Queen Bee Knits

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

Taking Every Opportunity When it Knocks

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning before the sun came up after a perfect sleeping night interrupted by my snoring partner. I’m grateful that we have a guest room or I’d have been relegated to sleeping on the couch! Fall is a welcome change for me and I’m loving the cooler weather and have pulled out my flannel shirts so they can de-wrinkle without ironing. Ha Ha. I’m putting away my linens and tees because it’s sweater weather!

On Sunday I drove over to Rockland for a workshop with Katherine Ferrier at her Lincoln Street Center Studio at the suggestion of my friend Lori. The workshop was entitled Embracing the Mystery: Quilt Making and Cyanotype Prints. Cyanotypes are a photographic printing process that uses exposure to light to create its distinctive deep dark blue color.

Our task was to design the prints, some just because and some with a prompt, perhaps telling a story and being willing to embrace whatever happened. It was a cloudy but bright day and that alone could make our results different than on a bright sunny day. We enjoyed the print making and getting to know each other so much. This was a remarkable group of creative maker women. I was inspired by their talents and I’ve already purchased some cyanotype fabric. If it arrives quickly, I plan to take it to a friend’s lavender farm this weekend to make some lavender prints!

In the afternoon, we designed out quilts with our prints and some lovely scrap fabrics available from Katherine’s studio. I had originally thought I’d like to use just the cyanotype prints but with a little bit of guidance from Katherine and the beautiful orangey linen scraps, the final plan for my quilt top was made. And I love it!

It’s a long ride home so I took my photos of the quilt top and my fabric, batting, and backing fabric home with me with the promise that I would finish it and with three new friends. For the last couple of days I put the quilt together. I finished sewing together my quilt top on Monday. I made a few rookie mistakes because I’m new to patchwork sewing where not all of the pieces are square or the same size. Nor are they a planned pattern. I guess this is my first original patchwork design.

I am so happy with it. I added a little embroidery detail on the top left corner piece; an outlined blossom and a cluster of french knots in colors similar to the pops of linen. Orange/peach/salmon seem to be a new theme for me.

The center piece, the largest piece we printed was a prompt to make a wish. My wish was about my home, my husband and my family. Inside the circle is a joined pair of blossoms representing my husband and me and outside are pairs of blossoms that represent our five children and their significant others. I will be stitching a little pink blossom to represent our granddaughter. The grasses crossing it all represent flexibility, softness, growth and strength and above it all the “h” is the wish for health, happiness and home. Home to me is not only a place that you live, it’s a sense of belonging, peace, comfort and safety. This piece has a lot of meaning in it for me. I really do love it.

I then pieced the backing fabric. I wanted to incorporate the last print that I made, my self portrait, in the quilt somehow so that I didn’t bring home another piece of fabric without a plan. I also used my little square that Katherine gifted to each of us as my quilt label on the back. I pondered whether I wanted to stitch in the ditch for the quilting or tie the quilt, decided on the former and then decided to put a proper binding on it. I cut 2.5 inch strips for the binding, sewed them together and stitched them onto the quilt. I also stitched in the ditch around the outside of the quilt to attach the second part of the binding.

It’s not perfect. There are a couple of places on the back where I didn’t catch the binding and where the backing wiggled out of the binding but I am pretty sure I’m comfortable leaving it this way because the whole exercise was embracing the mystery, right? I’m consciously embracing the imperfections as part of the process of learning and meeting myself where I am.

Here is the finished quilt on my studio floor. I only need to hang it up somewhere in our house. I’m so grateful to have a house that is a true home with a partner who encourages my creativity even though dinner isn’t always ready. I have found my home here with him.

I’m grateful to my friend Lori who inspired me to take the opportunity and this workshop. I’m also grateful to my new friends who inspired me along the way. I am grateful to Katherine for making the opportunity available for us all together, learn, explore and embrace the mystery!

What a wonderful day it was!

Gone knitting.

September Already?!

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This photo was the second one I took this morning. But this one was the one that made me smile the widest! At the left you can see a fisherman zooming into the frame and at the top right, a hummingbird, getting ready to land on the feeder that’s just out of sight. Ha! That almost never happens.

