Queen Bee Knits

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

Thankful

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

Rabbit! Rabbit! We are home after such a wonderful Thanksgiving that I didn’t even take one photograph! Not one. Babies, toddlers, my nephews and their parents, friends and family and I just enjoyed being together. We feel so lucky to have family members who we like and enjoy just riding along to the airport and a walk around Logan’s 9/11 memorial or lunch after they visited my s-i-l’s cousin in the hospital. We enjoy each other’s company and love our time together.

We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal this year at my middle nephew’s request and it was delicious! I was very happy with the pumpkin dinner rolls that I brought, they had just enough pumpkin spice to be yummy and not overpowering. The apple pie (no photo of that either) was really yummy as was the cheesecake. I also brought two quiches with hash brown potato crust and they were really yummy, too. I’ll be repeating the quiches at Christmas time. Maybe the pumpkin rolls, too. We will be cooking a turkey breast at our house on Friday because I didn’t have a turkey sandwich yet. I’ll be needing to make cranberry sauce and stuffing for that event. Yum. Why don’t we all make a turkey more than once a year?

While I was away, I believe I’ve finished the fifty inches of stockinette stitch for the Easy Folded Poncho. If so, I’ll be finishing it up tomorrow. I also finished my Alpine Bloom Hat and I absolutely love it. I don’t love it ON me but I love the hat. I also have enough of the yarn left to make something else. I wish there were Alpine Bloom Mittens/Fingerless Mitts. I’m going to have to look because there may be. I cast on the fingerless mitts kit that I bought when “the girls” I work with went to visit a new to Maine yarn shop in Gorham – Olde School Fiber and Craft. Not sure how I feel about this yarn and fabric. Thank goodness they’re mitts and not a sweater. I just think it should have a softer hand than it does. They’ll be fine but not a favorite.

Oops! Just realized I have a committee meeting and the chair didn’t send out an email with an agenda … and the chair is me!

Gone knitting.

Saturday Before Thanksgiving

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Queen Bee Knits

It’s cloudy today but the sun is still shining on the south side of the house. Enough so that it’s warm enough to venture outside for a late morning photograph. The loons are still on the lake in their winter feathers but soon enough they’ll be gone again to their winter home on the coast.

This weekend is all about getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week. We have plans with our Massachusetts family for the day and we are looking forward to being together after what seems like “forever”. I am tasked with making a couple of desserts chosen by my nephew who will be with us after several years away at veterinary school – cheesecake and an apple pie are the requests. I have also found a recipe for pumpkin dinner rolls that I think I’ll try. I just have to get a grocery order together so I can pick it all up tomorrow or Monday. That’ll be next on my list.

This morning I’ve been catching up and trying to finish some of my crafty projects so that I can wash my favorite hand knit vest to wear around the holiday. I’ve worn it a lot and yesterday I dripped on it at lunchtime. Oops. So, today before I could block it out, I had to finish this unicorn hair clip hanger for my granddaughter. Her mother saw one on Pinterest or somewhere and made the request so Sylvie’s hair clips and headbands can be corralled and she can see them, too. I am pretty pleased with the end result. I hope they will be, too.

And I’ve been knitting a lot trying to get Christmas knitting done. I don’t have a lot left to do but I always make my hubby a pair of socks and this year I’ve decided to go with a second pair using a pattern that I’ve used before. I have some balls of Raggi yarn left that I bought when we were losing the distributor in the US at the shop and I loved knitting the first pair (despite a pattern reading mistake). I’ll knit them the right way this time. LOL. I first saw the pattern for the Thompson River Socks in Interweave Knits back in 2016 and it’s available to purchase on their website but I saved my pattern so I started knitting last week. I have to be careful to knit them when he won’t catch me so they’ll be a surprise. I hope I’ll have them both done for him in time.

I’ve finished the knitting part of the Jamberry Cardigan for Sylvie’s Christmas gift and I have begun the duplicate stitch yoke decorations. Why, I wonder, didn’t I just knit the yoke in colorwork? It would have had some long floats but the duplicate stitch floats are equally long and the process isn’t nearly as enjoyable. Regardless, I made the decision to follow the pattern and I’m duplicate stitching. It’s really a cute sweater and I hope she loves it. It does look huge! I made the 4-year size so she can grow into it and she can always roll up the sleeves if it’s too big now. I’m excited for her to see it.

