Molly Bee's Attic

...went to work dressed like this today...... Gosh...Mum must be so proud!

I'm going to spin tonight. [ THUNK! That was the sound of Dave Daniels hitting the floor at the news! :-) ] I had to stop spinning for a bit when I hurt my foot. I am a rabid Cabin Cove fan and have been drooling over Dave's spinning but was all talk and no action for months. Finally he told me to 'get off the computer and go spin something already' so I started up again and spun up two spindles of a beautiful pastel pink, purple, blue, and yellow merino. I went to ply it and the gorgeous springy colors just looked all muddy together. What's up wid dat ? So, being the Queen of Procrastination, I just left them there; two spindles half full of singles and a third with a muddled mess of two ply on it. It's been weeks now. I pop in and check on them from time to time to see if they have learned their lesson, come to their senses, and by some Spinning Miracle, changed back into their former beauteous tones, but so far it's a no go. This could have gone on for s...

C'est Finis!!!!! YAY! Twisted Rib Tropical Fish Socks Warm colors for a cold winter! (You can see the colors better if you click on it to biggify it!)

I've some inquiries about how the new fur baby is fitting in and whether all members of the menagerie are getting along. A picture says a thousand words:

So I finished my Nanu Nanu Noro socks and was all gung- ho to start knitting up my new Blackberry Ridge Tropical Fish. While trolling though my work basket though, I found this: A long lost Sherbet sock. I'm not sure the circumstances that led to it being a single sock. That's not really like me. Being the responsible knitter I am, I thought, "I should just whip up the second one before I dive in with the tropical fish. It's the right thing to do. Delayed gratification and all that. So I dug through my knitting diary until I found my handwritten pattern from god-knows-when. It was woefully lacking in any kind of detail except the actual stitch pattern for the leg. So I went out to Ravelry where I had logged said sock as a 'work in progress' in the days of yore when I started it and found that I had documented that I used a size three needle. Hot diggity , I was in business. I grabbed my size three needles and my Schaffer "Anne" yarn and referred...

These colorful socks will brighten up even the darkest, coldest winter day! Totally not what I expected from looking at the yarn! They were fun to knit, you never knew what color would turn up next. Since they are so bright and whimsical and remind me of Robin William's suspenders, they are hereby dubbed my Nanu Nanu Noro socks! (Colorway S182).

Beach Party At The Sow's Ear Tonight!!!

Last night I was curled up on one end of the love seat and Holli was snoring away (literally) on the other end. Ben comes ambling over and starts his humming squeaking thing that he does when he wants something. So I say… Me: What do you want Ben? Ben: Moan Moan Growl Squeak . Me: What do you want? Ben: (Meaningful stare) Grunt, Growl, Hummmmm. Me: (holding out my hand) Do you want me to pet you? Ben: (backing up) Moan Growl Squeak Belch . Me: Do you want to go out? Ben (Enthusiastic wiggling of the tail and butt) Snort! (Heads for the door.) So I put down my needles and my Noro sock, dig myself out of my cozy nest, go to the patio door, open it slightly and…no Ben. I retrace my steps and find him. He’s curled up in the warm butt print I oh so recently left on the loveseat with his head on Holli’s back and his eyes closed. Apparently I have slipped a few notches in the pecking order at Chez Bee! Ben has a new Valentine! Speaking of Valentine’s Day, Mr. Bee sent me the most beautiful ...

Bring it on!I say if we're truly going to break this total accumulated snowfall record, we go for broke! Let's shoot for 100 inches!!!! No wait...I'm only 62 inches tall. And I don't know how to snow-swim. (Changes mind and starts chanting: No more snow! No more snow!) Enough already! Thanks for all of the welcome messages for Holli! After a couple of bumpy days, she has settled in and is Best Buds with Ben now. Everyone’s ears and jowls and other assorted parts are getting licked and the growling has stopped. Next stop, toy sharing! There has been knitting going on between all of the snow shoveling and Fur Baby lovin’. I have been working on my Nuro sock. Weirdest. thing. ever! Look at the picture of the skein. Melted peacock right…all blues and purples... So I pull out the middle of the skein and much to my surprise it’s hot pink! I knit a while and it turns lime green, then bright yellow, orange, red, teal and bright green again. Then finally, as I’m almost done th...