It’s a beautiful Saturday here on the lake and I’ve been trying to wrap up a bunch of stuff so that we can vacation next week with all of my kids and their families. Dogs are included, too, of course. We’ll be eight adults, one baby and six dogs. It’s always a full house and it’s always fun. We are both … dare I say all … looking forward to a few days together.

So, this morning I’ve made a list of Maine State Reps who represent all of our students at Maine Arts Academy. We are having a ribbon cutting and open house celebration in September and we should always invite those who represent our students. And then I wrote the newsletter for tomorrow for the store. I included in tomorrow’s newsletter that I’m not writing one the following week … vacation rules. I have only one meeting to Zoom into while we’re away and I intend to be present for the kids, the dogs and the granddaughter!

This morning I steam blocked my two finished mini Nordic jumpers for our Advent calendar. I have one more to go. ONE!!! My intent is to do that after I’m done writing this post. Here are 22 and 23.

Twenty-three is the one that has two different white yarns. One is Patagonia Organic Merino, a wooly wool. The other is a superwash something that was in my left-overs bins (yes, you read that right, I have bins of left-overs. I can’t throw yarn away!) I am ok with it the way it turned out. Do I wish that I had had just a little bit more of the Patagonia? Yes. Did I let it ruin my life? Not even close. It’ll do. I’ve cast on #24 and I can probably get it done today. Certainly, I can get it done this weekend.

Yesterday I decided to return a skein of cotton that I had bought to make a bib for my granddaughter because I found a skein of the same cotton in a different colorway that will be just fine for a bib. So, while I was teaching class yesterday and for a while after, I got the bib done.

I also knitted an apple for the fall decorations for the store window. We’re decorating the window (and adding the stems to the apples) on Monday morning. I’m going to try to finish another one or two before then. Cross your fingers. And then as I was cleaning out cupboards and bins, I found two skeins of Plymouth Encore yarn that was gifted to me and I remembered a little sweater that I had the pattern for and (duh!) I cast on a little last minute sweater for my granddaughter. AND found myself knitting the wrong size after an hour or so … 18 months won’t fit her for ages so I frogged it and re-started the 12 month size which may or may not fit her right now. We’ll find out on vacation.

This morning I made my “granola” recipe that I’ve been making for decades and forgot to add the honey which makes the granola more like muesli … it’s not chunks at all, it’s more like loose cereal. I’m sure it’ll taste fine and it’s got less sugar. I also made a batch of blueberry muffins. I may make another dozen tomorrow because the family goes through these like crazy and they will stay fresh in the freezer if they don’t eat them right away.

Dear hubby has been to the dump, mowed the lawn and is napping. This is a perfect chance for me to do a little bit of stitching. Have I talked about the special quilt I’m making? More to follow.

Gone stitching (not sure if with knitting or sewing needles).

A Very Good Day

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

The picture was really taken on Tuesday but it looked just like this today, too. It’s been a couple of gloomy gray days with some sprinkles of rain. It’s all good. We needed it. The gardens are happy for the water and I’m happy for a couple of days to stay indoors and get some house stuff caught up.

Today has been a lovely day. No meetings until 5pm so I had the day to get stuff done that I choose. I had a shower and washed my hair, caught up on watching a couple of my podcasts, and I finished up a few knitting projects.

I started and finished two pairs of super bulky mittens for sale. These are from some Malabrigo Rasta yarn that I found in my stash. I won’t knit much with super bulky yarns because I prefer lighter weight yarn but these will be warm weather gear for someone and they’re really pretty. I love the colorways that Malabrigo dyes and the yarns, being 100% Merino wool, are so soft. I’ll be posting the mittens on my Facebook and Instagram pages soon. For this moment, they’re on my cutting table drying having been washed and blocked.

I’ve also finished #22 completely and gotten #23 up to the collar ribbing. I have not blocked 22 but I’ll get to that this weekend. Once the collar on #23 is complete (it may happen tonight), I’ll begin #24 – the last, final, finishing, endmost, ending … you get my drift. This has been a long time coming and I am delighted to be wrapping up this years long project. I also look forward to hanging them up this year and will do so after Thanksgiving.

