Queen Bee Knits

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

Home Again … a Wonderful Vacation

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

We’re baaack! We had the most wonderful week in Weekapaug, RI. We were joined by all three of my kids and their families. Seven adults, five dogs and one granddaughter were in residence for all or part of the week and we had a wonderful time. I’ve written about why we vacation there before but I’ll briefly say that my mother rented a house there for the month of July when my kids were little and before she had Alzheimer’s Disease. After she passed away I asked my kids what they’d like to do with the little bit of money that I have to draw from her IRA each year and the answer was Weekapaug. We found a wonderful house to rent after labor day and it’s turned into a weekly vacation that we all love! We spend time at the beach, cook our meals (or most of them), spend time at Watch Hill at the Annex eating peach iced cream (my mom’s favorite flavor) and this year our granddaughter was big enough to ride the Flying Horses for the first time.

And now we’re home with smiles on our faces and more memories made.

I’ve been working on getting everything washed and put away so that I can go back to work tomorrow. I’ve run three loads of laundry (one more to wash the octopus costume) and made three dozen muffins (pumpkin, banana nut and wild Maine blueberry) to take to a meeting on Saturday morning. I’ll take half with me and leave half at home for us.

My knitting has suffered while we were away. I think I may have knitted more on the drive home yesterday than for the whole week we were in Rhode Island. But I read a lot of books, played all sorts of imaginative games (that the granddaughter made up) and listened to songs and stories galore. One lovely addition this year was an overnight visit by my brother and his wife. We all loved having them join us even briefly!

I’ve taking my Make Mine a Double sweater off the needles so I could work on my daughter’s Levitate Wrap cardigan while I had her to try on as I went. I added three rows of stockinette stitch to add to the length before I connected the fronts and back and that seems to have made all the difference in the way it fit. I am now working my way down the body of the sweater and increasing for the overlapped fronts. I’m using Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia organic merino held double with Berroco Aerial silk mohair lace. The fabric is really nice to work with but I find I do “miss” the lace every once in a while (and have to go back to make sure it’s not just hanging out in front of the fabric. Regardless, it’s knitting up pretty quickly and I think I will probably have to make it a little bit longer which means added rows. I don’t remember if I made the row gauge. That might be a good idea to look at right now so I can decide how to best add length if needed.

A while ago I bought a hank of self-striping sock yarn because a good self-striping sock yarn is difficult to find. I bought it from Must Stash yarn because they’ve got a remarkable base and their colorways are fantastic! I’ve made it to the foot of the first sock. It’s a fun knit for sure. I’m knitting a mixed pattern with details pulled from Yankee Knitter and Summer Lee and it’ll be fun to see how they fit. I really like knititng socks on US1 needles (I’m using DPNs this time.)

I haven’t taken any new photos of anything knitting but I will and I’ll post again on Sunday!

Gone knitting.

Flexibility is Key

Posted on August 29, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

All of a sudden the yard is covered in these little yellow flowers. I don’t remember having them ever before and I can’t say that I’m unhappy about them. I love yellow and a perfect lawn is impractical here at the lake because no chemicals can be applied. So, we just accept whatever we get … it’s a good life lesson, frankly. Acceptance.

In knitting this week, however, acceptance wasn’t the thing. Not at all. I’ve written about my impulse buy of some lovely Artyarns degrade silk mohair hand-dyed yarn that I bought because I couldn’t get the sweater out of my mind. Well, I am waiting for my daughter to try on her sweater and in the meantime I cast on the Make Mine a Double pullover in the Artyarns Double Mohair Ombre yarn. It’s luxurious, 2-ply silk mohair and the colors are incredible. I chose to make the Medium because I didn’t want a lot of ease (12+ inches). However, when I got to separate the sleeves and just knit the body stitches in the round, I tried it on and I didn’t think I had enough ease. SO … I frogged back to before I separated the sleeves and added one round of increases to get to the number of stitches I needed for the Large size and now I’m knitting down the body again.

