Queen Bee Knits

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Little Tern

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

We are at the beginning of what is technically (here in Maine) tourist season which also means summer. Those of us who know Maine are laughing because this is the least summer-like weather we’ve had in forever at the end of May. It’s been gray and rainy for days … weeks! It’s leaving me a bit fatigued, maybe a bit depressed (although with the way things are in this country and around the world it makes total sense) and all I really want to do is sit and knit. I’ve been doing plenty of that.

I have finished the Little Tern blanket by Tin Can Knits in Fyberspates Vivacious DK. This photo looks more turquoise and the real color is more green but I love it and the blanket is an heirloom-quality knit. As I was knitting this blanket, the second one I’ve made, I was thinking about how much I loved making the first one and how grateful I am that I had the presence of mind to buy extra yarn so that I could make this one! I think I’ve written about this before – this pattern and yarn were one of the “kits” in A Year of Techniques, a class that I took several years ago with Jen Arnall-Culliford. It was a series of tutorials that then became a book and you could take the class with or without buying the yarn kits. I did. Mostly because I didn’t know any of the yarns that they were using for the tutorial projects and, boy, am I glad I did. This is one of my favorite yarns but there were many.

Little Tern is designed by Tin Can Knits. It uses a provisional cast on and then the body of the blanket is knit in a textured pattern that is easy enough to (almost) remember. Once the body is done, a lace edge is knitted onto the body on both ends. It’s rather ingenious, frankly. AND it’s absolutely engaging and gorgeous. I seldom knit the same pattern twice and I am actually looking forward to knitting this one again (I have a set of purple Fyberspates Vivacious DK for another blanket in my stash.)

I also finished the quilt that I made for my granddaughter’s sleeping nook at Yaya and Poppy’s house. This fabric was in my fabric collection and I only bought the one piece of flannel that is the backing. I even made the binding out of left-over bits and scraps of the fabric I used for the quilt. This week I hand-stitched the back of the binding and it’s now ready to be put to use. I think she’ll like the bright colors and the soft warm flannel on the back.

We finished painting her little nook. It’s the same width as a crib mattress and it’s really purple. Way more than I am comfortable with but I am thinking that once the wallpaper birds on a wire is up and the giraffe picture is hung, I think it will be a bit less “purple”. But it’s what she asked for … I simple neglected to think about paint colors being darker once they’re on the wall. It’s all good. We backed my IKEA Kallax storage cube unit with a “bead board” panelling, trimmed the bottom of the nook after the panelling was installed and the shelf unit was attached to the wall so it can’t tip over and then the room was painted. We need to cut some slats that will sit up a bit so the mattress is off the floor and then put up the decorations. I still have to make two pillowcases and if I have time, I’ll knit a little blanket like one she has at home. All things to make her stay here at Yaya and Poppy’s feel like home. I’m crazy like that.

I’ve been working on finishing up little projects and have done well doing that. I’ve knitted and blocked two more tams for my client. She loves these hats and they’re not a bother to make up for her. It’s nice that she appreciates them so much. I also made a little “blueberry” hat for our soon-to-be Denver nugget. I used a pattern by Ann Norling and Malabrigo Rios yarn. It’s pretty cute. Now, of course, I’m knitting a bigger one for Sylvie. She loves blueberries. I’ve been working my way down the second socks’s foot (the first one fits perfectly), and I have been picking up my Jelly Roll blanket. A customer brought in bits and bobs of leftovers and I brought home a few fingering weight yarns that she left to add to my blanket (as if I was going to run out any time soon.) I also made some strawberry jam this week and a batch of blueberry muffins for my hubby. We brought the strawberries at a very good price at Costco on Monday specifically for jam making. Yum!

I pulled another unfinished project out of my cupboard. Ages ago I bought a kit from Jimmy Beans Wool that was to make Franklin Habit’s Dolores (a sheep) and some of her outfits. I got the body finished and then the project went into time out … not because of anything other than my little cast-on-itis and there Dolores’ body has been resting waiting for me to turn my attention back to her. The other day I pulled out the bound off stitches and will be more firmly stuffing her body and then closing her up again. I will be committing time to getting her finished because she’ll be a fun addition to Sylvie’s nook. I think. AND she’ll be finished. I really am trying to get projects finished … I have a few. (Ahem.) I haven’t forgotten the pink mittens either … the first one is mostly finished and the embroidery looks pretty good, actually. Think I can get a second one done?

I have a couple of deadline projects … both are Love and Light by Laura Nelkin. When a couple gets married in our family or has a baby, they get one for their home. I haven’t made one yet for Amy and Jake (they were married a year ago-ish) so I’ll make one now for their baby’s nursery. I’m calling this baby the Denver nugget and he or she is due end of August/early September. Sylvie has one in her room in NYC and it’s used as a nightlight. I’ll make one for her nook here so it’s just like home … and not at all since she won’t be sleeping in a crib for the first time ever. We are all crossing our fingers that she stays in bed like she does at home. That reminds me that I need a bookshelf for her wall.

Gone knitting.

Knitting Mojo Slump

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Queen Bee Knits

We finally have had some rain and you can almost hear the plants sighing in relief. It was so dry that even the weeds were lying on the ground. Literally. The weeds have since perked up … something that I’ve never noticed before. The lake is about a foot lower than usual, too. We are in a drought here in Maine and we worry about our well when this happens. Crossing our fingers and toes that we get enough water between now and winter.

