Queen Bee Knits

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

I’m a Crochet Queen Bee!

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

That’s What I’m Talking About!!!

Those of you who are loyal readers (such as it is since I haven’t been posting very often … this thing called work really obliterates my time to knit and blog about it) know that I’ve been saying that I have to learn to crochet. Well, I think I have accomplished a few steps in that direction.

I have a dear knitting friend, Terri, who is an accomplished crocheter, a good knitter and she is the Queen of Nuno Felting. One evening at our Wild Rows gathering, I asked her to show me a Granny Square and she did. I practiced for a couple of days until it started to feel more natural. Now I have a collection of Granny Squares …. I had thought I would make an afghan but I think I will make a cover for my ottoman that lives in my atelier. Time will tell but the pile keeps growing.

Granny Squares

Then, my knitting group decided to make a baby blanket for one of our members. Terri reminded me that since it was to be a 12 x 12 inch square, it was a good way to practice more. This time we were asked to keep our squares to blues and/or browns.

12 x 12 inch Granny Square

And then I found this bag pattern somewhere in the blog-oshpere or on Facebook or Ravelry. The pattern is here. It’s not in American crochet terms, which, I have learned are different from English/European (?) crochet terms so beware. I marched right out to my local Joann Fabrics and buy some cheap-o yarn to give it a go. I’d never followed a crochet pattern before and I didn’t know what the stitches were called. I found a tutorial on YouTube and off I went. My first attempt is in the “use it another day” bin because it didn’t look right. The second attempt is pretty darned good … in my humble opinion!

I can even make a flower!

The bag … lying down.

I was very pleased with my little flowers! They were to hide the rather ugly join that I had to make to get the handles attached to the bag. I think next time I would make the handles part of the body of the bag and leave it at that. BUT I love the little flowers and am glad to know how to make them … and add a couple of leaves on a couple of the handles and this is what they look like! I think it will become a gift this Christmas … stay tuned!Another project in the finished pile and now I can use the yarn to make a sampler blanket (baby sized) and learn a few more crochet stitches. Yay!

Gone knitting!

Hat for Haley … a Chemo Princess

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Princess Hat

I had a message from a friend in Ohio requesting a chemo hat to be made for a friend’s three year old daughter who has cancer. As I’ve said before, maybe not here in the blog, the words cancer and child should never be seen in the same sentence.

When a special friend asks and because my three children are healthy, I agreed to put aside my personal knitting and make a gift for a little girl who faces some yucky days. I needed to know her name and her favorite color. I had some fun purple (Haley’s favorite color) yarn in my stash and I went over to Ravelry to look for patterns.

I was originally thinking about a striped hat that I’ve made before. It’s a great hat. I’ve made a couple of them to donate for fund-raisers or whatever. Although, this old girl forgot, it seems, to take any photographs of them. Oops!

Anyway, I was looking around and found a lot of cute hats … and then I found THE hat.

I knew it was perfect (and I had just put aside some sparkly gold specialty yarn that I have had for ages to see if someone in my knitting group wanted to use it.) So, I pulled out the gold yarn and my stashed purple Cascade 220 and I got started.

The hat is called “Princess Crown” and can be found, free, on Ravelry. It’s one of many adorable patterns in Allison Stewart-Guinee’s Fairytale Knits book. And it was just perfect. I knew it in my heart immediately. What little girl doesn’t love to wear a crown?

Purple is Haley’s favorite color … and this is more like the actual color of her Princess Hat

The hat knitted up very easily and has just a touch of lacey-ness in the body of the hat which carries down the hat making it look as if it’s a real crown. The golden crown part is knit up separately on circular needles and then stitched together with the hat. Once together, the band is knit and it even has a pretty picot edge stitched right in.

Because the format on the Amazon site is supposed to be laid out as a book, it can be a little bit confusing to follow. Just beware! I did get lost at one point and had to frog and re-knit a couple of rows. If you can follow the format of the pattern, though, the pattern is clearly written and simple to knit. It looks like you’re an expert, too!

Wet blocking so the hat has some shape!

I have wet blocked the hat and used a large handful of plastic grocery bags as a form to have the purple “hat” part block out. I can’t wait for it to dry so I can get it into the mail! I hope Haley is going to love it and that it brings her smiles on the crummy days when she doesn’t feel well. There’s lots of love in that little hat and it’s all heading to Ohio and Haley!

Gone Knitting.

Working is Ruining my Knitting Time!