I have finished the Wee Liam pullover sweater and the little Billie pants for our nugget, the grandson out in Colorado. My hubby picked the buttons and I am quite happy with these two little garments. Hopefully he hasn’t grown too much and will be able to wear them. (All the size details and yarn, etc. are on my Ravelry project page.) The buttons are solid wood and I like the way they pop off the sweater. And I love the color. It’s showing as more gray here in the photo, it’s really more of a dark sage green.

I am spending the later evenings when my eyes and brain are tired working on the endless stockinette stitch of the Easy Folded Poncho in orange (Zinnia colorway) Rowan Felted Tweed. I really like the color and it’s going to be fun to wear. I am around the 30-36″ mark, I think. I haven’t got the guts to really measure it because it seems to take forever to get any significant progress made on it. But I am making some progress.

AND I have cast on two more projects. I couldn’t wait to cast on the Alpine Bloom Hat by Caitlin Hunter. I’ve had the Patagonia Organic Merino in charcoal and light gray in my stash for a while waiting to cast this one and I need a hat that I love. I don’t like myself in hats and I’m praying that I do like this one because it makes me so happy knitting it! I’m about half-way through the chart and I made the ribbing extra long so I can fold it over. This is what I WANT to work on but I “make” myself work on the things I need to get done first and knit this as a reward.

My sister-in-love asked me to make a blanket for her brother’s partner whose daughter is about to have the first grandchild. I have also cast this on hoping that I can get it finished before Thanksgiving and hand deliver it to her. I chose Berroco Vintage Chunky in a sage green colorway and am knitting the Three Cable Baby Blanket which is a free pattern we have in the store. I’m not sure where it came from but it’s my go-to pattern for baby gifts and I’ve made several of them. I am loving the green yarn. Green is my brother’s favorite color and this is a lovely soft yarn. I got almost one hank of yarn knitted yesterday afternoon … if I stick to it, I should be able to finish it by the end of the week. Crossing my fingers. I’ll have to resist knitting everything else.

I have pulled out the beautiful green linen yarn that I bought to make the Broadgate Tabbard and I really want to start knitting that. I have a new white blouse that will be perfect under this “vest” and I can’t wait to see the color! Another new green project and I have very little that’s green. It’s never been a favorite color but when I saw it in a photograph on social media, I had to have that exact color. I think I will be able to wear the tabbard (it’s like a vest but not closed up on the sides) in the summer, too. Over a tank or a tee. We’ll see. But the color green that I bought is stunning. It will wait until I have finished my Christmas knitting.

And with that, I will sign off and get to knitting the baby blanket. If I can get it nearly to the half-way marker today, that would be a huge win … first, though, I have got to put a grocery order together. So until the next time … gone knitting!

Grateful Every Day!

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Queen Bee Knits

It started out to be another gray morning here on the lake but then the sun came out! Yay!!! I’ve been struggling with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is like depression and it’s been a rough week or two. I’m fighting to get stuff done in advance of the holidays and around the house … falling behind leads to a nightmare and I’m happy that I’ve been mostly keeping up. Anywho … the reason for this post is to share our wonderful Thanksgiving with our family in Massachusetts and that’s what I am going to focus on.

As always, we had a ball with the family. My brothers and their wonderful wives, nieces, nephews, son and his fiancee, and my sister-in-love’s brother and his girlfriend, two of her children and his daughters, too. Add three little kiddos and five dogs and you’ve got our evening! There had to have been 25 of us! And for the second or third year, there was a polar plunge involved. “We” (not me and not my hubby) jumped off the commercial dock in Marblehead and everyone survived. We guessed the water in the harbor was in the 50 degree range, but that’s a guess. It was cold for sure. My brother, two of his sons, my son and his fiancee all jumped in. I’m in awe!

We had a lobster feast for Thanksgiving because it can be cooked outside and the menu was incredible: shrimp cocktail, clam chowder (from the Causeway Restaurant in Gloucester, MA .. the best we have ever had), steamed clams, lobster, and salmon, a salad and grilled ciabatta. John B. brought the traditional Marblehead Thanksgiving desserts – cannoli and ricotta pie from an Italian bakery in Lynn. If anybody didn’t have fun, it’s their fault! I’m so grateful to have an extended family that I love spending time with and my hubby said yesterday, “I had a good time at Thanksgiving!” That says a lot. There’s never enough time when we’re all together and that, too, says a lot. How incredibly lucky we are.

