Queen Bee Knits

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Sunday Update – an FO and almost another

Posted on September 20, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Saturday, September 19, 2026 … Yesterday

I was up early yesterday because I had to be at a meeting in Palermo, Maine by 9:00am which is early to get going on a Saturday unless I have to open the store. Even then, the store opens at 9:30 and is 20 minutes away. Palermo is 45 minutes away. This morning, Sunday, I didn’t even get outside to take a photo because it was quite cool and we stayed inside (I got my afghan out of the basket this morning.) We have already run an errand which entailed new slippers for me and some organizing of my yarn bins because I was looking for new gnome knitting yarn and I need some sport weight for part of the project. I think I found what I need … we’ll see when I start knitting the project on September 3 (or 4 because I’ll be out of town the 2 & 3 without much knitting time.)

Anyway, a knitting update. I have a FO! I finished my teeny tiny sock earrings, Los Lobe Hose, knitted up in fingering weight yarn with 0000 DPNs. The needles are smaller than toothpicks and I’m not sure I really enjoyed the knitting but they’re awfully cute to wear.

Los Lobe Hose in On the Round scrappy leftovers

I’m going to be forced to make another pair of these with Christmas yarn and maybe a Halloween/Fall pair, too. Stinking cute!

I’m making good progress, too, with my daughter’s Levitate Wrap. I have reached the bottom of the body of the sweater and next will be picking up sleeve stitches and knitting sleeves. I love the fabric of this sweater and it’s knitting up relatively quickly on US 10 needles. My daughter chose the medium size because she wants it boxy and I’m eager to see how the rest of the knitting goes. Right now the measurement from the middle of the back to the bottom is eighteen inches which seems very cropped to me. I will need to review the pattern before I finish off the bottom of the body. It’s always interesting knitting a sweater for someone whose full body measurements you don’t have … and ask me why when I had my daughter at the beach I didn’t measure the length of her arms, for example or ask her how long she wants the sweater to be? Yeah, well I don’t have an answer but now I’m thinking I missed an opportunity for sure.

I’m also working on my Make Mine a Double sweater. I have reached the bottom of the body and knitted the ribbing and now I’ll go back and knit the sleeves. I had begun the sleeves (I think I may have mentioned this on my last post) but realized too late that I was knitting with a US 9 rather than the required US 10. Good grief! So, I’ve frogged most of the two sleeves and will likely frog back a little bit more and reknit with the correct size needle. I thought I had the US 10 in my project bag. I was wrong. Thank goodness knitting is forgiving.

I am super close to another FO. My vanilla socks (photo below was taken a couple of days ago) in the self-striping yarn are getting really close to the toe. I have really enjoyed knitting these socks and I do love Must Stash yarn’s self-striping sock yarns. The base yarn is lovely to work with and the stripes, well, they’re fabulous!

I love that the yarn comes in two parts and each is the same so your socks match pertectly. Most of the time I don’t really mind if patterns don’t match up. I just don’t want a lot of extra yarn left over … but these days I’m knitting shorter legs (from the cuff to the heel flap) and I am finding I do have leftovers. I think I may be knitting some scrappy socks again soon.

We have been working at putting our gardens to bed for the winter. Yesterday when I was at my meeting the hubby chopped the living daylights out of one of our Hydrangeas. I hope it comes back. In his defense, we’d let it get HUGE and it was blocking our kitchen window which we like to see out of and it was rubbing against the house. The garden at the side of the house was put in ten years ago and some of the bushes have been really happy here and have grown too big for their spots. We have some work to do and neither one of us really loves to garden nor are we particularly knowledgeable. We’ll figure it out in good time. We also have a porch floor that needs restaining and a few window screens that need washing along with our big front windows that are always dirty … thanks to my mother for making me very attuned to dirty windows. LOL

I have holiday knitting on the mind lately. I spoke yesterday with the granddaughter who knows what she wants and asked her about a Santa hat (or an elf hat) and she doesn’t want red and white … she wants pink and purple stripes! In my reorganizing I found some purple Cascade 220 Superwash and I’ll get some pink in the same yarn when I go to work on Thursday and make that for her. I’ve always knitted a Christmas sweater for her as well … maybe this year’s will be a pink and purple striped elf sweater? I’ve found a couple of cute sweaters but she much prefers cardigans because she can put them on herself.

