Molly Bee's Attic

Well, it was inevitable. We've finally declared war on the neighboring townships and seceded from Wisconsin. The war starts at 1PM. Actually, Mr. Bee and I went to a civil war reenactment camp in town this morning. It was really interesting and walking through the campfire smoke made my shirt smell like my family's camp in Maine. I may never wash the shirt again! Yum! Lots more pictures on the my new Flicker site....(Link on the left hand side of the page, Mum! ) There was a cool group representing the "Colored Regiments" in the war and two ladies were knitting (actually one was crocheting) with Red Heart yarn! Yikes. I got thinking about it and thought that maybe that would be a good home from my first homespun yarn. It's Lincoln; rough, minimally dyed and processed and more than a little amaturish . So I went home and got it and took it back to them. They were thrilled and anxious to get started on some knitting that was a little more authentic to their reena...

Only have time for a quickie. Work is KILLING me this week. Looks like I may even have to work straight through the weekend to finish a mega project. In what little spare time I have I've been spinning.....here is a half a bobbin of singles (merino and silk)... And working on my photo quilt. I fed a photo into the program which spit out a small chart which I hand transferred into this...You can't really see it, but it's 1"squares with numbers. A 1"block of a specific color goes on each space. Here is a bad photo of my swatches. I picked the colors and put them on this worksheet and photocopied them. This removes the 'color' and lets you work with just the value. Then you arrange them from lightest to darkest, cut out a bazzillion 1" squares, organize them in a box with numbered cubbies and then lay them out on fusible interfacing that has been laid over the pattern. I know in theory what happens next, but I'm only at the cutting a bazzil...

Yesterday we drove about 100 miles north to a friends' camp on Lake Roche-A- Cri . The weather was gorgeous. The scenery was stunning and of course the company was amazing as always. We are blessed with the most wonderful friends in the world and this particular couple has become more like family than just friends; comfortable, wonderful, insightful and funny. Here are photos of our fabulous day: (Click on them to make them larger. It's worth it!) Indian Petroglyph Rock at Roche-A- Cri State Park Little cave at Roche-A- Cri State Park (Does this look vaguely female and anatomical to anyone but us?) Graffiti from the 1800's Petroglyphs (both carvings and red ochre) Big Roche-A- Cri Lake Big Roche-A- Cri Dam More Rock Formations at Roche-A- Cri State Park Camoflage Kitty Looking from the dam

This is a Merino top and silk blend. I spun it all one color at a time because I didn't know any better. Where was Dave Daniels when I needed him! So there are long repeats, but I like it. It hasn't been washed yet but I thought I'd show it off anyway! Off to quilt!

It was a looooooonnnnng night at Chez Bee. We went to bed about 10:45 and were reading when the power went out. A quick check out the windows proved that it was neighborhood wide. Mr. Bee decided to get the flashlight, go out to the garage, fish around in the glove box to find the cell phone and call MG&E to see what was going on. We quickly discovered that Bentley had never encountered a flashlight before and was terrified. He’s such a brave protector. Mr. Bee said that he hid behind his legs when a dry leaf skittered across the street on their walk this morning. Took 5 minutes to explain that flashlights are our friends which prompted him to stop being scared and start trying to catch the light circle like a lunatic. MG&E’s automated message said that they hoped to have our power restored in two hours or so. Fine. We were just going to sleep anyway. We didn ’t need light. Of course I was considerably sleepier before participating in the Flying Bentley Wallenda Light and L...

I went to Quilt Expo on Friday and guess what I bought? Lunch! Yup! That's it. I was sorely tempted to buy Tammie Bowser's quilted photograph software, but decided to be mature about it and try the shareware on her web to see if I like it before I go whole hog. Besides $10 to get in, $30 for three classes and $6 for a tiny slice of cheese pizza and a bottle of water for lunch and I thought I had spent enough. This time around it seemed to be all about creative uses for charms-5 1/2 inch samples. It was interesting. Lot of stuff was interesting. But nothing really grabbed me other than the quilted photographs and the landscaping stuff. [By the way, if you were there on Friday, yes, that was yours truly destroying the set that Nancy Zieman (of Sewing with Nancy fame doncha know) and Natalie Sewell were setting up for their class. I had a bright idea about tacking cloth up on an easel that failed miserably and they made me come up on stage and try to fix it as it fell down ar...