I am so pleased with the yarn colors and this neutral-ish colorway will go with so many things! I now have to decide how long to make the sweater. The designer wears a lot of cropped garments but she’s young and has a cute figure. I’m not young (at least chronologically) and my figure, well, let’s think about acceptance again … I am truly working on it! My best guess is that I will wear something under this sweater because I think it will be too see-through for my liking and so I am thinking to make it a “normal” pullover length but I will keep trying it on with my jeans and see what I think. So far I’m still using the first hank of the yarn and I will have both sleeves to knit. Again, the designer used one hank of the yarn so she knitted the sleeves first (to her prefered length) and then finished the body. I am going to go ahead with the body and then knit the sleeves. ALTHOUGH, now that I’m looking at it, I might like to have the body be more of the blue and chocolate brown and the sleeves be lighter … hmmm. I may have to cake up the second hank before I continue.

Truth be told, this is a lot of fun. I’m enjoying the challenge of creating the sweater that I will like to wear and be comfortable in partly because I spent a lot of money on the yarn and partly because I love to wear comfy clothing! It’ll be interesting to see where it ends up … and I am not afraid of frogging another couple of inches of mohair if I really need to. It’s a booger to frog but it’s worth it to make a garment that I really love. Stay tuned!

I’m making progress on my Jaunty this week, too. I’ve got it to about 30 inches and have started the second ball of yarn. I have three … the pattern suggests using 45% of the yarn before you begin the decreases and I suspect that I’ll follow her advice so I don’t run out of yarn at the very end. I’m not a big risk taker. *shrugs shoulders

I love the squishy fabric that this scarf is made of and I can hardly wait to block it because I suspect it’ll be even softer and squishier! I chose two different colorways because I wanted a big scarf that I can wrap around my neck a bunch of times and I like the two together so far. The first ball is more purple and the second one is more blue … we’ll see how the third one works in (or doesn’t). We do have another hank of the blue colorway that I may have to put away just in case and I can use the purple one in another project if needed. The stitch pattern is fun and easy to memorize which makes this a good evening project or a good one for when I’m teaching (and with that said, I did un-knit two rows yesterday because I lost track of my pattern).

I’ve completed the first sock and last night I turned the heel on the second sock. What good progress I’m making! I have really enjoyed this pattern and I still love the Socks Yeah! yarn. It’s wonderful to knit with; not at all splitty and so soft but wears well, too. I’m liking the pink colorway and the lace! Again, the pattern is easy to memorize so it’s not bad to knit when I am watching TV with the hubby at night or teaching on Friday or riding in the car. I’ll enjoy wearing these soon when the weather cools a little bit.

And that’s all she wrote for today. I may be headed into the shop this afternoon because we think it may be busy as it’s the last Saturday of the summer yarn sale. It’ll be good to get back to “normal” at work. (If any of you know the store I work for, you’ll know we aren’t like your normal yarn store. LOL)

Gone knittng!

Whew!

Posted on June 6, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Today I’m heading off to Compton, Quebec for A Needle in a Haystack, a fibery event in a field next to a fromagerie. That’s about all I know … except that now I know they have a rainy day plan and I’m grateful for that.

Meanwhile this week has been super busy at home and at work. The store has been receiving new boxes of yarn and we are trying to find places for it to live. Carol and I spent the day Thursday reworking the sock yarns to add in a dozen new colors of Cascade Heritage and Heritage 6. When we were done, it was gorgeous and organized in weight-order (fingering … sport … worsted). My classes yesterday, with the exception of the morning class, were smaller than “normal” but it was a pretty day and the weather reports for the weekend aren’t promising. I’d have been planting my vegetable garden if I’d had my druthers.

I’m making such good progress on my tabard! I have reached the twenty-one inches for the front piece and now have to work the shoulders. I am not going to knit a big turtleneck, I will instead knit an inch or so of ribbing and call it done. SO … I think I’m going to start the back and get it to the neck shaping, if there is any, and then finish the front. I still love the green and I’d have said I wasn’t a green girl. I can’t wait to wear this “vest” and I hope I love it as much as I think I will. (I’m also eager to block it out to see how the size changes. I may put the front on holders and wet block it to see what happens. Stay tuned.

Broadgate Tabard in gorgeous green linen

And I have a FO! I have finished my Salty Air Tee by Samantha Guerin. I adore the color and the yarn that I used from Rachel at On the Round in Thomaston, Maine. The Nimble Sock yarn is so round and squishy and the colorway, Harbor, is the perfect grayish-blue. The size I chose is the perfect size and I am thrilled with the final product. I wore it yesterday and it was very comfortable, not to warm, draped well and fit was just what I had anticipated. The pattern was well-written and a relatively quick knit considering it’s a fingering weight yarn on US4 needles. I will wear this shirt a lot!