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

You may or may not know that I am a “clinic assistant” at our local elementary school. I am the “school nurse” paid on a lower pay scale and not a real nurse. I love the job most of the time and I adore working with the little germy kids. It’s very fulfilling … part mom (boo-boo kisser and ice pack provider) and part therapist (talking to kids with headaches and sore tummies really works miracles) and part EMT … I’m trained in first aid, and AED/CPR. So, if any of the adults decide to keel over on us during the school day, it’s me who is on the front lines. I hope I never have to use my training.

Anyway, I digress …

I came home from my summer in Maine at the beginning of August with several projects in tow. I left several in Maine to come home with my better half when he drives home. I’ve finished quite a few and have been putting off a couple, too. (I seem to want to ignore the color work projects – fingerless mitt and lobster had.) Instead, I’ve started several little projects that have been really fun. One of those is these cute little pumpkins.

Pumpkins!

The pattern is a free pattern that I found because my new son-in-law wanted to know if I could make them a trio of pumpkins. Click here to be transported magically to the website with the pattern! What I love about this pattern is that it is very simple (and mindless) and good for watching TV knitting. You can use any weight of yarn and appropriate needles and get several sizes of pumpkins … I used a Wool Ease super bulky yarn for the biggest pumpkin. The smaller ones were knit with worsted weight wool (Patons Classic Wool). I like the i-cord stems, too … and had some fun making them all a little bit different.

I have since made one more large pumpkin for my clinic (the kids will love it!) and have started a trio for my Chicago daughter. I hope she doesn’t read my blog … that’ll ruin the surprise. Totally.

Gone knitting!

Travel (Jet Blue) Blues

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

I travel with two adorable and helpful dogs. They are both Registered Service Animals. I don’t want to go into a lot of personal details but they are my little helpers. All sorts of animals provide services to people with disabilities … visible and invisible … dogs, cats, rats, snakes, horses and others, too.

Yesterday, like every time I fly, I started by presenting my ID and documentation for my dogs. The good people at Jet Blue held me at the ticketing desk for at least 20-25 minutes. Questioning me and, at the end, telling me that I could take them both on the plane “this time” but that in the future I needed additional documentation. Jet Blue will allow me to have one dog per “affliction”. I’ve been traveling with the two dogs. both registered (I provided a doctor’s note and veterinary note to get them registered) in the same bag for eight years with no problems … until yesterday. Apparently Jet Blue holds sway over the ADA who says that I can travel with my documented Registered Service Dogs.

I was a wreck. Anxious that they would not let me fly home without paying for an additional seat for my “extra” dog to sit under. Or that they would refuse me the right to board the plane. Or that I would miss my flight because of their delays.

Fortunately, I will not have to fly again for awhile, and when I do fly again, it will probably be on good old Delta where, when I show my documentation, I am not delayed and discussed everywhere I go. If only these people at the gates were better trained to be compassionate, life would be so much less embarrassing.

Gone knitting!

Getting Projects Finished! (And Sewing, too!)

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Sunrise over Messalonskee

Well, my time in my happy place is coming quickly to an end. Last Wednesday I said, “good-bye for now” and “see you next summer” to my knitting friends. It’s always sad for me to say good-bye to my knitting friends both here and in Florida.

I had my last day sewing with my friends Beverly and Lorry yesterday. We finished a project for Lorry to take to her friend in France and I made another great bag (with a lot of help.) It’s fabulous and I love it. I love it because it’s a team effort and that my friends found three of the five fabrics for me when they were on a road trip to a quilting shop in New Hampshire. Four fabrics with bees and one with flowers and a lot of patience and I have a bag that I will carry in the winter months. Full of the love of my friends here in Maine.

My Wonderful Wallaby is almost done. I’m just knitting the hood which is simple stockinette stitch all the way to the Kitchener stitch at the top. I took a break when I got to the neck to try it on and it fits perfectly. I’m so pleased that I have lost a little weight because now it’s perfect. Just the way I like it. Now my sweet man thinks he’d like to have one, too.

I finished the darling striped baby cardigan and the booties for my niece-to-be. I even bought the buttons. I’ll have to sew them on tonight so I can post a picture here. The booties are Sue’s Bootie’s and the pattern was begged for (by me) at my knitting class. They no longer had it at the shop and I couldn’t find it on the internet. They are adorable and super easy to knit. I loved the combination of colorways that my friends were using and I followed their lead using two different colors of Fixation. Fixation, if you don’t know, is slightly elastic and makes great baby booties and socks and it’s difficult for the baby to kick them off … well, relatively difficult anyway.

I’m ignoring the fingerless mitts that I dragged all the way from Florida to Maine … and will drag all the way back, too.