The second night we had a pulled pork taco night. We brought our “insta-pot” down with us and went out to gather ingredients on Black Friday. And then on Saturday we had a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. I came home with an extra 5 pounds. LOL.

And what would a beautiful turkey dinner be without some turkey stock cooked right after the clean-up? The kids filled two “handles” with stock to carry back to New York City and I thought the idea to package it in the empty liquor bottles was brilliant and a bit funny.

On the way home, DH and I stopped for lunch with a friend from summer camp way back in the dark ages and then we stopped at Costco … spending time until we could pick up the dog at the kennel at 6pm. It was a nice, easy, no traffic ride home.

AND!!! I’m so happy to report that I finished a pair of socks for my darling sister-in-love in Massachusetts. She’s very knit-worthy and I’ve never made her a pair of socks so I had some Christmassy Raggi sock yarn in my stash that needs to be knitted up and I made her a pair of socks. I loved the way the yarn did its self-striping thing and the socks will keep Annie warm this winter inside her 200+ year-old house.

I also finished Sylvie’s Christmas sweater and sent it and her Advent calendar that I made on to New York City. I love the sparkly buttons and I am really fond of the sweater pattern (although the button plackets were a bit weird!) I hope it’ll fit her.

Snowflake by Tin Can Knits in Berroco Vintage DK

While we were away, I was given two more knitting for Christmas assignments and went in to Marblehead Knits for some yarn. One color had to match ST’s “signature” nail polish color and will be his running mitts. I’ll probably make a headband, too, but it may be after Christmas so I can measure his head. I also am replacing a hat for BS that he (mistakenly) washed with his laundry and felted. One more chance, B! LOL. Both of those projects will be easy to complete before the holidays but today is going to be for seaming my Lane’s Island pullover. I’d love to get it together before Christmas so I can wear it. It’s the perfect weight for being inside with a shirt and light sweater. I’ve got my first Lane’s Island on today, in fact.

I’ve finished a little pair of watermelon socks for Sylvie’s Advent calendar and I’m working on a pair of shortie socks for her mom or me … and the Octopus hat from hell has been sent and is much loved despite its horrible history. I’ve written about it on the last post. And I’ve now felted superwash yarn. And they say it can’t be done. Ha!

On my needles … all stuff that I have to really think about (except for the pair of shortie watermelon socks) so I have made precious little progress. I’ve got to finish the Arne & Carlos MKAL stocking and may get to it this weekend. I’ve got to make a bit of progress on the Fair Isle bag “swatch” for my Fair Isle knitting class, too. I’ve got a few rounds in and then stopped. I did very little knitting while we were away. I’d still like to make a pair of socks for my DH for his Christmas stocking. I have to get him a gift, too. Have I ever mentioned that I don’t love Christmas? It feels like tremendous pressure just thinking about it. We won’t put up a big tree (we have a little pre-lighted fake tree) but I’m going to get my Advent mini-jumpers hung this year. I really want to see them hanging!

I need to get off the computer and get some “work” done so I can knit. I have minutes from a meeting to upload and the laundry needs to be moved from the washer to the dryer but I wanted to reflect on how very grateful I am … even still today … after our Thanksgiving visit with family. We have remarked that we never seem to have enough time together and that, in itself, is such a blessing. I hear so many people who don’t want to have to spend time with their family and we can’t wait to have more time together!

Gone knitting.

With Gratitude for all of our Blessings

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Queen Bee Knits

We got home last night from a wonderful Thanksgiving trip to see Ned’s youngest and her fiance and to meet her future in-laws. His oldest daughter and her husband came out, too. It was a wonderful (almost) week with our family!!!

We went for a great walk on their near-by bike trail, spent lots of time eating and chatting, had the most wonderful Thanksgiving feast with Jake’s family, went bowling (and tested Ned’s new hip), ate at a delicious Indian restaurant with Jake’s family and went for a drive to the mountains and had lunch in Golden.

Highlights were seeing a pair of buck moose on the way to a state park photo spot. They were just enjoying their nibbles a bit off the side of the street. We stopped, of course, like foolish tourists and took photos. We supposed that they wouldn’t be able to reach us quickly because there was a six-foot barbed wire fence between us … we also did not try to annoy them closer to us. AND when we got to the scenic overlook of the mountains it was breathtakingly beautiful. Those mountains are incredible. We were treated to witnessing a proposal. We saw a woman “lurking” at the side of the trail and a couple walked hand-in-hand to a little clearing near the trail and before we knew it, they were face to face (at a distance from where we were standing and he got down on one knee. The lurker was a photographer and we were the unintended witnesses. A privilege to witness such a special intimate moment in a couple’s life.