Salty Air Tee in On the Round Nimble Sock

So, that leaves a few projects on the needles and I’m planning to take a few with me to Canada today. I have my Easy Folded Poncho (miles of stockinette stitch), and I cast on a skirt for my granddaughter yesterday that is also a bunch of stockinette … but with increases every six rounds. She’s going to love it – it’s a deep purple with stelina sparkles and it will twirl! Pattern is Olive’s Swing Skirt and I’m using Plymouth’s Electra Light, a stashed yarn, that was on the clearance rack at the store.

I’ve also started a new pair of socks, shortie socks, from the Summer Lee Sock Project book. I’m playing with carrying the contrasting color on these socks so I don’t have a bunch of ends to weave in and so far, so good. This pattern uses an afterthought heel … I’ll report my thoughts when they’re done and I can wear them. I still like my heel flap and gusset best of all but I’ll keep an open mind.

My daughter’s Levitate Wrap sweater/cardigan is still in time out awaiting a try-on. I had hoped that I would be able to squeeze in a trip to New York City before our summer family guests arrive on the 19th but I’m not sure it’s going to work out for me. Boo. I will see some of the kids starting in mid-June and in early July and I hope that I can get into New York to see the other kids, too. It feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen them. Not sure what that means for this “old” person who is “semi-retired” but I have been so busy and my calendar is way too full. Even for sitting on the porch and enjoying the hummingbirds!

I have been enjoying the yard and watching the flowers grow. The lilacs are gorgeous! I brought some indoors and they only last a few days before wilting. I don’t know how to make them stay beautiful … they make the whole downstairs smell wonderful! Our first iris are blooming and the day lilies are coming right along. They typically bloom around July 4th.

And I baked! I made my hubby’s birthday requested scones. I make the Levain Bakery recipe and they are delicious every time. We love, love, love them and because they have oatmeal in them, they’re heathy, right? I also made him a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I’ve frozen half of the cake, cut in pieces, and the leftover frosting. He’s a happy man. This was making up for his birthday cake out of a box. Horrors! (Not really, it was delicious!)

I’ve “wasted” a lot of time writing this and I have to focus on packing my knitting and being ready to go … gone knitting!

FO and a new WIP

Posted on April 1, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

No fooling here today. I’ve been working on my spring cleaning and making slow but sure progress. It may take me a full year to get this house cleaned but I decided one cabinet or two at a time and that makes the bites more manageable. One or two days of all-day cleaning sounds horrible. I’ve gotten three filthy cabinets cleaned and have a few things to get rid of and that’s progress. Today I even found my dough hook that I thought I’d left behind when I moved to Florida in 2007. Woo! Hoo! I can make bread now. (Like that’s stopped me before.)

And I have a new FO. I finished my I’m so Basic Socks. The pattern is free on Ravelry. This is one of Summer Lee’s patterns. I also own both of her books and have had fun reading them. I’ve made a couple of other pairs of her socks, too. This pair used a sock set from Frabjous Fibers that I picked up on sale at the shop. I liked working with it well enough but I wasn’t wowed by the yarn. And the socks came out nicely. I followed the “large” sock size (72 sts) and they fit a little more loosely than I’d like. I actually like a bit of negative ease on my socks (I like them pretty tight on my foot) and these don’t have enough. Next time, I’ll cast on for the medium size … well, I’ve already done that.

Upon finishing the I’m so Basic socks, I cast on the Escher Socks, also by Summer Lee. These are a stranded colorwork pair of socks in her Sock Obsession book. I am knitting the medium size and using stashed yarn. The cream color is deeply stashed merino and nylon blend that I bought a bag of when I thought I might like to hand-dye yarn. The contrasting color is a ball of Crazy Zauberball that I’ve had in stash forever, too. It may be from one of the yarn selection bags that I got when I did the Year of Techniques classes with Jen Arnall-Kulliford back in the day. I took a photo of the outside and the inside. They’re really potato chippy (I can’t put them down! As a result, my left arm/hand is not feeling great and I’m trying to give it some rest, massaging the muscles and remembering to stop and stretch. It’s better today but I am being very careful.

