Molly Bee's Attic

First a bit about knitting. I had a bit of yarn (225 yards of CTH Possum Sock) that I didn't know what to do with so some helpful soul suggested '189 Yards of Happiness' shawl. I'm very drawn to pretty pictures and colors, which the pattern site was laden with, and all of the others who had gone before me raved about what a simple pattern it was. The phrase 'joy to knit' was tossed around extravagantly. Oh sure, there were a couple of folks that said " WTF ! Why can't I get this pattern to work out?" but they were soundly thumped by the 'joy to knit' folks and consequently disappeared from the Ravelry boards as quickly as they appeared. So I, in a blazing flash of stupidity, thought that this looked like just the 'easy' lace project for me and my possum buddy! I don't have the focus or attention span to be a lace knitter. Generally holes in my knitting appear there by accident. But those darned 'joy to knit' ladies we...

Sorry it's been radio silence around here for a while. I've put all of my time and energy into worrying about this big galoot. He's been VERY sick for about 10 days now and it's just been within the last 24 hours that I see some improvement and actually believe he will come out of the woods eventually. Long story short, he was prescribed aspirin for the tendinitis in his new knee and had a really bad reaction to it. For the last 10 days he wouldn't eat much and what he did it came out in ways it wasn't supposed to. He lost his oomph and Ben-ness, as you can see from the picture, and I was really afraid I'd lose him. Thank goodness for Dr. Estelle. I think she finally has him headed down the right path. That said I didn't focus on much else this week other than the potential impending disaster and forgot to focus on the many positive things I have to smile about every day. For instance: These are my inpatients ( Franklin's favorite flower). They ma...

Y’all are lucky I’m having trouble downloading photos after the weekend I had! I met friends, Joe and Steve, down at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning. We made our way around the square looking for the fabled, yet elusive, frozen cheesecake on a stick vendor. No luck, it’s still a dream, People. We then ambled down State street to stake out our spot for the parade. Saturday was Bike Nekked in Public Day . My bike had a flat (darn it!) but about 50 hardy souls hopped on their cycles in various stages of undress and rode 8 miles through the city. Nudity doesn ’t bother me at all. The logistics of bike seats and all of the chaffing make me a bit queasy, but the parade was awesome! Saw two girls from Knit Night at The Ear. One had green hair with a flower wreath, pasties, a tutu, and a smile. The other one had a teeny-weeny hand knit bikini on. They were having a blast and so was everyone watching them. Folks were cheering them on. There were about 10 folks completely clothe-less on...

I know it’s Wisdom Wednesday, but I swear things I've been so thickheaded that I haven’t learned a thing this week. To say it’s been pretty mellow at Chez Bee lately would be an understatement. It’s been so rainy lately that I haven’t wanted to go anywhere, so I've nestled in at home with spinning. I go by fits and starts with Mabel-the-spinning-wheel, but I’m really in the groove right now, making a bright, highlighter-colored, variegated 3-ply, fingering weight to use with black for Fair Isle mittens. I’ve also been working on a 198 Yards of Heaven shawlette out of some gorgeous CTH Possom Sock , but I’m not a very accomplished lace knitter and it’s turning out to be an exercise in major frustration. I’m contemplating re-crafting it into some kind of big ball of yarn as early as tonight! I did break my personal record and knit an ENTIRE sock in less than an hour! I KNOW ! You may bow to me now. I’ll wait. Um.... OK. ‘Fess-up time. It was this one that goes on the cute little...

I moseyed on down to the Ear on Sunday. It was "Knit In Public Day" and they reserved all of their front lawn for knitters who wanted to watch the HomeTown Festival parade. There were bagpipers. I LOVES me a man in a kilt. And Scoopie from Culvers The Swiss Fire Brigade that climbed up a ladder in the middle of the street. Human Porcupines ... And Mr. T wannabees, on bikes. Great Danes... ... and this guy. This is Katie's son Cole. He's rocking this season's Cub Scout look with panache! Note the scarf undone a la Arrowsmith, and the shades! Who cares if you're in the middle of a parade? A photo op is a photo op! Glad the kid behind him didn't run over him! It was a great parade and though it was overcast, the rain held off until about 10 minutes after the parade was over. We Hoggenbloggers went inside The Ear and knit the afternoon away while the rain pattered outside. Perfect way to spend a Sunday!

I had an exceptionally bad couple of days last week. At work, I was so far behind I thought I was first and at home I ended up in a rut so deep I could hang up posters. My friends rallied round with words of encouragement and wisdom when they were very badly needed. My knitting friends took me under wing on Friday night, poured two bottles of Chocovine into me and by Saturday morning all was well with the world. Lesson: Friends will see you through. Especially friends with chocolate wine! The weekend was fine, but by Monday, the Chocovine was (mostly) out of my system and I found myself a little gun-shy and tense on the drive in to work. So I took a deep breath and asked The Universe to give me a sign that things were going to go better this week. At that moment (I'm not kidding you, at that VERY MOMENT ) a beautiful deer popped out of the woods and into the ditch and ran beside my car for a full 30 seconds before popping back in the woods. WOW! Feeling cocky, I then asked The U...

This post contains pics of last weekend and this weekend because my computer has been a bit peckish and I haven't been able to import pics. The problem seems to be solved. Last weekend I went to lunch at friends Scott and Michael's house. Michael handcrafted yummy marinated kabobs. He is a chef extraordinaire ! And we had a wonderful lunch on the patio at their beautiful new house. Afterward Scott got a second installment of knitting lessons. See that face? That's what he thinks of knitting when he doesn't see the camera. This is his "I'm on the air and I LOVE knitting" face. This weekend I threaded my way through the Kinder soccer extravaganza at Redden Soccer Park to see friends Pat, Wee Paddie and Brenda. Beside ripping up the field like Pele (two goals and at least one assist thank you very much!), Wee Paddie had fun climbing on the Verona Fire Truck.That kid is just cuter than a speckled pup! Rain cancelled my Sat. night plans so I had some u...

(After I read this entry, I realized it was a little bawdy as well as containing an inexplicably high rate of scat references. Read at your own risk!) ♥All of my ‘over-achiever’ friends scattered to the winds this long weekend to celebrate the ‘official kick off’ to summer. Expensive airline tickets, boats and water gear, camping gear, campground spaces, water park passes, and gallons of gasoline were purchased. Impressive amounts of alcohol, warm potato salad and pork products were consumed. Much merry was made. Come Tuesday morning the reviews came pouring in. All I heard was complaints: too much $ spent, heat exhaustion, traffic jams, long lines, sun burn, rashes, ticks and other bug bites, food poisoning, broken equipment, and hangovers. I just don’t get it. I spent a wonderful low key weekend. Kicked it off with a fish fry Friday night with a group of friends I hadn ’t seen in a while. Geocached a little on Saturday morning. Knit a little on Saturday afternoon. Movied a little o...