I also wanted to show you the new branch that is coming off one of my orchid plants. These plants are loving living in Maine. They live in the corner of our living room with indirect sun but bright light and they’re flourishing. As you can see at the bottom right corner of the photo above, one of my other plants (the one that we carefully moved from N’s mother’s apartment after she died and then moved from Florida to Maine) is already in bloom and has been blooming for months. We had one HUGE stem that became so heavy that it snapped off. This is a second branch that’s blooming now. And I just cut off the passed bloom from the one that is going to bloom again. I’m floored. I used to think I had a black thumb because I always killed plants. Seems they like me better – or perhaps I’m learning.

Gone knitting.

Favorite Pullover for Women

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This is a photo of the pattern that I am currently working on. Another WIP that has been lallygagging in my studio on the shelf while I did all sorts of other little things. I’m “forcing” myself to finish the sweaters (especially the sweaters but there are others) that I have started and never finished … and maybe to have a look at yarn that I’ve bought for sweaters that I’ve not yet started … but I digress.

Favorite Pullover for Women is only in the book Norwegian Knitting Designs 90 Years Later which I purchased a year or so ago on Amazon. It’s a big book full of beautiful patterns. I was taking a traditional Norwegian “genser” class online and this was one of the patterns suggested for beginners like me. (Not a beginner knitter but a beginner who has never knitted a traditional Norwegian genser.) I loved this sweater at first sight.

I bought the yarn from Knitography Farm (who was also teaching the class.) And it’s a lovely sport weight 100% rustic wool straight from the farm in Norway. I bought the traditional colors for the yoke which are all shades of gray – light, medium and dark – and the purple for the body and the pops of color in the yoke and sleeves. The yarn is called “Ask Norsk Ullgarn” (100 grams/ 315 meters).

Saturday night I was knitting away and was really close to finishing the colorwork/stranded section of the yoke. I literally got to within the last three stitches of the second-to-last round and I was short ONE STITCH! One!!! So, back I went to look at the last round because all the other rounds had worked in the pattern, and voila! one dropped stitch was popping its little medium gray head out of the sweater with its tongue sticking out at me. Ugh. That meant that I needed to rip back almost the entire last round … because, of course, the stitch had to be within the first 30 or so stitches of the round not the last 30. But because frogging is part of every knitters life and it keeps us knitting “experts” humble, I frogged all the way back and re-knit the last round and the stitches were perfect.

Yesterday morning I returned to my Favorite Pullover and finished the yoke and it’s really beautiful. I love it. This afternoon I’ve finished my increase round under the stranded colorwork and now I can just knit for a couple of inches until I hit the point at which I can separate the sleeves from the body of the sweater.

I will be trying it on before that time so that I know if it’s long enough for my body and with any luck, that’ll happen later this week. There are a lot of little stitches to one round now … I’m at a stitch count of just shy of 400 stitches … 396 to be exact. So every round is almost 400 stitches and there are likely four or five rounds to the inch so I have a couple of thousand stitches to stitch between now and then. Our car ride to have our TSA pre-check appointments tomorrow should be helpful in that vein.

In the foreground of the photo is the neck of the sweater (or the top) and the purple is at the bottom but I’m knitting from the top to the bottom, I hope that make sense. But you can see the unblocked splendor of this pattern and how nicely the different grays play together – even in my lousy light.

The inside is actually just as interesting as the outside. And I’ve photographed it from the same view.

So, the easy (and boring, to be honest) part is ahead of me where I just knit and knit and knit around to where I split the arms from the body and then I’ll just knit around until the body is complete. I have another sweater that’s in the queue that has some complicated cables that I may have to work on, too, when I get tired of stockinette stitch. We’ll see. I’m really determined to get some projects finished before the end of the year. This is one of them. My Arne and Carlos Advent Jumpers are another… also a pattern from Norway and Norwegian designs. I’ve only got five or six to complete and that needs to happen before December 1 so we can fill them and use them!

Gone knitting.

Progress All Around

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning I was thinking and I feel like I’m finally feeling more like myself. The last round of Covid that I had in April (after the round I had the week before that got me “stuck” in New York City) must have affected me more than I had thought. I thought it was a mild case but it left me with some pretty severe fatigue. It seems like that fatigue is finally lifting and I am able to DO more than I have been able to do BUT I also realize that I have limitations and I need to listen to my body and quit when I am ahead.

