Queen Bee Knits

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

Flexibility is Key

Posted on August 29, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

All of a sudden the yard is covered in these little yellow flowers. I don’t remember having them ever before and I can’t say that I’m unhappy about them. I love yellow and a perfect lawn is impractical here at the lake because no chemicals can be applied. So, we just accept whatever we get … it’s a good life lesson, frankly. Acceptance.

In knitting this week, however, acceptance wasn’t the thing. Not at all. I’ve written about my impulse buy of some lovely Artyarns degrade silk mohair hand-dyed yarn that I bought because I couldn’t get the sweater out of my mind. Well, I am waiting for my daughter to try on her sweater and in the meantime I cast on the Make Mine a Double pullover in the Artyarns Double Mohair Ombre yarn. It’s luxurious, 2-ply silk mohair and the colors are incredible. I chose to make the Medium because I didn’t want a lot of ease (12+ inches). However, when I got to separate the sleeves and just knit the body stitches in the round, I tried it on and I didn’t think I had enough ease. SO … I frogged back to before I separated the sleeves and added one round of increases to get to the number of stitches I needed for the Large size and now I’m knitting down the body again.

I am so pleased with the yarn colors and this neutral-ish colorway will go with so many things! I now have to decide how long to make the sweater. The designer wears a lot of cropped garments but she’s young and has a cute figure. I’m not young (at least chronologically) and my figure, well, let’s think about acceptance again … I am truly working on it! My best guess is that I will wear something under this sweater because I think it will be too see-through for my liking and so I am thinking to make it a “normal” pullover length but I will keep trying it on with my jeans and see what I think. So far I’m still using the first hank of the yarn and I will have both sleeves to knit. Again, the designer used one hank of the yarn so she knitted the sleeves first (to her prefered length) and then finished the body. I am going to go ahead with the body and then knit the sleeves. ALTHOUGH, now that I’m looking at it, I might like to have the body be more of the blue and chocolate brown and the sleeves be lighter … hmmm. I may have to cake up the second hank before I continue.

Truth be told, this is a lot of fun. I’m enjoying the challenge of creating the sweater that I will like to wear and be comfortable in partly because I spent a lot of money on the yarn and partly because I love to wear comfy clothing! It’ll be interesting to see where it ends up … and I am not afraid of frogging another couple of inches of mohair if I really need to. It’s a booger to frog but it’s worth it to make a garment that I really love. Stay tuned!

I’m making progress on my Jaunty this week, too. I’ve got it to about 30 inches and have started the second ball of yarn. I have three … the pattern suggests using 45% of the yarn before you begin the decreases and I suspect that I’ll follow her advice so I don’t run out of yarn at the very end. I’m not a big risk taker. *shrugs shoulders

I love the squishy fabric that this scarf is made of and I can hardly wait to block it because I suspect it’ll be even softer and squishier! I chose two different colorways because I wanted a big scarf that I can wrap around my neck a bunch of times and I like the two together so far. The first ball is more purple and the second one is more blue … we’ll see how the third one works in (or doesn’t). We do have another hank of the blue colorway that I may have to put away just in case and I can use the purple one in another project if needed. The stitch pattern is fun and easy to memorize which makes this a good evening project or a good one for when I’m teaching (and with that said, I did un-knit two rows yesterday because I lost track of my pattern).

I’ve completed the first sock and last night I turned the heel on the second sock. What good progress I’m making! I have really enjoyed this pattern and I still love the Socks Yeah! yarn. It’s wonderful to knit with; not at all splitty and so soft but wears well, too. I’m liking the pink colorway and the lace! Again, the pattern is easy to memorize so it’s not bad to knit when I am watching TV with the hubby at night or teaching on Friday or riding in the car. I’ll enjoy wearing these soon when the weather cools a little bit.

And that’s all she wrote for today. I may be headed into the shop this afternoon because we think it may be busy as it’s the last Saturday of the summer yarn sale. It’ll be good to get back to “normal” at work. (If any of you know the store I work for, you’ll know we aren’t like your normal yarn store. LOL)

Gone knittng!

WIP Wednesday

Posted on August 12, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Well, I finally got a WIP Wednesday post on a Wednesday. It seems that I don’t sit down to post often on a Wednesday but I have a few minutes before I have to leave for a board meeting and I thought I’d show you what I’ve been up to.

