Queen Bee Knits

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

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.

Finished

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning I ran out early to get my errands checked off so that I could sit and knit and finish (I hoped) the first Christmas stocking that I have been asked to knit. This one is a heavily cabled stocking knit in the round with two repeats of two cable patterns. Neither one is particularly difficult but the last time I knit this, I remember struggling after the leg was knitted.

This time, I read my knitting and I didn’t have any problems except for the time that I looked away to watch TV and lost my place and another time when I just had a brain fart. It happens to all of us. AND I am happy to report that the big oops where I had twisted the cable the wrong way more than once, I dropped the eight stitches down to below the mistake and worked it back up the right way! I love being able to fix knitting mistakes without having to rip out a bunch of rounds.

For those of you who may not understand what it means to read your knitting, let me explain with the photos above. They’re numbered for your convenience.

Photo 1 – this shows the wrong side or inside of the stocking. You can see the back of a cable twist and three rows of purl stitches (they’re knitted on the right side) at the bottom of the knitting just on or above the needles. This tells me that it’s time to twist a cable again.

Photo 2 – shows the two-stitch twist. These are twisted every other row and this photo shows that I have twisted the stitches, knit a plain row and now it’s time to twist the stitches again.

Photo 3 – shows the two-stitch twist right after it’s been twisted. Can you see that the stitches look like something between an “L” and a “Y”? This is the one stitch twisting in front of the other stitch.

Photo 4 – the X and O cables have twisted stitches that lean either left or right. They’re all 2 stitches over or under two stitches. What I look at here is that there are two twists in each direction that make the pattern.

So, you ask, why is all of this important. I realized after I had turned the heel that I was going to be in trouble unless I really paid attention to reading my stitches because ONE of the cable patterns was exactly the same after the heel turn and ONE of the cable patterns, the X-O pattern, was NOT. I had to watch the pattern to decide what I needed to do next.

The good news is that despite one or two minor setbacks, I am now finished. The stocking looks great and I am reminded why I copied this one out of one of my books ages ago. The original had two colors but I like it with one color. One more Christmas stocking ordered and I’ll get that started this weekend. Hopefully I can finish it up in a short time, too, because I have a lot of knitting to do for Christmas. Hope I didn’t bite off more than I can chew!

Hugs and Kisses Aran Stocking by Dee Lockwood

Ta-Da! Done! Gone knitting.

Most Excellent Family Stay-cation

Posted on July 28, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Today we’re back to my hubby and me. We’ve had the most excellent family time at our house for the last (almost) two weeks. My eldest daughter, Kate, and her husband and our granddaughter arrived last Tuesday and my son arrived Tuesday night with his two doggos. We had lots of fun swimming, playing with bubbles, visiting some fun spots and eating SO much great food. We’re early to bed and early to rise around here and the kids, despite their NYC lives, always fall into it, too. Coffee on the porch, blueberry picking, Belgrade Lakes Farmer’s Market … and did I mention swimming? Sylvie is a little fish! She loved the lake and became more and more confident over the time she was here – even confident enough to “fall” in twice on their last day. Of course we were right there to pull her out but we also have to let her fall so she knows the truth about the lake – it is fun and wonderful but it’s also frightening. (She was not a fan of falling in.) We went on some fun boat rides, saw eagles, counted loons, and we tried (and failed) to outrun a rain storm but arrived home safe, sound and in time to see a full rainbow across the lake.

She has started to put together two-word sentences like “Monk, no!” and “Help, please” and she is singing chunks of her favorite songs. For a kiddo with a slight verbal delay, she’s adding new words every day. We had so much fun watching her pretend with her new (to her) kitchen set and we found out that she will eat anything worthy of feeing to ducks – lettuce and frozen peas were a fun snack. Who knew? Otherwise, she always wants pizza, blueberries, milk and “bubbles” (seltzer).

We ate local corn, the last of the local strawberries, tons of blueberries, we found a farm where we bought local pork and beef (the pork was amazing!), lobster, blueberry buckle, blueberry muffins, mixed berry pie from Winterberry farm, an ice cream cake and a divine Da-Da-Made chocolate cake among others.

And … are you wondering if I did any knitting? I had made what I thought was great progress on my River Cowl. Turns out I missed a very important part of the first sentence in the main section directions where it says to knit so many rounds “as follows”. I read it as knit all the rounds and when I got to the 62nd round it was already as long as it needed to be. Ugh~ I frogged it back to where I pick up the 270 stitches around the cabled edge and started over again. So, I’ve actually moved backwards on my knitting over the last weeks. Ha! Ha! Humbled once more by my knitting.