We decided that we had to hit a few of our around-the-house chores this morning before we give in and do something more fun. I’ve been thinking about cleaning some of the more disgustingly dirty screens in our bedroom windows and in the upstairs bath. I’m happy to report that the inside part of this chore is done. The outside chore will be waiting until next spring when N is (hopefully) fully healed and has his full balance back after his hip replacement surgery. It’s been four months now and he’s made (is making) lots of progress but he overdid this week and he was hurting yesterday … enough that he got his cane out again. He’s out sanding and cleaning/refinishing our teak dining set that we have moved onto the front porch. It’s a little bit big for the porch but we are finding we like using it out there and we will probably like it even more in the early fall.

I’ve been knitting and sewing this week. I’m aiming to hand-sew something every day in order to have it become a daily habit. I’m working on a “Love Note Quilt” inspired by Heidi Parkes. I have been taking her class on Creative Bug and I really like the artistic quality of her quilts. They’re in no way traditional pieced quilts but they’re each unique and I find I am liking having the creative license to stitch what I want. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to completely quit the traditional quilting yet.

I’ve stitched another needle case. I find these little projects very fulfilling and I have an idea about what I will do with the ones I make. I will continue to show you the ones I make but I’m not going to tell you my plan. Haha. (*evil grin and hand-ringing) The most recent one used this cute vintage-y cowboy fabric and I stitched it with red floss which I think looks really cute. I didn’t applique another piece on it because I really wanted to focus on the cute little cowboys.

I’m working on a stuffed toy for my granddaughter for her birthday. She’ll be one year old in just a few short months and I’d better get moving because life is bound to get busy. My daughter, her mother, loved the Very Hungry Caterpillar book and I’m knitting a caterpillar and a sweater for S. The caterpillar pattern is free on Ravelry and you get what you pay for with this pattern. It’s not very well written and I could think of several ways that I would change it if I was to knit it again. I may actually pull out the ends and Kitchener stitch the head to the body rather than finishing it as the pattern suggests. I’ll update my project page with whatever I decide.

I knitted the little shells top for my granddaughter. This was my daughter’s idea. She asked me to knit a top to go with the mermaid tail that I made for S when she was born. Her mom wants to take some photos at the beach and we can’t have a topless mermaid, now can we!? Yaya to the rescue! I hope that I made the top so it’ll fit but I’ll bring my tools to the beach in case we need to make any adjustments. Photos will be coming soon.

I have also knitted another chemo cap for a gift for a friend who just announced that she has cancer. I wish I could do more but this is what knitters do when they can’t do more. And if she doesn’t lose her hair, she can gift it to someone who will. Passing on the good will and the love and healing wishes in every stitch.

Last but not least, I’ve pulled my Favorite Pullover for Women out of time out and have started to make some real progress on the yoke. This sweater may not even fit me. The sizes were a little bit too close to zero ease for my liking but if I add a few stitches to the under arms when I cast on after the yoke, I think I can make it work. It’s a lot of work to be sure, especially if I don’t know it’s going to fit. I have a colorwork sweater that I love the fit of and I’ll be measuring this one against that one when I get the yoke complete and before I go further. The good news is that I am wrapping up another WIP (work in progress, Muffin.) This design is only found in a book called Norwegian Knitting Designs, 90 Years Later. I’m knitting it with Norwegian wool that I bought from Knitography Farm after taking several of her classes online.

chemo about all we’ve been up to on the lake. It’s been a string of several lovely late-summer days. The lake is getting quieter as the summer people head back home to get the school year started. Maine Arts Academy, on whose board I serve, welcomes teachers and staff back tomorrow and the kids come the following week. We start this year in our new building in Augusta and we are all so excited to be independent and free to have activities after school, etc. which we couldn’t do before. We are also developing some wonderful partnership with Augusta Arts and civic groups. I’m so proud of our school!

I’ve got zucchini to grate. I’m making fritters this afternoon.

Gone knitting.

More FOs … not all knits!