We adore the new family we are adding to ours and are so excited for Amy & Jake’s wedding so we can get back to Denver. I missed being able to visit with my “little mentee” from Florida who has moved to the Denver environs with her little family. She was sick and I couldn’t risk getting sick because I have babysitting duty in NYC this weekend. I also was reminded that an Instagram knitting friend is in Denver but their Thanksgiving was on the day that we had time/opportunity to visit so we’ve postponed both until June. I also didn’t get to visit any yarn shops which will happen in June. But it was an excellent visit and we look forward to more in the future. Guess it’s time to get a Southwest Airlines credit card for the points, right?

My knitting sure took a back seat to visiting with the kids and family. I worked a bit on the blue baby sweater for one of my daughter’s bestie’s new baby boy. I have to finish the button bands and block it and get some buttons on Thursday at work and it’ll be done. I frogged the mistakes in my Nancy’s vest and have begun re-knitting with ten rows between buttonholes. Good grief, I can’t believe I read the pattern so badly the first time. I’ve said before that knitting is a humbling experience and this was once again proof of that. I started a pair of socks with yarn that has been deeply stashed (another one, yes!) in a Maine Lobster colorway. My intent is that they’re for me this time. The last ones I knit for me years ago felted slightly in the wash despite them being superwash wool … and I gifted them to Kate who has smaller feet.

I adore this man and the family that we’ve built together. I hope we get at least another 20 years to watch them all grow together! We are so lucky to have found each other and to have weathered the weirdness that we’ve been through at different times. We are grateful to live in our beautiful home and to have some wonderful friends who make our life richer and we are most thankful for our health and our children, children-in-love, and of course our grandchild.

Life is good. Our hearts are full. Gone knitting.

PS. While we were gone, we started the process of fixing up our little wonky cabin which will be available for rent (hopefully) next summer. We lived in the cabin for seven months when we were building our house. I think it’s especially a great place for writers, artists, contemplation … I know we did a lot of growing together in those seven months (and it was darned cold for the last few weeks!) More on that to follow.

Fall-ing Back.

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Queen Bee Knits

We see a lot more sunrises on the lake in the winter. We have gone back to daylight savings time here in Maine, falling back an hour. This means that we wake up to sunrise and it’s dark before the end of the workday. But it’s beautiful. The sun rises in the colder months almost directly across the lake from our bedroom window and that means the sun shines straight in. It’s lovely waking up to a colorful sky.

Life has been busy on the lake. We have been trying to get the gardens cleaned out and the pots emptied and put away. My hubby planted the garlic and covered it with a thick layer of hay. We have had our first snow … not enough to shovel and followed by rain, but first snow. It was lovely for me because I stayed in and enjoyed the warm, cozy house and a day of drinking tea and knitting.

We’ve been doing a lot of “family planning” with the holidays closing in on us again. We will be in Marblehead, MA for Thanksgiving this year with some of the kids, then heading to the Washington, DC area for (bonus daughter) Robin’s wedding and then I’ll be heading to New York City for my first babysitting gig as a grandma. The baby has hit her one month mark, loves to eat and hates to sleep on her back, alone, in her bassinet. Her parents are exhausted but totally in love.

Basic Christmas Stocking by Queen Bee Knits (pattern coming soon)

I’ve completed two of my three commissioned stockings and am working on the third. It’s of interested to note that I am using three different brands of yarn for these three stockings and they’re each a bit different. I think I saved the best for last, Cascade 220, which was the only 100% wool yarn that I found that was “white enough” to pass as white – not ivory or cream or aran colored. I’ve gotten down to the heel in about 6.5 hours of knitting. I estimated ten hours and we’ll see how close I get. I’m not as good as lawyers are at keeping track of my time. My dear old dad would be so disappointed (not really). Once tis he knitting complete, I’ll duplicate stitch the names onto them and send them off. The really rough pattern notes are here. I’ll write up the pattern when I can and post it on Ravelry.

