Molly Bee's Attic

My brand, new car, Preston, has 780 miles on him. I know it flies in the face of convention to give a car a male name but y’all know me, I FLIES IN CONVENTION’S BIG OL’ FAT FACE ALLA TIME! Take THAT convention, I say! Ahem…anyway. Preston. 780 miles. Just a baby, really, and I’ve already crunched him. I am not a responsible car Mommie apparently. I had a fender bender in the gas station parking lot last Friday evening. Crap. Yet another thing that ain’t goin’ my way these days. It wasn’t my fault and it didn’t do major damage but Geez Louise, will someone please get me out of this G***D*** whale! It smells really fishy in here, I have a shrimp allergy and Jonah's constant humming is really working on my last nerve. Anyway, I go to the auto place today for an estimate. My insurance company set up the appointment for me. I check in with the receptionist. Pretty soon ‘the guy’ comes out with his clipboard of doom and gloom. I’m the only one in the miniscule ‘waiting area’. He looks ri...

Red hat, blue hat. The biggest skein of yarn in the world had yielded six completed hats, one on the needles and quite possibly one more before it finally dies. It was 11 oz of puff so I expected several hats from it, but not quite this many several! It's hard to tell the size in the photo but they'll fit elementary school kids. They are for the Sow's Ear charity thingie so maybe there are a set of septuplets (possibly octuplets ) who widdle noggins are cold! Went down to The Ear for Charity night knitting and potluck. What a great bunch of talented ladies. They always make me laugh and feel human for at least a couple of hours. They have no idea how much that means to me these days. I cleaned out my stash last weekend. I have one plastic tote full of kits and bags with a specific pattern and the yarn I bought for it together (so essentially a 'kit' made by me), one tote full of lace and worsted weights that I thought were pretty but have no projects in m...

Been grooving on the Charity Knitting initiative for The Sow's Ear. The hats and other knit goods are going to various charities including the good folks over in Cedar Rapids who were flooded out this spring. Makes me feel good to be doing something for other and the mindless repetition of going roundandroundandroundandround for kids' hats is about all I can handle right now! I found various skeins of acrylics in all different weights in my stash. Good way to use it all up. Off to start # 3-a purple fuzzy one!

Have been knitting a bit but forgot to take pictures before I gave the projects away. I made a kid’s black hat with multicolored stripes for the Sow’s Ear Charity endeavor. I also have the Hat from Heck worked up on straight needles, I just have to seam it tonight at Knit Night and I started another black hat which I can hopefully finish tonight too. That is if I don’t punk out too early like last time. (8:45. Peh , it was disgraceful!) I’m emotionally drained and overly distraught these days and it all seems to make me way more physically tired than normal but I am determined to say until at least 8:55 tonight. Building up my stamina. I made a dish cloth at Dishcloth Night at The Ear on Tuesday. It’s pretty cool. It’s only knit and purl stitches, all one color. The knit stitches are the background and the purl stitches make the Olympic Rings symbol with ‘2008’ underneath. I have a few more balls of dishcloth cotton in my stash and the Olympic one went so fast that I’ ve decided ...

I finally finished my blanket (except for the blocking) for Project Linus. It was 3/4 done and languishing in the basement. All of this Charity Knitting for the Sow's Ear made me remember it again. I really like the pattern. It's crocheted. I've made a couple others as baby gifts for friends. I'll take this one to the Fitchburg Fire Department. They are the drop off for Project Linus. If any of you are local to Madison, WI and love quilting, I just posted my entire Quilting Magazine collection over on Craig's List ( http://madison.craigslist.org/art/790652497.html ). I won't have room for them in my new place. Thousands of patterns and ideas if you are a quilting addict! And it's a really good deal too! Go on over and look! I've had pretty good luck selling stuff, that I can't take with me, locally on Craig's List. It's stuff that's a little too nice to put in a garage sale, like my piano keyboard and violin. I've met some real...

Bulletproof Baby Blanket I finally finished the hat from heck, and laced the leftover granny squares I had lying around together for a baby blanket or lap robe. Those buggers made one industrial strength blanket, let me tell you. I'm showing it all spread out because it literally won't bend. It's one solid sheet like plywood. Red Heart- bleck . I, as a Yarn Snob, snub thee. I know, I can't believe it myself, but I am making another hat out of the stuff. This time I am doing it on straight needles like the pattern tells you to instead of in the round. I call the purple hat the "Biblical Hat' because it seemed like it took 40 days and 40 nights to finish. (I used to call it that Damn Voodoo Hat, as some of you at The Sow's Ear can attest, but I changed it.) I got 6 inches done in 2.5 hours with the new variegated one I started last night. Same pattern...same Red Heart....only using straights instead of circs . Somebody call Ripley's because I don't...

I read a review of that book that everyone's raving about, The Last Lecture , and it says that everyday you can choose to be either a Tigger or an Eeyore. I have had way too many Eeyore days lately ( like Monday when I had to put my 8-year old bunny girl, Sneakers to sleep-talk about an Eeyore Day! Oy Vey !) , so decided that for the rest of the day I was going to be a Tigger ; optimistic , happy and filled with energy. And I was for the most part. I had a couple of tiny Eeyore moments but they didn't amount to much and I was able to transport myself back to Tiggerdom quickly and without the aid of medication. Has my situation changed? No. But my attitude is slowly changing; making it easier for me to make the upcoming transition to being on my own. From now on I'm choosing Tigger days every day. Tiggerish Things That Happened Today Finished and washed the charity baby blanket (photos tomorrow when it's dry) Finished the charity hat (and started another one-...

Went to Knit Night last night. I had to go back up on the porch because I just couldn't run with the big dogs. I pooped out at about 9:15 and wussed back home to go to bed. It was a pretty quiet knit night (except for me...of course). The Hat From H-E-Double Hockey Sticks I was working on a child's hat for the Sow's Ear Charity initiative . Sounded easy. Cast on 73 and knit (K1/P1) ribbing for 10.5 inches and then there are 7 decrease rows. Simple, yes? I was knitting on size 9 circs with Red Heart Acrylic [Which I used to love when that's all there was, and is infinitely the best choice for a sturdy, practically bullet-proof hat but now is icky because I have become a natural fiber yarn snob. But I digress]. I discovered that either the pattern, the needles, the yarn, or my tape measure (you know who my first suspect is, RH) is possessed by Satan. I knit and I knit and I knit and I knit (repeat this phrase about twenty-hundred more times) and when I measured and ...