Posted on August 11, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

We started our day today with coffee on the porch but it was too warm for a bathrobe. We must be heading into a few days of summer heat again. It’s all good. We have thoroughly enjoyed the cooler mornings over the past few weeks.

I’ve finished a few more little things and wanted to share them with you. I’ve been taking classes from Creative Bug – they had a special deal going with 60 days free to try it out – and I’ve taken a couple of Cal Patch’s classes and a couple of Heidi Parkes’ classes and they’re all sewing classes. While I was watching Heidi’s class on making a needle case, I was inspired to actually sew it myself right then. I went to my fabric stash and found two favorite fabrics – a lobster print and a hummingbird print – both from the days when I was making fabric masks for the family. I made a lot of masks. I appliquéd the little hummingbird patch onto the lobster fabric and then bought a piece of felt to sandwich-ish in the fabric to make the little needle case. I’ve learned a lot about needles, stitching, hand-work and sewing from these classes and while my FOs aren’t big, they’re mighty. They mark a stepping off point for me and a new potential passion, too.

My second FO is also a sewing project. I have had this little panel since attending the quilt show in Augusta, ME probably 10 years ago. I bought a few similar panels and remember making one as a gift somewhere along the line, but this one has been sitting in my cupboard for almost (or maybe more than) a decade. It was time!

This is a fabric (much edited) version of the little golden book, The Tawny Scrawny Lion. I wasn’t familiar with the book but I love the idea of little books without words. The reader can make up the story to go along with the illustrations (or the reader can Google the book and tell the same story.) Regardless, this little book will be winging its way to New York City to a very special little girl who is so deeply loved by her Yaya! I know that she’ll love this little book and she won’t rip the pages.

Last but certainly not least, a pair of “peds” as we knew them back in the day … but these aren’t the sedate peds of my past. I decided to knit up some fun, bright, color-blocked shorties and this is the first pair for my daughter, Kate. I decided to make them all crazy and different. The only thing missing from these finished socks are the pompoms that will be attached at the back of the heel. Just like my mom did in my childhood days … and I did, too. I’ve got several more pairs to knit. My thought is to make a pair for all of the “girls” at our family beach gathering in September. Think I can do it? Three more pairs before September 5? Time will tell. This is a free Purl Soho pattern that I used to make the U of F socklets for my favorite graduating (graduated) senior that I cared for when I was a school nurse. The kids used to ask me to knit them socks when they came into my clinic and my answer was always, “no!” (and emphatic no to be sure!) But this kiddo was different and I’ve stayed in touch with her family and when she graduated, I knew just what to send her for a gift (and a gift certificate to the U of F campus store.)

My sweetie and I took a brief road trip to the coast yesterday because I needed to get some sewing supplies. I thought my time at Fiddleheads would be brief but I was looking at the fabric store with new eyes – the eyes of a garment sewer. It was exciting and intimidating. There is so much to learn about garment-worthy fabrics. I’ve learned that quilting cottons are not always a good garment fabric because they don’t have the same drape. But I managed to do some damage and bought a bit of a cotton lawn and a pattern to make some harem pants for my Sylvie. And I also bought some hand-sewing needles and wool felt to make more needle cases. They’re fun and quick. I found a basket of bolt end cuts of fabric and they had two pieces of linen that I had to take home with me, too. One is a 3-yard cut of a khaki colored linen that is enough for a dress, I think. The other was only a bit over a yard of fabric but it’ll make half a shirt or a pieced shirt … time will tell. I feel so fancy talking sewing!

Gone knitting.

Slow Fashion 101 – A Gathering of Stitches

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

I spent last week at Medomak Retreat Center in Washington, Maine at A Gathering of Stitches first retreat of the season, Slow Stitching 101. There were 35-ish women attending from all over the country and from Canada and Italy.

My friend, Lori Versaci “talked me into it” and I went because I want to make clothes for myself similar to the ones she makes and in particular that orange and white linen check dress! I was a bit anxious and intimidated before I got there because I have never sewn garments before and my quilting is pretty limited. But I like sewing and I realize that it takes so much less time to make something with a sewing machine than it does with sticks and string. So, I set my goals on the low side of reasonable as I perceived it and headed off to “camp”.

