Molly Bee's Attic

If ya’ll have wondered where I've been, and felt a not-so-subtle shift in The Force this week, it’s because I have been in The Lab (echo, echo,echo) . I’m a weird kinda cat, I am. I love all things science-y. Back in the day, I considered going to school and working at Jackson Labs in Bah Hahbah , doncha know. I watch the Discovery, TLC, National Geographic, History and Science channels voraciously. I love articles in the news about science discoveries. Love it! Love it! Love it! I’m very curious about the guts of things and how they work. That said, I suck at math, have no concept of spacial relationships, very little inkling of abstract ideas, sport a wicked nervous tic and lack any kind of attention to detail. I’m more of an artsy- fartsy -big-picture kinda girl...with a wicked nervous tic. Those things, along with the fact that, due to my lack of patience, I am perfectly OK with quickly writing things off as 'happening by magic' , makes me the world's worst cand...

So the cable thingie caused by the mistake in the sweater pattern directions was bothering me. I talked to my knitting guru at work and she said that it could be undone and fixed. I got a little weak in the knees and told her that while I redid a 3 strand cable twist, I didn't feel that I could undo and redo a 6 stitch cable that was wrong from the get-go; twenty or so rows back. She showed me how she would do it and told me that I could call her crying if I needed to, but to give 'er the old college try so I sucked it up, settled in and tried it and I DID IT. Holy crap! Who'da thunk? Now you veteran knitters are poopooing me because this is old hat to you, but me and some of the frosh crowd are scared to death of cables. They are magical, mystical things. You follow the cryptic directions and use the enchanted little stick thingie and and they just appear....no one knows how. So, Vets, you may want just wander off and grab a cuppa while I prattle on a spell. And Mum, y...

Had to stay home Friday since I have a sinus and ear infection so I missed Knit Night at The Sow's Ear. The Ravelry thread sounded like they were winding up for quite the evening of mayhem and debauchery too. Sheesh. I missed all the fun. I slept all day and all night Friday. I thought for sure I had contracted narcolepsy. But then on Saturday I felt a wee bit better and so puttered around the house, made a bread pudding and worked on my sweater. I got the upper back finished (down to the arm pits) and have started the front. The front isn't worked on one big piece like the back. It's worked in a left and right section and then joined below the neck. I learned a new technique, wrapping stitches. The instructions were a little confusing, but I got it. Now I have to knit that to match the back. Then the rest of the body is joined in the round and knit down to the bottom ribbing. I was dissappointed that there were a couple of errors in the pattern. On the back, there is a ...

I hosted Craft Night at my house last night. Two friends from work came by as did KittyMommy . A third friend from work broke her ankle and so she couldn't make it, but sent her beagle, Reddy, instead. She needed a little respite and so Ben provided Doggie Day Care for her pup while we girls sat knitting and visiting. Isn't Reddy a handsome little guy? Just look at those come hither eyes! First they rough-housed a while: ...and then Ben got down to business giving Reddy a two hour bath which, although it grossed the rest of us out (the slurping-YUCK!), Reddy seemed to enjoy...especially getting his ears done. After Reddy went home, Ben was exhaused from his efforts-not to mentioned parched and a quart low apparently...he drank an entire dish of water ! Then he had a little sit down on the sofa... ...before settling down for a much deserved nap Goodnight!

I went to see 'Under The Sea 3-D' at IMAX last weekend. I've been waiting and waiting for it to get here since I saw the preview in December. I loved the other 3-D documentary I saw last year and I was not disappointed with this one. It SO ROCKED! Oh, there were a couple of uncomfortable moments when my lap was full of poisonous sea snakes, but other than that I was totally enthralled. As an ocean lover with a healthy fear of sharks and drowning (and after this film, Garden Eels which I heretofore hadn't know existed-CREEPY!) this was the perfect way for me to scuba through coral reefs and frolic with fish, sea lions and whales. And since I am infinitely more appealing in my jeans and jacket than I am in a wet suit, it was a win-win situation. It was so realistic that at one point I was convinced that I had discovered yet another superpower; breathing under water with no gear! This, combined with my current superpowers of taking off my socks without using my hand...

Yeah...well...the best laid plans and all that...I decided not to go to Rainbow Fleece Farms after all today. I'm in a spendy mood today and I could get in a whole heap 'o trouble in the yarn barn down there. Best not to poke at The Fates too much, so I decided to do some chores around the house and run some errands in the hopes that I will have all day tomorrow to goof off. I took Ben for a loooong walk, went to the grocer, baked some goodies, and did laundry; all the things a good little girl must do in order to not feel guilty while she spends tomorrow reading the paper, doing the crossword and going to the movies! I baked Banana Chocolate Chip Wontons . I saw them on TV and then looked on the net for a recipe and then finally tinkered up one of my own. They are good-not too sweet...fun to make. I have a friend coming over later so I'll test them out and will see what the opinion is there. The recipe's over on Molly Bee's Kitchen . I have also been working on m...

I spent the last week working on my sweater. As of this moment it looks exactly like the top picture of my last post. What happened was, I picked up the stitches for the back and knit almost ten inches of it when I decided that I didn ’t like the openness of the fabric. I was knitting the large size and to get gauge, I had to knit it on 8’s (the pattern called for 7’s). So I ripped it all out and started making it over in the XL size on size 7 needles. I hope that does the trick because I like the pattern/fabric so much better on 7s; not so sloppy looking. I also changed from bamboo needles to metals which is making a world of difference on the ease of knitting. The bamboo was awful sticky and the ends aren ’t pointy enough. Adis are much better. Especially in light of the fact that I ended up getting splints for carpel tunnel yesterday. I’ ve been waking up every morning for the last month or so unable to turn off my alarm because my hands are two cement blocks on the ends of my arm...

An Open Letter To The People With 160# Tumors: For the love of God, how did it get to be 'The 160# Tumor' ? Couldn't it just as easily have been 'The One Pound Tumor' ? Or 'The Five Pound Tumor' ? Or even 'The Ten Pound Tumor' -if it was in a place where it wasn't easily detected? Look, I'm all for procrastination and all, but when the tumor starts to weight more than you , you may have pushed that envelope a little too far! Just sayin '.... Signed Molly Bee, Who May Need Therapy After Watching The Documentary On Your Surgery ____________________________________________________________________ An Open Letter to The Sloppy Lobster Seafood Market: My friends and I went to your deli at noon for lunch yesterday. I had been gearing up for a lobster roll all week. When we arrived, the sign on door claimed that you were open from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM and yet the door was locked, the lights were off and no one was home. So we went to the restaura...

I'm attempting the Snow Shoe Aran Sweater pattern from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mil l . I've made one other sweater pattern before-Beginner's Top Down Cardigan. I made three of them in fact-one of which actually fit the person for whom it was intended....and the sleeves were almost the same length on both sides too...on at least one of them. Almost. So, armed with this knowledge of, and confidence in, my mad sweater stitchin' skillz, it was obvious to me that my second sweater should be a frickin ' Cabled Anne Bosch Extravaganza! 'Cause that's how I roll here on Planet Delusional. I am SO in over my head. But I'm having a great time attempting it and if it turns out to be a misshapen cabledy disaster, well, I shall still wear it proudly. In fact I've tried it on several times already even though it only looks like this: So far it fits like it was made for me! I must be a natural! This is a photo of the cable pattern from which it gets it's n...