I made three dozen muffins this week (for my meeting yesterday and for my hubby, too). I found a new pumpkin muffin recipe to try and made my old stand-by blueberry and banana nut, too. I took a dozen and a half with me and left the same in the freezer. They were all good.

Tonight we’re heading to the Opera House to see Graham Nash in concert. We have a lot of shows in our little town and it’s time we start paying attention … it’s fun to get out now and again!

Gone knitting!

The Day Before WIP Wednesday

Posted on July 21, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s been super breezy all day. No coffee on the porch this morning but I was up early (hubby woke me emptying the dehumidifier at 5:45am) and I decided to get a few things done and see how it feels. And it feels pretty good! I really needed to clean our bathroom which I hadn’t done since before we both got sick in early July. The spiders had taken over and I couldn’t have them in charge anymore. I also got my car registered and have called my mechanic to get it inspected but they’re on vacation this week. Next week will work.

When I got home from my one errand, I decided to make a batch of blueberry muffins which I haven’t made since the kids, version 1, were here. I don’t think I ever got the second group any blueberry muffins. We picked strawberries and my daughter made strawberry muffins instead. I must be feeling better. This is two days in a row that I have baked. Yesterday I made a batch of my granola. So, granola and muffins this week. I must be feeling better!

While I was waiting for the muffins to cool enough to take out of the pan, I took a walk around the yard. The hydrangeas and the “daisies” are all blooming … I know they’re not all daisies but they are the same shape as daisies so I am clumping them together. I also found a couple of zucchinis in the veggie garden, some lettuces and a couple more cucumbers. The tomatoes are getting there … that’s what I really am looking forward to – tomato sandwiches!

I spent the late morning hand sewing. A couple of years ago I took a class online with Heidi Parkes and started to make a “Love Letter Quilt” with her prompts. She suggests 20 6×8 inch rectangles and has 20 prompts to stitch for the quilt. I’ve been working on it with no particular regularity and have decided that I really need to get it finished, assembled and hung. It’s going to be our tenth anniversary in a bit and maybe I can get it done for that? Time will tell.

The most recent pieces that I’ve finished are “a flower” and “an artifact”. The flower was easy. We’ve had an orchid plant that belonged to Ned’s mother prior to her death. When she passed away, we inherited the plant and have cared for it since. We even moved from Florida to Maine with the plant in flower … and it’s been flowering consistently since then. So, the orchid is the plant. The artifact had to be the old house. The property was owned by hubby’s father’s aunt and his dad bought the house from her in the 1940s. They used it as a summer house forever and Ned was here every summer of his life (minus one when he and his mother had a disagreement). The orchid is on a too small piece of fabric (I need to learn to measure!) but I’ll adapt it and will make it work.

This afternoon I’ve been working on the front part of my tabard. I still love love love this color and can’t wait to wear the garment. I have the perfect blouse to wear under it! Today I got one shoulder knitted and am ready to knit the second one tomorrow. My brain is on fire from counting and concentrating and especially after getting up so early, I’m tired. Anyway, I’ll get the front finished tomorrow! Yay! I think I will block it before I seam it to see what the yarn is going to do. I’m excited to be so close!

And now I’m turning to my Sock Sprint 2026 socks. The pattern is fun and easily memorized and I’ve been working the heel flap since last night. It’s a bit different with 3 garter stitch stitches on each side of the slipped stitch heel flap. I’m interested to see how it finishes up. I may be able to get the heel flap done and turn the heel tonight.