We arrived for check-in on Monday afternoon and were allowed to unpack once we tested negative for Covid. A reasonable ask for the safety of all. I was in a shared cabin and I didn’t take one photo of my spot. I brought my Orange Peel quilt for my bed and my special silk pillowcase and pillow so it felt like home. Each cabin has a full bath and two single beds, two reading lamps, a fan, and two bureaus. It’s spare but comfortable. Our linens, blankets and towels are all included as are all meals. More on the food in a bit.

Monday night dinner was our first gathering. Meals are served family style at big round tables in the dining hall which has recently been completely rebuilt. The foundation under the original dining hall wasn’t strong enough to support the much-needed new roof so … an entirely new post and beam building was constructed and is nearly finished. For the first time, there are two restrooms in the building and that alone was worth the cost of admission. The food is incredibly tasty and healthful and they cater to everyone’s individual dietary requirements (gluten free, vegetarian and vegan, etc.) I don’t remember the specific meals each day but breakfast is typically choice of cereals, yogurt, a hot something – bacon and eggs, quiche, pancakes … you get the idea. Coffee and tea is available all day and a water bottle filling station is available, too. Lunch was often a wonderful hearty salad of grains, roasted vegetables, and greens with soup or grilled cheese and tomato soup, buddha bowls with grains or noodles with grains, roasted veggies, etc. I loved our lunches! And dinner was spaghetti and meatballs or roast chicken or similar, potatoes, veggies, and always a tossed salad. The last night, Saturday night, is lobster dinner – lobster, mussels, cole slaw and corn on the cob. There’s always dessert, too! And it was always good!

Tuesday was the start of our workshops. I was a Chickadee (we were divided into three groups, Blueberries, Chickadees and Pinecones for classes) and our first workshop was Hack It with Cal Patch. I’ve taken crochet and embroidery with Cal at the Medomak Fiber Arts Retreat but this time it was taking a simple boxy shirt pattern and “hacking” it – changing it in some way: the collar, the sleeves, adding pockets, change the length, etc. I had partially made a muslin version of Cal’s Boxy Tee from a virtual class she gave and my hack was to make a tunic length top with a pocket. I learned how to make french seams, how to use bias tape to finish the neckline and, once finished, by top was too boxy so I learned how to take it in. AND I finished it at camp! Cal is wonderful. She’s so experienced and encourages each student to be creative and individual. I am eager to try hacking another top or two before I head down the pattern buying path!

Wednesday we had a workshop with Alexis Bailey, Hand sewing the Photinia Top. Photinia is a pattern designed by Alexis to be zero waste … every bit of fabric is used to the max. I made the simplest view of this shirt having never done any hand sewing of garments. But I learned how to cut out a garment, how to make my own continuous bias tape and then how to hand sew shoulder seams, gathering a neckline and sewing on at bias binding … I’m not done with this top and I may decide to sew some of the long seams on the machine. I am the boss of my sewing, too. Alexis said this was her first teaching gig and she was very patient with us and her patterns that use up all of the bits of fabric are really smart. I look forward to finishing my top.

Thursday and Saturday were “free” days to do whatever you wanted. I chose not to go to Belfast with a large group because I am only an hour-ish away and can go any time. I spent the morning on the porch knitting. I’m working my way up the sleeves of my Lane’s Island Pullover and am knitting two at once to make it go a little bit faster (and to guarantee that the sleeves are the same.) I love sitting on the porch at camp. It evokes a simpler time without great internet access and I really did disconnect and slowed down. It was glorious visiting with women who were hand stitching: some worked on their camp projects, some were embroidering or knitting. In the afternoon, I worked on my Photinia top and got the collar sewn on (rough edges together, haha!) On Saturday I finished my Cal Patch hack in the morning and then stitched the collar of my Photinia together to get it ready to turn and then worked on my knitting in the afternoon. Several of the women at camp are sewists and knitters, too. They were good company.

On Friday we had a Natural Dying workshop with Kristin Arzt. We learned about mordants (both aluminum and iron) and had a chance to experiment with different techniques for decorating fabric. And then we learned a bit about indigo dying and Shibori techniques. I had never worked with any natural dyes and Kristen was a knowledgeable and generous teacher. It was fun to try different things and see what happened. I over-dyed a dress with a stain on it, an old white shirt and some linen pants as well as some fabric. We all had fun with this class.

