Molly Bee's Attic

Today is a weird day at work. All the schools are closed because of the -40° wind chill factor potential and the ice-covered roads from yesterday's storm. Usually when the city school closes, we close. Today however, we are on a 'two hour delay' which has got everyone confused and in a tizzy. Half my kids are out or coming in late. Half of them are supposed to be in a workshop and the other half on the phone. Now it's questionable as to whether we have enough phone coverage... Oh the angst! On and on and on they go. In the midst of the tumult, one of my kids asked me to make coffee. "All hands were on the phones so no one can brew it." They must have been desperate to ask me so, this one time, I said, "Sure! I'll make it". When THEY make the coffee, they grind their own beans and make a brew called "Black Thunder" . They put in twice the coffee and half the water . The resulting sludge looks, and I suspect tastes, like used 40W motor ...

Lord People, I swear I will eat anything. I ate horse in Kazakhstan. (No, I don’t want to talk about it.) And now I’ve consumed goat at an Indian Restaurant on the West Side (Swagat at the corner of Old Sauk and High Point). And though I am an animal lover and sort of disgusted with myself, I really liked it. Goat just seems in a cuter class than the other animals I consume or something. Mr. Bee and I had never had Indian food before so we went with friends to try it and one of the dishes at the buffet was curried goat so what was I going to do? I got through it by pretending it was one of the goats responsible for my unfortunate fall into a big hole at the Marshfield Memorial Day Parade a couple of years ago *. [Never let it be said that I will not get even. You won’t know where and you won’t know when Mr. Goat…. But revenge will be mine! Bwaaahahahahah!] . But, that said, I’m drawing the line at house pets. Well, for now. I swear to God if Bentley eats one more coaster I may have...

I gave him every chance to live. I knew that I had put a PAIR of red basket weave stitch socks in the washer, but when I moved everything over to the dryer, I only pulled one out to hang on the rod to air dry. I HATE when that happens. So I took every piece of clothing out, one at a time, and shook it. No sock. I turned everything inside out. No sock. I turned everything back to the right side. No sock. At that point you start to question your sanity. Did I really see TWO socks when I put everything in the washer? So I checked everywhere that wasn't the laundry room to see if I'd dropped it. I questioned Bentley who has a tendency to lug off wayward socks and coat them with slobbery love. No sock, slimed or otherwise. So I proceeded to convince myself that he wasn't in the washer. This is what he wanted me to do. And all the while he was either hugging the top of the dryer drum with all his might or employing some supernatural sock invisibility technique so that I coul...

Since it's too dang cold around these parts to do much, Ben and Bash have decided to spend their days sleeping on the sofa in the sun and dreaming of the tropics... And Mr. Bee and I have decided that February is 'Finally-Remodel-The-Basement-Storage' month. To that end, we will need to move all of the junk...uh...that is to say...priceless treasure... from the storage area on one side of the basement to (sob) my quilting/yarn storage room on the other side! Given the extensive plans we have for shelf-building, our total lack of knowledge or experience regarding construction matters, the length of time it take either of us to actually get anything accomplished, and our overwhelming lack of enthusiasm about this particular project, I am anticipating the quilt/yarn room will be off limits until at least the end of April when we try to unload....ummmm...I mean...regrettably part with... a lot of said 'priceless treasure' at our neighborhood yard sale extravaganza. So I...

My cold is doing much better. Thanks to all for the good wishes and suggested remedies. Mr. Bee now has it as well but we're both getting a little better each day. It's supposed to be -1,000° this weekend so it'll be a good time to hunker down, stay inside, drink lots of tea and finish healing! I even went to get groceries tonight so I don't have to do it this weekend. We had a belated Christmas last night with friends and they gave me ( drum roll please....) NORO SOCK YARN! In my favorite color! Melted peacock! I had just started knitting a pair of red and purple Bear Mountain socks with a new 'mini bamboo' stitch pattern from the Vogue Stitchonary that my Mum got me for Christmas. I was really enjoying it until I got the Noro . Now I'm knitting as fast as I can just to be done with it and get started on my new yarn! I've already got another new stitch pattern picked out! I also finished spinning up the singles that I've had on Mabel for...

Lordy Y'all, have I been one sick puppy. It started last Saturday with a small code in my node and then evolved into The Cough (echo, echo, echo). Not a namby - pamby little 'ahem', this. The Cough was a spastic -rib-snapping-harbor-seal-like-repetitive-barking nightmare that left me curled up in the fetal position, seeing stars and trying to get some semblance of air into my now inside-out-and-clearly-on-fire lungs. By Tuesday afternoon I was spending half the time scared that I was gonna die and the other half afraid I wouldn't, so Mr. Bee bundled us up and trudged us off to Urgent Care. The Cough and I stood three people back in line at registration with a massive wad of Puffs Plus trying to be inconspicuous. We failed miserably. We basically cleared the room of all but necessary personnel, who at this point were wondering just how necessary they were really. I got to the head of the registration line quicker than usual as the two folks ahead of me decided that...

And precious little time to write between tissue runs, so I'll just post another couple of finished objects. Here are the slipper socks that a friend asked me to make for her and her daughter. The purpley ones are done on size 10's dns and the multicolored are done on eights. Cast on 32 stitches-top down. It was some extra chunky acrylic super soft yarn that she got at Hobby Lobby. They sure knit up quick. And they are sooooo snuggly. If you look carefully, you can see my penguin jammie pants and new fur lined crocks peeking in there too! Gotta be comfy when you feel crappy and sound like Bea Arthur! Here are some mittens I made to go with my new purple jacket. The color is off in the photo. It's actually grape purple Dale of Norway. I finished them the night before we went to Maine and they came in handy. I've worn them non-stop since which accounts for the shabbiness in the pictures. Try to imagine them pristine. They were at one point. The pattern is from Kn...

So much for the post holiday slow down. I've been busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs! I did want to jump on here quick and post a picture of the thrummed mittens I made Mum for Christmas. I knit them out of dark green Cascade and put in thrums from the roving that I got from Sandy's Palette some time ago. Crummy pictures, but I was happy with the results and I think they'll be nice and warm. Thrummed Mittens Thrum close up Does anyone know if Knit Night is this Friday at the Ear? Is anyone going?