I’ve finished the baby’s Christmas stocking, too. I made this stocking pattern for her parents “a few” years back. It must have been before I kept real records of my projects on Ravelry. But I do know that the pattern is out of a book … and I kept the pattern but didn’t keep the book. SO … I’m lucky that I have it to knit again. I really enjoy knitting cables. I had forgotten how much. This stocking is fairly heavily cabled but very satisfying to knit. The X and O cable pattern is easy to memorize with the stitches crossing every four rounds. Once you have learned how to make a cable lean to the left or the right, it’s a pretty easy pattern to read as you go. The “ornament” pattern is less intuitive but it’s really lovely. I love the way the design incorporates the cables all the way through the heel flap and heel turn and all the way down to the toe. The pattern is Hugs and Kisses Aran Stocking by Dee Lockwood.

I’ve made a second Newborn Vertebrae for Sylvie. This time it’s a Christmas design. She’s getting so much bigger but she’s still pretty tiny and she spends a lot of time being held or lying on her back. (She much prefers the former, by the way.) The rainbow vertebrae sweater that I knit her fits her perfectly and her mom and I decided it was a good fit for the time through Christmas. We hope. Anyway, I used a 50g. ball of fingering weight sock yarn for the body of the sweater and then I dove into my stash for the accent colors. I found several greens and a lovely red and I’ve decorated the sweater appropriately. I wanted to go all out and decorate further with sequins and beads BUT they’ll be like a bad princess and the pea story because the beads would poke the baby’s back. So it’s unadorned for the most part. I just have to add a tiny yellow star.

I’ve set aside the Merry KAL until I get the deadline knitting finished. Suffice it to say that I was really (really) tired on Thursday after work and I decided to pick up this pattern for a bit … I knit and then promptly frogged the same rounds. Moral of the story is knit a very simple pattern when you’re sleep deprived or you’ll be tinking back. Ha! Ha!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8fb9bfb2-2cf4-472c-b7b9-300744462d38_1_201_a.jpeg — Christmas Newborn Vertebrae

My Arne and Carlos Mini-Advent-Jumpers are frozen at number 15 1/2. I’ve begun number 16 but I haven’t been back to work on it for a few weeks. I don’t think I’ll finish them this year and that’s going to be ok. I’m going to give myself some grace since I haven’t stopped working whether it’s as president of the lake association, a board member for Maine Arts Academy, at the store or in my own knitting business. I also have a life aside from work and a house to clean, laundry, groceries, cooking, baking and sometimes I have to sleep, too. The LYS where I work and teach is kicking off a Fall Smalls KAL/CAL on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we’re going to work on small projects – participants can come knit with the group for no cost and can work on any small project they want; toys, a small sweater, a hat, dishcloths, whatever. Our Fall Smalls KAL/CAL will run for just a few weeks and end on the Winter Solstice. A little (pun intended) fun ahead of a busy holiday season.

I also have a Musselburgh hat on the needles that I’ve spoken very little about. This has been my knitting go-to for when I need something “brainless” to knit. I’ve got the hat nearly to eighteen inches and time to decrease for the end of the hat. BUT it’s been a lot of knitting in the round. Once past the increases which are not difficult it’s time to knit forever! I’ve been knitting forever. This is a hat designed for several different yarn weights. I’ve chosen a fingering weight sock yarn, washable, Berroco Vintage Sock in the black colorway. I’ll tell you honestly that I don’t love this yarn. I would rather be knitting with wool rather than this combination of acrylic and wool. The yarn is soft and washable, suitable for wearing against the skin and also suitable for babies. But my daughter said she’d wear a black hat and I wanted to try the pattern to see how it knits up. I love the pattern. Ysolda (Teague, the designer) is a genius. I hope it’ll be a perfect fit!

I’ll leave you here, dear friend (dare I say friends?) with the idea that this is a wonderful time to gather with friends and/or family and count your blessings even if they’re as simple as a crisp cool day with sun or the feel of yarn passing through your fingers. I’m grateful for a healthy family, the opportunity to travel to be with many of them over the course of the next few weeks and, of course for yarn. This is the time to fall back into the winter routine of coming inside and (hopefully) slowing down a little and knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving and cheers!

Gone knitting.

Grateful

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Queen Bee Knits

I started this post after Thanksgiving having spent several days with two thirds of my kids, their significant others, my brothers and sisters-in-love and their kids and some of their significant others. Being with family is my drug. I left Massachusetts with my heart full and my soul warmed. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday just before all of the pressure heading into Christmas begins. I’m so grateful that my children and their cousins know each other and that they enjoy spending time together and we enjoyed spending time together, too!

