Queen Bee Knits

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

Around the House

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

Today isn’t the most beautiful that we’ve had this week but I am not going to work today and I am so glad to have a day to recharge my batteries. I hope that a day at home will also help me with my knitting mojo. I have several projects that I really “want” to finish but I can’t bring myself to actually do it … so, instead, I cast on a new project and have something else that remains unfinished. AND as the UFOs collect on my ottoman or “projects-in-waiting” cabinet, I get more overwhelmed. It’s kind of like when the house is a mess or my desk is disorganized. I really need a day or two or three to catch up with my messes and this week may allow me to do some of that!

Anyway, I really wanted to show you around the house because the spring bulbs have sprung and they bring me so much joy! You can see the Forsythia bush out by our boathouse is in full bloom this year and our garlic is shooting up through the hay, too. We (and when I say “we”, I mean the royal we) have filled our third raised garden bed with soil and just have to add a bit of peat moss and some compost and it’ll be ready to plant with veggies. We can’t really plant until after Labor Day weekend but we may try some cold-loving lettuce seeds.

We have had a couple of gloriously beautiful sunrises this week that I also want to show you. (They’re on my Instagram page but if you’re not on Instagram … well, you get the idea!)

The lilac bushes are leafing out and soon enough we’ll see the buds beginning to form. Lilacs are one of my favorites for sure. Another favorite is my Bleeding Heart. I have two but the first one is the most special. We had a HUGE one at the old house but when the house fell, it fell on and killed my first Bleeding Heart. So, when we started planting again, one of the first plants to go in, in almost the exact same place, was this Bleeding Heart. You can almost watch it grow at this time of year.

Every year we’ve been adding bulbs around the yard. Not a ton of them, just a few. Last year we added a bag of daffodils and a bag of tulips. I’ve never lived anywhere where I’ve successfully grown tulips … deer love them and some soil doesn’t love them. Regardless, they seem to be happy to grow here. We took out a dead Hydrangea last fall and planted these bulbs and they’re making me very happy!

Oh, what a beautiful morning! My husband took this photo while I was sleeping but you can see that the color of the sky was absolutely stunning. What we seem to have missed that morning was the rainbow in the opposite direction. Mother Nature was really showing off this week.

Here’s another morning and another photo by my hubby. He’s the “real” photographer in the family but I take more photos and am, perhaps, less artistic more the chronicler. Is that a word? Now, all we need is a little bit of warmer air so we can sit on the porch!

Gone knitting.

Wow! What a Week!

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

We’ve been home from our whirlwind, sad, wonderful, family-filled trip to New York City for almost a week and it’s been a super busy (almost) week. I was glad to be there for my daughter when they had to say goodbye to my first grand-dog and it’s always wonderful to squeeze all of my kids and their significant others in person. AND bonus we get to spend quality time with our granddaughter.

I love seeing my other kids, now aunts and uncles, with Sylvie. They all adore her and are so supportive of each other which is exactly what I hope would happen when they grew up. Sibling relationships are difficult and require acceptance and flexibility and we all go through our own “stuff” … it’s wonderful to have siblings to share life with. On Mabel’s last morning on Earth, we took Sylvie to the playground for a couple of hours so that her parents could focus on Mabel and not worry about the baby. We walked up to the playground and played and then stopped at a local restaurant (ostensibly for lunch but Sylvie wanted no food) and home for a nap. It was a beautiful NY day and it was wonderful to be outside. Monk is always tired out after his visits to NY but he loves being included and staying with his nephews, Gus and Picasso, and all the sniffs he gets there.

When we arrived back home I was delighted to see the developments in our garden. We are growing TULIPS! We also have daffodils and some hyacinths coming up … well the mini-daffs are in bloom and the big daffs are coming soon. I’m super excited about the tulips, though. I’ve always had to NOT plant them because critters eat them. So far, we’ve been lucky … and I hope I’m not speaking out of turn because this is the exact moment that critters will eat them to the ground. I’m crossing my fingers.

Yesterday, we took a ride to Popham Beach State Park. We ran a few errands on the way there, took a long walk on the beach, gathered a few shells and then came home. It was a gorgeous day to be outside and I am so glad we went. It’s lovely to be by the ocean and I loved spending the time alone with my hubby. We tried to take a selfie but we both looked grumpy so I deleted it – we were not grumpy and I’d rather remember the day than see an inaccurate depiction. Ha! Ha!

I have been knitting! I really have! On the way to New York, I cast on a little cotton sundress for Sylvie in bubblegum pink cotton. Sunbeam Kids Dress in Jody Long My Little Sunshine organic cotton yarn. I like the yarn and the color will be great on her this summer. I’m babysitting at the end of May and will make sure the length is a tiny bit longer than perfect then and we should have a lot of fun watching her run on the beach in September.