I am heading back to work on Thursday for the first time since June 18th! I’ve been out of work for over a month … first for the kids’ visits and then because I got sick. I am so glad I took the time to rest and recover because I do think I am ready to go back now. Last week, not so much. I imagine that I’ll be really happy when it’s Saturday and I can rest again. This has been quite a ride!

Gone knitting!

Monday Monday!

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m taking the time to blog today because we’ve been busy getting projects done and the sun came out! Today it was beautiful and sunny and the lake was calm for coffee on the porch. My mullein plant is getting really big and soon (maybe tomorrow) I’m going to pick a leaf or two to make a tincture. Mullein is supposed to be good for the respiratory system and anybody who knows me knows that my respiratory system is challenged by allergies and a chronic allergic cough.

This morning I cut the garlic scapes! And then I ran out to do a couple of errands and made a stop at the store to help with getting ready for the Maine Yarn Cruise to begin. Tickets for drawings, stamp and ink for the passports, a QR code for the digital guests, and just plain remembering what we need to have tomorrow. This is the 8th year and, woo doggies, it’s another challenge. The boss insists on water and snacks and free books which all sounds great until there is a crowd around the register and all the pieces need to be done which adds to the regular craziness that is a family business. It’ll be “fun” they said. Ha! Ha!

When I got home I started making some of the food I have been craving … lobsters were on sale yesterday so I had Hannaford steam two for me and I made lobster salad for lunch and while I was chopping celery for lobster salad, I chopped some for potato salad. Summer and potato salad just go together. My mom always added onion, hard boiled eggs, and mayo and mustard and a few spices. It’s in the fridge all ready for dinner. I also chopped a bunch of veggies for Ratatouille which will be ready for dinner, too. Yummm!

This weekend we bought veggie plants for our raised beds and the compost to amend the soil. The compost was added yesterday and tomorrow I’ll put the plants in when it’s a bit cooler in the morning. BUT I did get the flowers into the window box and the front porch pot and I also got two of my lemon trees (started from seeds) re-potted and settled in the dooryard for the summer months. I just have to give them a good trim to shape them up a bit.

We bought a pair of Adirondack chairs for our afternoons outside. We often have a good stiff breeze off the lake in the afternoon so we sit around back to get some calm. These chairs and the table that will go between them will be so comfortable after a busy day. I’m quite pleased with the way the dooryard is shaping up. I’d love to have a flagstone patio built next with a path to the garage when it gets built. So many projects!

And I have been knitting, too. I finished three dishcloths for our kitchen and put them in the rotation already. They’re quite cheery. I also have been working on Delores’s caftan outfit and yesterday I made it to the second shoulder. It’s a different way to build a caftan but it works. It does make me giggle when I think of knitting for a sheep (and a stuffed one at that.) She makes me happy. I’ve also made some good progress on my Big Love cardigan. I’m well into the button band decreases and pretty soon I will have the body done. The pattern makes a cropped cardigan and I think I’ll make mine a little bit longer than cropped. I’m not sure of cropped garments on me … my Bolin cardigan is cropped and I think I’ll have to be particular about what I wear it with but rest assured that there will be no midriff showing on this girl.

And last but not least, my hubby has been working away to create a gate on the end of our porch to keep little ones, both two-legged and four, safely on the porch. The lake is so close and kids move so quickly, I think this will make it possible for Sylvie to have some freedom this summer when they’re here. She will, of course, be reminded over and over, to stay off the dock and out of the water when she’s not with an adult, too. One can never be too careful around water. Hubby’s guest cottage bathroom project is almost complete, too. The new shower stall is built, the floor is in and the holes in the porch and the porch screens have been repaired. He’s working on the screen door now. Soon, we will get it all cleaned up and buy a bed for it and then it’ll be available for friends and family to use when they come to Maine. I think we’ll be putting it up on AirBnB or one of those apps next year as a weekend rental. See how it goes.

I’ve got a zoom meeting to attend so I’m off. Gone knitting.