And now we’re well into the Christmas rush. Rushing to get the tree decorated and the presents bought and mostly shipped to their recipients but some to put under the tree and into stockings for Christmas day. I’m working hard to keep the gratitude and warm fuzzies in my heart that I had a Thanksgiving and to be fully honest here, I’m struggling. My dear husband’s daughters and one of their boyfriends are scheduled to be here for Christmas this year. It seems that because of a sick dog, one won’t be able to come. The other daughter’s boyfriend seems to be rethinking the trip because he’s spent a lot of time in Florida with his family. I was really looking forward to seeing them because we haven’t seen each other for a long time. We haven’t seen the dog mom daughter for a year and a half.

Today I’m trying to wrap my head around having Christmas at home with my little family – me and my husband. It seems that it’s entirely possible again this year. Somehow I have to make it ok and I’m not sure how to do that. It’s going to be difficult to make any major changes because I’m now scheduled to work since we were going to be celebrating here with my step-daughters. It’ll be near-impossible to kennel the dog at this point to fly anywhere and a drive to their homes is at least a two day drive each way … leaving two days to visit. We don’t relish the idea of four days in the car for a two-day visit. The NYC kids are having a Christmas dinner to which we’ve been invited but I don’t know what kind of hotel or extra bed situation we’d be looking at and the dog still needs to be kenneled. I guess we will look at our options if we find it’ll be just us for sure.

Meanwhile, I’m knitting. A lot. I’ve been finishing some projects, too. I have so many things that I want to knit and with my schedule, I’ve been lining them up for when I have some time to knit “what I want”. I’ve knitted several gifts for the kids in NYC and they’ve been sent on. We are going to go to the beach in Rhode Island again in September and that’s their big gift. Since they haven’t opened gifts, I’ll not discuss what I’ve made until after Christmas – and I even forgot to photograph a couple of the gifts. Oops!

The Slip Stitch Hat by Tanis Williams is a sweet hat with a slip stitch section around the head. It makes the sport/dk weight hat a bit warmer around the ears. I used a bit of a handspun yarn that I was gifted with a wool/silk blend yarn that I found at Marden’s here in Maine. It was a yarn company close out sale and was a great deal. This hat will be going to Yardgoods Center’s February hat drive for the needy in our community.

The beaded tape measure is a new activity that I’ve been doing with my Friday knitters, one of whom is a phenomenal talent at beading and quilting in addition to being a great knitter. Anyway, we bought a kit online (Etsy) and we had a class at the end of my teaching day a few weeks ago. What fun! I love the way the tape measure looks so much but I admit that I’m a bit hesitant to put it into my knitting bag for fear that it will be damaged or get dirty.

Evergreen Socks by Madeline Gannon are so much fun! I loved knitting these. I used deeply stashed yarn from Buffalo Wool Company. I’ve had this yarn from a bunch of years ago when I signed up for their monthly yarn club. It’s a fingering weight blend of wool and buffalo so these socks are likely to be nice and warm. I think these will be for me. I only have one daughter who has the same size feet as I do and she likes shorty socks.

Husband’s Christmas (last year) sweater. Well, he loves it and it’s a perfect fit. I gave him the yarn for this sweater last year at Christmas. His face when he opened it was a classic. He wondered if I was going to teach him to knit! LOL. Needless to say, here it is almost Christmas again and I have finally gotten it done. I loved loved loved knitting with Cascade 220 worsted yarn. I’ve not knitted with it before (I know, I was surprised, too) and it’s so much softer and more luxurious feeling that the Ella Rae wool that I’ve knitted with several times. The price point isn’t that different anymore so I’d prefer the Cascade; especially when it’s a garment. We’ll see how it wears and how it pills. The pattern is Knitting Plain and Simple #991 and it is simple but the heathered yarn makes is anything but plain.

Oh, Arne and Carlos, how I love you. I started knitting the Christmas balls last year and got about six of them finished. I haven’t tried to knit any this year because these stinking cute mini jumpers came out and that’s all I wanted to knit. I have managed to get five done and will pick up the rest of the 24 and hope to get them finished before next Christmas. I’m using Patagonia organic merino in three colors. I decided to keep the traditional holiday colors for our house. We shall see. But I love them so much!