I’ve got my second Emotional Support Chicken ready to seam and stuff. I love the colors of this one and I hope that my friend and former camper will love her, too. If all goes well today, I will finishe her … and since it’s raining, it looks like I’ll be spending the day in my atelier!

I’m also working on a pair of socks. This yarn has been in my stash for at least a decade. My daughter bought two balls of it for me back when she was still living in Chicago. I made one pair of socks from the first ball before I was on Ravelry and chose this yarn for my next pair because it’s pink and I seem to be in a pink phase. I’m knitting the Hermione’s Everyday Sock pattern by the Crazy Sock Lady on US 1.5 DPNs. The pattern is easy to remember and makes good car knitting. I’m ready to start the heel of the first sock today.

I’ve been working a very little, tiny, incy wincy bit on my Jelly Roll Blanket. I have a basket full of scraps of sock yarn next to my desk chair so that I can knit on it during zoom meetings. I missed a couple while we were in NYC but I’ve got more coming. This blanket will be a long-term project for sure but it’s grown a little bit.

And last but not least, yesterday on our way home from Popham Beach, we stopped at Mother of Purl in Freeport where I had ordered a Lumos Lumos, aka boob, light. I have thought about buying one of these lights for a while and LYS Day was yesterday and they had a special promotion for the lights. When we went to pick it up, I had to buy a bit of yarn, too, to make a sweater for Sylvie for the fall/winter. The pattern is Binx and it’s knit in a DK weight yarn. The store sample was in Patagonia which is currently one of my favorite yarns. I don’t seem to be allergic to this yarn and it get so soft when worked/washed/worn. I have at least one more sweater worth in my stash … maybe two. Ha! Ha! I will make myself finish at least two projects before I can cast on a new one.

Gone knitting.

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

Yesterday we were out and about. We needed to get to the dump as we missed a trip last week when we were out of town and we needed some food in the house. We were scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to come up with meals on Friday. It’s rare that we both get out together, we typically divide and conquer but it’s fun to be together even doing the mundane day-to-day activities. How lucky we are to enjoy spending time together.

I’ve been spending lots of time volunteering but there’s been some time for knitting, too. I am limiting my knitting time because I think I’ve “tweaked” a muscle or nerve in my shoulder/arm/neck. I may have mentioned this before. Yesterday I knitted more than I have for over a week and it was mostly good … I had to stop in the early evening after working on my husband’s Christmas socks. It’s heavy worsted weight yarn and US4 needles which is quite a workout for my hands and arms.

Sock number two is getting close to the “easy” part. Gusset decreases are in process. I love this pattern because it’s different and the decreases come to a nice point on the instep. I hope to finish these up because I have a pair of birthday socks to make for my brother in April and I’ve found the perfect yarn.

I have a bag with odds and ends of Cascade Fixation yarn that I’ve “collected” over the years. I’m trying to be responsible and use it up. Socks are the easy no-brainer project, especially baby socks. I’ll be carrying the two pairs I’ve made so far to NYC next trip to see if they really don’t fall off. The pattern is a free one that I found at work … it’s called Fixation Baby Socks, I think. This week I found the pattern “Jane of the Jungle”, free on Ravelry (it’s a Knitty.com pattern), and I knew that I needed to make this for Sylvie. I hope it’ll fit this summer. I am going to make the bathing suit bottom, too, but the top could be worn with shorts or leggings. Ha! Ha! Stinking cute! By the time summer rolls around she should be crawling and by the time we get to the beach in September I’ll bet she’ll be walking. Time goes by way too quickly.

Our orchids have been blooming forEVER! We have two plants: one was Ned’s mother’s orchid that we bought for her and her caregiver took such good care of. It’s been so happy since we moved to Maine. Helen’s been gone for several years but the orchid keeps on going. The flowers were all dried out but when I watered it last week, I noticed a new little bud spike coming along.

And the second orchid was a gift to me from my eldest. It’s been blooming forever, too. The plant stand has been giving a real show. It’s flowers were starting to dry out and fall off but I noticed one more flower that’s coming. I’m not sure if I have a green thumb or if these are super-powered Maine-loving plants. I’m not complaining.

Gone knitting.

Life is Good!

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Queen Bee Knits

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This is the view from my studio chair this evening. I love when the shore across the lake is all lit up in the afternoon. It really is magnificent.

Today was a good day. Good morning, good day at work, happy to be home and then this view when I looked out the window.

Our plants are blooming and most survived the winter and it feels good to be home. Here are a few pictures of the plants that I took today. I’m no photographer but I sure do love to see things grow!

Wild rose, “ever blooming” rose and yellow iris. The iris have been here forever and continue to spread all across the shore. The roses are both new. Rosa Rugosa (the wild rose) is a native plant and fully expected to live happily against the lakeshore. We shall see about my friend Janet’s gift from last year but I love these flowers. They are fragrant and low-maintenance and bloom all summer long.

How did we get so lucky?

Gone knitting.