I’ve not touched my Christmas stocking, my sister’s socks or the dish towel but I am sure that after a few good nights of sleep I will be back to my knitting practice with gusto and maybe even a renewed affection. It’s possible.

For now, this Yaya has a full heart and so many new memories; so many reasons to remember and smile. We are looking forward to our next time together in September at the beach!

Gone knitting.

Monday – aaaand I’m on hold

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Well, it seems that it’s Monday again and I’m on hold with Electrolux/Frigidare because hubby’s 2 year old air conditioner that was a replacement for a 2 year old air conditioner is broken. Does this seem like a pattern to you? I have approximately 19 minutes to wait on hold and since I’m still not feeling particularly energetic, I thought I’d just wait. I hope I can drag half of our laundry to the laundromat today but it may be tomorrow. We’ll see how I do.

Today our gorgeous purple iris is blooming. This is one of my favorite flowers in our garden. Well, actually, they’re all my favorite when they bloom because they all bloom at different times: yellow iris, white iris, peonies, lilacs, forsythia, daisies, echinacea, astilbe, day lilies … you get the drift. I loved seeing my purple iris this morning and today it’s my favorite. Don’t tell the others.

I’ve been doing a little bit of knitting and a lot of thinking about knitting as I recover from Covid. We both got it somewhere in our travels and in the wedding bliss but we’ve both weathered the virus well and haven’t been too terribly ill. Thank goodness! I’ve been without a fever for a couple of days and yesterday the cough subsided for which I’m really grateful. I hope with another couple of days of relative rest, I can return to work later this week.

My second gray Hermione’s sock has turned the heel is well on its way out to the toe. I have to re-check my notes to see how long I knitted it before I started the toe because I’m that close. I do love the texture in this pattern and I love the Coop Knits SocksYeah! yarn. It’s soft and not at all splitty. It makes knitting socks a cinch. I hope my sister will like them. The next pair of socks will be for my brother-in-law. Two great couples will be gifted custom knit socks this fall/winter.

I’ve also be working on my River cowl by Yumiko Alexander. I am really loving working with the Sonder Yarn Company Muse yarn. It feels great in my hands and it’s a tiny bit thick and thin at times which makes it interesting. I think the drape, once blocked, will be gorgeous. I also love the color! The pattern is fun and easy enough to not take up too much of my brain’s band width (which hasn’t been great with my covid brain!) I’ve completed the five repeats of 66 rows of the “hard” work of cables and dropped stitches. There were a couple of places where I forgot to twist edge stitches so that when I dropped the purl stitches and unravelled, it wanted to go too far. Thankfully, I knew this was a problem and stopped the process. Grabbed the stitch and wove it in with a new piece of yarn so it will stay put. And it barely shows. Since this is for me, I’m good with that fix.

I’m measuring the length of the edge of the River cowl at 52 inches long at the five repeats of 66 plus 1-9 for a total of 339 rows so far and the pattern wants 52.5 inches so I have a couple more rows to complete to make the length what they’re asking for and then will begin picking up stitches along the edge to make the body of the cowl. I’m excited about this one! AND I’m so glad I chose not to make the tee with this yarn. I’ll wear this cowl all the time. (I think!)

I’m still on hold with Frigidaire … it’s been 54, almost 55 minutes so far … and so I’ll just write that I am thinking the next project will be a pair of baby sweaters for my granddaughter and great-nephew and a pink Lane’s Island in Remix Light for myself. And, of course, the socks for my brother-in-law. All of the yarns that I will need are in my stash – yay!

I’m at an hour and 4 minutes. Gone knitting.

French Macaroon by Caroline Hewger for the Noble Thread

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It was gray and hazy when we woke up this morning and we’ve since had a really good rain storm. Think rain boots and full-length yellow raincoats with a hood pulled up rain storm. The plants will thank us for it, I’m sure. I had intended to start the day with a trip to Target to return some stuff I bought last week that didn’t fit as intended but I went up to my atelier instead.