I’m going to cast on my daughter’s sweater, too. Maybe today or this weekend. I am also signed up for two KALs. One is the Wooly Thistle Shawl KAL and the other is the Beary Cozy Gnome Mystery KAL. I’ve got a bag of fingering weight yarn left overs, bits and bobs, that I will share with my co-worker friend, Carol, who’s doing it with me. Care to join, dear readers? It starts April 15th, if memory serves.

I’ve decided that for the shawl KAL I’ll be knitting Gudrun Johnson’s Hansel Hap (half) which I have enough Jamieson/Jamieson & Smith yarn for in my stash (notice a theme?) I am going to have to fudge the main color just a bit. I have three 25 gram balls of a light gray for the MC/center section and I will need more of the MC for the border, too, and I found a different light gray that’s one of the natural colors. For my contrasting colors I’m using two blues, a white and teal/turquoise.

Gone knitting!

WIP Wednesday

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Queen Bee Knits

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

The lake looked like the surface of the moon this morning. Fog across the lake and the sunshine on new snow. We are so lucky to live here. I went into town this morning after my hubby cleared the driveway to pick up some groceries. It’s actually warm this afternoon – 49 degrees! The snow is melting and I’m up in my atelier working away. I think I will open the window a crack and get some fresh air in the house.

I’ve been knitting like mad. What’s new? I have so many projects on my mind and in my Ravelry queue. I’ve also made a few yarn purchases. I told my co-worker friends on our girls day out yesterday that I’ve made an impulse buy for a hand-dyed mohair sweater for myself. I had to buy the yarn to get the pattern, so … I did. I’m going back to work tomorrow before I’m gone again to help with our granddaughter next week. I’ll earn the money back. I also ordered some yarn for a Vanilla Sweater for my college roommate, Carrie. She loved mine. AND I have bought yarn to make my daughter’s sweater. The mohair has come in and I can get ready but first I have to finish at least one of the WIPs on my needles.

Ranunculus #2 in Berroco Dulce

I have been working away at my second Ranunculus. I had hoped to finish it today and wear it to work tomorrow but maybe I can finish it Friday and wear it on the weekend. We shall see. This is the project that I’ve put most of my time and effort into. It’s a quick knit and if I’d made good notes on the first one, I’d be further along. But, alas, I’m winging it again. I’ve got the body length at 8 inches and have begun the ribbing. Meanwhile, I also started the first sleeve wondering if I will be able to make long sleeves before I run out of yarn. I think I have plenty. This yarn is very soft and I like the way it’s looking but the fuzz is obnoxious. I think the finished garment will be very wearable, though. I don’t have far to go on this one.

My Thistle on the Moor vest is also coming along. Believe it or not, this is still the first ball of. yarn that I’m working with. I have a few more rounds to go before I’ll have to add the second ball. I don’t think I’ll need the third ball at all. I’m almost two thirds of the way done with the lace thistle motif down the front of the vest and I have one more repeat of the chart to go. Can you see the thistle in the second picture? I love this! Berroco Lanas Light is a wooly wool but it’s not really rough. I am liking working with it for the most part. If I just had more days in the week, I could get this finished.

The third project is my vanilla socks. I’m using Summer Lee’s I’m so Basic Socks pattern just to change things up. I think these may be baggy socks because her instructions say I should cast on 72 stitches. I think I know better but I’m knitting on. We’ll see how they turn out. The yarn is a sock set, a 100 gram ball of speckled yarn for the main color and a teal blue mini for the cuff, heel and toes. I haven’t worked on these much this week. I’m the only one measuring my progress with my SISC (self-imposed sock club.)

I have one FO. My little cousin asked me to make her a beanie when we were in Reno. I found this cake of Lion Brand Mandala Watercolors in my stash (away from where I can see it) and I think she’ll like the color. Her room is pink. This hat knit up in a flash, I used the Daily Beanie pattern which is free on Ravelry and the bulky yarn. I used a US10 needle and knit the hat to 8 inches before I started the decreases. It’s super soft and will wash and dry well. All important things when knitting for kids.

Yesterday we went to Belfast, ME for a girls’ day and visited another Maine yarn shop, Heavenly Yarn which has switched ownership in the last year or so. I love the space that Heavenly Yarn is in, an old building with squeaky wood floors and I love the layout of the shop and the samples. I bought a couple of hanks of Harrisville Highland yarn because I have never knitted with it and I like to try different yarns. I think I’ll knit myself a new pair of snowflake mittens. As my friend Bette says, my first ones have yellow snow. I’ve been wearing them for ten years. There’s nothing wrong with them, I just “need” a new pair. One without yellow snow. LOL

A couple of days before I leave for New York … I’d best get knitting!

