Queen Bee Knits

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

Saturday Before Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s cloudy today but the sun is still shining on the south side of the house. Enough so that it’s warm enough to venture outside for a late morning photograph. The loons are still on the lake in their winter feathers but soon enough they’ll be gone again to their winter home on the coast.

This weekend is all about getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week. We have plans with our Massachusetts family for the day and we are looking forward to being together after what seems like “forever”. I am tasked with making a couple of desserts chosen by my nephew who will be with us after several years away at veterinary school – cheesecake and an apple pie are the requests. I have also found a recipe for pumpkin dinner rolls that I think I’ll try. I just have to get a grocery order together so I can pick it all up tomorrow or Monday. That’ll be next on my list.

This morning I’ve been catching up and trying to finish some of my crafty projects so that I can wash my favorite hand knit vest to wear around the holiday. I’ve worn it a lot and yesterday I dripped on it at lunchtime. Oops. So, today before I could block it out, I had to finish this unicorn hair clip hanger for my granddaughter. Her mother saw one on Pinterest or somewhere and made the request so Sylvie’s hair clips and headbands can be corralled and she can see them, too. I am pretty pleased with the end result. I hope they will be, too.

And I’ve been knitting a lot trying to get Christmas knitting done. I don’t have a lot left to do but I always make my hubby a pair of socks and this year I’ve decided to go with a second pair using a pattern that I’ve used before. I have some balls of Raggi yarn left that I bought when we were losing the distributor in the US at the shop and I loved knitting the first pair (despite a pattern reading mistake). I’ll knit them the right way this time. LOL. I first saw the pattern for the Thompson River Socks in Interweave Knits back in 2016 and it’s available to purchase on their website but I saved my pattern so I started knitting last week. I have to be careful to knit them when he won’t catch me so they’ll be a surprise. I hope I’ll have them both done for him in time.

I’ve finished the knitting part of the Jamberry Cardigan for Sylvie’s Christmas gift and I have begun the duplicate stitch yoke decorations. Why, I wonder, didn’t I just knit the yoke in colorwork? It would have had some long floats but the duplicate stitch floats are equally long and the process isn’t nearly as enjoyable. Regardless, I made the decision to follow the pattern and I’m duplicate stitching. It’s really a cute sweater and I hope she loves it. It does look huge! I made the 4-year size so she can grow into it and she can always roll up the sleeves if it’s too big now. I’m excited for her to see it.

I have finished the Wee Liam pullover sweater and the little Billie pants for our nugget, the grandson out in Colorado. My hubby picked the buttons and I am quite happy with these two little garments. Hopefully he hasn’t grown too much and will be able to wear them. (All the size details and yarn, etc. are on my Ravelry project page.) The buttons are solid wood and I like the way they pop off the sweater. And I love the color. It’s showing as more gray here in the photo, it’s really more of a dark sage green.

I am spending the later evenings when my eyes and brain are tired working on the endless stockinette stitch of the Easy Folded Poncho in orange (Zinnia colorway) Rowan Felted Tweed. I really like the color and it’s going to be fun to wear. I am around the 30-36″ mark, I think. I haven’t got the guts to really measure it because it seems to take forever to get any significant progress made on it. But I am making some progress.

AND I have cast on two more projects. I couldn’t wait to cast on the Alpine Bloom Hat by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve had the Patagonia Organic Merino in charcoal and light gray in my stash for a while waiting to cast this one and I need a hat that I love. I don’t like myself in hats and I’m praying that I do like this one because it makes me so happy knitting it! I’m about half-way through the chart and I made the ribbing extra long so I can fold it over. This is what I WANT to work on but I “make” myself work on the things I need to get done first and knit this as a reward.

My sister-in-love asked me to make a blanket for her brother’s partner whose daughter is about to have the first grandchild. I have also cast this on hoping that I can get it finished before Thanksgiving and hand deliver it to her. I chose Berroco Vintage Chunky in a sage green colorway and am knitting the Three Cable Baby Blanket which is a free pattern we have in the store. I’m not sure where it came from but it’s my go-to pattern for baby gifts and I’ve made several of them. I am loving the green yarn. Green is my brother’s favorite color and this is a lovely soft yarn. I got almost one hank of yarn knitted yesterday afternoon … if I stick to it, I should be able to finish it by the end of the week. Crossing my fingers. I’ll have to resist knitting everything else.

