it all. Those middle-of-the-night wake-ups are brutal! My mind simply won’t turn off! The good news is that it should resolve itself over the next month or so. Fingers crossed.

The Christmas stocking pattern is one that I have duplicated from the original that was knitted for my friend when she was a child. I’ve posted about it before because I’ve made a few for her over the years as her family has grown. This year she’s added another grandchild and needs another stocking. Intarsia is not my favorite knitting technique. I’d rather do just about anything else. But it is getting easier with practice and I’ve learned how I like to work it – no bobbins for me, I just leave long lengths of yarn hanging in the back and pull them to untangle them now and again.

I’ve knitted a new sample for the store in Jamieson’s of Shetland wool with a strand of mohair held double on the main color. The pattern is a new design by Gudrun Johnston called Cloud Drift. I was given early access to the pattern by our Berroco rep, Andra, to make a sample but the pattern is available now on Ravelry. There is a main color and three contrasting colors and the pattern is accomplished with mosaic knitting or slipped stitches. I have yet to weigh the extra yarn that is left over but I have quite a bit … maybe a pair of mitts to match? I love the way the cowl turned out and I hope that others will choose to try this pattern. I thought the design was brilliant and the knitting was really fun. I may even make another one for myself… in gray with pinks, perhaps?

We have a store here called Marden’s that sells surplus and salvage and it’s often a fun place to wander for a few minutes. They’ve had a lot of yarn from a yarn shop fire in Washington state and it’s now 80% off which means that when I was in search of some white shirts the other day, a few balls of Jamieson’s may have fallen into my shopping cart. Oops! So, navy and blues or gray and pinks will be my choices for cowl #2. My Jamieson’s collection grows … I need to knit some fingerless mitts or something!

I finished another Musselburgh by Ysolda Teague for my son. He chose the colors of Juniper Moon Farm Moonshine (worsted weight). I love this pattern, too. It’s simply brilliant because you just cast on and start knitting and use your knitting as your swatch to calculate how many stitches you need to increase to and then how long you need to knit. There are so many ways to knit this hat and it’s not at all boring – but it is great knitting for vacation, car rides or TV knitting while watching debates or in the evening after a long day when your brain is on fire. This hat is going to be so warm and it looks great and feels better. I have one more for my son’s fiancee to knit up before Christmas – the yarn is caked up and ready to go for when the Christmas stocking is finished. I’m really trying to focus.

We’ve had a series of stunning sunrises since our return from vacation. The sunrise has moved again almost to its winter position and it’s coming up after 6:30 rather than before 6. The days are unquestionably shorter and it’s getting cooler, too. The last photo is a hat tip to Dame Maggie Smith who died last week. I loved her in Downton Abbey and was addicted to watching the show (twice each week). My mug has remained a favorite that I bought at Pier One when we lived in Florida during the height of the Downton Abbey fervor. How grateful I am to live here in this beautiful place.

Off I go to the coast! Wishing you peaceful stitches.