I have three projects on my needles (WIPs/ Works in Progress) right now that I’ve been working on. I am having a ball with the Reverie Socks by Summer Lee. This is Summer’s most recent pattern and I have knitted one other pair of lace socks that I love so I decided to cast on these. Bought the pattern and grabbed some light pink yarn from my stash. This is another stashed Socks Yeah! yarn and it’s still one of my favorite sock yarns to date. I love working with it. The stitch definition is perfect, the colors are pretty and it feels so good while I’m knitting with it. I’ve already turned the heel, decreased the gusset to the original number of stitches and I’m just working my way out the foot.

I resurrected my daughter’s Levitate Wrap from time out yesterday. It turned out that my plans for the morning changed and I decided that I didn’t want to “do” anything. SO … I just cleaned up the kitchen, and our bathroom and bedroom, did a couple loads of towels, felted my sample for the store (more later) and spent the majority of the day on the screened in porch knitting in the breeze. It was a good day. But I digress, I have finished both sides of the first part of the sweater which is a wrap sweater. I am going to wait to have her try it on because it feels like it may be a bit too short to close up the arms and start knitting the body and I have intentionally not knitted three or four rows on the front (and I can’t remember where the back was left off or what the measurement was supposed to have been.) Anyway, the fabric is nice and I hope this is a good size for her. I’ll be seeing her in early September so this is going to have to wait about a month.

I cast on a new project, too. I have been wanting to knit a Jaunty by Andrea Mowry to show my support of her design success. Apparently she’s being “bullied” for being prolific and successful. Why can’t we just be happy for her and lift her up? I do not understand the mean-spirited methods of people now-a-days. It’s easier and so much healthier for us all if we be kind! Anyway, a friend is also casting on a Jaunty and we’re going to knit together early next week. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help myself and had to cast on and see how the pattern worked. I think I’ve got it … and I’ve got two different colorways of the same yarn, Ewetopia Helix DK, so I’m alternating skeins in the first part of the scarf. It’s a fun pattern and it’s so squishy!

I have two FOs, too! I have finished my Sabai Top and both of my great-nephews’ vests are blocked with ends woven in. I also felted the bowl that I am making for the store as a sample hoping to sell some of the super bulky wool yarn by Brown Sheep. The variegated colors have been discontinued and are on clearance but the solids would be good for felted bowls, too. It was a quick and fun knitting project and it felted up quickly in my front-loader. I do have very hot hot water. I did have it go through the cycle twice but I am happy with the results. It’s rather large and I hope we can use it at the store. The photo shows it un-felted. Suffice it to say that it’s now felted. I’ll take another photo one of these days.

And with that, I have to run … I wish I was going to knit!

Gone knitting.

Easter Sunday

Posted on April 5, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Happy Easter to those of your who celebrate. We are having a (very) quiet (too quiet?) day here today. It’s rather gloomy outside and expected to stay that way so no gardening but I know that I will be up in my atelier knitting and cleaning up a little bit, too. It’s a bit of a disaster up here after a busy week. I went to a dance recital yesterday afternoon at Maine Arts Academy and was impressed by the talent and the large crowd who came on the day before Easter. It was a pretty day yesterday and 51 degrees! Spring is coming.

The lake ice is thinning a lot and ice will no doubt be out very soon. Maybe by the time I get back from my trip to Quebec City? Maybe before. There are parts of the lake where the ice is already gone and we have some water at the edge of the lake. The big sheets of ice that cover the shoreline are gone. The ice has shrunken a lot and will start breaking up and moving north with the flow of the water soon. If I’m here, there will be a video.

I’ve been working away at my knitting but not as much as I might like because I have overdone it just a bit and I have to rest my left arm just a bit. I’m making good progress on my three active projects, though.

I’ve made it past the heel (it’s a forethought heel on my Escher socks which means a strand of yarn is knitted into the spot where the heel will go and then you knit over those in pattern and down to the toe.) I’m working my way down the foot now. I do enjoy the colorwork pattern! I’ve changed over to a 9″ circular needle by Knit Pro (formerly Knitters Pride) and I’m not a huge fan although I do like that I don’t have to switch needles like with DPNs. We didn’t have any Chiao Goo 9″ needles in a US 2 at the shop but I’ll try them when they’re restocked. Hopefully soon.