I have pulled out the beautiful green linen yarn that I bought to make the Broadgate Tabbard and I really want to start knitting that. I have a new white blouse that will be perfect under this “vest” and I can’t wait to see the color! Another new green project and I have very little that’s green. It’s never been a favorite color but when I saw it in a photograph on social media, I had to have that exact color. I think I will be able to wear the tabbard (it’s like a vest but not closed up on the sides) in the summer, too. Over a tank or a tee. We’ll see. But the color green that I bought is stunning. It will wait until I have finished my Christmas knitting.

And with that, I will sign off and get to knitting the baby blanket. If I can get it nearly to the half-way marker today, that would be a huge win … first, though, I have got to put a grocery order together. So until the next time … gone knitting!

Enough is Enough!

Posted on November 11, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

This morning was the morning that I’d committed to go see the doctor if I wasn’t feeling better and getting a good night’s sleep. The last couple of days I’ve feel pretty good all day and the night before last I slept pretty well but last night I was up coughing and blowing every three hours … not fun. So, off I went to the express care in Waterville.

I had to wait for the train to pass before leaving and then when I got there the parking lot was packed with cars. To my utter amazement, they were amazing and I was out of there in an hour-ish. I’ve got a prescription for an antibiotic which I hope will knock this thing out of me for once and for all.

After a couple of days of doing a lot of sitting and just not feeling particularly energetic, I have been doing quite a bit of knitting. I’ve made some good progress on a few of my WIPs.

My Jelly Roll blanket is coming along. I’ve finished the fourth strip and started the fifth. I’ve chosen to use up all of this one ball of left-over sock yarn this time which makes a long strip of the same color. (This color also ended the last strip.) But it’s a bit different than what I’ve been doing and should add a bit of fun to the finished project. This blanket may take a lifetime to complete but it’ll be scrappy and warm when it’s done. I still have a big basket full of scraps from socks I’ve made so I’m committed to keep going with it. I’ve made a few little tweaks to the pattern on the recommendation of the Crazy Sock Lady and they’re noted on my Ravelry project page.

Last night I reached the seventeen inches required for the sleeves of my Lane’s Island pullover. I bound them off and today, maybe, I’ll start seaming the shoulders and get it all put together so I can finish it. Lori Versaci makes seaming so effortless by adding an edge stitch and it’s so simple to seam the sides and sleeves between the two knit stitches. I’ve got to sew up the sides of the pockets, too, after which there will just be the collar to knit and I can wear it next week!

Earlier this week I got the MKAL bug and decided that I’d do the knit along with Arne & Carlos. They’re knitting another stranded Christmas stocking in three colors and I just couldn’t stand to miss out on this one (again) this year. We don’t NEED any more stockings but I can use them for guests or for simple decorations. I chose the yarn, Patagonia Organic Merino, in the same three colors that I used for my Advent Mini-Jumpers that I finally finished last year. That way, they’ll all match. I cast on Saturday and got through the sixth clue. Yesterday I finished the tenth one and that meant that I was caught up and from now on I can just knit the six rounds a day to knit along. I am really enjoying the pattern and I love the yarn. Once blocked, this will be a great addition to our Christmas decorations. (Maybe I’ll even put some up this year.)

Several days ago (perhaps a week ago now) I cast on the collar and started the yoke of my granddaughter’s Christmas sweater. I’m knitting it in Berroco Vintage DK because my daughter really wants to be able to wash and dry sweaters. I got this sweater idea from a customer who brought in three of them for her grandchildren. I loved it – classic, and really beautiful. So, I cast on Snowflake by Tin Can Knits. This sweater is one pattern in a collection and I bought the entire collection because there were several patterns in it that I really liked. I have already knit the little fingerless mitts, Marshmallow, for Sylvie and they’re as cute as I thought they’d be. They were also a super quick knitted project … finished in the car on the way to babysit!