“Lobster On the Rocks” Hat designed by Donna Frost Ritchie

I’m slowly making progress on a lobster hat for my daughter. It was going to be for her birthday but it will be a late gift … thank heavens I have another couple of months until it gets cold in New York. I’m thinking that perhaps color work is not my thing. But I’ll keep trying.

I have a wonderful stash of yarn to take back to Florida with me and work with over the next ten months until I can be back here again. With any luck, my whole atelier will be coming with me then because we’re moving here permanently. This is where my heart lives.

Gone knitting.

Button, Button. Who’s Got the Button

Posted on July 13, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Basic Baby Raglan Cardigan Sweater

The adorable baby sweater is finished except for the buttons.

The pattern used a yarn over (YO) to make a small button hole and it’s a bit odd … thus, it’s going to be a challenge to find an adorable girly-not-too-girly button (times seven). I’ve tried several that I thought would work and they don’t.

Again. The pattern calls for a 3/4 inch button … they seem a little bit to big. And anything other than a smooth circular or near-circular button gets caught in the button hole. Grrrrr!

I am sure that I’ll win at this battle. I can always make my own buttons but I’d like to find something sweet for my niece-to-be.

I chose to use a Knit Picks yarn, Comfy Sport, which was wonderful to work with. I love the way it feels and the colors are great. Price point is very reasonable at and it’s washable. I think that knitted gifts for babies have got to be washable. You can check out the colors that I used on my Ravelry projects page.

This pattern was free on Ravelry and it’s a very simple knit. A beginner could certainly make it … especially if one made it in a single color. Stripes are not difficult but carry the yarn as you go because there would be a ton of ends to weave in if you don’t. With my three colors there were enough ends and I carried the yarn as much as I possibly could. I made the 3 – 6 month size. It required one ball of each color and there isn’t much yarn left. Once it’s blocked and buttons are sewn on, I’ll post another picture. I just need those buttons.

Anybody got any ideas?

Gone knitting.

Note to Self …

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

My sister-in-law is awesome. She helped take care of my mother when she had alzheimer’s disease and wasn’t very nice to her. (My mother wasn’t nice. My sister-in-law was a saint!) She is raising three great boys. She’s supported my brother and his business and has even gone back to work there now that the kids are bigger (not that they are independent, just bigger). She’s always happy to welcome us into her home, three dogs and all, with or without any of our children, planned visit or last minute … she’s really a great lady.

Anyway, I digress. She happened to mention that she wanted a beige wrap to match a pair of shoes she just bought and to wear on those nights when you just need a little something more to be comfortable. I offered, because I love the idea of doing something for her, to knit her something. I found a great beige yarn and a pattern. Good, right? Then I went off on a road trip and found another pattern that would be great for her shawl but the yarn is too heavy-weight. So, let’s be flexible and adapt the pattern, right? Easy peasy lemon squeezey. I bought two skeins of yarn and off I went.

I’ve been knitting away for a few days … and for the last couple not paying a whole lot of attention. And today I ran out of yarn. Oops! Twelve rows to go and I’m out of yarn. Good grief!

Note to self: buy more than you need. (I hope they have more in the same dye lot at the yarn shop tonight.)

Gone knitting.

P.S. We should remind ourselves and others how awesome we are more often. Life goes by so quickly and we just don’t “take the time” … but I am awesome, and my life is, too. And my friends and family are, too. I’m one lucky gal!

Just So Bag – Finished and Perfect!

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Here it is! I’m finished and ready to fill it up and use it as my purse for the next few days.

The Just So Bag by Andrea Babb. I’ve blogged about it here and here. It’s in the Interweave Knits Winter 2012 or you can download the patter from Ravelry.

I found the oak half-inch dowels at Home Depot. My better half measured twice and cut once and we got perfect 15 inch handles. The little balls at the end were found at JoAnn’s in Waterville. Four in the package. How convenient!? I’m leaving them unfinished and will “seal” them with furniture wax. I like them just the way they are!

Here are a few more views…

I needed to have a pocket for my phone and pen and pads … otherwise they fall into the black hole never to be found again. The fabric (I love it!) came from Quilt Diva in Rockland. They had several wonderful bee fabrics and I am kicking myself that I didn’t buy a yard of each for the future! I’ll have to go back!

I’m very happy that you can see the lace stitches. Next time, I’ll use pure wool. No more mohair in lace knitting. (Besides, I think I am allergic to it.)The only thing that I may add is a cardboard bottom. If I do, I will cover the cardboard with my bee fabric and then tack it down to the bottom of the bag. It does sag at the bottom!