So I rescued a tiny, little sparrow from the front of Mr. Bee's office yesterday. It was on the sidewalk with one wing dragging. He didn't even try to scoot or protest as I walked over to him. I scooped him up and got in the passenger seat of the car. Mr. Bee belted us in as I cooed at the poor sweetie. He sat perfectly still just blinking as we started out for the animal rehabilitator . So serene. So adorable. Just so Gosh. Darn. Cute. Until we got on the highway. As soon as we approached cruising altitude, he went absolutely POSTAL and threw a little birdy snit fit of Alfred Hitchcock- ean proportions. He literally turned from sweet, docile, little, 3-inch tall, T weety into the Gargantuan Death Bird from Hell in the blink of an eye. He spent the next 7 excruciating miles furiously trying to drill his way through my palms with his tiny razor like beak. He scrambled. He pecked. He fluttered. He bored. He bit me and made me say bad words. I went from cooing and cuddling to ...

Mabel and I have been enjoying each other's company. I love the way she hums and whirls and turns ordinary fleece into yummy, yarny goodness. She appreciates the way I have stopped swearing at her, calling her bad names and insulting her mother. It's all good. Here is the first yarn we made together. Since I was just trying to get the rhythm and mechanics down, I didn't worry too much about thick and thin, schlubs or little bits of vegetation. I'm pretty happy with it for a first attempt. I learned a lot about how the machine works, fixing breaks and how much twist to put in. The fleece is wool from Moe Brown's Four Crow Farm. It's mostly natural brown color with little bits of pink and yellow tossed in for a flecking effect. I still have a couple skeins worth to spin up and then it's on to some of my brightly colored ones! Please take a look at the close-up version of it. It's two ply. If any of you 'real spinners' out there spot any glaring ...

Meet Mable. She hales from the Jefferson County Sheep and Wool Festival although she was born in New Zealand where they know from sheep! (Her middle and last name are in honor of my favorite New Zealand folk duo, The Flight of The Concords). Mr. Bee bought her for me as a birthday present. She is a Baynes castle style Upright made from New Zealand hardwood. I am deeply in love. Can't say enough good things about the folks from Wool, Warp and Weft who gave me a lesson and sold her to me. Even threw in free lessons at their store down past Lake Geneva! I also brought home a few balls of wool roving to run through her. Mr. Bee surprised me by being a very enthusiastic color picker-outer. Saw and hugged lots of animals. The only thing we didn't get to see was the herding dog trials. One lady said that they were going to herd baby ducks so it would have been a sight I'm sure. Kind of like me and my 15 'kids' at work. In fact I often refer to them as baby ducks on crac...

I finished one of my 'Walk on the Wild Tide' socks. Wasn't just flounder ing around was I? Only took 2 days! I really like the pattern a lot. As written, you slip a stitch over two rows to make it pop. I did that on the leg, but on the top of the foot I did it for 3 rows to make it pop a little more since that's the part you can see in my new shoes. Wicked gaw-jus, Deah! Sticking with the seaside theme, I made a wicked good fish chowder tonight. It was easy, delicious, had simple ingredients and made me homesick for Maine. If you'd like the recipe email me at mollybees at charter daht net and I will gladly send it to you. Yummy! Even Mr. Bee didn't do his usual carp ing about having soup for supper. Which is good because it makes a pretty good pot full so eel be eating it for a couple more days! And in an effort keep plastic waste out of our lakes and oceans, (clever segue , no?) I have been shrimping and saving plastic bags that our Sunday paper comes in fo...

Red sky at night, sailor's delight. The weatherman says that today is supposed to be the last day for a while that is hotter than the surface of the sun. I'm holding him to it. I know where he works if it turns out to be in the muggy 90°s again and I have to drive over there and find him and 'work it out'. The sunset seems to be backing him up tonight so we'll see. I'm ready for the cool crisp days of autumn. Have been since June actually. I started knitting up some of my Socks That Rock yarn last night. The colorway is called "A Walk on the Tide Side". It's got a bit of just about every color in the spectrum in it. It was a little dark when I took the photos tonight. I'll wait for more light when I take a photo of the finished sock. The pattern is a cool one from my new favorite book "101 One Skein Wonders". It's a slip stitch rib pattern that really makes the different colors pop. I am counting down the days until Saturday'...

Decided on yarn for Secret of the Stole KAL. Finished hand spinning my orange and yellow fleece from Sandy's Palette. Finished purple Cascade Tulip socks Bought some new Dansko shoes to display them in! All and all a marvy weekend! Hope yours was too!