Last but not least, I have cast on for a new pair of mittens for me. I love my “old” snowflake mittens a lot. These new ones are similar and very different. These are the Northman Mittens by David Schultz and I’ve chosen to knit with the same yarn as the design calls for. It just so happens that we have a great selection of Berroco Ultra Alpaca yarn. I’ve changed my mind already several times but I can’t change it again. I am knitting with a light tealy-blue-green and a light gray shade. The lining will be knit in a pink for a pop of color and you can find all the gory details for this and all of my other projects on my Ravelry project page. (I”m “lindar” on Ravelry.)

I am knitting a sweater for my almost-93 year old student who is having memory challenges and she was unable to be successful with this Plain and Simple pattern. I’ll get the sleeves finished this week and will present it to her as my gift on her 93rd birthday which is on Friday … and a cake! She’s one of my favorites and it’s crushing to see her struggle to knit. She was a wonderful knitter back in the day.

There you have it. I’ve caught you up to date. I’m sorry for the downer at the start of this post but I have promised myself that I would be authentic here and show you how life and knitting weave together to make me who I am. I won’t apologize for who I am and I am an emotional person. I’ve mentioned before my “ocular incontinence”, right? I will make the best of whatever Christmas brings, I’m just struggling with it for now. It’s all good. We love all of our kids and this won’t change that, of course.

Gone knitting.

A Week?

Posted on December 3, 2020 by Queen Bee Knits

Is it possible that already a week has passed since Thanksgiving? And it’s been two weeks since I’ve been to work! Amazing how quickly time passes … and how I manage to keep busy despite having “nothing” to do!

We’ve been working around the house to (begin to) get ready for Christmas. Christmas is not and has never been my favorite holiday. I much prefer Thanksgiving and we had hoped that at least a couple of our kiddos would be coming up for Thanksgiving but Covid-19 quashed that plan. It was too difficult to get tests as required by the states and the risk was too great. This latest surge is a beast. But the hubby and I had a lovely Thanksgiving alone together. We cooked a twenty pound turkey and all the fixings and I made two pies; chocolate peanut butter for him and pumpkin for me. I “cheated” and used a prepared pie crust for my pumpkin pie and it was awful … we ended up pitching all but one slice. It simply wasn’t worth the calories! I have a pie crust in the ‘fridge and some pumpkin I cooked and plan to make another one this weekend.

I saw planters like the one we made (above) at a local garden center. Their greens were expensive and we live in the woods so the weekend after Thanksgiving the hubby and I went foraging in the woods for some greens and birch logs. It didn’t take long to find them and we are pretty pleased with our front door decoration. We added some fairy lights to make it extra sparkly.

We had to buy new lights for the outdoor fir tree that we planted when we had our gardens done after we built the house. The tree has grown a lot and the old lights were all dead – perhaps because of the squirrels that like to hide in the tree and “yell” at us. Two extra long sets of lights weren’t enough and even the third doesn’t quite finish the job.

Inside, I’ve been up to some decorating, too. I bought 100 feet of fairy lights from Amazon after I saw this idea on Instagram. Leila Raven (@leila_raven) was the first post that I saw and I’ve since seen a lot of others. It’s not “easy” to knit lights on wire but it sure turns out to be sparkly. The hubby wants me to knit 400 feet next. I’m not sure if that’s a goal that I want to take on right now. Ha! Ha!

My fairy lights “swatch” was knit using US13 needles and I cast on 24 stitches with a backward loop cast on. Garter stitch all the way to the end of the lights and pull the end through the last stitch. Ours are hanging in the front hall where they greet us as we come and go.

I’ve knitted several pairs of mittens for a friend and customer for her grandsons (did I mention this already?). I had a bit of yarn left over and made another pair of mittens for my local school. Kids around here always need mittens, right? I finished the thumbs last night and will drop them off today on the way to work.

I’m also working on a Christmas stocking for a friend and customer. Her mother was a knitwear designer for Columbia-Minerva back in the day and the family all have stockings in her designs. I’m making one for a new family member. I have to say, intarsia is not my favorite technique. It’s fiddly and messy and there are millions of ends to weave in. With that said, I’m making progress and hope to get the colorwork part finished up this weekend and then it’s clear sailing to the toe. I had said I couldn’t promise the stocking for Christmas but I think and hope that I can get it delivered. I’m sure going to make a good old college try!

I’m participating in a couple of KALs this month. One is a gnome MKAL (mystery knit-a-long) hosted by Imagined Landscapes. I love her gnome patterns and will eventually knit a collection of them since I’ve purchased the patterns. This month it’s an ADVENTure Gnome MKAL. Four colors of fingering weight yarn and US1 needles is all you need. I’m knitting entirely from stash. Clue 1 came out on Tuesday and I’ve finished it but won’t show it until later. Stay tuned.