On Thursday afternoon I attended a mini-class with Katherine Ferrier called Making, Being and Being Made. It was an opportunity to become mindful with our hand work, to take time to slow down and check in with ourselves. I enjoyed the class very much and it was not easy work – I was tired at the end of the day on Thursday, in part due to digging deep in this class.

There was one other mini-class with Samantha from AGOS about Garment Fabric Considerations. Sam had sewn a bazillion tops, mostly the same pattern (it’s not available anymore and it’s called the Wixford or something similar). Anyway, she went through all sorts of natural fibers for garments and what they are “good” for. I learned a lot and learned that I can wear my linen in the winter! Yay!

Sadly, despite every precaution, Covid reared its ugly head and one participant tested positive early in the week and had to isolate in a cabin alone. We voted to mask when indoors, changed to buffet style dining so we could eat outdoors. Thursday night was a clothing swap that was really fun and entertaining to watch. On Friday night we all tested before the garment stories evening event. All negative! And then on Saturday morning one of the teachers felt unwell and tested positive. She left camp to head home. I’ve been very grateful that I continue to test negative and hope that I’ve been able to avoid Covid this time. More will be revealed – I’ll test again on Monday night just to be sure.

All in all, it was a completely wonderful week at camp and I am excited to have one finished garment in my closet. I also bought (at the marketplace on Saturday) a Cal Patch dress. I’m wearing it today and I am so glad I did. I will have to find the pattern and make a couple more of these because it’s so comfortable and versatile, too. I am grateful to the women at camp who were kind, welcoming and so generously shared their stories as we sat and stitched. I was inspired by their skills and their finished items. I am looking forward to playing with fabric more as my confidence develops. I look forward to connecting on Instagram and I hope I can go back to camp again next year.

I was happy to get home this morning, unpack, kiss my sweet hubby, and have a good hot shower. It’s good to go to camp and it’s good to come home.

Gone knitting.

The Miracle of Blocking

Posted on July 9, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

Let’s talk about the miracle of blocking hand knits. There are a bunch of different ways of blocking your knitwear and sometimes, I’ll admit openly, I don’t block things. I seldom block socks, for example. They get all stretched out when I put them on my feet. If I’m gifting socks, I may lay them flat in a nice way and hand “press” them. But some things really benefit from a true process called blocking – steam blocking, wet blocking – often it depends what I’ve knitted that decides how I block it.

The Arne and Carlos Mini Nordic Jumpers that I’ve been chipping away at over the last couple of years are a good example of how blocking changes the look of the stitches. In the first three photos below, you can see that the stitches as I’m knitting them are a bit wonky and not all the same size.

But the last photo, above, shows how they look after a good steam blocking. In this instance I used my steam iron, on the linen setting, and a damp white hand towel to gently steam the stitches. I place the damp towel on top of the little sweater and then gently press with the iron to apply wet and heat which tames the stitches. I always feel so accomplished when the stitches are all the same size and look so orderly.

All of the little items above were made for my granddaughter. I didn’t block these the same way at all. These garments are all cotton or cotton blends and as such need to be handled differently. I hand washed them and then lay them flat to dry. In reality, when her parents wash them, they can be machine washed and dried flat. It’s just easier for me to wash them as I finish … and I may be a little less busy than Kate and Spencer. The lace romper I stretched out a little bit so that the lace and bobbles show off appropriately.

My lace shawl, was wet blocked. Left to soak for 15-20 minutes so that the yarn is soaking wet all the way through. It’s then gently squeezed dry, dried more by stepping on it while it’s wrapped in a cotton bath towel and then stretching it out aggressively and pinned into place. When it’s totally dry, the edges are so stretched that when I unpin them, they don’t bounce back at all. They stay where I put them. It goes from being a mangled mess to a stunning pattern of lacework and the textured stitches are clearly visible. It’s a miracle!

Gone knitting.

A Pocket Story

Posted on July 8, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

Let me tell you about a pocket.