I still have the colorwork cowl that I started and didn’t get much past the start of the ribbing. I think I recall that I had to pull out the colorwork because I didn’t like the way the floats were looking behind the pink fabric. These colors may not work for this project but it’s all good – there will be another project if this one doesn’t work.

I think that does it for my knitting projects right now on my needles. These are the ones that are keeping me company as I get over this crud that I brought home from New York. I went to work on Thursday but cancelled my classes on Friday (you know I wasn’t feeling well if I cancelled my favorite day!) and called out sick on Saturday. So, I’ve been home since Thursday night until my big outing this morning. I’m in for the duration now … and hope to be feeling much better by Thursday so I can get to work and class on Friday.

Gone knitting.

Finishing

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Our Messalonskee “TV” station has been providing so much entertainment in the last few days. We heard these two chirping at each other before we found them – it took a minute or two to figure out they were sitting in the tree at the corner of our shared driveway. And there they sat until my DH (dear hubby) had to chase down our naughty, wandering dog. We’ve seen a “critter” swimming by a couple of times and once it dove with a slap of its tail (a beaver). I’ve heard the owls in the evenings again which tells me they’re coming back out of the deep woods. And until this morning we had a couple of female hummingbirds. There’s been a lot of activity on and around the water with cormorants, gulls, loons, ducks and even a dead pike.

I’ve been at work inside finishing projects and just got back from a Target run to buy wrapping paper and tissue paper so that I can package them up and send them off on Monday. I’ll have one to deliver locally in late November but the rest will be fully checked off my list. Yay!

I’ve spoken about the baby hats and matching thumbless mittens. I’ve shown you the French Macaroon and cabled toddler mittens for my great-nephew’s birthday. And today I blocked my Fiddlehead Mittens and I’m tickled pink with them. They turned out beautifully if I do say so. I knit them with a partial skein of Patagonia organic merino by Juniper Moon Farm and a skein of handspun by Clarion Call Fiber Arts that my daughter gifted to me several years ago. I finally found the perfect project for it. The lining is knitted using a hank of yarn that I must have bought at Mardens years ago it’s Classic Elite Yarns, Escape. The Classic Elite company has closed. Despite the fact that these aren’t “my” colors, I love them.

And once blocked, the stitches have evened out and they are simply stunning. I have knitted a lot of colorwork but I love these the most of any. The lining yarn is so soft (I hated knitting with it!) and the little bit of yak in it will make these mittens so warm and cozy.

I have packed up the little Oorik vest, with another little toddler-sized sweater that I made for a workshop that I taught and a pair of the toddler cabled mittens for my darling granddaughter. I have five more packages to wrap and get ready to ship off on Monday. I’m very pleased with myself. This leaves me the Christmas stocking to knit for my college roommate’s grandson and a pair of socks for my brother-in-love. I have caked up my son’s hat yarn and will likely cake up his fiancees hat yarn, too. I believe these will be my last projects for Christmas 2024 leaving me open to start a couple of sweaters that I am itching to knit.

I have several to choose from and that I already have the yarn in my stash:
Big Love in Berroco Pima 100, Lane’s Island in Berroco Remix Light, Ouzo in Patagonia (or Wool and Honey), Poet in Julie Aslin fingering from Knit City Montreal, Cardoon in a yarn (forget it’s name) that I bought on clearance at work, Diggory Venn in Lore and there may be a few others in my stash but this is a good start. Ha! Ha!

Aaaaand, on that note, I’m going to sign off and get cracking on the stocking. Think I can get it done in a couple of days? Yeah, maybe not.

Gone knitting.

Fiddlehead Season

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s only Wednesday but this is proving to be one of my busiest weeks in a long time. My boss is away from the store and I’m working three days this week and teaching one. Today, my “day off”, I started the day by painting the board office at Maine Arts Academy. At least it’s fun to be at the school, see the staff and students and one of the other board members painted with me so the work was shared and went quickly.

When I got home I decided to check on my Trillium plants that have always been out in our woods. I’d seen a couple of posts about never picking them … anyway, they’re back and they’re blooming. One or two flowers a year. This year, it’s a two bloom-er. Isn’t she lovely?

