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...

Here is a shot of the little paper lanterns I made for Chinese New Year at work-20 of 'em. As per usual with my projects, they were a lot more futzy and time consuming than I thought they'd be, but they were fun. Something different, but I wouldn't do it every year. I went to Charity Knitting at The Ear on Monday night and started this scarf. It's the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern that's all over the web. I think I'm the last one to jump on the train to make it. It's a great pattern though. Once it's established, you don't need the pattern any more. It's easy to just look at the fabric and see what to do. It's made out of Caron soft acrylic. I had originally bought the yarn because I thought it would make a good tan scarf for a guy I know, but when I got it home, I realized it had a little too much pink in it to be masculine. It's fun to knit something on size 8 needles so that you can see it grow quickly. My boss is a die hard Steelers fan....

I finally bit the bullet and dyed! Mad City Mike inspired me to try Kool Aid dying a while back so today I tried it out and LOVED it! It was so easy! Wash the yarn (My angora goat hair hand spun. Consensus says it's called MOHAIR .) Mix up the Kool Aid Put the yarn in Micro 2 minutes, let cool. Micro two minutes, let cool. Do this a third time if you see any color left in the water. Wash, rinse hang to dry! I spent most of the day with Friend-Anne on Sat. We met at the Sow's Ear in the morning. We knit, sipped hot chocolate, and had a lovely visit. Then we went to Culver's where more visiting commenced. Then we each ran errands separately and met up again at Star Cinema for the last matinee of the day of 'Ink Heart'. Friend-Anne's son had just gotten his brown belt in Karate so Anne's family asked me to go to the movie with them to celebrate . (It was WONDERFUL! Don't listen to the reviews and GO!) Then we went to dinner afterward and I didn't get ...

The match was doomed from the start. The boy was 4 years old and weighed 40 pounds. The dog was nearly three and weighed 80. The rope was a foot and a half long and was very sturdy. The boy, undaunted, offered the dog the rope. The dog considered the boy, then the rope, then the boy. Then he gently took the rope and tugged tentatively. The boy, though small, was tenacious; pulled back...refused to let go, so the dog proceeded to drag the boy's giggling body all around the house until those present were certain that his tiny shirt would burst into flames from static electricity and rug burn. The dog and the boy finally wore each other out (more so the dog than the boy) so they curled up on the sofa (with the dog graciously sharing his woobie with the boy) and watched a movie together. The End. Too Cute For Words... For those of you keeping score at home. This is the third completed pair of socks! In the process of finishing them, I found yet one more unfinished pair so will work o...

Every once in a while, Mother Earth gets a bug up her butt and decides to give us a taste of what will happen if we don’t cease and desist our evil ways and stop abusing her. She takes a deep breath, exhales mightily, and creates weather conditions that are downright inhospitable to human life… Often, my body gets a bug up its butt (literally) and also created conditions not conducive to a worthwhile existence for a few days… And sometimes…when the stars align just so…these events happen simultaneously, creating a couple of days that are so far off the Suck Scale that they blow the Suckometer to smithereens ; needles and gauges, glass shards and molten metal, small particulates and great gelatinous globules of flaming Suck everywhere!!!! I had two fun-filled days when all I could do was curl up in the fetal position and whimper. Now I’m on the mend, and in that state where you’re so deliriously thankful to NOT be so miserable that you enter the realm of ‘ Opposite Land’ . This, for ...

Oh. My. God. I've been threatening to spin up some angora goat pencil roving that a coworker sent me from her hobby farm in California. I finally did yesterday. I didn't prep it at all. I didn't pull it. I just fed it into Mabel as it came and Oh. My. God. I never want to spin anything but pencil roving every again! Where it takes me a couple of weeks of pretty concentrated effort to prep, spin and ply sock weight yarn, I was able to spin all of the pencil roving I had in about 90 minutes. It was so soothing, and rhythmic, just feeding it in and feeding it in and feeding it in. Bliss. Zen. Sigh. I planned to KoolAid dye it today. I've never dyed before. I have three bobbins full of singles. I'm not going to ply it; j ust dye it and knit it into mittens. I think they'll be really soft and warm. But instead of staying home to do it, I had a case of the blues. so I went to The Ear for the afternoon to visit and knit mini mittens. I got this week's pair done...

I'm working from home today. I have a ton of computer projects to do and the roads are slippery so I decided to just hunker down and push through here. I can really cruise on the projects when I'm not running around like a head-challenged barnyard fowl like I usually am at work. Ben, however is no help at all. He misses Grammie and is perturbed that I am disrupting his normal morning nap schedule. He finally couldn't take it anymore and curled up on the couch with his buddy, Mini Me. Speaking of Grammie. She called last night to inform me that she fell down the cellar stairs and messed up her ankle yesterday. See, this apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Thank goodness she had her puffy winter coat on and was a little insulated other wise the damage could have been much worse. She thinks it's sprained or maybe broken and I spent a good deal of time this morning trying to get her to see the doctor today but I'm not sure I succeeded. She's one tough cookie. ...

(*Crickets chirping* *Tumbleweeds rolling by*.) Is there anyone here? Or is it just me? Oh. It's just me. Boy! Sure is quiet and lonely around these parts! I took The Queen Bee to the airport this morning so she could make her sojourn Back East. She called me and said that despite the fact that they sat on the ground for an hour in Detroit to be de-iced, she still made it back to Bangor right on time. Said they had a heckuva tail wind. Musta had in order to shave an hour off their time! We had THE BEST visit, my Mum and I. It was very low key and we just did what we wanted when we wanted. I worked some but had a lot of days off too so we slept in late, watched movies, put puzzles together, shopped, cooked and played games. And Talked. And Talked. And Talked. Well I talked. As most of you know... generally speaking, I'm... generally speaking. My Mum is one of the wisest women I know. She has empathy and smarts and knows how to listen and when to dispense wisdom. I don't kn...

Just a quicky today...just wanted to get these pics out here before I forgot them. Mum and I rung in the New Year (and her birthday on 1/30) with three Maine lobsters. We ate them up before I remembered to take a picture so here is the box that they came in complete with kelp that managed to squirt all over my kitchen! There has been spinning. I finally got the orange and yellow singles that have been sitting on Mabel for ten months of Sundays plied. It came out pretty good. I was afraid it was just going to be a murky orange (and it kinda looks like it in this picture) but up close it is pretty defined reds, yellows and oranges. I wish I would have spun it thicker (It's sock weight) the colors would have made a great Knitty Fish hat! There has also been knitting. I whipped these up for the tenants next door. I ran into the man for the first time the other day and he asked me if the baby was bothering me. I didn't even know what he meant. Apparently there is a brand new fou...

I finished my Koolhaas Hat for a friend's daughter who is undergoing the rigors of chemotherapy. Ben volunteered (uh...maybe volunteered isn't the correct choice of word. Barely tolerated might be more accurate) to model it, but since he apparently doesn't have a Koolhaas shaped head, I modeled it too. Didn't wantcha to think I knit it into that funny shape that you see in his picture. It's on accounta his big, lumpy, misshapen, empty head that it looks like that, see! I also made these little goomers. I tried the pattern once before and came out with a grossly exaggerated lobster claw mess. I guess I got so excited knitting the tiny little thumb that I couldn't stop! These came out better. I'm thinking they are just the ticket for little keepsakes next Christmas. It took me about an hour to knit each one, but I think once I get the hang of it, they'll go faster. Here are the socks I knit for Mum for Christmas. I didn't post the pics here before ...