Gone knitting!

Finishing the Just So Bag

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

As I was seaming the Just So Bag, I looked at my bag and I looked at the pictures on the pattern and realized that the pattern had a different “hem line” at the bottom than the regular seam that I would have sewn. Mine was just a typical seam connecting two stockinette pieces and was nearly invisible. Pretty but not striking. The problem was that I liked theirs better.

So, what’s a knitter to do when the directions don’t give you the information on how to make a project look exactly like the one in the pictures on the pattern?

I fiddled with it for awhile and in the end, I am very happy with it. Here’s what I did. (Sorry, I didn’t take a photograph of the seam I didn’t like but it was smooth and I liked her piping-like seam that bumped out a little bit.

You’re going to start with the bottom strip and one of the side pieces both placed on a table with right sides facing up. (You can do it on your lap, too, if you want.) Grab the first stitch on the bottom strip as you normally would seam together two pieces of stockinette (grabbing the “v”). This is all you’re going to do on the bottom piece all the way along the seam. Easy peasy.

On the bottom strip, seam as normal, using the inverted “v” of the first row of stitches.

The “side” piece is where we’re going to drift away from “normal” seaming in order to get the little “piping” effect like on a sewn cushion. You are going to turn sew into the wrong side of the fabric. Inserting your needle into the left side of the first row of purl bumps.

One of the two side pieces. See the row of purl bumps just under the cast-on edge?

You’re going to sew up on the left side like this.

Sew up on the left side of the purl bump.

And then just come down on the right side of the purl bump and then you’ll grab the “v” in the next stitch of the bottom strip. Repeat this process all the way across the bottom edge of your bag. (And then you have one more seam to sew on the other side… practice!)

Here’s what my bottom edge looks like. I am quite pleased with it!

Pretty “piping”!

Gone knitting.

I’m the Queen Bee and it’s Been Over a Month Since I’ve Posted.

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Queen Bee Knits

Welcome to Maine

I can’t believe that I haven’t posted anything in over a month! I’m sure I’ve thought about it many times … apologies to my loyal followers (all three of you!)

I was a sick puppy! Out of work for five weeks!

I’ve recovered from a nasty bout with pneumonia and bronchitis and finished the school year and moved up to our home in Maine. I’ve also started a new “diet” to try to lose some weight before the big wedding (not mine, my daughter’s). I have been way to “happy” (read this as eating for all celebratory reasons) for the past several years and have gained a good forty pounds since my divorce diet and weight loss. I’m hoping to get back to that post-divorce weight without severing a long relationship. I’ve enlisted a team of coaches and doctors and am starting day 6, having lost about six pounds. Woo! Hoo! The program that I’m using is Your Road To Health. It’s a Medifast program. I was hungry and cranky the first few days but I’m feeling better as the days go on. Today I am feeling hopeful and that’s a really great way to feel.

I’ve been knitting a lot, too. Have several projects on the needles. I’ll go into more detail over the next few days. Suffice it to say, there is no shortage of projects – and the ones that have deadlines are the ones that I don’t really feel like working on.

I’m almost done with the lap blanket for my daughter’s wedding (there will be rocking chairs on the Yacht Club’s porch and she really wanted to have a cozy blanket on them … it could be chilly in September in Massachusetts.) Bulky yarn knits up pretty quickly … even if it’s a boring project.

Wonderful Wallaby sleeves … two at a time.

Closing in on Row 70 … a bazillion rows left!

I’ve kind of given up on the idea of finishing the lace shawl by her wedding. But maybe not.

I started a “selfish knitting” shawl … one of those projects that I can work on at knitting classes because I don’t have to count.

One mitt down, one to go.

I have one of my two fingerless mitts done. An Intarsia pattern. I have decided I need to practice intarsia more … not my favorite technique. One left … and I haven’t even started it yet.

Wonderful Wallaby sleeves … two at a time.

Last, I have a Wonderful Wallaby sweater that I am knitting for myself. Another easy pattern that I can knit and visit with. I have the majority of the body done and am working on the sleeves. Would love to finish this before the end of the summer so it can live here in Maine. It’ll be way too warm for Florida.

My super-duper LL Bean bag is full of yarn and “hopeful” knitting projects. If I can finish even some of my projects already on the needles, I can start those. A sweater for my soon-to-be niece, a sweater for the soon-to-be big sister, an Australian possum pelt kit … OH BOY!

And then there’s this project! A king-size Log Cabin quilt!

I’d best stop writing and get knitting!

Gone knitting!