AND I’m happy to report that I’ve finished the first French Macaroon sweater. This was a simple/boring knit until the finishing part. The garter stitch body starts with the main color and then you cast on the stitches for the sleeves on each side of the body in a contrasting color resulting in a little “T” shaped boxy form. The second side is pretty much the same except for a button hole at the middle of the back. Then it’s a three needle bind off at the shoulders/sleeves and seam the sides and underarms are you’re good to go. BUT I realized a little too late this time that the sleeves are meant to be folded back so the next time I make this sweater I’ll weave in well past the normal distance.

I left the cast on tail extra long at the very beginning so I could use it to seam the body in the main color and I cut off a length of the left-over contrast color to seam the underarms. Seaming Garter Stitch is pretty simple if you look at what you’re doing and know how to read your knitting. On the sides, you grab the bars behind the smiles or frowns (look at your knitting and you’ll see what I mean!) on one side and then go to the other side and do the same. On little garments I tend to use every stitch rather than two at a time which I sometimes do for adult garments.

Under the sleeves it’s a bit different but still simple enough if you read your knitting. I took a few in-process photos to show you what I mean.

I marked my stitches on the top of the underarm with grellow “loops” and I use the bottoms of the loops where the “v” is to insert my needle. Can you see the lower “v” that’s in front of my needle? (There’s another loop with a “v” stacked on top of where my needle is. I am careful to catch the two legs of the bottom “v” (the stitch) when I am seaming.

This is half of the seaming … seaming requires two sides. In this case I’m holding my sleeve horizontally so I have a top and a bottom that I am sewing together. Here’s the bottom.

The photo on the left shows the little smiles and frowns that are on the bottom row of the sleeve seam. I am going to go under the smile in this case and grab both legs of the stitch and in this case, they’re an upside down “v” (an “A”?). You’ll notice that the smiles are above and between two frowns.

Now you’re going to loosely sew between the top and the bottom of the sleeve leaving the stitches loose for about an inch or two and it will look like the first photo below. I’ll take hold of the tail of the yarn and pull the working end/ where the needle is … gently! until all of the stitches are zipped up tightly. I pull once more from each end of the working yarn to ensure that the seam is taught and will lie straight. Continue across the underarm a couple of inches at a time until all the stitches are used up.

Ta! Da! You’re done! I find seaming really satisfying when you (finally) learn how to handle the different types of seaming that you’re asked to do in knitting. After 40-ish years, I am finally settling in to being comfortable with seaming and don’t dread it like I used to. I knitted seamless garments for years because I was so intimidated by seams but as I started to learn more techniques for finishing and seaming, I got more comfortable. Kind of like everything in life, right? Thus the statement, “The more you know” (remember the PSAs on NBC?)

I knitted this little Macaroon sweater in Berroco Vintage DK rather than the intended cotton yarn. I don’t love knitting with cotton and Vintage has a bit more stretch and it’s soft and washable. This one is going to live with a friend’s baby who is bi-coastal and he should be able to wear it in the fall. The fact that the sleeves can be rolled back is a good thing because it’ll give him a few months more wear because they grow almost fast enough that you can see them grow out of clothes from day to day.

I have two more of these sweet sweaters to knit for other babies in my life. I think I’ll take one of them with me on my next travel excursion and in the mean time, I’m working on a pair of Hermione’s Everyday socks for my sister and I cast on a tank top for me last night.

Hermione’s Everyday Socks is a free pattern on Ravelry by the Crazy Sock Lady. I have written about it before and I love this pattern. These are knitted with Coop Yarn’s Socks Yeah! fingering weight superwash wool with nylon. I love this yarn! I had gotten several hanks of it when I joined A Year of Techniques with Jen Arnall-Culliford back in the day and chose not to make the projects in the class. Years later, I made a pair of orangey-pink socks for myself and I want to send a great pair like this to my sweet sister. I like this pattern with variegated and solid yarns and it’s easy to memorize. I’ve started the second sock and they’re almost always with me just in case I have a few minutes to knit.

Last night I cast on the Staple Linen Top by Joji Locatelli in Muse, a merino/linen blend yarn that I bought when I attended Knit City Montreal. I’m eager to see how the yarn knits up. This pattern was one of the shop models at Sonder Yarn Company’s booth and I thought it would be a good summer garment and I hope it will fit well and look a little dressier than a t-shirt. I loved the pale pink Grand Ballet colorway. Crossing my fingers. Ha! Ha!

I’ve gone on too long. The rain has stopped and I can go get dressed and head to Target for my returns. Gone knitting.