Molly Bee's Attic

I've been uber busy as usual. Here is a photo essay of recent events: I spun this: (Maine Blueberries roving) Into this: (Maine Blueberries singles) And then into this: (Maine Blueberries lace weight) I made this: (Pumpkin hat with wooden Halloween beads) I made this: (Mini pumpkin/caramel cheesecakes-recipe on Molly Bee's Attic) For his folks: When they came to visit for a couple of days. And in my 'spare time', I've set up 12 global video conference calls at work, found a returned a wallet with $340 bucks in it, gone to two game nights with friends, seen two movies, and attended three knitting events, all while doing housework, laundry, studying mindfulness and knitting little wool blobs to be felted into 'popcorn' for my Christmas tree. Needless to say, but I will anyway, I've been putting the OOOO! in Uber busy lately! More soon! Hope you had great weekend!

Let's play 'Where In The World Was Molly Bee This Evening'? Any guesses? Yarn shop? Nope. Library? Nope. Movies? Nope. Stop! You're killing me! You'll never guess it! I, Miss Molly Bee was nestled in an intimate theater in the Madison Museum of Modern Art section of the Overture Center between the likes with Shirley Abrahamson (Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice) and Pleasant T. Rowland (Founder of The Pleasant Doll Company) that's where! I went to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters Evening Series presentation of Happiness 2050: Neuroscience, Education and the Compassionate World Citizen by Richard Davidson ,who is no slouch himself being a world renowned professor and researcher in cognitive brain studies and voted as one of Time Magazine's Most Influential People of 2006 . The lecture was spectacular! The basis was that, particularly in adolescents, the brain can be trained to be more mindful, compassion and all around virtuous. This mindful...

Just got back from Madison Wordplayers group. We played a new one that the group test drove for the game company a while back. It was called Word On The Street . It was UBERFUN! If you're a word geek you'll love it. It's a great team game. I'm guessing it would be fun for as little as two people as well. The group plays at The Washington Island Coffee House in the back of Lakeside Fibers. I got there early with my knitting and was delighted to find a group of 'my peeps', old and new, to visit and knit with before the gaming festivities began. I'm still on my 'finishing small projects' kick and completed this dragonfly washcloth last weekend. I had started it on Tuesday at DishCloth Night at The Ear: I'm going to make a slightly different one in another color and give the two with a bar of nice soap as a gift. Went to Jefferson Sheep and Wool Festival on Saturday and showed remarkable self restraint. I limited myself to two items with a value of n...

If a four-leaf clover is good luck...what is this guy? I found him while I was strolling down by that nuclear power plant over by the chemical land fill. I had to fight a 14 # six-legged frog for him. Ah, the miracles of nature. There has been knitting. Here is a pair of ' Fetching ' fingerless gloves I finished last night. I love the picot top edge and the fun colors of the Mochi Plus . One ball makes a pair and I had about 3 yards left over. Kinda funky but instant gratification! I made Monkey Bread the other night. Super easy and fun to make. My kids had never had it before. I had to giggle when I looked over at the treat table and they were all plucking bits off and eating them (much like a primate nit-picking party) and wondering aloud where the name "Monkey Bread" came from if there was no banana's or monkeys in it. Recipe is over on Molly Bee's Kitchen site. Off to finish a Pumpkin Hat and count down the hours till the Sheep and Wool Festival...

Adjusting the sails like crazy to keep up with the turbulent emotional winds, so no pithy commentary today. Just pics of finished projects to prove that I still exist: Purple socks I liked this Trekking XXL yarn a lot! It has every color in it!~ Here is a partial shot of a sock I am designing that incorporated beads and charms The charm on the front says 'I (heart) 2 Knit' and has a little sheep Design detail on the back of the ankle UPDATE: Forgot these pics of my latest spinning. It's Blue-Faced but it spins up like buttery Merino! And no post is complete without a gratuitous shot of my best friend and saving grace.... Mr. Ben

Poor me! I had to spend this glorious summer Sunday afternoon meeting new friends and looking at this: and eating great food and looking at this: and visiting with interesting folks and lazing by this Yes, poor poor me! It's afternoons like this one that make up for the calamities that seem to befall me more frequently than the average bear! From the 'Animals Are Adorable Department'...this is my Mum's new kitty, Punkin . Before Mum got a 'real' furbaby , she got a stuffed dog (you can see his black paws below) and cat (the realistic black and white kitty is stuffed) that sleep on her bed. Punkin took one look and decided to join the gang during her nap times! Safety in numbers. Smart cookie that one! And from the 'Animals Will Kick You When You're Down' department.... Mr. Ben is a smart dog in most respects...smarter than me a lot more times than I'd like to admit in fact, but the one thing he WILL NOT do is come back when you call him. I...

I finally got the license plate number of the beastie what scared my Big Doggie last fall! You can run.... You can try to hide... You can stand around on one leg trying to look nonchalant... You can turn your back and try to ignore me.... You can even stomp around all crazy like with your knees on backwards like that..... But I'll get you my pretty!!!! Finally, some successful blue heron pictures after only a year of stalking! I'm nothing if not persistent! Click to biggify! You won't be sorry!

I visited an artist's co-op in Camden/ Lincolnville and picked up this lovely roving. It's called 'Blueberry Morning' and being high blueberry season in Maine, it called to me; the white misty fogs over the seemingly endless barrens and the low green bushes hiding their tiny, blue treasures... Sigh. I licked it and though it doesn't taste like them, I can tell already that it will spin up like melted buddah on a blueberry muffin, Deah . And now for the apology portion of my post....I, MollyBee , do heartfeltedly apologize for all of those bad things I thought and said about Elizabeth Zimmerman while making previous attempts to follow her Baby Surprise Jacket pattern. And also to all of you that I accused of lying to me when you showed me your beautiful BSJs and told me that they were knit from Elizabeth's pattern. And I apologize to God for thinking that he was orchestrating a colossal joke. Seemed like everyone on the planet was in on it but ME! Mad City...

If my life had a motto it would be, "Seems simple enough...what could possibly go wrong?" Seriously, that's what I want on my gravestone. I went to Maine for a visit. What could be better? The rugged mountains, rocky coast and deep blue Atlantic. Time spent with family, friends old and new, and fur friends as well. Fresh blueberries, the smell of pines, the sounds of loons from the comfort of a gently bobbing kayak. It was heaven right up until the abscessed tooth, subsequent extraction and bone graft. Ever fly with an abscessed tooth? I DON'T recommend it. Sigh...what could possibly go wrong. "Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" you ask. Other than the toothie troubles I had a wonderful time. Here are a few photos of my adventures... Mum and my new fur-sister, Punkin ! Me and my Grammie note the Vicodin -crazed look in my eyes! Kayaking on Mattawamkeag lake Mum communing with Maine wildlife in Patten (Edgar the Scarlett Macaw) The vi...

Just an quick update to let you know that I am in the land of the Moose-northern Maine-visiting the folkses. So far I've communed with a scarlet macaw, picked wild blueberries, cheered on my favorite at the duck races, seen all four colors of Bengal tigers, mown lawns, gone to service at my church here, and learned a ninja trick to immobilize a baby chicken... and I haven't been here a week yet. More updates and photos when I get back to the homeland!