I’m also going to do Arne and Carlos’ 24 new Christmas balls. I’ve printed the patterns out and I’m already feeling stressed because I’m two days behind (soon to be three days behind) but I had purchased yarn that was an acrylic and wool blend and I’ve decided that I really want to use wool because they’ll block out so much more nicely. Acrylic yarn really doesn’t block at all. So, today, when I’m at work I’m going to search around for some wool yarn that isn’t superwash to use for this project and then I can start knitting. You can find the pattern at Arne and Carlos dot com. They have an entire book of Christmas balls, too. I haven’t (yet) gone down that road but we’ll see how I like the 24 that I have the pattern for! I’ll write more as I get one or two done … or find yarn!

I’ve decided to make some of my own decorations this year inside the house. I also think I may make some simmering potpourri for my students as a little holiday gift. My hubby found a dryer ages ago and we’ve used it once or twice but most of the time it’s been stored in a cabinet. Well, I’m making good use of it! I’ve dried six oranges and three limes so far. I’ll be adding some pine and cranberries to my indoor decorations and cinnamon sticks and cloves. This weekend is bound to be another busy one!

Gone knitting!

Fingerless Mitts in a Weekend – a free pattern

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Queen Bee Knits

This weekend was Thanksgiving and I decided to cast on a new and very simple project. Something I can make to sell. Well, they’re already off to their new home and I got them started AND finished over the course of the weekend. And I didn’t sell them. My daughter wanted them and I was more than happy to oblige!

Several people have asked me for my pattern. It’s an antique pattern with a lot of little changes.

Fingerless Mitts in a Weekend

220 yards (100g) Worsted Weight wool yarn. For my sample I used Ella Rae Classic Wool in colorway #164; a heathery light purple.

Set of 4 US 4 double pointed needles

1 stitch marker

Lengths of scrap yarn or yarn holders to hold thumb stitches

Cuff: to make a women’s mitt cast on 44 stitches and K2, P2 for 3 inches. You can certainly make the cuff longer but remember you may need more yarn. On the last row (it can be an extra row after 3 inches, don’t sweat it. Just remember what you did so you can do the same on the second mitt) *k1, k1fb, p2, (k2, P2) ten times, repeat from * one more time. Two stitches increased. 46 stitches total.

Knit six rounds plain. (No increases or decreases.)

Begin Thumb Gusset increases:

K1fb, k1, K1fb, PM (place marker) knit to the beginning of the round.

Knit 1 round plain

K1fb, k3, K1fb, SM (slip marker) knit to the beginning of round.

Knit 1 round plain

Continue in this manner, increasing in the first stitch and the stitch before the marker, slip the marker and then knit to the end of the round; knit two rounds plain until there are 15 thumb stitches. (The stitches between the beginning of round and the marker are the thumb gusset, extra stitches to accommodate your thumb.) You need to remember to knit two rounds after the last increase round.

Now thread a needle with some scrap yarn about a foot long. Slip the 15 thumb stitches from the DPN to scrap of yarn (or a stitch holder. I like using a scrap of yarn because I can keep trying on the mitts.) You have 15 thumb stitches on holder and 46 stitches on the Dpns.

Cast on three stitches, connect again for knotting around the hand stitches. Knit all stitches in the round until the hand is as long as you want it to be. I like my hands (mostly) covered so I knit until the hand is about at the first joint of my pinkie finger.

Begin ribbing: k2tog, K1, (P2, K2) to the last two sts, P2. 48 sts total.

Continue on pattern as set (Knit 2, Purl 2 around) for five rounds. Bind off in pattern.

Thumb: slip 15 thumb stitches onto dpns. cast on 5 stitches at the «crotch » of the thumb (where you cast on three stitches.)

Knit 3 rounds plain

K2, P2 around for five rounds. Bind off in pattern.

Make the second mitt just the same.

Weave in ends. Block gently. Or just wear them!

Mind you, I haven’t had these mitts test knit or tech edited. I’m happy to take your suggestions and edits should you find « issues » when you’re knitting.

These are the mitts that I taught last session at the adult education program here. I also taught my students to embroider on the fabric knitted. There are lots of pictures out there of embroidery on knitting. I also used this pattern for these mitts with self-patterning yarn. Be fearless! Have fun!

Gone knitting.

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