Queen Bee Knits

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

From Soft Ball to Hard Crack

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

This photo is from 2010 ... not yesterday!

I got three loads of laundry done yesterday. It’s a bit different here. I always know we’re home in Belgrade when the first load of wash goes up on the line. It’s totally old fashioned or retro or green or whatever you want to call it, but it’s comforting and I love looking out to see the clean clothes flapping in the breeze (or gale) off the lake. Towels were drying in an hour yesterday despite no sun. Everything smells better when it’s been dried outside – the towels are only a bit rougher!

Yesterday was a productive day – may be because the sun actually peeked it’s head out. I made some really yummy toffee with cashews in it (and dark chocolate on it!) Making candy is really a cinch if you can resist touching it when it’s all in the pan. It wasn’t easy the first time I did it but this time, I didn’t mind at all. A good candy thermometer is just about all you need … watch the mercury rise from soft ball to hard crack and then turn off the heat! The candy is yum-ers! If you’d like to get the recipe for the Sea Salt Chocolate Cashew Toffee, visit this wonderful blog … just click HERE and you’ll be magically transported (you may have to search for the recipe, links aren’t working properly, sorry!)! Since I changed a couple of things, you’ll have to know my toffee doesn’t look exactly like this (this is pretty but too “fussy” for me in Maine). I didn’t use sea salt because I used salted cashews. I had no Karo Syrup so I substituted honey. Finally, I used one 13 oz. bag of dark chocolate chips which I spread on top of the hot but starting to set toffee rather than dipping it in melted chocolate. If you let it get warmed up sitting on top of the hardening candy, you can easily spread it around with a knife. Then watch it disappear!

I’m finishing several little side projects.

You’ve already seen the picture of the Senorita Lolita Sweater (the first design for Prima Dogma by Queen Bee Knits). In case you’ve missed it, I’m providing another shot of the first and second iterations here. The first one “placed” in a design contest using Koigu skein-ettes. I am over the top pleased with it! The second, while it is not nearly as special visually, it’s perhaps more special to me in that it means that the pattern is written down and I’m making progress!!!

I have finished the fingerless mittens … these are a gift for a very special person. The pattern was great to follow and you can find it HERE … I did change just a few little things. I didn’t use the smaller needles to cast on (because I like the wider, looser, mitten cuffs and these climb up your arm), I likewise, didn’t cast off two stitches for the thumb (thought it might be too tight). But I love the yarn I used and they’re really pretty – can’t wait to present them to my sweet girl recipient (ha! thought I’d tell you who they are for, didn’t you?! Ha!) I used some yarn that my daughter gave me for my birthday last summer from KnitPicks. Click HERE to be magically transported … I used the “Enchanted” colorway. Pretty!

I did finish the boulette blanket (and wrote down the free pattern which is posted here in my blog) and it was really warm. Ugly but warm for the baby when he was here visiting!

I’m finishing all these little already-on-the-needles projects because I forgot all the patterns that I had intended to knit while we’re back East. They’re all down south. Go figure. Lucky we’ve got an event to attend and are flying back there for a long weekend so I can get the patterns and continue my knitting progress.

In the meantime, I have a cowl on the needles and the second design for the Prima Dogma line. Only “problem” is that with all our gray and rainy weather, this designer doesn’t feel a lot like designing.

I have a third pair of Birthday Party socks (thanks to my sister Kathy for the name!) on the needles, too. The first pair was a gift to Kathy for her birthday. The second pair is for sale in my Etsy shop. You can click HERE if you’d like to visit my shop. (Thank you, BTW, for supporting the talented artisans on Etsy.com … if you’ve never visited the site, it’s really quite amazing.)

So, I’m going to go out and brave the wind off the lake and the drizzly rain … just as soon as I have a cup of tea!

Gone knitting!

Great Cables – Books from the Library

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

Great, Beautiful Book for Knitting Cables!

I went to the library a couple of days ago. Honestly, I was going to get a particular book which shall remain nameless because I’ll blog about it later. I always try to go online and reserve books at the library; that way, I don’t “waste” my time looking all over the place and leaving with an armload of books that I won’t have time to read (or even look at.) BUT … my online sign-in wasn’t working so I went in without a hold list! Scary!

I didn’t find the book that I thought I wanted (and I’ve since asked a lovely librarian to fix my sign-on problem) but instead found two wonderful books on cables and Aran knitting.

I’ve blogged before about my love of cables. You’ve likely seen a couple of my projects with cables. I won’t talk about the sweater that I knit for my sweetie that came out too large … I’m talking waaaaay too large … and I did swatch it. I guess I just thought he was bigger than he really is. Anyway…

Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman is a great book; especially so for those of you who may be afraid of cables. She provides some great tips and good illustrations for making the basic cables and increasing and decreasing, etc. I love some of the patterns in the book, most of which are sweaters but she provides patterns for different weights of yarn – bulky knitting is so much faster and if you’re new at cables, it’s a great place to start! In the back, she has a bunch of great color photographs of different cable panels, too. They’re so pretty, it makes me want to just sit down and knit each one … like I have time for that! 🙂

I swatched a new project, a sweater for my little boy (dog, that is) and will start on that this afternoon. He’s getting a simple sweater made from yarn that I bought at the Farmer’s Market in Ithaca, New York at least 7 years ago (and maybe longer). It’s a lovely double-stranded wool with one strand a light blue and one strand a natural brownish-grey (or greyish-brown). I’m knitting it on size 8 (US) needles and it will have cables down the back. When designing and knitting for male dogs, you have got to take their “parts” into consideration. These adorable sweaters that I knit for my two dogs last summer are cute as can be. However, my little boy (in the green) tends to get his wet when he goes outside. Not a good thing! I’ll be posting pictures of the “Boogie Sweater” as I progress! I know he’ll love it – he likes to wear clothes. His sister … not so much!

