Molly Bee's Attic

  As luck would have it, I needed to do a tile for our Prairie Tanglers meeting this Saturday. The challenge there was to use Phil-Agrees in a tangle. Then The Diva posted a challenge to use two squares as a string; a match made in heaven for my purposes!

This week's Diva Challenge is to do a monotangle with N'Zeppel.  It's one of my go-to tangles. I love it so much that I did the poster sized version a while back and it hangs in my living room, so I'm cheating and submitting it as the challenge piece for this week. The subtext of the challenge was to think about a time that you 'didn't fit it'. When I was making this piece, I was going through a crisis in my life that made me feel very, very alone. The mindlessness of this pattern soothed me and calmed the mind monkeys for a few minutes every day. It's a piece that looks complicated but is, in fact, very simple. Here's a link to my progress if you are interested.  http://mollybeesattic.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-nzepple-period.html

We had an incident a couple of weeks ago at Knit Night that was a wake up call to renew my CPR/First Aid skills. One of the ladies came in more than a little disoriented and we were afraid that she was having a stroke. I remembered some of the things to do to 'test' and see if it's a stroke. I got her to smile-both sides of her mouth were level, she repeated phrases with no slurring or forgotten words, no signs of muscle weakness or 'drooping' in her face. I had seen TIA's many times with an elderly grandparent and I was sure it was something like that. We decided that calling 911  wasn't needed, but we did call her husband who came and took her to the Emergency Room. Many test later, they determined that it wasn't a TIA, but some sort of a stress-related lapse and she is A-OK but she doesn't remember anything that happened during the incident. It really scared ALL of us and reminded me that it has been several years since I renewed my CPR/First A...

The past few days have been lovely and rumor has it that they will get lovelier as the next week goes on. 50° in mid February?! While the East Coast is getting buried?!  I know we shouldn't get used to it because we know winter never goes away without a fight...usually she starts rabbit kicking along about basketball tournament week if memory serves...but I can't help it; Pseudo Spring always puts a ...well...spring...in my step. Just in time too because I was just at the point where, as my friend, Jen, says, 'I lose all will to live'. These past few days of warmer days and melty snow have prevented me from climbing the bell tower. Moose feels the same way. He's not a fan of snow but he is a big fan of lawn so his nose has been going into overdrive lately. I don't know why he doesn't hyperventilate and pass out. I went over to Mt. Horeb today for my friend, Linda's, sister's funeral. Rhonda was only 47 years old. Way, way, way too soon to go. There...

A couple of weekends ago, I was driving home and saw something out of the corner of my eye falling from a telephone line. My first thought was 'owl' so I turned around, parked and went to make sure it was OK. It wasn't. Turns out it was a beautiful Red Tailed Hawk and though I tried to revive it, it was DOA.  I know it's illegal to take possession of a raptor, but I just couldn't leave it there so I put it in the car headed off to the police station. I thought maybe they could get it to the DNR, the Ho-chunk nation or the UW or something, I don't know. I just couldn't leave such a beautiful thing there in the road.  As I was driving, I turned the heat on in my car and apparently the vent was set to blow under the dash because all of a sudden, the hawk's feathers ruffled and I did a fancy bit of driving for a few moments thinking that this huge thing with sharp talons had just come back to life in my car! Don't get me wrong, I would have been ...

First off, my Diva Challenge. I wrote this entry last week with a delayed posting time, then Laura's challenge came out yesterday and it was for a heart challenge so I did that last night.  And now on to my post.... Every year I plan to make my own Valentines. Every year, I fail. I might make one or two just never enough. This year I got my back pockets in gear earlier and got 'er done!  They are pretty simple designs and I just put them on colored note cards, but I was pretty pleased with myself nonetheless.  I'm back in another phase where I can't get enough of drawing Gemz!  On behalf of Cooper, Moose and all of the rest of the crazy that is Chez B...        from MollyBee

And what of Mister Moose you ask? He's doing just fine thank you very much. He is getting braver about the cold weather but still appreciates being bundled up in his Packer sweater when he ventures outside.  I walked in the living room the other day to find him sitting like a human in the recliner. Just leaning back, looking out the window, chillin'...Life is tough on the Moo Moo. This boy came to visit. Moose watched Mr. Popper's Penguins with the boy. The boy ignored Mr. Moose and didn't offer him any of the the much-coveted string cheese he was munching on... even though it was clearly 'the share kind' in Moo Moo's estimation. The boy received 'the stink eye' until said cheese was all gone. The boy didn't notice at all.  But most of all, Moose Wigglebottom is tired. Evenings often find us reading a bedtime story... Until we are sleepy and can't help but yawn... and then we fall into a boneless sleep...

Oh yes! t]There has been plenty of knitting in the past several weeks. The Knit Sisters and I get together just about every Friday evening and one Saturday a month so that gives me quite a lot of stitching time, although I often have to rip out what I've done when I get home because I'm so busy gabbing and laughing that I've made a ton of mistakes.  I have managed to pull off a few projectsthough.  This is a close up of The Peace Cowl I made. I love the stitch pattern. The yarn is some hand-dyed that I won online. It's softer than unborn, baby panda pelts. This project was part of a Knit Along for the first 21 days of December. The idea was to take a few minutes each day in the busy, stressful holiday season to just relax, reflect and knit a couple of rounds; projecting peace to the universe.  I did it, but it was a little deceiving, what with hundreds of stitches in each round! It took over a half an hour to do the repeat you were supposed to do each day. Plus...