We've been getting lots of snow in Wisconsin this winter and have found that Ben, while having lots of energy, is just not enough dog power to haul Mr. Bee and my chunky butts around should it ever come down to that. What to do? What to do? So just to be on the safe side..... Here's our big surprise! Drumroll please! Meet Holli! Holli is a 4 year old boxer lab mix that we adopted from Madison Mutts yesterday. It's the same place we got Ben from last year and I just CANNOT say enough good things about them. They don't have a shelter. They operate out of a series of foster homes and the dogs are loved and treated really well until they can find a forever home. Holli has been through a lot lately. Her daddy loved her very much (he even sent along a video of her as a puppy...awwww!) but moved away and could not keep her. He gave her to Madison Mutts and then she was adopted out to a home with eight children who basically scared the crap out of her. Who could blame her! Eigh...

I'm a little late, but Happy Year of The Rat everyone! I love a new beginning and another chance at those resolutions! I hereby resolve to remember the new changeover and to not write 'Year of the Pig' on all of my checks for the next two months like I usually do... PS. Hopefully I will have a BIG surprise to post about tomorrow!

As you can see by the crappy picture above, today was...well...a little snowy. Work was cancelled. School was cancelled. Just about everything was cancelled. That's ice build up on the outside of the window. We got 13-14 inches of snow which the wind promptly rearranged into 140 foot drifts through some voodoo physics I'll never understand. We spent a snug and cozy day inside with quick trips to dash outside and try to keep the dooryard and deck open. Don't know why we bothered, our street wasn't open until 6PM! I feel so bad for the plow guys. What a winter they are having! We heard on the news tonight that Interstate 90, a couple of miles south of Madison all the way to Janesville and beyond, is bumper to bumper traffic and has been since before noon today. They talked to a lady via cell phone who said that she has been 'parked' on the highway since 11:30 a.m. and it was now 5:00 PM and she hadn't seen one plow in either direction. I feel bad for the folk...

Why are weekends so short?!?!? Friday night was Knit Night at the Sow's Ear. I got there good and early and cranked away on my Mountain Colors socks. I got the entire leg done before I discovered that I had dropped a stitch about 1" below the ribbing on the top. Sigh...Since I am knitting the Mini Bamboo pattern from the Vogue Stitchonary, it was not as easy as just going back and getting it so I unraveled 6.5 inches of leg and started again. Somehow it's not so bad when you have good company around. Had I been home watching TV I may have turned suicidal. I managed to buy yet another skein of sock yarn since we all know how little I already have! Actually I didn't buy it. I have a gift certificate from D&T from Christmas that I put to good use. There was a lady sitting at the end of my table knitting a sock in Blackberry Ridge "Tropical Fish" color way. It is something I would have never picked out in a million years but the sock that she was knitting was...

Top Five Reasons Why February is Better Than January... 5. It's not January ! 4. Groundhog's Day! 3.Even if it sucks, it's only 28/29 days long rather than 31. 2. Valentine's Day!!! (Also the 20th Anniversary of the day Mr. Bee and I 'met') 1. IT'S NOT JANUARY ! Yeah, I take umbrage with January. I don't know why. My Mum was born in January for which I am eternally grateful. I'm sure it's a perfectly good month with lots of redeeming qualities in some parts of the world. But on my planet, January is something to be endured, much like a blister on your heel, or a Mel Gibson movie. The holidays are past. My " My-Holiday-Projects-Are-Over-And-Now-I-Can-Start-My-New-Year's-Project ' high, which started on December 25, is over. My 'I-Can-Rule-The-World-If-I-Only-Stick-To-These-Three-New-Year-Resolutions' phase has died a slow and painful death. It's cold. It's miserable. I'm extra grumpy. God! I HATES me some Januar...