More books and knitting stories tomorrow!

I’ve gone knitting!

Same old Pictures, Same old Projects

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

Why is it that some days (or series of days) seem to bring up all the ugly in the world?

I’ve got three WIPs and I don’t like the way any of them are knitting up. The last project that I finished (a bee-utiful cowl for moi) is way too huge to even consider wear it – it would be too big to fit a COW, for God’s sake.

My motivation has fallen and can’t get up, I’m feeling frustrated and frozen. Ugh.

So, when I was lolling in my tub this evening, I wondered … so, why is it that I attack myself and think that I’m doing a crappy job and can’t even knit decently these days? Why don’t I blame the pattern or the yarn or the crappy, sticky needles with the inflexible cords?

WIP #1 – a Gaia Shoulder Hug made from Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn that I bought up in Maine last fall. The sample in the store was really pretty. Mine, not so much. The colors are too muted and it’s difficult to figure out when the colors start to change, my needles (old ones that I don’t even know what the brand is but they’re awful!) are way too sticky and the cord in inflexible. Add to that the yarn is scratchy and stiff – I sure hope it softens up! I’m actually hating it.

WIP #2 – a Thermis cowl for my cousin. I had enough navy blue left from her hat and mittens to make half a cowl. My LYS had none of the same yarn so I bought some similar (match the fiber and the weight, color must blend) and “blend” the two yarns. I’ve gotten up to where the button placket starts and I’m not sure how to blend the yarns without having ends to weave in on each end of each row. Even an “old” knitter like me needs help so tomorrow I’ll go ask Laura at my LYS. She’s a GENIUS!

WIP #3 – the third (fourth?) iteration of the Senorita Lolita sweater that I designed oh so many months ago which is pictured above … and didn’t write down the pattern as I went. Big mistake! Now, trying to re-knit it and writing it down, I am struggling. Big time. I’ve made it to the spot where it’s time for sleeves … and I just don’t want to pick it up.

So, just for today, I’ve decided to put aside the knitting (I know, everyone knows that one of my favorite lines is, “I have to finish this row”) and pick up a book or maybe a knitting magazine … I have at least three new ones that I haven’t really read … I’ve glanced at the pictures. And that will be ok. I am a good knitter, I’m a good designer, I’m a good person … I know that. It must be the needles! (They’re going in the trash just as soon as the Gaia is complete.

What a Difference A Button Makes

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

So, I’ve finished the lovely cowl … with my yummy soft Malabrigo angora in a buttery yellow (very bee pleasing) colorway. I went to my local JoAnn Fabrics store the other day – with my cowl – and picked out a few buttons.

The first two are an organic shape and a dark wood. Smooth and simple, providing a striking contrast to the uniform, almost architectural feel of the cowl itself. I love these buttons and I think they are my favorite (which is why I put them at the top of the “list”.

The second pair are round wood, with a swirl pattern in light and dark. Also a contrast to the linear cowl design. Like the buttons but not sure about matching them with this project.

The third pair are Celtic knots in a metal finish. (Did I ever tell you how much I love Celtic knots? Aran knits? LOL!) I like these but they don’t pop like I’d like them to.

The last pair are hippie-dippy-color-popping-pink-with-peace-signs. I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d use these buttons on this project. I thought about my actor daughter when I saw them. She just was in HAIR on Broadway and briefly with the Tour and they just reminded me of her. I think I’ll save them for something for Kate.

And then I go and get creative and the last two ideas are a combination of two buttons together … the most contrasty ones, as a matter of fact. I think I like the next one. It reminds me of an exclamation point! (And I like using exclamation points … have you noticed?

This one leaves me unmoved. Why is it that the one above I like while this one is so close but leaves me totally unexcited? Very strange how that happens with buttons.

So, which buttons would you choose? Did you pick the ones that I picked? When I get them sewn on, I’ll get a photo taken of the finished (and buttoned up) cowl … wrapped around my Florida neck. Yes, I’ll do that for you, dear blog readers! But I won’t have it on for very long … at least not here!

Off I go to knit!

Progress

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Queen Bee Knits

Progress is all around me. The kitchen renovation, my blogs new banner is … well … new and different (if not exactly what I was wanting), my business is progressing, my contacts around my business are certainly progressing, my relationships with my boyfriend (partner, sweetie, man friend – what do you call a 50+ year old man with whom you are living but not married or engaged?), my children, my ex … and none of it in MY time!

But, I’m learning (it’s about time, right?) that it’s alright and I’m keeping my happy outlook most of the time. That is really progress. I’m proud that I’m clear about my direction despite little roadblocks that pop up in my way on occasion. For example, I’ve been taking classes in education which I will use to teach (knitting, elementary art classes, whatever) and this “semester” something got goofed up and I didn’t get signed up for the class which I thought I had signed up for. I believe that was an opportunity for me to spend more time with my girls and to focus on the business and knitting. Randy Pausch says that roadblocks are there to tell you how much you want something. He was a very, very wise man. If you haven’t watched his last lecture, click here. This is a MUST SEE video and it truly has changed my outlook on life. If you don’t cry, I think you’re a “tin man” without a heart.

For today, I’m good with the progress that I’ve made and that we’re making. My heart is full and I have way too much yarn to write any more!

Gone knitting!