Just look at that face; so beautiful, so seemingly innocent. Why he just looks like a gorgeous Maine Coon cat, not a...... ...computer terrorist and master hacker or anything!  I CAN NOT leave my computer unattended or he is on it in a flash. This has been going on as long as I've had the laptop. He has accidentally sent a couple of emails. I routinely come back and find the letters pppppfffffftttttttt and the likes strung across the screen, but it's only been recently that he's become savvy enough to do any real harm. A couple of Fridays ago, I was working from home and had a teleconference with the office. About 5 minutes before the meeting, I pulled up the files I would need to access in my Microsoft Explorer program, then turned my back for two seconds to get a glass of ice water.  The call came in, connecting me to the meeting and I looked at my computer...no files. All gone. Folders and folders of data from the past 10 years... vanished without a tra...

I'm pale, pasty, depressed and cold...very, VERY cold. It has been a doozy of a winter and doodling may be the only thing that has keep me from sighing 'Goodbye Cruel World' and leaping from my desk. I've been trying some new (to me) tangles rather than using the 'Go To' stable of favorites that I always use. I am also experimenting with drawing them larger so that I can use some of the elements as Gemz. I'm thinking that that is what I will do with the one below. I think the 'pearls' will look groovy in jewel tones! My company is having it's annual art show right now and I submitted a few pieces. The curator of the show is always trying to get me to make 'bigger' pieces. He has a preference for large canvases (think bigger than a person). I keep telling him that this kind of detailed stuff is not conducive to extraordinarily big pieces. I wanted to accommodate him but wondered how to accomplish such a huge endeavor. Then...

Bonjour, Mes Amies! It's been a while since I've been on here so I'll spend the next few entries catching up on the amazing happenings in the life of Mollie Bee over the past few months. Ready? Here we go... Picture it, Paris, IL. Thanksgiving. 2016. Moose and I were at my brother's house for a couple of days. We had a wonderful time. The food and company was fabulous. I got to meet my new great-niece, Allie, and Moose got to meet all of his doggie cousins.  It's a  five-hour long ride each way, so we stopped on the way home and I got an iced tea for the road. I don't like McDonald's french fries, but Moose does, so I got him a small bag as a treat. He ate his allotted three fries and I put the rest in the brown, McDonald's bag, rolled the top down, and put it on the passenger-side floor.  When we got home, there was a lot to unpack and carry in the house, but I saw the fries and thought about how they would stink up the car if they got ...

This week's Diva challenge was wicked fun. It was to use Anya Ipsen's tangle pattern Moowa  which I like very much. It reminds me of Tess Imobersteg's Breakers pattern that I use a lot. I couldn't decide if Moowa looked more like water to me or plants, so I tried both. In the first one I tried for water splashing up on the wharf.  In the second one, I added it with Mooka to make a kelp forest for an octopus I had drawn preciously in my sketch book and had left unfinished. Lucky because I like the kelp forest a lot.  Thanks again Laura for a wonderful challenge and Anya for a great tile to add to my arsenal!

Update: 12-1-16 THIS is what I was trying for in the Diva Challenge This is one of those times I'm sorry that I promised to put the first challenge tile I completed up-come what may. My intentions were pure but this baby came out a muddled mess. I wanted to do a straight grid with 4 'loose' fragment tiles floating on top. I still think the concept is sound and may try it with another fragment pattern. Picking a 3-D fragment like Cubine was a mistake. It all smooshed together into a mess. You're not having a bad acid flashback...it just looks that way-complete with lousy lighting, creased and smudged paper and my thumb. I didn't clean it up-why bother?  Avert your eyes. Save yourself In other news, I kind of like this one. It's just from my doodle book but I was in a spring/summer mood on a rainy autumn night! Onward and upward....

I haven't written for a while. We've been spending every possible second outside enjoying the unusually warm November weather. This week's Diva Challenge brought me inside though. It was to use the tangle pattern " Keeko " which is one that I use quite a bit. I forgot to put 'stars' in my Dex windows like I had usually do, but for better for worse, here it is: I'm still semi-obsessed with trying to make 'ripped/flipper paper' but haven't nailed it yet.  This is the last thing I see before I leave the house each morning. Sad puppy. Wadded up in the corner of the big chair. The minute the door closes, he hops down, plays and naps with Cooper, but for whatever reason feels he has to make me feel like scum just before I leave to start me day!  Probably because he has been out and about with me in the warm weather a lot the past few weeks. I expect once the winter cold really hits, he will be perfectly content to stay in his wa...

Yay! The last week of Inktober. It is fun, but the pressure of HAVING to do a tile every day, gets to me after a while!  I'm glad I did it though.  October 25 This was also the Diva Challenge for last week. To use only two tangle patterns. nZepple (the grid) and Flux (the leaves). October 26 Not being 100% happy with yesterday's stab at the Diva Challenge, I tried again. October 27 And Again. This proving that I should quit while I'm ahead. Blech! October 28 But I never learn so I took one last stab at it. Enough! October 29 Spring thoughts on an autumn day. October 30 Watching the movie 'Victor Frankenstein' (which was unexpectedly awesome...Harry Potter was in it!) I think that may be where all of the wheels and cogs came from! October 31 Rumor has it that Moose wanted a canine-themed tile.  I  really phoned this one it. I had to be up early this morning to get it in since I work all day and will be busy all ...