This afternoon I’ve been working on finishing my Fiddlehead Mittens and it seems appropriate because it’s Fiddlehead season. Here in Maine, Fiddleheads are a beloved spring vegetable and people have their secret places to forage Fiddleheads. I have yet to find a recipe that I really love but my hubby doesn’t like Fiddleheads at all.

I used my favorite DK weight, Patagonia Organic Merino yarn for the main color of the mittens and a hand-spun variegated yarn that my daughter gifted to me several years ago. If memory serves, she found it at the farmer’s market in Ithaca, NY. It is perfect for these mittens. And I have found a perfect earthy green DK for the lining …. Classic Elite Escape. A DK weight blend of merino, yak and silk that is super soft and will be a good warm lining for these mittens. All I have to do now is knit to relatively simple mittens for the lining and then I’ll block them and they’ll be done. I hope I can work on them on Friday when I teach. I’m on a mission now.

I’ve also been working on the little cotton candy pink dress for my granddaughter and another pair of Hermione’s Everyday socks. I pulled the Oorik vest out of it’s project bag the other afternoon after work and decided I didn’t have the bandwidth to pick up the second armhole stitches and returned it to its bag. Ha! Ha! But these mittens are going to be a FO really soon!

Taco salad is for dinner tonight so I’m heading down to the kitchen to cook up the meat and chop the veggies for the salad. It’s a family favorite and a good, healthy, simple meal. Since I technically worked a shorter day than my hubby, I’m giving him the night off. I’m so grateful that he likes to cook because I really don’t … I have my three or four standards and that’s all I want to do. But I’ll bake! He’s got a dozen blueberry muffins in the freezer to have with his coffee in the morning.

Gone knitting.

Sunny Day!!! … so appreciated after all the rain

Posted on March 31, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It was a glorious morning this morning and I got to spend an hour or more on the porch with my knitting and coffee. I really (really!) needed that. We had a wonderful visit with my son and his fiancee this week and then three days of work and I was really tired when I got home from work last night. This morning I was hoping to see the sun and I did.

I’ve been working toward completing the Fiddlehead Mittens that have been on my needles. Rather than put them away and wait until fall when I will need them again, I am going to finish them, knit their lining and block them and THEN put them away. I am really enjoying this pattern. The chart isn’t too difficult and the yarns that I am using are working up really well together.

Fiddlehead Mittens – ready for the thumbs!

I’m knitting with Patagonia Organic Merino for the main color. This is a ball of yarn that I had left over from another project. It’s an oatmeal-y colorway and it’s a perfect background color for fiddlehead ferns. The foreground color or contrasting color is a handspun yarn that my daughter gifted to me from Ithaca, New York (if memory serves). It’s a really great collections of colors that reflect nature to me. Greens, yellows, blues and reds. Although they’re a bit more fall than spring when the fiddleheads are found here in Maine. Regardless, the colors work up beautifully together and they’re making me really happy.

I’m wearing my Norwegian sweater today. I had been so concerned that it wouldn’t fit me when I started the project. Fortunately, I love the fit and love the sweater. In fact, I love the fit so much that I am considering another less boxy sweater in the future. I bought some pink Remix Light by Berroco to knit another Lane’s Island Pullover. I love the way this yarn feels and wears and I think I’ll make this one a size smaller than the white one I made a while back.

I have finished my daughter’s Christmas socks and cast on another pair for my bonus daughter. I am trying to get handknit socks on everyone’s feet in our family. AND I have a ton of sock yarn to knit with so why not share the wealth? Gone are the days when I buy a lone skein of fingering/sock weight yarn when I travel to a yarn shop. I still have a bunch to knit up but I am working my way through the stash one pair of socks at a time. I also made my daughter, a while back, a pair of fingerless mittens that are convertible to mittens that cover your fingertips. I may make some more of these, too.

With the grace of Mother Nature this week, my friend and co-worker, Glenda, hope to get together to reinforce and steek our little Oorik Tank Tops. Once we get together it won’t take long or be difficult but we’ve agreed to do it together and we hear that we’re getting a nor’easter this week. Time will tell. But I have to admit that even I am ready to move on toward spring and leave this horrible excuse for a winter in Maine behind. Sitting on the porch this morning just cemented that sentiment.