Did You Miss Me?

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

I’m baaack! It was a chilly wake-up this morning but we spent at least a bit of time out on the porch with our coffee. Hubby wore a hat to bed last night and was still wearing it this morning. We’ve been on our annual family vacation to Weekapaug, Rhode Island and it was good.

When my kids were little my mom used to rent a cottage at Weekapaug for a month. When she passed away she left me a little bit of money and I wanted to do something as a family to remember her … and so, at the suggestion of my kids, we found a cottage to rent for a week at the end of the season (beginning of the low season) that can hold all of us. This was our fourth year back and it was just as good as all the rest of the years. Maybe better. Beach buttons, beach boxes, fabulous sunsets, lots of good beach time (even though the weather was a bit chillier than past years) and good time together. That’s what we love most.

Since Weekapaug is, for the most part, a summer community, most of the restaurants are closed and the what shops are still open, are open weekends. We visited Watch Hill a couple of times for ice cream at the Annex (peach was mom’s favorite and has become a favorite of all of us, too.) We watched the Watch Hill historic “flying horses” carousel, we visited the Fantastic Umbrella Factory with an umbrella in the rain, played games almost every night and just enjoyed being together and away from jobs, work and television.

I did precious little knitting but I did get a little bit done! I have been working down the body of my Vanilla Sweater by Corine Tomlinson at the Wooly Thistle. I bought this as a kit with enough Rauma Garn Finull (fingering weight wool) and the pattern for the sweater as part of the Wooly Thistle’s Sweater KAL 2025. I’ve separated the sleeves and am about 8 inches down the body … the pattern says 10 inches and I may have to go a bit further. It’s almost time to try it on. I completely fell in love with this color which is completely out of my comfort zone but I am really excited to wear it and it’s cool enough now, at least in the morning, to wear it.

I also brought along my Murmuration Socks by Summer Lee from the Sock Project book. I have the heel turned and the gusset decreased and I’m working my way down the foot of the first sock. I love this yarn, another color that’s out of my normal color zone. How adventurous I’m getting in my “old age”!

I also brought along some Plymouth Encore with which I made my granddaughter a couple of headbands because she said she’d like some purple sparkly mittens. I cast them on and got them finished just after we arrived home. I had knit the first mitten and it was about a half inch too short in the hand so I frogged back to before the decreases and knit to about 4 1/2 inches beyond the cuff before decreasing and these should fit better. I also made her the little string, a 3-stitch i-cord) so that she won’t lose her mittens at school. They’re pretty cute and we’ll bring them to NYC when we go to babysit in October.

I brought everything zucchini to the beach – zucchini bread, banana zucchini muffins, and chocolate zucchini muffins, and I still have shredded zucchini in the freezer. We also brought Maine peaches, blueberries and apples (and brought some back home, too.)

We saw a huge flock of migrating swifts one day at the beach. They were fascinating to watch. We had a couple of monarch caterpillars on some milkweed in the garden and the little one grew exponentially over the course of the week. I brought a craft project – paint and cut out egg containers to paint caterpillars. Next time I’ll make the caterpillars shorter, “our” collective attention spans weren’t into it. We saw a Bald Eagle at the pickle ball courts and a swan flying along the coast at the beach. The beautiful berries were abundant … I still don’t know what they are … and I want to see if I can find a yarn dyer to make a Weekapaug, RI colorway with the berries’ colors. They’re so pretty!

It was a wonderful week and I’m so grateful that all of my kids and their families: dogs, and significant others and the grandest granddaughter took the time out of their busy lives to spend a week at the beach with us. We love being able to provide a week in one of our favorite places and hope we’ll be invited to rent there again next year.

AND just like that we’re back home. Another place we love to be. Our calendar is full heading out of September and into October as we’re heading to Denver so that I can meet our new grandson and then to New York to babysit so my daughter, Kate, can rehearse to go into the off Broadway show, Heathers. We also hope to see the new interactive production at the Shed where my daughter, Libet, works. We’ll be there a good long time and the baby is in school weekdays so we can spend some time “playing” in the city and I can visit a yarn shop or two.

Gone knitting.