I don’t know what it is about the end of summer but I don’t want to finish any of the projects I have on the needles. I only want to cast on new projects so I’ve hit a bit of a knitting mojo slump. I’m not sure if my fall depression/seasonal affective disorder is setting in again as the days get shorter or if I’m suffering burnout from my volunteer jobs but something is going on but I’m not a fan. So I force myself to do some work in the house that I don’t want to do and I allow myself the grace to do nothing more than that and to rest. Time will tell – I could feel lots better if the sun was out.

So, let’s talk about knitting, shall we?

I’m forcing myself to finish the projects that I have in progress. My Alton Cardigan (below) has been in time out for what seems like forever. I finally picked it up today and am going to make a supreme effort to get the sleeves finished and knit the button band so I can be finished. I won’t let myself knit another sweater until this one is finished and I have a few (*cough* *cough*) that I still want to make. And I have the yarn to knit them! I do believe this will be a great sweater come fall. (Come on fall!) I’m at eight inches for the first sleeve, one more inch to go and then on to sleeve #2.

On the needles I’ve got a second pair of Rose City Rollers. I made one pair with US 2 needles and the second-to-largest size (60 stitches cast on). They’re really cute. I think they’ll be great come clog weather. I had a lot of yarn left over and so I weighed the yarn and decided I had enough for another pair. This time, I decided to use a smaller needle (US 1 1/2) to make a little more negative ease. I’ve got one of the socks done and the second sock is nearly there. I like the hand of the yarn which is without any wool. I’ve not used Berroco Comfort Sock before … we’ll see how they wear. The photo below was taken on Friday at my knitting class. Mind you, I’m the teacher. Can you see what I’ve done? One of my students took the photo while I laughed until I cried. For the third time on Friday.

If you have a look at the sock, It has a nice heel flap and turned heel at the bottom of the photograph. AND then I continued on and knitted the foot and another heel flap and turned the heel. Knitting can be so humbling.

Below is what the socks look like now. I’ve frogged the second heel and heel flap and finished the first sock and am moving right along on sock number two. I made the first pair with a rounded toe so this time I’m making the square toe. The pattern has instructions for both. Isn’t that nice? Do you have a favorite toe or a favorite sock pattern, for that matter?

I have been working away at my Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston. I started this on my birthday because my friend and co-worker went on a trip to Shetland with none other than Gudrun Johnston (and MaryJane Mucklestone, too.) I decided that I’d knit a Shetland style Hap shawl because I didn’t get to go – I’m not whining, I’m delighted that she had a chance to go!

The body of the shawl was done and I started the edging when I realized that I didn’t have enough yarn to finish the shawl’s edging (I wrote about it here.) Luckily we had another hank at the shop where I work and it seems to be a close-enough match. So, I’m continuing to work my way across the shawl and enjoying the process. I’ve gotten my old iPad out of mothballs (not really) so that I can use my knitting app to keep better track of the edging repeats.

We’ve had some fun company this summer and as usual I’ve forgotten to take photographs of the people we so enjoy. We’ve had gorgeous late summer weather so we’ve been enjoying the lake and we feel so lucky to be able to live here. We have a lot of projects planned: an oak tree to split, our guest cottage needs a serious cleanup and fix up. The dog hair is always collecting in little tumbleweeds all over the house. The windows need washed, the screens need a rinse and the weeds have totally taken over the flower beds. We still have one bag of either mulch or compost that we never spread. It’s all a little bit overwhelming, honestly. Hence, perhaps my “mailaise”?

Gone knitting.

My Needles are Clicking!

Posted on July 20, 2022 by Queen Bee Knits

It was a picture perfect day today but really warm. I don’t love the warm and muggy days. That’s why I live in Maine.

I spent the day getting all sorts of little projects taken care of … laundry, I baked a blueberry coffee cake with streusel topping (the butter had been sitting on the kitchen counter for a couple of days), made some iced green tea, cleaned the kitchen, made phone calls, worked on the details for our lake association annual meeting that’s coming up soon, and had a meeting. I am so grateful for the air conditioners in our kitchen/living room and my atelier. It makes getting things done so much easier – if I didn’t have the air conditioners I would be a lump in front of a fan.

But this isn’t about that.

I’ve had a request for a baby rattle that’s rather unique – it’s to look like a New York City Metro Card. When I was at the store on Friday I bought some Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic yarn in a golden yellow and black (for the stripe). I also grabbed a blue but I think that will be going back because the lettering will be added by embroidering and the cotton yarn will be too heavy.

It took me several times to get the size right. I originally thought it should be five inches wide but that turned out to be too big. The real cards are much smaller so I decided to cut it down to three inches wide and two inches tall. Figuring out the three stripes wasn’t too difficult and I’m quite pleased with the basic part of the “card”.

I knitted a plain yellow rectangle to be the back of the card. I intend to do a 3-needle bind off for one side of the toy and I’ll seam the sides when it’s stuffed and after the embroidery is finished. That will happen tomorrow. When the light is better and when I’m feeling fresher.

The biggest question to me is, how do I make it rattle. I’ve been researching tonight and one tutorial had a fabric tube stuffed with bells. That might work … and I’ll stuff around it with fiber fill. Time will tell if it will work. I’ll update after the gift is delivered.

Gone knitting!