Gone knitting.

Snow Day!

Posted on March 24, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It finally happened! We got a good snowstorm yesterday and it closed a lot of businesses and kept a lot of people home. We were happy to be home for the day and took the day to relax and rejuvenate. I spent the best part of the day in my atelier knitting and making some sense of the messiness (again)!

The snow yesterday was blowing a drifting but we were nice and warm in our house. I finished my daughter’s Christmas socks (they’re not FOR Christmas, but she wanted a pair to wear at Christmas time). These are made with the Urth yarn sock kit “Christmas”. I’m sad to sat that I didn’t love knitting with this yarn. It was split-y and a little bit sticky on my needles. The socks LOOK wonderfu, though. I love the colorway and the kit was wonderful because it made is so easy to have a perfectly matched pair. She’ll be very happy with these, I think.

I spent a good while working on my Fiddlehead Mittens and have gotten quite a way up the second mitten. I am still wondering what to use to line these mittens because the pattern calls for a lining and I want it to be soft but wear really well, too. There are almost 4,000 of these mittens made and some of the other colorways are so pretty … betcha can’t knit just one comes to mind. I may have to knit more of these just for fun. *AFTER I finish some more WIPs and work down some more stash!

I was watching the new season of Call the Midwife and the gorgeous orange Norwegian (?) sweater came on the TV. It’s a beauty for sure. I loved the colors and it reminded me of some of Jenn Steingass’ designs. I’ve never knitted one of her garments but I can feel a Jenn Steingass coming on! I loved her little kid’s rainbow sweater. Perhaps Sylvie will want one in the future.

The last photo above was my photo of the day this morning. It’s Maine Maple Sunday today and the water is thickening again. Poor lake must be confused – and the poor ducks and Mergansers and other water birds must be completely confused. I scared a pair of ducks out of our boat house this morning. Our boat’s not in so I am happy that they can find refuge in there just as long as they don’t move in! The boat will be coming soon and this year we may even use it! But until then, I’ll enjoy my snowy day!

Gone knitting.

Easy on a Wednesday Morning

Posted on October 18, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

It was a calm, peaceful morning here on the lake today. All I could think about was how lucky we are to live here where it’s calm, quiet and safe. How lucky we are to live in this country, too, despite the chaos in politics. But the people who live in the middle of war zones around the world … my heart breaks for them and especially the children. The children are bearing the burden of the choices made by adults. My heart is so heavy.

And when I become overwhelmed by the chaos and death and destruction of innocents, I cast on. I’m not sure why and I sometimes (OK, often) wish that I could make that finishing but that’s just the way it is. It’s how I make the world seem less out of control. I have two pairs of socks on the needles, two sweaters, and I have been sewing, too – both hand sewing and making garments on my sewing machine. I am feeling quite pleased that I have finished a few things … most of which are for my granddaughter’s birthday … and I have a couple more to start for my travel this week and next.

I’ll be casting on the Framework Mittens by Knitted Bliss. I’ll be knitting it with two yarns that we bought this past spring at Knit City Montreal. They were the special show yarns: Akara BFL Fingering 2-ply in the Spring in Montreal colorway and La Bien Aimee’s Kumo in the color Alba. The first yarn is a light pink tonal and the suri/mohair is a darker pink color. I think they’ll play nicely together. I bought an embroidery pack from Knitted Bliss, too, at CKM23 and the plan is to embroider flowers on the mittens when they’re done.

I’ve bought some yarn to knit a new vest (or three). The first one I am going to attempt is Andrea Mowry’s Tessellated Vest. I bought some navy blue Patagonia by Juniper Moon Farm for the main color. I told you I love this yarn! The pattern calls for two additional yarns to keep it interesting – and I’m going to attempt to do that with a skein of Feederbrook Farms Entropy DK and two of Lana Grossa’s Silkhair Haze Melange. The Entropy DK is multicolored and visibly twisted and the mohair is also a navy blue/black. I hope this won’t be too busy on my body. If it is, I’ll frog it and knit it differently … I haven’t decided what that means exactly but I need a navy blue something vest-y.