I love pockets and I believe that all garments for women should have pockets. OK, maybe not every sweater needs pockets but every dress, skirt and pants should. I may have to learn how to sew pockets into some of my garments that don’t have them BUT this isn’t a story about one of those pockets.

I’m knitting Lane’s Island Pullover by Lori Versaci in Berroco’s Remix Light. I’ve made a few sweaters and a shawl by the same designer and I love her patterns. I also love that she makes my life better when it comes to seaming the pieces together at the end.

Lane’s Island has two pockets on the front. The stitches are hanging out on holders when the story begins. After I finished the front of the sweater (not without counting problems) I am instructed to knit the pockets. I slip the 30 stitches from the holder to a needle and then begin with a setup row. It just so happens that you begin by adding two stitches, one at either side as edge stitches or selvage stitches. The addition of one stitch on either side makes is possible to have an easy spot where we’ll put the needle to stitch up the pocket seam. Yippee!

Sadly, the first time I knitted the pocket I didn’t pay attention. I need to take the time to slow down and follow the directions. This is a pattern of behavior lately. I feel like I have too much on my plate and that’s making me make mistakes. Anywhoooo … I have pulled out the pocket and started over with an extra edge stitch on both sides of the pocket so it will be perfect when I seam up the sides.

I’ve also started the sleeves but I’m going to pick up another ball of yarn tomorrow when I’m at work so that I can knit both sleeves at the same time. I got the first sleeve ribbing done. I’ll knit the second 4 inches of ribbing for the second sleeve and then knit both sleeves at the same time the rest of the way. This way I’m assured of having two sleeves that are exactly the same lenght. (I’m thinking they only have to be 3/4 sleeves but I haven’t made a final decision.)

Gone knitting.

Taking Life (not so) Seriously

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This is pretty funny that I’m writing another post (again) this week. This must be a world record, right? I’m going to tell you another story about me that I hope will make you laugh as it did me AND I hope it will make anyone feeling like their knitting skills are still “not good enough” will kick that notion to the curb.

Yesterday was a fairly miserable weather day. Damp and rainy and suitable for ducks and loons, only. We’ve had a lot of days like this in Maine this year. I was working my way up the front of my Lane’s Island Pullover by VersaciKnits and was getting excited because the end was near and I was eager to get to the pockets. I had knitted a few of the shoulder decreases when I realized that I had too many stitches and had another glance at the pattern. I had skipped over four repeats of the single decrease at the neck edge. Ugh!!! I looked at the neck edge and I pondered my choices – just forget about it and continue on, frog back to the decreases and do it “right”, or something else. I decided to do it “right” and frog back to the last decrease and reknit so that the neck looks more balanced when I go to pick up the collar stitches (I assume I’m going to do this. I haven’t read ahead on my pattern.) So, that was my first challenge last night.

I also realized that I had knitted almost all of the three balls of yarn that I had purchased for the sweater. Another glance at the pattern and I realized that I needed three balls EACH of two colors (a total of SIX) and I had bought three balls of the single color I wanted my sweater to be. For the love of … Pete?! Thank goodness I work in a yarn shop. This morning I went in and solved the problem by adding two balls of yarn to my layaway bag just in case and buying one more ball which should be enough for the two sleeves and any finishing that I may need to do.

It’s at times like this, after almost 40 years of knitting, that I find knitting at once humbling and hysterical. Knitting has taught me to laugh at myself. And I mean a real laugh-out-loud belly laugh. It’s always when I think I know what I’m doing that I tend to make the silliest mistakes. This one is one for the ages. (Here’s another one!) I’ve been teaching knitting for nearly 20 years and knitting for almost 40 and I still make plenty of rookie mistakes. In fact, the designer commented on my Instagram post last night, “I would say it was a rookie mistake, but we know you are NOT a rookie!!!” Truer words were never spoken. I’m not a rookie but I can still make a rookie mistake. AND that’s ok. I can … and did, laugh at myself and move on.

Last night I finished the first pocket and put the stitches for the second pocket on the needle, ready to attack it today. I’m one stitch short. It’s lucky I’m an “expert knitter” because I seem unable to count. II’m laughing again. HaHaHa.

Gone knitting.