I’ve cast on a new shawl project for the Wooly Thistle’s Shawl KAL. I decided to knit the Hansel Hap Half mostly because I have the wool in my stash and I’m really working on using up some of what I have (and so I can order more?) I’m working this shawl in Jamieson & Smith and Jamieson’s jumper weight 100% Shetland wool. I’m loving it! The shawl is a simple garter stitch triangle and then the fun starts with the addition of a border in more of the main color (or in my case, slightly different color but close enough) and a super dark blue, a teal for a pop of color and a white. I’m really excited to get to the border and I’m about two thirds of the way there.

And because I’ve started the shawl, I’ve let the Vanilla Sweater get neglected just a little bit. I did work on it for a short while on Friday when I was teaching because it’s easy to put down when I need to. But, it’s easy to put down when it’s just stockinette stitch in the round for eleven or so inches because it’s not very exciting or challenging. But I will get it done! I’m eager to cast on my daughter’s wrap cardigan because I think that will be “more fun”. I haven’t even taken a more recent photo of the Vanilla Sweater but I’ve only made minimal progress.

I did bake! I found a box of bran flakes in our pantry cupboard as I was straightening the other day and so I went hunting for a bran muffin recipe so I could use them up. I found a recipe that made some tasty muffins that we both are enjoying this week. My hubby, in particular, loves to have a little something sweet with his coffee in the morning. They were another simple recipe and freeze beautifully (for two of us to eat a dozen muffins, they’ve got to be frozen or they’d be moldy.)

The plumbers are supposed to be here first thing tomorrow morning. (See my post here to get the background on this story.) I sure hope they come on time and get the job done right. Our bathroom rug was soaking wet yesterday morning because the water unit thingy was leaking again. Nothing better than wondering what you stepped in before your eyes were even open. So … the water will be turned off tomorrow for most of the day and I won’t be able to do laundry for my trip until Tuesday (I refuse to do laundry today.) Tuesday will be laundry day this week and that leaves today … I think I will sew a pouch a la Kate at the Last Lonely House. I just need to piece and quilt a square and then sew it together like an envelope. One of my knitting students had made one and brought it to class Friday and I was reminded that I loved the pouch. It’s a good project for today – and maybe it’ll make me sew more often?

Gone sewing.

‘Tis the Season …

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s a gloriously sunny Sunday here on the lake and we’re watching the lake and shaking our heads. Today we have lots of vehicles on the lake … yes, I mean vehicles – cars and trucks. The ice can’t be much more than six inches thick. If it was up to me there would only be snow machines and ATVs but when the first car drove by recently, I decided it was time to post about my morning and this crazy activity. Ice fishing is a sport that I don’t have any interest in. Never have, never will. A day out in the cold, drinking beer and doing “crazy” things like driving your $30,000 vehicle on the ice is outrageous in my humble opinion. Lucky nobody asks me.

I’m about to take my knitting and see if I can walk on my new walking pad for ten minutes while I knit. My goal is to work up to 30 minutes a day for now. That’s a lot more than I’ve been doing. And I have to ask my daughter what kind of standing desk she has because there are a lot of them out there with mixed reviews. I’ll be buying one pretty soon so I can write and walk, too. (Lucky there’s a “seat belt” that stops the machine when you’re about to fall off. Ha! Ha!)

I’ve got the last load of laundry in the washer, I’ve washed a shawl that I wore last week that had something sticky on it, I’ve ordered my new coat from LL Bean and I’ve written the store newsletter and caught up on adding new contacts. I’d fallen way behind.

It snowed lightly all day yesterday and (the royal) we has shoveled and gone out for the NY TImes Sunday paper so he’s happily ensconced downstairs while I’m up in my atelier. I think today I’ll work on Baby’s blanket because it’s just about half done and it’s a quick knit. Next will be mitts for daughter #2 who has been wearing her favorite ones I made her that had her ex-husband’s initial on them. It’s time to get rid of them and get something new. She’s chosen her pattern and I bought the yarn.

I’ve got an order for two tams from a customer who contacts me every couple of years. I went looking for my pattern yesterday and it’s not available on Ravelry any longer and, of course, I’ve cleaned out all my paper patterns because I had them on Ravelry. I sure hope more designers don’t take their patterns off Ravelry … I’ll be furious because I thought, even if it was a free pattern, that I’d have them safely in my library. Not so. Luckily the designer responded to my message and she’s going to have someone email me a copy. Phew. I’ll get those on the needles soon so I can get them out of my queue.

So, for now, the ice fishermen are at it again. So much for our peace and quiet on the lake. Luckily they’re not in our front yard … yet.

Gone knitting (and walking.)