I’m wearing the heck out of my Emsworth vest. I wore it yesterday, in fact. I knit it in the charcoal gray Patagonia and it is great to throw on over a blouse and a pair of jeans. I spent the day yesterday with my friend Lori and we were both wearing vests with a blouse … she designed hers, though. Maybe she’ll let me test knit the one she was wearing! Goodness knows I have the yarn.

I’ve been busy cleaning up and organizing today … and I keep getting distracted. This post was NOT on my to do list for the day. But I’m trying to listen to my body and my soul and do what feels good and right. So, here I sit. I still need to finish the laundry and wash my office window … which means clearing everything off my desk and windowsill. I won’t even show you a picture of the chaos on my desk!

Gone knitting.

Arne & Carlos Advent Calendar 2021

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

Where did September go? Welcome to October. We had coffee on the porch this morning with the sun shining but with a thin haze of smoke from what we presume to be the Canadian wild fires. We haven’t heard much about them in the lower 48 lately but they’re still burning, predominantly in the west of Canada. Our breezes are blowing from the north which makes the Canadian fires the likely culprit. (My allergies aren’t happy so I’ve come inside with my air cleaner to see if I can get a breathing break.)

I’ve promised a photo of my complete set of little Advent sweaters and today’s the day. I won’t hang them for another couple of months but I will take them all out of their storage bags and let you see them all. When I hang them after Thanksgiving, I’ll show you again.

This was a true project that required persistence. I cast on the first little sweater on October 31, 2021 (and I thought I’d get them finished by Christmas?) and the last one was finished on September 3, 2023. Almost two years in the making.

I knit with Patagonia Organic Merino by Juniper Moon Farm. I love this yarn and whenever I’m considering a new project, I think of this yarn first. Patagonia also had the right colors for my Christmas palate at our home. I like the deeper blue-red and the pine green and the white/natural was the perfect third colorway. (All the details of the exact colorways is on my Ravelry project page.) I’m very proud of this project and that I really did finish it and we will use it this year.

We’ve gotten very blase (that should have an accent) about decorating for the holidays. If it’s just us, we do a little bit of decorating – a tree with ornaments and a couple of poinsettias. If we are traveling, we may skip the tree. So this is a decorating commitment in our house. Now I need to find a couple dozen pieces of candy or something really small to stuff them with … or maybe that will wait until next year. Ha! Ha!

Gone knitting.

19!!! Happy Solstice

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

Finally! The sun came out today and it actually feels like summer may happen this year. We went to a buffer planting workshop yesterday hosted by Friends of Messalonskee and it was gray and cool until we were almost done. It’s lovely to see the sun! And I’ll be happy to pack away my sweaters for a couple of months.

Since the sun came out, I decided to take a walk around the yard and see what’s blooming. My wild roses (they’re invasives but they’re surviving lakeside) are blooming but my white one took quite a beating in the rain. We have scapes and blueberries and the lettuce is going crazy! Salad for lunch today, for sure. The only plant that seems to be thriving in our “bed where nothing lives)” is the blue Iris and they’re absolutely gorgeous right now. I love our yard!

The Day Lilies and the Hydrangeas are getting ready to pop open and we have some daisies coming along, too. I’ve got a couple of beds of Black Eyed Susans coming up but can’t see any blooms yet.

I finished and blocked #19 this morning as I was ironing my linen blouses. I love what happens to colorwork when it’s blocked. 17 and 18 are not blocked (and need some seaming, but here they all are.

I’ve even begun #20 and have finished the body and most of the first sleeve. I’m making progress and just need to cast on the next one when I bind off the current ones. They’re not difficult to knit or time consuming, I just had to make the commitment to get them done! I’m getting there!

Gone Knitting!

Old Port Hat KAL

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

This past weekend, a holiday weekend here in the US, I decided rather last minute to join the KAL with Andrea Mowry and knit the Old Port Hat. Since it was too late to shop, I had to shop my stash for the yarns to make this hat. It calls for a sport/DK weight (Cashmere People Cashgora Sport and Harrisville Nightshades DK were used for the pattern).

I was lucky to find a combination of yarns in my stash that I was happy with. I had a leftover partial ball of Classic Alpaca by the Alpaca Yarn Company in the hot pink colorway that I had used for a lining on my Northman Mittens (this reminds me that I still have to fix the lining because it’s a little bit too long). I thought this would make a good hat lining and I should have enough to do that much. I also found a full ball of Rowan Felted Tweed in a light grey-ish color with tweedy bits of blue and black. It was a full 50 gram/191 yard ball. And then I had a leftover ball of Patagonia Organic Merino yarn from my Emsworth Vest (that I adore!) in the charcoal grey colorway. I weighed it and it’s more than 50 grams so I figured that it was at least half a skein (half of 382 yards should also be enough for the second color.

I cast on the largest size because I have a big head. No fooling. My head measures 23 1/2 inches. I love the pink yarn so much – 2023 must be the year of pink for me. Or maybe it’s just having a granddaughter … who knows.

The hat is knit on US 3 & 4 needles. The lining is knit on US 3 needles and it’s slow going because it’s tiny stitches butI got it done and then joined the main color on the decrease round. If I sew the lining just right, I hope there will be a tiny glimpse of the pink at the rim. Then the fun begins with two-color brioche also using the smaller needles so it grips your head. I haven’t knitted anything in Brioche stitch for a while but it’s fun and rhythmic once you get going -and that doesn’t mean that I didn’t make a few mistakes that I had to fix. I did forget a few yarn-overs and I got distracted and brioche purled when I should have brioche knitted but I got it all fixed and kept on moving forward. Two-color brioche has two rounds of knitting for every “row” making one color “ribbing” on one side and the reverse color “ribbing” on the other side. Because of this, the fabric is thicker and so squishy and it’s will be warm despite being a finer yarn used.

The pattern asks you to place markers and change the colors of the ribbing as you go around and that keeps the knitting more interesting and it’s fun to watch the ribs grow. The pink will be folded under and sewn in place inside the hat to make a soft and thick “ear warmer” lining. I really hope this hat looks somewhat decent on me. I don’t like me in hats at all but there are days up here in Maine when you have to wear one. I’ve yet to find one that I love to wear.

Anyway, at some point after about 3 inches of brioche-ing on the US 3 needles, you change to a US 4 and keep on knitting. There is some fun increasing and decreasing to make the lines move a bit and Andrea includes some excellent video support for those places. I didn’t remember or I didn’t know that you always increase or decrease in Brioche by 2 stitches but it totally makes sense. Believe me. It does.

See how cool the increases and decreases make the hat look? I’ve really enjoyed the knitting and practicing Brioche again. I found I could “repair” a few of my mistakes and when I forgot an increase, due to the two rounds per “row” I could frog back with the prior color to just where I forgot the increase and then finish color 1 and knit on in color two to fix the problem. Yay, me!

The yarns aren’t going to get a huge mention but I wanted to be sure to at least tell you that I am loving knitting with them. The alpaca liner is going to be so soft against my face and the Felted Tweed and Patagonia are “picky” yarns because they’re not superwash but they are so soft as I work them and they soften more with every stitch. Felted Tweed is a wool/silk/viscose blend. The silk gives the relatively untwisted yarn some strength. The Patagonia is an organic merino. Merino is a short staple wool and will pill like heck if it’s not twisted. In this yarn it is and it’s wonderful to knit with. My Emsworth vest has been worn a lot and it’s not pilling yet. Woo! Hoo! These yarns are magnificent and I will knit with them over and over again over a superwash, plastic-coated yarn. Hand washing isn’t a chore for me and the wool washes that need not be rinsed out make washing hand-knits a breeze!

As of last night, I’ve crept up the hat and am nearing the end of the body of the hat. I have enough fabric now to try the hat on and it does fit my head well. I didn’t have a mirror to decide if I love it on but that will happen soon enough. So far, so good.

Gone knitting.

PS – you can find the FOs that I talk about here on my Ravelry project page. (My Ravelry name is “lindar”.)